Problematic Border Demarcation
The reliability of the Blue Line in the area of the Ghajar has been questioned, based on cartographic and historical points of view. According to an article in Haaretz newspaper, there has never been an agreement over the exact location of the boundary in Ghajar and its vicinity. Maps produced prior to 1967 have been inconsistent, placing the village occasionally in Syria, at different times in Lebanon and less frequently divided between the two states. Ghajar, when under full Syrian control before the 1967 war, extended to include both sections of the village that were divided by the Blue Line in 2000—both the southern section that was annexed by Israel and the northern part that Israel is being asked to return to Lebanon.
According to a researcher from the University of Notre Dame, "This is clearly seen in reports of and sketches made by the US Embassy in Beirut that tried to decipher the problems of sovereignty in the tri-border region during the 'water wars' in the early 1960s between Israel and its Arab neighbors." The village has been divided by the Blue Line into two 'neighborhoods' that in 2000 were mistakenly thought to be two different villages: Ghajar in the south and al-Wazzani in the north. The village of al-Wazzani, the supposedly northern village that as of July 2000 lies within Lebanon, has never really existed. There is a small community called al-Wazzani, better known as ‘Arab al-Luweiza', but it is located west of the Hasbani river across from Ghajar. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced plans to withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar.
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