Israel FM Visits Divided Border Village
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday visited divided Ghajar, saying he was seeking to resolve the future of the small village bordering Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
"I will try to make a good decision. What it will be I can”t say now," the minister told journalists, adding he would present his recommendations within weeks.
He said the government”s decision would take into account Israel”s security as well as the concerns of the more than 2,000 villagers, who all hold Israeli citizenship.
Located on the northwestern edge of the Golan Heights, Ghajar fell under Israeli control after the Jewish state seized the strategic plateau in the 1967 Six-Day War. The Golan was annexed in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community,
Residents of Ghajar, who are members of the Alawite Islamic minority, accepted Israeli nationality in 1981.
Over the years, the village expanded northwards. In 2000, when the United Nations demarcated the border, the northern half of the village came under Lebanese control and the other side remained held by Israel.
Israel retook the Lebanese part of Ghajar during its 2006 war on Hizbullah and has since built a security fence around the village.
Removing Israeli troops from the Lebanese half of the hamlet is a requirement of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 which brought an end to the 2006 war in Lebanon.
But the resolution also calls for the disarmament of Hizbullah and Israel has claimed that a lack of progress in collecting weapons has made a withdrawal impossible.
Lieberman denied a Haaretz newspaper report that he intended to propose building a fence through the village and asking the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to take over security responsibility for the Lebanese sector.