27 September 2006

ABBASSIYEH, Lebanon: The once divided Southern town of Ghajar, half occupied by Israel and half within Lebanese territory, appears to have been finally reunited under one flag. "Khalas, it is gone. It is a new Israeli town and they are even repainting it in Israel's favorite colors, pink and yellow," said 16-year-old shepherd Walid Ain Zat, who along with his two younger brothers regularly tends his flock of goats in the open fields near the border town.

Ghajar appears to be excluded from reports that circulated Tuesday announcing that Israel has withdrawn from 90 percent of the territory it held in the South after the recent month-long war on Lebanon.

"I guess no one will ever be coming out of or going in there again," said Ain Zat, who wasn't the only Southern resident to notice "changes" in Ghajar, such as the raising of an Israeli flag and an increase in the "pinkness" of its homes, a color often associated with Israeli settlements.

Until 1967 Ghajar was an Alawite Syrian village on the Syrian-Lebanese border. It was captured by Israeli forces when they took the Golan Heights in the war that year. But it was liberated as Israel withdrew from most of the South in May 2000 and then divided by the UN, which transferred two-thirds of the village to Lebanese control with the Blue Line running through the middle of Ghajar at its narrowest point.

Today, the single narrow road that led to the town where Hebrew and Arabic are spoken interchangeably lies destroyed by an Israeli air strike. A huge crater now blocks the road mere meters from the town's entrance and freshly dug dirt walls have been piled around its perimeter in a fortress-like manner.

This reporter walked as close as possible to the town's entrance before being greeted with loud "clicks" and movement by what appeared to be Israeli soldiers on nearby rooftops.

Plainclothes Lebanese intelligence officers stationed nearby have been warning local residents to avoid getting "too close" to Ghajar after reports of "warning shots being fired" at passersby following the August 14 cease-fire.

"The town's story is in its name," said an elderly man in the village of Ain Arab as he sat in front of the Jamal al-Ihmar shop - a landmark on the way to Ghajar, Arabic for "gypsies."

"The people there never really belonged to anyone, so it was easy for Israel to come and make [the village] one of its own," the man added.

The old man recalled a time when the residents of Ghajar "used to celebrate our weddings with us and we used to attend each others' funerals before Israel came and destroyed the relations between Ghajar and the nearby villages."

In the 1970s, Ghajar residents adopted a pragmatic approach to their predicament, accepting Israeli citizenship while maintaining their belief that one day they would be returned to Syria.

"I think Israel will be able to keep this town as it is originally Syrian and its people accepted Israeli citizenship and kept to themselves and confined their movement to within Israel," said Mohammad Shehab, a resident of Abbassiyeh, a town with its own share of grievances against Israel.

One million square meters of Abbassiyeh lie within the disputed Shebaa Farms occupied by Israel.

"I don't think Ghajar will get the same attention as the Shebaa Farms if Israel decides to stay in it as its residents took Israeli citizenship," Shehab added.

In response to queries from The Daily Star concerning Ghajar, Prime Minister Foaud Siniora's office said: "Israel has to withdraw from all Lebanese land as outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 1701, without any exceptions."

"We are aware of the special case of Ghajar and it has been discussed with both the Israeli and Lebanese armies," Alexander Ivanko, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon, said.

There is "a lot of concern" over the issue, Ivanko added. Accordingly, UNIFIL is "working on a solution amiable to all the parties involved."

Ghajar's dual identity is not the only issue at play, however; the divided town has been the scene of repeated confrontations between Hizbullah and Israel since the latter's withdrawal in 2000.

The Israeli Army's Northern Command declared its half of the town a closed military area in the summer of 2001, restricting the movements of the village's residents.

Ghajar made headlines in April after Lebanon rejected Israel's plans to erect a "security wall" to divide the town. Hundreds of villagers demonstrated against the proposal, raising banners saying "We are Arab Syrians and this land is Arab" and "We call on the Lebanese government and Hizbullah to prevent Israel from building a wall to divide the town."