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Israel Ready to Cede Part of Disputed Farms to Lebanon
Israeli Defense Ministry issued a statement Thursday, which said Israel was willing to cede part, not the whole, of the disputed Shebaa Farms to Lebanon.
The statement was a response to earlier reports by Israeli media that Prime Minister Ehud Barak had told French President Jacques Chirac that he was considering withdrawing Israeli troops from the entire farms.
The farms are on a slope of Mount Hermon now under Israeli control. Israel said it seized the area from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War, but both Lebanon and Syria said the farms belong to Lebanon.
The intended Israeli move was apparently aimed to deprive Syria of any excuse to encourage Hezbollah guerrillas to continue military attacks against Israel. Hezbollah has vowed to fight on until Shebaa farms are returned and Lebanese detainees in Israel freed.
However, what Barak told the French leader was that "only a small part of the Shebaa Farms which is in Lebanese territory according to the U.N. maps is going to be evacuated," the statement said.
There was no basis to reports that Israel intends to give up to Lebanon those part of the farms that do not belong to Lebanon according to United Nations maps, it noted.
The fertile farms are located between 400-2,000 meters of altitude in the Har Dov military zone on the western foothills of Mount Hermon on Syrian-Lebanese border, which was seized by Israel in 1967.
The U.N. ruled on Tuesday that Israel does not have to leave the farms.
Under the order of Barak, who is also defense minister, Israel completed its troop withdrawal from south Lebanon early Wednesday, ending 22 years of occupation of the border strip, where it set up in 1985 a buffer zone to protect its north.
Barak also ordered the Israeli troops to pull out of Astra, one of the three outposts in the Har Dov area. Hezbollah shelled Israeli outposts in the area twice this week for the first time in years.
Israeli military establishment said if Israeli outposts remain in the area, Hezbollah might use Israel's presence as an excuse to attack Israeli sites across the border.
Barak has warned Lebanon and Syria that any attack from Lebanon against Israeli civilians and the army will meet with harsh retaliation.
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