Residents of Al Ghagar village, which situated on the border between Lebanon and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel occupied since 1967, said that they intend to contact the United Nations and other international bodies in an attempt to bar Israel from constructing a Wall in the center of their village.
Israel plans to construct a Wall in the center of the village, and intends to move the residents living in the northern part, to the southern part, in order to keep its northern part empty.
Israeli newspaper Maariv reported on Sunday that the Israeli security services are demanding the Israeli government to make a quick decision regarding this issue, especially after the recent clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli soldiers there.
The village is located on the “Blue Line” which was set by the United Nations in June 2000, after the Israeli withdrawal from the southern part of Lebanon.
The “Blue Line” divides the Syrian village from its center; the northern part is under Lebanese control, while the south is under Israeli occupation.
The village is surrounded by a fence separating it from the Golan Heights, with three permanent Israeli checkpoints there. The village’s border with Lebanon remained open.
Following the clashes which took place between Hezbollah and the Israeli army last week, the Israeli security evaluated the situation and found out that the current situation, and dividing the village, would lead to a disaster.
The security devices believe that Hezbollah fighters will be able, sooner or later, to carry a quick operation and cause heavy casualties.
Senior Israeli army officials previously proposed constructing a wall around the southern part o the village in order to separate between the Blue Line and the Golan Heights, or to construct a Wall around the northern part, which means annexing it to Israel, but army officials withdrew the suggestions since “it contradicts with the international law”.
Yet, the current suggestion states that the residents of Al Ghagar area should be moved from the north to the south, leaving their homes, and to construct a Wall on the “blue Line”.
Security officials believe that this plan would be expensive since it involves paying compensations to the residents of the northern part, and giving them homes in the south.
A source at Al Ghagar village said that the residents reject this plan, the same way they rejected similar plan in the past.
The Israeli army made a similar offer after its withdrawal from the southern part of Lebanon in 2000.
A resident of Al Ghagar village told the Arabs48 news website that Israel cannot treat the residents as the settlers it evacuated from the Gaza Strip.
“We are not settlers, we have been living here since 900 years”, the resident said, “This is a Syrian land, and should be return to Syria”.
The residents own 500 Dunams in the northern part.
