Israel-UNIFIL talks end without agreement

Bethlehem - Ma'an - A second round of talks between Israel and UNIFIL concerning the occupied Lebanese village of Ghajar have ended without an agreement, Israel's Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday. In a statement, the ministry said the meeting was aimed at reaching a temporary agreement on the issue. Talks are scheduled to continue in the next few weeks, the statement added. Following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, the UN determined that the international border between Syria and Lebanon cuts across the village. Israel maintains its occupation of the southern section of the village, frequently invading the northern Lebanese part. The Foreign Ministry statement said "Israel clarified that it is committed to continue its attempts to reach an agreement concerning Ghajar village within the framework of UN Security Council resolution 1701."

That resolution, which dictated the terms of the ceasefire at the end of the 2006 Israel-Hizbullah war, calls for a total Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanese section, which Israel occupied along with the Syrian Golan Heights, in 1967, later annexing the town in 1981.
In any case, the ministry said its negotiating team, headed by General Yossi Gal, enjoyed a "pleasant atmosphere" in the second round of talks with UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano, who Gal congratulated on his promotion to three-star general in the Italian army.
Israel stressed that it is committed to continuing attempts to reach an agreement within the UN resolution's framework, "while maintaining the security of Israel and its citizens on the one hand, and showing the utmost concern for the wellbeing and daily routines of the villagers including the preservation of the fabric of life in the village, on the other," the Foreign Ministry statement said.
Last fall, however, Avigdor Lieberman, who heads Israel's Foreign Ministry, vowed not to reach an agreement over the village. "There will be no accord with Lebanon and Syria, Ghajar is entirely under Israeli sovereignty," he told residents there.

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