Ghajar

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Ghajar
Hebrew ע'ג'ר
Arabic غجر
Government Local council
District North (Golan)
Population 2 100
Jurisdiction  dunams

Ghajar (or al-Ghajar) is an Alawite village on the Lebanon-Israel border.

[edit] History

Prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, this village was in Syria. When Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967, the village came under Israeli control. In the 1978 South Lebanon conflict, Israel invaded and occupied southern Lebanon, and the village started to grow northward into Lebanese territory.[1] Because the village fell on the UN's Blue Line separating Lebanon and the Golan Heights, two-thirds of the village was transferred to Lebanese control when Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon in 2000. Residents on both sides of the village have Israeli citizenship.[2] They work and travel freely within Israel, but those living on the Lebanese side of the village have difficulties receiving services from Israel, as Israeli citizens and its army do not enter the Lebanese side so as not to be seen as violating Lebanese sovereignty. There is an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint at the entrance to the village from Israel, and a fence surrounding it, but there is no fence or barrier dividing the Israeli and Lebanese sides of the village. Residents of the village can enter both Israel and Lebanon freely.[citation needed]

Hezbollah uses the Lebanese side of the village as a base to spy into Israel, and has also tried to attack Israeli soldiers from the area several times.[3]

Israeli soldiers remain on the Lebanese side of Ghajar despite a December 3rd 2006 Israeli cabinet decision to hand it over to UNIFIL.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ A New Fence Is Added to a Border Town Already Split
  2. ^ Israel pulls bulk of troops out of Lebanon
  3. ^ Kidnap of soldiers in July was Hezbollah's fifth attempt

[edit] External links

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