Israel Approves UNIFIL Solution for Ghajar Pullout
Israel approved the UNIFIL-proposed solution that suggests withdrawing Israeli forces from the northern part of Ghajar village to be replaced by UNIFIL troops, as reported by Israel Radio on Monday.
Israel Radio also reported that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Special Representative on the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, Terje Roed-Larsen, has arrived in Israel on Sunday where he held meetings to discuss the issue of Ghajar pullout with Israeli Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and President.
Earlier, Israel”s Channel 2 reported that the Israeli foreign ministry”s director-general, Yossi Gal, met late last week with UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano to discuss the terms of a possible Israeli withdrawal from the northern part of Ghajar.
Ghajar lies at the foot of Mount Hermon and straddles the Lebanese-Syrian border. It is inhabited by Alawites, most of whom have obtained Israeli citizenship even though they consider themselves Syrian.
The village is an extension of the Syrian Golan Heights plateau, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and then annexed in 1981.
According to a U.N.-drawn "blue line" marking the border between Israel and Lebanon following a May 2000 Israeli troop pullout, one-third of the village is on Lebanese soil, while the other two thirds are part of occupied Syrian territory.
The Israeli daily Haaretz said that senior cabinet ministers, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, decided last month to work toward a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the disputed area.