Border fence
SLA members and their families along crossing into Israel in May 2000 (Archive Photo)
Photo: Avihu Shapira
SLA family reunites after 6 years
After being threatented by Hizbullah, Lebanese woman approaches Israel-Lebanon border with three children, tells IDF soldiers she wishes to reunite with her husband, a former SLA soldier who lives in Israel
A Lebanese woman was arrested on Tuesday by Israel Defense Forces soldiers near Metula when she approached the Israel-Lebanon border with her three children.
The woman raised the soldiers' suspicion at first, but in an investigation revealed that she is the wife of a former South Lebanon Army (SLA) soldier with whom she wishes to reunite.
The woman, who hadn't seen her husband since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000, said she had been threatened by Hizbullah operatives in her southern Lebanese village.
The woman was accompanied by two sons and a daughter aged 14, 12 and seven.
The woman told police officers in Kiryat Shmona that she was threatened because of her husband's work with the Israeli army and the SLA during Israel's military presence in southern Lebanon.
The woman's husband, who lives in central Israel, was called by police and he reunited with his family.
About 8,500 SLA members entered Israel in May 2000 when Israel withdrew from its self-created security zone in southern Lebanon.
Only 2,500 people remain in Israel, most of whom received Israeli nationality.
Under a law passed in Knesset for SLA members and their families, the woman and her children can apply for Israeli nationality.
