A Visit to Ghajar (Raajar)

The village of Ghajar (pronounced Raajar from the Arabic) until last week was forbidden for the Israeli public to visit. Entry used to be restricted to residents only or to those with special permits. But that changed last week, when Israel decided to lift all limits on movement into the village.

I was on a trip to the North with a number of residents from our village and was really surprised when we were told that we were to visit there

Sometimes it's been claimed by Lebanon, Syria, and Israel. Other times, it's been cut off from them all. It landed in its strange position following the 1967 Six Day War, in which Israel captured the Golan Heights.

In 1981, when Israel passed a law formally annexing the Golan Heights, it offered residents the right to citizenship. An offer declined by most of the Golan’s Syrian Druze community, but taken up by the residents of Ghajar. 

The villagers hale from the Alawite community best known as being the ruling elite of the regime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, most Alawites live along the Syrian coastal strip. And so, despite originally being Syrian, most of Ghajar's 2,500 inhabitants hold dual Israeli and Lebanese citizenship.

Although when asked, most opposed dividing the town and opted to remain under Israeli rule.

"Look, we are Syrians, living in a Syrian village and we remain Syrian. Nothing has changed. We have Israeli citizenship and we belong to the State of Israel. We adhere to its laws and we protect our home. That's all," explained local tour guide Jamal Khateeb.

But with no effective border on its northern end, Ghajar became infamous in recent years as a hub of arms and drug smuggling from Lebanon. But that changed in late July. The local council erected a fence, completely blocking access from Lebanon into the village.

Previously, no fence ever existed that blocked access to Ghajar from Lebanese territory.

"Now, we are like any other village or town in Israel and people can enter it freely," noted Bilal Khateeb. And Israelis appear to have taken that invitation, already flocking to the village.

One’s first impression travelling through the village is of the beauty of the village, flower beds care for, no rubbish littering the streets, ornamental roundabouts.

The photo taken below is self explanatory. Looking out from the Western side of the village one see a Lebanese village not more than a few hundred metres away. Between out vantage point and the Lebanese village is the international border just beyond the river Hisbani. On the Israeli side is the UN check post “monitoring”, both sdies to ensure adherence to the terms of the International agreement. Seems they must have been sleeping when the Lebanese villages ran a 2” pipe to pump water from the river to their village in defiance of the international law. What did the UN personnel do about it? As usual NOTHING!!!