Southern Ghajar
Southern GhajarTomer Chelouche

The government’s intention to accept demands from the United Nations, Hizbullah and Lebanon to withdraw from part of the northern border village of Ghajar is ”beyond the limits of stupidity,” National Union MK Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz said on Sunday during a visit to the town.

“It is a wonder that in this age, when the whole world is against building walls, that the United Nations wants Israel to split up families cruelly with a fence in the middle of a village,” he said. National Union Knesset Member Dr. Michael Ben-Ari and MK Katz accompanied Druze Likud Minister Ayoub Kara to Ghajar, where they planted a tree in honor of the upcoming Tu B’Shvat (New Year for Trees) festival.

Villagers told the visiting MKs that the decade-long threat to place the northern part of the town across the Lebanese border has left it without proper public facilities from the Israeli government. 

“The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago recently was celebrated," MK Kara said, “Today, the residents of Ghajar fear the building of a wall that would create a humanitarian tragedy.” He noted that the villagers have contributed to the security of Israel and see themselves as part of the country.

“Whoever hurts Ghajar residents is guilty of a humanitarian crime,” stated MK Ben-Ari. “Today it is Ghajar; tomorrow it is the Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem.”

Israel annexed the northern part of Ghajar after the Six-Day War in 1967. In 2000, the IDF pulled out of northern Ghajar but re-entered in 2006 durng the Second Lebanon War. The United Nations aims to place northern Ghajar in the hands of Syria.

The village is inhabited by Alawite Muslims, a minority sect of Shi'ite Muslims who hold an eclectic array of beliefs largely drawn from Islam, but including some Christian and secret beliefs.

Ghajar's Mukhtar (village leader) says his village will fight – to the death – to keep the town together.  "We will not allow a fence to separate between brothers, between a father and his son, and tear the heart of the village to pieces," he said.  "We will fight for the unity of the village until death."

Lebanese newspaper A-Nahar reported at the end of 2009 that the IDF will withdraw troops from the northern part of the city at the end of next month.  According to the paper, the decision was made following talks between Israel, the United Nations and Lebanon with the collaboration of the United States. If Israel pulls out, 12 UNIFIL soldiers and four Lebanese soldiers will be deployed in the field.