Israeli cabinet votes to quit part of Lebanese village (2nd Roundup)

Nov 17, 2010, 15:14 GMT

Jerusalem - Israel's security cabinet decided Wednesday to unilaterally withdraw Israeli forces from the northern part of the village of Ghajar on the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Lebanon, triggering a protest by residents.

Israel's Foreign Ministry is to discuss the 'practicalities' of the withdrawal with the United Nations and with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), 'as soon as possible,' a government statement said.

No exact date was given for the withdrawal, though the statement noted that the security cabinet, an inner forum of key ministers led by the prime minister, would meet again and vote on a final agreement.

Residents of the village took to the streets to stage a sit-in protest, once the Israeli decision was announced.

'We do not want our village to be divided. We do not want UNIFIL forces,' they chanted, referring to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

'We demand that the village remain whole and that the debate on it be part of a peace agreement with Syria stipulating the return of the Golan Heights,' the Israeli Y-Net site quoted council spokesman Najib Khatib as saying.

'Ghajar is part of Syria and we have no connection to Lebanon. We demand retention of the status-quo.'

Ghajar, a village of 2,200 people, came under Israeli control when Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War.

When Israel annexed the Golan in 1981 it then came under Israeli sovereignty. Most of its inhabitants accepted Israeli citizenship, which they hold along with that of Syria.

After Israel withdrew unilaterally from its self-declared 'security zone'' in southern Lebanon in 2000, a new border drawn up by the UN ran through Ghajar.

That left the southern half, on the Golan, in Israeli hands, but placed about 1,500 villagers north of the new border, the so-called 'blue line.'

Israeli reoccupied the northern half of the village in its 2006 war against the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah. United Nations Resolution 1701, which ended the hostilities, called on Israel to withdraw to the southern half of the village.

UNIFIL proposed a temporary arrangement in June 2008, which would see Israeli soldiers return to the south of the blue line, to be replaced by troops from the UN peace keeping force.

A new proposal presented in September of this year, is the basis for the Israeli withdrawal proposal.

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