Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will hold a meeting Wednesday to examine the possibility of a unilateral withdrawal from the village of Rajar on the northern border with Lebanon.
The meeting will be held in the wake of a recommendation made last year by former Shin Bet Director Avi Dichter and is also premised on research work performed by the National Security Council.
The first reports on the planned meeting surfaced on Israel's Channel 2.
Senior political officials told Ynet that Israel will probably not authorize a decision to withdraw, but that there was a chance that Sharon would make a surprise move and adopt Dichter's recommendation.
At this time, it seems that Prime Minister Sharon will also approve a recommendation by the National Security Council to boost security arrangements in the vicinity of the village.
The recommendation by Dichter to withdraw from Rajar was brought up during a security meeting, when Sharon asked the National Security Council to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the issue.
At Wednesday's meeting, expected to be attended by the defense minister, Shin Bet chief, and the IDF chief of staff, among others, the National Security Council will present six alternate solutions to Rajar question.
The IDF does not deem a withdrawal to be acceptable at this time, and some members of the NSC and the Prime Minister's Office also oppose such a move.
Following the reports, chairman of the right-wing Israel Our Home party Avigdor Lieberman said "the withdrawal would make it legitimate to trade territory and population, so that a Jewish majority in the land of Israel is assured for many generations."
Similar sentiments were made by the National Union party, which said that a withdrawal would enable blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria to remain under Israeli sovereignty, while Arab residents of the so-called "triangle" area in northern Israel would under Palestinian rule.
In August 2001, Ynet reported that security officials were weighing the option of withdrawing from the border village that falls partly in Israeli and partly in Lebanese territory. A security source said the motive for leaving is the "unbearable ease" with which one can cross the Israeli-Lebanese border through the village, and the fear that Hizbullah members may exploit the gap to launch cross-border attacks against Israel.