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UN says Lebanese demonstrators cross Blue Line

Arab-Israel Relations Materials 17 April 2010 01:44 (UTC +04:00)
Some 50 villagers from the southern Lebanese town of Abbasiyeh removed Friday a barbed wire which was set up by Israel three days ago and crossed the so-called Blue Line border sepearating Lebanon and Israel, Lebanese and UN sources said.
UN says Lebanese demonstrators cross Blue Line

Some 50 villagers from the southern Lebanese town of Abbasiyeh removed Friday a barbed wire which was set up by Israel three days ago and crossed the so-called Blue Line border sepearating Lebanon and Israel, Lebanese and UN sources said.

UN Deputy Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said "the Lebanese demonstrators crossed the Blue Line, dpa reported.

"They also removed sign posts of a minefield and placed two Lebanese flags next to the Israeli technical fence," Tenenti said.

Tenenti stressed that UNIFIL has contacted all sides to prevent any further escalation.

The residents were led by lawmaker Qassem Hashem, who is loyal to the Lebanese Shiite Movement Hezbollah and the Syrian Baath Party.

According to Lebanese media reports around ten Israeli army vehicles and more than 50 soldiers went on alert under the gaze of the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers who were near the area.

Voice of Lebanon radio station said Israeli troops removed the flags after the protestors left the area.

Hashem, who held a press conference in the area, said: "This is Lebanese land. We neither recognize Blue Lines nor Red Lines on the Ghajar-Abbasiyeh-Shebaa farms-Kfarshouba hills axis."

He warned that the residents will repeat their action if Israel sets up barbed wires "because neither the international community nor international resolutions are bringing back our rights."

Lebanon last week accused Israel of crossing the Blue Line, which was initially demarcated to correspond with the line of Israeli military withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.

But the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is in charge along the Lebanese army to monitor the borders, said that no violation of Lebanese territory had occurred.

The Israeli patrol had only crossed an Israeli technical fence, according to UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti.

Israel has erected a technical fence north of the Blue Line, which southern residents often confuse for the Blue Line, a UN source said.

According to the source, "sometimes people think that the fence is the border, which ot is not, and this when we have confusion among the villagers.

"Israel is technically and legally not violating Lebanese territory when they cross that fence and reach the Blue Line," the source said.

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