Protestors want united village
Photo: Avihu Shapira
Ghajar village
Photo: Hanan Greenberg
Elections in Ghajar
Photo: Avihu Shapira
Ghajar residents protest transfer of control to UNIFIL
Ghajar residents go on strike, protest Israel's intention to hand over northern area to UNIFIL. 'We won't be refugees in Lebanon,' they say
About one thousand residents of the village of Ghajar that lies on the Israel's northern border went on a strike Sunday morning in the education system and the trade sector.
The residents of the village held a protest against the government's decision to transfer responsibility of the northern part of the village to UNIFIL forces that were deployed across the border at the end of the second Lebanon war.
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Ghajar is home to about 2,100 residents, with about one third of them living in the northern part of the village which is located on Lebanese territory and is separated from the southern part by Israel Defense Force posts.
Despite the separation, all the residents of the village hold Israeli IDs, and are considered residents of the State of Israel.
"We protest the division of the village and ask the government that it stay united… Unfortunately, since the IDF retreated from Lebanon in May 2000, our lives have become hell." said Ahmad Fataly, the Ghajar Council's head.
Protesters in Ghajar (Photo: Avihu Shapira)
"At the tank intersection near the village, merchandise is unloaded every morning and we have to go and pick it up ourselves since no one is willing to enter Ghajar and take a chance. Ambulances don’t come here, Bezeq (a phone company) and the Electric Company's technicians don’t fix problems here. I call on the ministers of the government to come here, face us and let us know what they plan," continued Fataly.
During the protest, which included women and children, the protesters held signs in Arabic and Hebrew, and posters with doves on them.
'Stuck between Hizbullah and Israel'
The protesters expressed their wish that the future agreement with Syria be applied to them, since they claim to have been occupied in 1967 by IDF along with the Golan Heights."We will not accept any agreement that will be made without involving Syria. We will not be refugees in Lebanon, we did not go back there and we chose to be citizens of the State of Israel," said Najib Khatib, a resident of the village.
"We pay taxes, we participate in the elections, but when we demand the Property Tax officials come here and compensate us for war damages – they tell us we are not part of the State. We are inspected every time we enter or exit the village. We know that if the UN enters northern Ghajar, the Lebanese army will follow and then we will not be able to give the northern residents any services," said Khatib.
The residents resent the fact that the village is under divided control. "We don’t have a fence to protect us; we are living between Hizbullah in the north, and being ignored by the Israeli government in the south. We hope that today's protest will move someone to help us," said the protesters.
