JERUSALEM, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Israel's Cabinet Wednesday approved a plan to withdraw from the northern section of a village that spans the Israeli-Lebanese border, officials said.
The village of Ghajar has been a political flashpoint for decades, and the U.S. and Lebanese governments are eager to settle arguments over the disputed area to deny Hezbollah any reason to attack Israel from occupied Lebanese territory, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The village has been under Israeli control since the 1967 war; when Israel seized the Golan Heights in 1981, its residents elected to become Israeli citizens.
"The Ministerial Committee on National Security (the Security Cabinet) today decided today to accept, in principle, the proposal of the U.N. and the (U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon) commander, which is based upon an IDF withdrawal from the northern part of Ghajar, and its redeployment south of the 'Blue Line,'" the Cabinet said in a statement.
"The Security Cabinet authorized the Foreign Ministry to complete the details of the temporary arrangement in coordination with the U.N. and UNIFIL Commander General Alberto Asarta, as soon as possible. Both the security of Israel's citizens and the normal life of the residents of Ghajar, which remains undivided, will continue to be maintained while the new arrangements are being put in place. The final agreement will be brought to the Security Cabinet for approval before it is implemented."
