Israel has authorized U.N. troops to deploy in the Lebanese part of the
divided border village of Ghajar, completing its pullout from Lebanon
following the war with Hizbullah.
The influential security cabinet "adopted an… agreement on the status of Ghajar under which UNIFIL forces control the northern part of the village and Israel controls the southern part," a senior government official told Agence France Presse on Sunday.
Israeli troops had remained in northern Ghajar, a village that straddles the border between the two countries, after all other Israeli forces pulled out of Lebanon on October 1 following this summer's 34-day war with Hizbullah.
Ghajar has been divided between Israel and Lebanon since May 2000, when the Jewish state withdrew from the south.
The Israelis hope that a final agreement on Ghajar would be reached within months, the official said.
"This is a temporary solution until a permanent resolution of the issue of Ghajar is reached," the government official said. "This will be in a matter of months, not years."(AFP) (AFP photo shows Indian soldiers with the UNIFIL waving the U.N. flag as they look at the outskirts of village of Ghajar)
deliberately
