- For the village in Azerbaijan, see Qacar.
| Ghajar | |
|---|---|
  Ghajar
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| Coordinates: 33°16′22″N 35°37′23″E / 33.27278°N 35.62306°E | |
| Country | On the international border between Syria and Lebanon. |
| Population | |
| - Total | 2,100 |
Ghajar (or al-Ghajar) is an Alawite village on the Hasbani River on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-controlled area of the Golan Heights. It has a population of 2,000.[1]
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History
Early history
The original name of the village was Taranjeh. It was changed to Ghajar by the Kurds who seized it 300 years ago and forced the inhabitants to sell them their land. [2]According to a local legend, the Kurdish governor tried to ride his horse onto the tomb of a local holy man, Sheikh al-Arba'in. The horse refused and the following day a fire broke out, destroying the governor's shield and sword. The Kurds fled in terror.[3]
Modern era
Prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Ghajar was considered part of Syria and its residents were counted in the 1960 census. [4] When Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967, Ghajar remained a no-man's land for two and a half months. The villagers petitioned the Golan's Israeli governor to be annexed to Israel because they saw themselves as part of the Golan Heights. [5] Israel agreed to include Ghajar in its occupied territory and the residents accepted living under Israeli rule.[6] In 1981, most villagers agreed to become Israeli citizens under the Golan Heights Law.
Over the years, the village expanded northward into Lebanese territory, subsuming the Wazzani settlement north of the border.[7]In 2000, when the United Nations drew the Blue Line to determine the final border between Israel and Lebanon following the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the northern half of the village came under Lebanese control and the southern part remained under Israel.[8] 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.[9] They work and travel freely within Israel, but those living on the Lebanese side have difficulties receiving services from Israel. There is an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint at the entrance to the village, and a fence surrounding the entire village, but no fence or barrier dividing the Israeli and Lebanese sides of the village.
Prior to Israel's reoccupation of northern Ghajar in the 2006 war, Israel claimed that Hezbollah used the Lebanese side of the village as a base to spy on Israel, and Hezbollah had tried to attack Israeli soldiers from the area.[10]
UNIFIL
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 the Lebanese army pulled 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 consisting of UNIFIL Spanish troops and OGL observers patrol the area continuously. [11]
In October 2007, the United Nations issued a report stating that discussions on the temporary security arrangements for northern Ghajar remain deadlocked on the issue of the duration of the arrangements. The Israel Defense Forces remain in control of the part of the village north of the Blue Line and the small adjacent area inside Lebanese territory, although it does not maintain a permanent military presence there. The Lebanese Armed Forces patrol the road outside the perimeter fence around this area. [12]
On April 17, 2009, the Lebanese paper Daily Star reported the IDF had agreed to withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar at a meeting at Rosh HaNikra.[13] On May 13, the Israeli government suspended talks to await the outcome of the Lebanese Parliamentary elections, fearing a Hezbollah victory.[14]
Border dispute
Asher Kaufman of the University of Notre Dame questions the reliability of the Blue Line in the area of the Ghajar. First, as in the area of the Shebaa farms, there has never been an agreement over the exact location of the boundary in Ghajar and its vicinity. Furthermore, maps produced prior to 1967 have been inconsistent, placing the village occasionally in Syria, at different times in Lebanon and less frequently divided between the two states. Second, Ghajar, under full Syrian control before 1967, extended to include both sections of the village that in 2000 were divided by the Blue Line. This is clearly seen in reports of and sketches made by the US Embassy in Beirut that tried to decipher the problems of sovereignty in the tri-border region during the “water wars” in the early 1960s between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Third, the village has been divided into two “neighborhoods” that in 2000 were mistakenly thought to be two different villages: Ghajar in the south and al-Wazzani in the north. In fact, the village of al-Wazzani, the supposedly northern village that as of July 2000 lies within Lebanon, has never really existed. Kaufman argues that there is a small community called al-Wazzani, more known as ‘Arab al-Luweiza, but it is located west of the Hasbani river across from Ghajar. [15]
References
- ^ Getting rid of Ghajar, Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz
- ^ Getting rid of Ghajar, Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz
- ^ Getting rid of Ghajar, Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz
- ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084425.html
- ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084425.html
- ^ Dudu Ben-Tzur's interview with Khatib Jamal, a resident of Ghajar, 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
- ^ Getting rid of Ghajar, Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz
- ^ 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
- ^ http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=101089
- ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1085251.html
- ^ [2]Akiva Eldar, Border Control, Haaretz, July 28, 2009]
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Coordinates: 33°16′22″N 35°37′23″E / 33.27278°N 35.62306°E
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