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Lebanon to discuss Israeli plans for border town pullout

Arab World Materials 16 December 2009 13:59 (UTC +04:00)
UN and Lebanese military representatives were due to meet Wednesday to discuss Israeli plans for a troop pullout from the northern part of a divided border village.
Lebanon to discuss Israeli plans for border town pullout

UN and Lebanese military representatives were due to meet Wednesday to discuss Israeli plans for a troop pullout from the northern part of a divided border village, DPA reported.

Lebanon fears the planned withdrawal from Ghajar could seal the division of the village into a southern, Israeli-controlled part and a northern part under joint Lebanon-UN supervision.

Security sources said Wednesday's talks were expected to discuss water and electricity supplies. Ghajar obtains its water from Lebanon and gets electricity by power lines from Israel.

The sources said Lebanon had not yet received "formal word" from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) whether Israel was making an imminent withdrawal.

Israeli troops have been in northern Ghajar since the end of the Israeli invasion in 2006 but are obliged to withdraw under the terms of a UN resolution.

In 2006, Lebanon rejected Israeli plans to to build a security wall between the two parts of the village.

The Israeli soldiers have also set up a security fence at the entrance to Ghajar to curb possible infiltration by Hezbollah militants.

Ghajar, located at the foot of Mount Hermon, was annexed by Israel in 1981 along with the Syrian Golan Heights, which have been occupied by the Israeli forces since 1967.

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