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Former General: Israel Testing Its Limits
Rym Ghazal - 12/10/2006



Jewish state 'will delay withdrawal' from ghajar in hopes of annexation.



"Ghajar is the little hole through which Israel is trying to penetrate and get into Lebanon in the hopes of expanding it into a greater political tunnel," said retired General Amin Hoteit. Hoteit is one of the few people who have dealt with all three of the main military forces in the country - the Lebanese Army, the Israeli Army and the United Nations Interim Forces In Lebanon.

The retiree formerly headed the committee tasked with monitoring Israel's withdrawal from most of the South in 2000 and helped demarcate the Blue Line.

"Put aside all the talk and politics and just look at the maps," Hoteit said, as he spread a stack of old maps of Lebanon clearly marking the different stages of demarcation atop his dining room table.

"Ghajar is an experiment by Israel, where they are testing a possible new security measure along their border with Lebanon," Hoteit added, pointing to the once-divided border town, covered with erased and re-drawn markings.

"The Blue Line was difficult to draw, with endless negotiations and compromises, and is even more difficult to apply on the ground," Hoteit said. "Israeli politics had recently shifted toward forming contact with the Lebanese side, so the most plausible and discreet way to achieve that is through pushing for direct contact with the Lebanese Army at Ghajar."

The retired general suggested Israel would delay its withdrawal from the area to gauge the Lebanese response.

"They will delay the withdrawal until end of the month, as they want to study the impact of this occupation on the Lebanese Army, the people and most importantly on Lebanese politics," he said.

"If the pressure for its return dies off, it will become another Shebaa Farms," he added, pointing on a map to the "final" Blue Line, drawn in pencil, viewed and signed at the time by President Emile Lahoud in the presence of UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, Hoteit and UNIFIL Deputy Force Commander Brig. Gen. James Sreenan.

"It all begins here," he said, referring to the thin line drawn in pencil on a map rarely seen by most Lebanese.

Four red areas marked as "reserves" indicate the areas that remain disputed to this day between the UN and Lebanon. They were excluded from the 2000 withdrawal and remain under Israeli occupation.

The red areas are Rmeich, Al-Adaisseh, Al-Matalah and the Shebaa Farms.

A newly drawn 150-meter-by-2,300 meter rectangle covering Al-Adaisseh, a small portion of Bourkat al-Naqqar and hundreds of meters in Alma al-Shaab, Telal Yaroun and Manarat shows the latest territories "taken over by Israel," Hoteit said.

"Israel has also completely taken over the cemetery of Mazar al-Oubad, where one of Israel's important leaders is buried," Hoteit added. "I remember how they were crying over this cemetery when some of it ended up in Lebanon back in 2000 due to the Blue Line."

"Well, they took it back," Hoteit added.

The retired general recalled that the Israelis were "always delaying things and making things difficult" for their Lebanese counterparts, despite having never actually spoken with a member of the Israeli Army personally.

"They are doing the same now, as they are always testing the waters and seeing how far they can push the other side," he said.

Nor did he hold much esteem for the recently expanded UN force, saying the 15,000-strong peacekeeping mission would become purely an "observatory body that monitors and records, nothing more."

Hoteit also dismissed promises from the government that this time around would be different. "All the promises made by the Lebanese government on the political arena get interpreted differently on the ground."

Hoteit recalled a "fuss" being made over the initial Israeli occupation of the Shebaa Farms, similar to that current protests over Ghajar.

Six years later the farms remain a contested issue, despite an "admission by the UN of receiving evidence of its Lebanese identity," Hoteit said, producing a copy of a report from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, dated May 22, 2000, professing that the "UN received deeds, documents and maps showing the Lebanese identity of the farms."

"The division within this country cost us the farms, and it might cost us more inches of Lebanon," he warned. "There are no such things as rights, but rather the rule of force, as only force wins at the end of the day."