Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib began a round of talks with the foreign ministers of the member states of the United Nations Security Council to initiate a process of drawing a land border with Israel, similar to what was done in the issue of the maritime border. This was reported Tuesday night by the Lebanese television channel MTV.
According to the report, the minister conveyed the idea to the commander of the UNIFIL force in Lebanon, during a tripartite meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Bouhabib told the channel that "there are many problems with Israel regarding the border, so we believe that drawing the border is the best solution. This is a serious initiative, there are 13 points of dispute, of which seven have already been resolved, and the other six can be discussed. The main dispute is between the blue line and the 1949 line."
Lebanon has demanded a full demarcation of their border with Israel @jneriah1 explains how the drawing of the northern border by the UN could embolden Hezbollah, who have yet to remove their outpost from Israeli territory #i24NEWSDesk | With Batya Levinthal pic.twitter.com/ftc0PAKnFj
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) July 11, 2023
Bouhabib added that "this can solve the problem of the tents and north Ghajar, and other problems such as a certain point on Rosh HaNikra, and that way each side would know what its border is, and act accordingly." In the report, it is noted that Israel responded to the idea through the UN and is not yet ready to do so. The minister later emphasized that "this idea is serious and could be a solution, but we are not talking about normalization measures here with Israel."
At the center of the struggle between Hezbollah and Israel is the claim to Israel's control of the northern area of the Alawite village of Ghajar on the slopes of the Golan. This area according to the UN resolution from 2000 belongs to Lebanon. Nearly a year ago, the local council completed the construction of a new border fence and a wall next to it, but Hezbollah blamed the IDF for carrying out the works to complete the occupation of the Lebanese part of the village.
UN Peacekeeping Chief Relays Israeli Request to Lebanon To Remove Hizbullah Tent From Border https://t.co/YyF38P61Z7 pic.twitter.com/bIkKoUrsZF
— Andy Vermaut (@AndyVermaut) July 11, 2023
Along with the tensions surrounding the village of Ghajar, there was also tension between Israel and Hezbollah in another matter. About three months ago, the terrorist organization set up two tents on Israeli territory on Mount Dov, near the Lebanese border, and about a week ago dismantled just one of them. However, the number of people staying in the encampment did not change, between six and eight armed men, and they are all still cramping inside the tent that remained in Israeli territory.
