Ghajar
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| Ghajar | |
  Ghajar
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| Coordinates: | |
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| Country | Golan Heights/Lebanon |
| Population | |
| - Total | 2,100 |
Ghajar (or al-Ghajar) is an Alawite village on the Hasbani River and on the border between Lebanon and Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
[edit] History
Prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, this village was in Syria and the separate, smaller village of Wazzani (Ouzzani) was located immediately across the border to the north in Lebanon. When Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967, Ghajar remained as "no man's land" for two and a half months until its food reserve ran out. Lebanon refused to take control of the village as it was in 1967 totally in Syrian territory. About half of the village residents (some 350 people) left for elsewhere in Syria during this period of uncertainty. Eventually the village's leaders negotiated with the Israeli authorities and accepted living under Israeli rule[1]. In 1981 most villagers agreed to become Israeli citizens under the Golan Heights Law.
In the 1978 South Lebanon conflict, Israel invaded and occupied southern Lebanon, and the village started to grow northward into Lebanese territory, subsuming the Wazzani settlement north of the boundary.[2] Because of this expansion, by 2000 the village was split by the boundary, which was traced by the UN's Blue Line. The northern half of the village thus came under Lebanese control when Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon in 2000. Israeli troops returned to the northern half of Ghajar in the 2006 Lebanon War; UN-sponsored negotiations are underway for Israel to again return this to Lebanese control.
Residents on both sides of the village have Israeli citizenship; those in the northern half often hold passports from both Lebanon and Israel.[3] They work and travel freely within Israel, but those living on the Lebanese side of the village have difficulties receiving services from Israel, as some of those holding only Israeli passports 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 the entire village, but there is no fence or barrier dividing the Israeli and Lebanese sides of the village.
Hezbollah uses the Lebanese side of the village as a base to spy on Israel, and has also tried to attack Israeli soldiers from the area several times.[4]
[edit] United Nations
Israeli soldiers remain on the Lebanese side of Ghajar despite a December 3, 2006 Israeli cabinet decision to hand it over to UNIFIL. Israel says that this is due to the Lebanese army pulling out of a UN-brokered deal in which the Lebanese Army would have protected the vicinity of the northern section of the village, while UNIFIL would deploy security details within the village itself. Since the 2006 Lebanon War, Israel has occupied the entire village; a perimeter fence has been built along the northern edge of the village in Lebanese territory up to 800 meters north of the Blue Line. The UN military personnel comprised of UNIFIL Spanish troops and OGL observers patrol the area continuously. [5]
The United Nations issued a 'Report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 (2006)', dated 30 October 2007.[6] In the 'Security and liaison arrangements' section of the report, it states;
In this regard, the working paper on the technical procedures for marking the Blue Line is still under consideration and it is hoped that it will be finalized in parallel with the ongoing pilot project to visibly mark the line on the ground. At the same time, discussions on the temporary security arrangements for northern Ghajar remain deadlocked on the issue of the duration of the arrangements. The Force Commander is undertaking bilateral consultations to identify possible approaches to overcome the impasse. The Israel Defense Forces remain in control of the part of the village of Ghajar north of the Blue Line and the small adjacent area inside Lebanese territory, although it does not maintain a permanent military presence there. As of mid-September 2007, the Lebanese Armed Forces patrol the road outside the perimeter fence around this area. As I recalled in my last report (S/2007/392), so long as the Israel Defense Forces remain in northern Ghajar, Israel will not have completed its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in accordance with its obligations under resolution 1701 (2006).
In the 'Observations' section of the report, it further states;
I remain concerned, however, at the inability of either party to find a way forward over the issue of the northern part of the village of Ghajar, which the Israel Defense Forces continues to occupy in violation of its obligations under resolution 1701 (2006). Failure to make progress on this issue could become a source of tension and carry the potential for incidents in the future. I urge both the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defense Forces to engage with the UNIFIL Force Commander in a constructive manner in order to find a solution to this issue.
[edit] References
- ^ According to Dudu Ben-Tzur's interview with Khatib Jamal, a resident of Ghajar, in December 1993. Published in Hebrew in Teva Ha-Dvarim, 2nd issue, February–March 1994 [1].
- ^ A New Fence Is Added to a Border Town Already Split
- ^ Ghajar says 'don't fence me in', by Uri Ash, Haaretz
- ^ Kidnap of soldiers in July was Hezbollah's fifth attempt
- ^ Lebanon holding up IDF Ghajar pullout
- ^ UN Security Council document S/2007/641, paragraphs 16 and 71
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