Berri: 'All Lebanese' despite differences must see Israel 'hostile intentions'
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Tuesday that despite the political disagreements, all Lebanese should be aware of Israel's hostile intentions.
Berri's statement came as tensions continued to flare in the border area between Lebanon and Israel over two tents erected by Hezbollah and Israel’s building of a wall around the Lebanese part of al-Ghajar, a village that Israeli troops captured during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Last week, Israeli forces shelled Kfarshouba, a southern Lebanese border village, after a mortar launched from Lebanon exploded in the border area between the two foes.
"All Lebanese, regardless of their political, spiritual and partisan orientations and affiliations must be aware of Israel's hidden intentions," Berri said.
He added that national belonging and defending sovereignty, independence and identity are not "a point of view".
- Border town dispute -
Al-Ghajar village is split into Lebanese and Israeli sides along a border, known as the blue line, that was demarcated after Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
As part of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel needs to withdraw from the northern part of al-Ghajar, which has not happened. U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon for years have called on Israel to end its building work in northern al-Ghajar and to withdraw its troops.
The so-called Blue Line cuts through al-Ghajar, formally placing its northern part in Lebanon and its southern part in the Israeli-occupied and annexed Golan Heights.
The residents of al-Ghajar have been granted Israeli citizenship rights, and Israel has recently opened the town, long a military zone, to tourism.
- Hezbollah tents -
The situation also has been heated along Shebaa Farms and around Kfarshouba. Israel captured those areas from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war, as part of Syria's Golan Heights that Israel annexed in 1981. The Lebanese government says the area belongs to Lebanon.
In early June, Israel filed a complaint to the U.N. claiming that Hezbollah had set up tents several dozen meters inside the disputed territory. Israeli media had since reported that Hezbollah evacuated one of the two tents, but the group did not confirm the action.
Later that month, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to disperse scores of Lebanese protesters who pelted the troops with stones along the border near the disputed territory.
- Latest developments -
On Monday, the commander of the UNIFIL, Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro, met in Beirut with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Lebanese leaders told the U.N. commander that Israel should withdraw its troops from the Lebanese part of the town of al-Ghajar and Lázaro relayed an Israeli request to remove the tent set up by Hezbollah in the disputed area.
In recent weeks, Lebanese officials warned that Israel might annex the Lebanese part of al-Ghajar to the Israeli part of the town.
Hezbollah last week issued a harsh statement calling Israel's works around the Lebanese part of Ghajar as "dangerous" adding that the wall is separating the town "from its natural and historic surroundings in Lebanon."
Source: Naharnet, Associated Press, Agence France Presse
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