Straddling Lebanon and the Golan Heights, occupied and annexed by Israel, the picturesque village of Ghajar finds itself in spite of itself at the heart of the tensions between the two border countries, officially in a state of war.
In the quiet streets of Ghajar, with manicured flowerbeds, an invisible border separates the two camps.
“The blue line is in the air,” Abou Youssef Khatib, a resident of the village, told AFP, referring to the name of this imaginary border demarcated by the UN after the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, which ended 22 years of occupation.
This places the north of Ghajar in Lebanese territory and the southern part in the Golan region, thus falling under Israel.
But a few weeks ago the Israelis erected a fence topped with barbed wire on the Lebanese side of the blue line, three months after the biggest confrontation in recent years between the two countries, sparked by rocket fire from Lebanon towards Israel.
For the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, this is an attempt by Israel to annex the northern part of Ghajar.
A series of incidents raised fears of a conflagration. Recently, the border area with Israel in southern Lebanon, a stronghold of Hezbollah, has been the scene of incidents between the Lebanese Shiite pro-Iranian group and Israeli forces.
In the memories: a devastating war which opposed Israel to Hezbollah in 2006 and which left more than 1,200 dead on the Lebanese side, mostly civilians, and 160 on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.
Despite the tensions, Nahlah Saeed, a resident of Ghajar, says she feels safe there. “I don’t know what the future will be like” but “I know that I live well, happy,” she told AFP, sitting in the shade.
According to the town hall, the village has about 3,000 residents who have obtained Israeli citizenship since the country seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six Day War in 1967 and then annexed it in 1981.
We have “the right to build a fence around our own houses,” said Bilal Khatib, spokesman for the village.
The local council built the barrier to “protect” the houses, he justifies himself to AFP, specifying that it also prevents “wild animals (entering) into the village”.
The new fence, several meters high, overlooks the houses of the neighboring Lebanese village of Wazzani.
Local officials squabble over deeds and maps that they claim prove they own the premises.
Ahmad al-Mohammed, the mayor of Wazzani, claims to have “adapted to the electric atmosphere”.
“In recent years, there have been Israeli bombings which have had an impact on people, property and livestock. But people are not leaving the village, because they are attached to their livelihoods,” he says. at AFP.
For a few decades, Israeli citizens have started building houses with pastel walls towards the north of Ghajar. The Lebanese authorities consider these acts as an attack on their sovereignty.
On the outskirts of Wazzani, Imad al-Mohamed leads his flock of sheep. From the top of his horse, he affirms that “when the Lebanese lands of Ghajar will be recovered, there will be more pastures” for his animals, pointing to the houses now behind the Israeli barrier.
– “Peace first”?
The UN is mediating in this barrier affair and playing the middleman in the blue line talks.
“Despite all the tensions (…), the two parties are committed to maintaining the truce and do not want a conflict”, assures Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
According to him, “Israel must withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar”, under international agreements supported by the two countries. Lebanon must, for its part, remove a tent erected at the beginning of the year on the other side of the blue line, northeast of Ghajar.
An Israeli security official said on condition of anonymity that Hezbollah’s “rogue terrorist army” installed it.
“Nobody wants it to degenerate,” however, continues this manager.
For Abou Youssef Khatib, the most important thing remains “peace above all”.
“Everyone has their rights, I take the land that belongs to me and he takes the land that belongs to him,” he says, facing the valley.
23/08/2023 12:59:52 – Ghajar (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
