U.S. welcomes Israel's pullout from Lebanese border village
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U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton on Wednesday welcomed the approval by Israel's security cabinet to withdraw its troops from the northern part of Ghajar, a village on the Lebanese border.
"The United States welcomes the announcement today by Israel's Security Cabinet that it accepts in principle the proposal offered by the UNIFIL Force Commander, providing for the complete withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Lebanese territory in and around the village of Ghajar," Clinton said in a statement released by the State Department.
According to the decision, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw troops unilaterally and redeploy south of the Blue Line, a demarcation line drawn by the United Nations in 2000 to determine whether Israel had fully pulled out from Lebanon.
"The United States encourages Israel and the UN to complete the technical details necessary to implement this proposal rapidly and thereby protect the rights of the affected civilians and further the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006), which aims for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon," Clinton said.
Ghajar went under Israeli control when the IDF raided Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) positions in Lebanon in 1978. In 2000, following the IDF's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the UN set the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel-controlled area in the middle of the village.
Since then, Israeli police and military troops have only been allowed entrance to the village's southern end, while Hezbollah maintained a small presence on its northern half. In the 2006 Lebanon war, the IDF ousted Hezbollah and reinstituted its presence in both parts.
UN Resolution 1701, passed in the aftermath of the 2006 war, requires Israel to end all its military operations north of the border and withdraw from the village.
