Going to sleep in Israel, waking up in Lebanon

[Kurska]

"It was only when the sun rose on Tuesday morning that the inhabitants of Ghajar ascertained their village was still in Israel and had not gone over to some other sovereignty during the night. The United Nations soldiers had not yet fanned out into the streets, and the Israel Defense Forces soldiers were still manning their nearby positions.

Every few months a new rumor crops up concerning the future of Ghajar, the inhabitants of which are at the focus of a continuing border dispute between Israel, Lebanon and Syria. The most recent rumor was that during the first night of February the northern part of Ghajar would be transferred to the UN forces and be officially declared Lebanese territory. The rumor first appeared in a Lebanese newspaper, was repeated on Arab television channels and gave rise to increased tension leading up to the crucial date.

In the absence of any declared Israeli policy or any other certainty to hang on to, the inhabitants of Ghajar have to peek out their window every morning to see who their current sovereign is.
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"It's worthwhile checking well in the morning whether you're still in Israel or perhaps during the course of the night you've become a Syrian, a Lebanese or an international citizen," says Ali, who lives in the northern part of the village. He declined to give his surname for fear for his personal security. "It could be very unpleasant to go outside to drink coffee on the veranda wearing a T-shirt of the Israeli national soccer team only to find Hezbollah solders directing traffic in the street," he says, in an attempt at a joke. "


"For two and a half months after the war, the village was left without any citizenship. The inhabitants were prevented from cultivating their lands, which were now in the territory of the State of Israel, and they were also unable to enter Lebanon. The supply of electricity from a Syrian military post was stopped, the food ran out and all the sources of income were out of their reach. Having no alternative, the inhabitants turned to Israel and asked that the village be annexed to it, like the Druze villages on the Golan Heights.

An electric fence set up by the IDF ran alongside the Hatzbani, leaving the northern part of the hill in no-man's land. However, in the mid-1970s natural population increase and the shortage of lands in the southern part caused the homes of the village to spread northward, and now two-thirds of them are on the northern part of the hill.

The unmarked border passes through Ghajar's main street. It separates the school and the mosque on the southern side under Israeli sovereignty from the town hall, the clinic and the Merkaz Payis community center built by Israel's national lottery on the northern side, which according to the Sykes-Picot map belongs to Lebanon. "


"Like most of the inhabitants, Y. isn't interested in opening an account with the Syrians by displaying excessive enthusiasm for Israel. However, he says, many of his neighbors would rather flee to Israel than live in Lebanon or return to Syria. He also says he knows of at least 10 other villagers who have secretly bought apartments in Israel.

Hezbollah has a long account to settle with the villagers, who 40 years ago asked to be annexed to Israel. For its part, Israel has only one interest - to get rid of the last bone of territorial contention with Lebanon. The Lebanese will not dare annex Syrian territory, while the Syrians, of course, prefer to sit back and observe the predicament from the sidelines.

The villagers perceive the UN as the bad guy. According to Hattib, when they want to persuade a child in Ghajar to eat, they threaten to call in a UN soldier. "


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1148024.html


Very Interesting situation, they never really wanted to be a part of Israel, but only Israel was willing to take responsibility for them after the war (and even then they didn't want to). They still don't really want to be apart of Israel, but fear what hezbollah or syria might do to them because they turned to Israel after the war.


Just dividing it straight along the border makes even less since because of the security situation and the villagers don't seem very confident in the UN's ability to protect them.

The best solution I can figure is just let the villagers decide, or make it a international zone under de facto Israeli security control.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Your solution makes the most sense to me, too,

And was what immediately came to mind when I was reading the article. Only the citizens can decide where their allegiances lie and what would give them the most security. What a frightening existence...

[pelsar]

2. now this deserves a discussion......

whats more important....people choosing to which country they prefer to live in.....which means requesting/asking israel to expand its borders?

or prefering the people to be nothing more than pawns in an intl game of borders and pushing them to live under a dictatorship (syria) or under a militia (lebanon).

should the UN request israel to expand its northern border to protect these people?