2024-01-10 13:02:27
Despite the military escalation… there are indications of the possibility of resolving the disputes over the land borders in southern Lebanon
Despite the recent increase in the frequency of bombing exchanges and escalation between the Lebanese Hezbollah group and Israel, through targeting sites of Israeli military leaders or Israel monitoring and assassinating leaders of the group, other indicators show the possibility of talking about the controversial points regarding the land borders in southern Lebanon and addressing them.
According to the Arab World News Agency, the diplomatic movement in Lebanon at the beginning of the battles on October 8 was warning of the expansion of the war, stressing the necessity of adhering to International Resolution 1701, and then starting to raise the possibility of moving towards ending the disputes along the border between Lebanon and Israel. Waiting for the visit of US Presidential Envoy Amos Hochstein during the coming period and whether the man will bring with him a vision and proposals for resolving it.
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech during a memorial service for one of the party’s members last week: “Today in Lebanon we are facing a historic opportunity to completely liberate every inch of our occupied land, from point (B1) to the rest of the Shebaa Farms after… Stop the aggression against Gaza.
Retired Brigadier General Mounir Shehadeh, former Lebanese government coordinator for the International Emergency Forces (UNIFIL), believes that Nasrallah’s speech is not the result of the war on Gaza and the battles in southern Lebanon only.
Shehadeh told the Arab World News Agency: “The issue goes back to Amos Hochstein’s visit last August to Lebanon, as his visit was aimed at addressing differences on the land borders, because the American administration thought that after demarcating the maritime borders, why not address the land border problem.”
Resolving controversial points
Shehadeh added: “Israel agreed, and began to acquiesce to talking about point (B1), which is the first point on the beach between Lebanon and Palestine in the Naqoura area, which Israel had refused to talk about before the maritime demarcation.”
He continued: “But after the visit of the American envoy, Israel became ready to talk about this point and the northern part of the village of Ghajar and the Shebaa Farms; The reason is due to the two tents that Hezbollah set up in the Bastara area in the Shebaa Farms in the south, as they then put great pressure on Israel.
He believed that “the Israelis were not ready to seize the two tents, because they realized that (Hezbollah) was fully prepared for military confrontation, so they tried through diplomatic means to resolve the issue until Hockstein came with ideas to address the land border.”
Brigadier General Shehadeh added: “What Nasrallah spoke did not come out of nowhere, but rather came as a result of Israeli readiness to solve the land border problem represented by the 13 reserved points, the Shebaa Farms, and the Kafr Shuba hills.”
Shehadeh explained the conditions that Nasrallah stressed in his speech related to the issue of the southern border, saying that “the first condition is that there is no cessation of operations in the south before stopping the aggression against Gaza; The second condition is to address disputes over the land borders and recover all Lebanese lands. The third is to prevent air, sea, and land violations, so it is prohibited to fly spy planes or use Lebanese airspace to bomb military sites in Syria.
He added: “We do not know where developments are headed, especially with the continued Israeli escalation in its targeting over the past days. But if we assume that the aggression against Gaza stops, then Israel was prepared to address the land border problem in advance, so what about with the intensification of the battles?!
Regarding the issue of the Shebaa Farms, which some see as a matter of dispute, whether it is Syrian or Lebanese, Brigadier General Shehadeh explained that the American envoy proposed that “among the treatment of the land borders is talking about the Shebaa Farms.”
He continued: “The land borders have been demarcated since 1923, when 38 points were defined between Naqoura and the Wazzani River. Then there was the armistice agreement in 1949 between Lebanon and Israel, which confirmed the international borders between Lebanon and Palestine. They planted 105 new points between the previous points, obligating Israel to retreat behind them. But the Blue Line (Israel’s withdrawal line in 2000) does not coincide with it in 13 points, which are the controversial points.”
Implementation of Resolution 1701
For his part, MP Ashraf Baydoun, a member of the Development and Liberation Bloc, said: “Lebanon respects international resolutions; The problem is the Israeli occupation of our lands, its violation of our sovereignty in various forms, and its violation of all international resolutions.”
He added in an interview with the Arab World News Agency: “Everyone who calls for the implementation of Resolution 1701 realizes that Israel is the one that must begin implementing it, because it includes 19 clauses, including more than 10 clauses obligating Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory and hand over the Shebaa Farms to the international emergency forces. Allowing the people to return to it and benefit from their rights there, and arming the Lebanese army so that it can carry out its tasks alongside international forces, in addition to the daily attacks on Lebanese sovereignty.”
He continued: “It is clear that there is a path led by Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu in which he is trying to plunge everyone into the quagmire of war. The Americans are seeking, in a parallel line, within a diplomatic option, to prevent the escalation of events, because its consequences will be negative for everyone, and no one wants negative development, and the price for which will be paid is the Israeli side, because it will be without limits.”
Baydoun says: “In front of these two lines, we hope for the victory of the option of stopping the aggression against Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon until the path to resolving the controversial points in the south begins.” Starting from the 13 reserved points on the Blue Line, all the way to the Lebanese village of North Ghajar, recognized by Resolution 1701, and point B1 (B1) in Naqoura until the Shebaa Farms, which the occupation must hand over to the international emergency forces in accordance with the international resolution.
Data for the field
As for Rola Berro, a researcher in international humanitarian law, she points out that the field data imposes the possibility of moving towards addressing the reserved points in the south.
Berro told the Arab World News Agency: “The Israeli side wants the party’s fighters to withdraw beyond the Litani River, which is rejected by the party and Netanyahu, under pressure from residents of the northern settlements, who were displaced as a result of Hezbollah’s strikes.” This difficult atmosphere may lead to opening a wider war or finding a final solution. But it is certainly unlikely to return to the previous stage.”
She added: “We all realize that what happens behind the scenes is not necessarily reflected in the media; Historical experiences are clear in the July 2006 war, as the Israeli goal was to eliminate Hezbollah, but this did not happen.”
The legal researcher points out that “fixing the land borders and Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories may be too early to talk about, as long as (Hezbollah) linked talking about it to stopping the aggression against Gaza. But if discussion is opened about it, it may not be with the current Israeli government, but rather requires a change on the opposite side, which is what has begun to emerge from disagreements within the (Israeli) government and the possibility of resolving them with an internal decision or American pressure.”
She said: “If we consider the possibility of completing border processing, what guarantees will be provided that Israel will not violate it (i.e. border demarcation agreement) in the future? This central question requires an answer from the American side, and then the Lebanese discussion begins about arming the Lebanese army and developing a defense policy, because many of the parties will say that there is no need for weapons to remain in the hands of (Hezbollah) as long as the reason for its existence has ended. Therefore, we are facing a different stage at the local and regional levels for years to come.”
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