Ghajar, a 2000-strong village which straddles the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, is a territory claimed by three countries: Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
Recent talk of splitting the village between Israel and Lebanon has villagers incensed and taking to the streets.
“Nobody wants this,” Najib Khatib, a village leader, tells The Media Line. “It’s not enough that we are essentially living within a prison, now they want to put a fence right in the middle.”
“They are going to divide families, take mothers from their kids,” he says. “Yet the government is not updating us, not including us in the decisions, and not even informing us. Nobody cares about us, they treat us like animals and we hear about the future of the village from the media.”
“We have no problem if Israel wants to return the entire village to Lebanon,” Khatib adds. “But not as refugees without our lands. We are one united village. The entire village is one big family and we won’t let the U.N. come in just to divide us.” Source: the media line
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