Israel Matzav: Arabs who would rather live among Jews

Arabs who would rather live among Jews

The small village of Ghajar sits on Israel's northeastern border, in the same area as Mount Dov (Shaba Farms). You will recall that Mount Dov was liberated from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, and is now claimed by Hezbullah for Lebanon in a dispute that Syria refuses to resolve in a bid to keep the pot between Israel and Hezbullah boiling.

When Israel unilaterally withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, the UN decreed that the 'blue line,' the international border between Lebanon, Syria and Israel (see map below) runs right through the town of Ghajar, with the northern half being part of Lebanon and the southern half being part of Syria that was 'occupied' by Israel. Despite the fact that Ghajar's inhabitants had willingly taken on Israeli citizenship when Israel formally annexed the Golan in 1981, Israel reluctantly withdrew to the Blue Line and cut the town in half (a situation that is similar to the situation in Rafah on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip since Israel turned the Sinai over to Egypt in 1982).

Surprise, surprise, northern Ghajar became a no-man's land for all kinds of drug and arms dealers going between Israel and Lebanon, and so when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon after the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, at the town's request, Israel retained an IDF presence in Ghajar, and built a 'security fence' between the northern part of the town and Lebanon.

Read All at :

Israel Matzav: Arabs who would rather live among Jews