Hi,
I must say this is not how I thought my first visit to Ghajar would look like – riding on a light armored vehicle called David on the way to a mission to the Lebanon border.
We had a plan to visit here just after the village was open to visitors other than its own residents, but we ended up spending more time with Atzva relatives in Golan heights.
If you ask yourself what I mean by writing the village, it opens itself for visitors, that is quite complicated, so try to follow up.
Israel had conquered the Golan Heights from Syria on the Six Day war, setting the border between the countries along the volcanoes line.
The border between Israel and Lebanon has not changed since the Israel independence war in 1948.
This village, Ghajar, was a Syrian village that was conquered from Syria with Golan Heights. Lebanon claims that Israel had conquered it from it, and not from Syria.
The border between Syria and Lebanon was not clearly marked between the countries. Syria was stronger and did in Lebanon as it wished and had no interest in setting a clear border.
This is basically the reason why Hezbollah attacks Israel – it claims Israel needs to withdraw from Shebaa Farm.
Ghajar was conquered from Syria on the Six Day war as well. Some say IDF forces thought it was in Lebanon and did not conquer it. The villagers later had surrounded Israel as they considered themselves Syrian and were not part of Lebanon.
When Israel invaded Lebanon on Litani operation (1978) and stayed there until May 2000. During this time, there was not a clear border on the border line, and many buildings were built north to the Israel Lebanon border.
When Israel had withdrawn from Lebanon, the village was cut in half: the southern part to Israel and the northern to Lebanon. Israel did see all the village residents as Israel citizens, and the border between the parts was open for locals. But in order to get in, you had to cross a military checkpost.
About a year ago, the citizens made a fence about the northern part of the village l, separating it from Lebanon. The option then opened for all Isralies to visit the place.
Now, because of the not-yet-year in the north, the situation is back to what it was and I got there only as part of my reserve duty.
Take Care
Gad
Ghajar main square
The entrance gate to the village
Looking on the village from south
The view of the Hasbani stream creek from Ghajar (Source: www.masa.co.il)
Ghajar on top of the Hasbani stream creek. On the cliff below you can see the border road and fence and below it the stream (Source: www.calcalist.co.il)
The view of the village over the Hasbani (Snir) stream from Lebanon side of the stream (Source: www.ynet.co.il)