While the world discusses a division of Jerusalem, one town’s division has already failed. The UN drew the Israeli-Lebanese border in the middle of the Arab town of Ghajar, though its residents begged for Israeli citizenship.
After Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in the year 2000, Hezbollah took over the town’s Lebanese part and used it for cross-border operations against Israel. In the open fields, the border is plowed, mined, and barb-wired, but in the town it’s just a barrier.
In 2006 Israel recaptured the Lebanese part and Olmert’s government dragged out the talks on returning it. Netanyahu suspended the talks, citing uncertainty over Hezbollah’s takeover of Lebanon, which is expected in a few weeks in the US-sponsored elections.
