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Espionage and drugs rock Israel’s northern border

Over the past two years, an espionage network has been operating in northern Israel for Hizbullah, say Israeli security forces after a lengthy investigation. The network was composed of eleven Jews and Arabs, all Israeli residents, eight from Ghajar, a village on the Israeli-Lebanese border, and three residents of the northern town of Qiryat Shmona.

This item uses reports from the Israeli newspapers Ma’ariv and Haaretz, as well as telephone interviews from Israel Radio and other sources.

The small village Ghajar is the core of the investigation. The village was drawn unwillingly into an international dispute involving Syria, Israel, Lebanon and the UN. A brief look at the history of the village reveals that in just less than forty years, the village was under Syrian sovereignty, then Israeli, and was finally divided between Israel and Lebanon.

The account starts with the Six Day War in 1967. Israel conquered the Golan Heights from Syria, including Ghajar in the north-west. Thus, the village was controlled by Israel and many of its inhabitants fled to Syria. Fifteen years later Israel entered Lebanon in what was called Operation Peace for Galilee. The aim of this operation was to secure the northern communities, yet it became Israel’s Vietnam War. Israel remained in South Lebanon for 18 years in order to stop infiltration of terrorists from the northern border.

In May 2000 Ehud Barak, then prime minister, ordered the withdrawal from Lebanon. The UN became involved by sending teams of inspectors to the area to decide on the exact borders of the retreat, so that Lebanon or the Hizbullah, who practically controlled South Lebanon, would have no further demands. The inspectors, in a controversial move, decided to draw the Israeli-Lebanese border line inside Ghajar, thus dividing it into two. It is worth noting that the village is situated on the border of Israel, Lebanon and Syria but never actually belonged to Lebanon. Until 1967 it was under Syrian control. Thus, those who resided in the northern part of the village suddenly found themselves officially belonging to Lebanon.

In the retreat map agreed upon by Israel in 2000, this northern section indeed belongs to Lebanon. According to Menahem Horowitz, reporter for Israel’s Channel 2 television, he was able to travel uninterruptedly between the two parts of the village only a few weeks ago and to witness “Hizbullah fighters standing and talking with residents of the northern part just 80 meters away from me.”

This is the nub of the problem.

A while back, security forces cautioned that the village poses a weak point, since its residents can travel to both the Lebanese and the Israeli side; a weak point of which the Hizbullah is highly likely to take advantage. Unlike the rest of the Israeli northern border, there is no buffer zone between the village and Lebanon. Despite terror alerts, until this day there has been no inspection of those entering through Ghajar into Israel, or vice versa.

According to an indictment submitted to the district court in Nazareth this week, the leaders of the Israeli espionage network delivered vital information to Hizbullah operatives in return for Hizbullah’s assistance in organizing the smuggling of four tons of drugs from Lebanon into Israel. The information transferred to Hizbullah included photographs and video footage of some of the main junctions and army bases in northern Israel. Furthermore, it included a CD containing information of Israel’s population registry, apparently intended for planning terror attacks against prominent public personalities. Hizbullah also obtained military equipment such as night-vision binoculars, army uniforms and communication devices in return.

Israeli security officials said “this affair demonstrates how far Hizbullah intelligence can reach into Israel. Hizbullah is a tough enemy, collecting information constantly with the intention of using it when the time comes.” Those sources added that Ghajar is a weak point since on exit one goes through a random security check, and in fact the residents can roam into Israel freely. IDF officials state that despite all this, a decision to change the situation depends on the political echelon alone.

So what do the politicians have to say? In the meantime, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz regards the issue laconically stating “the law will find a way to…put these people on trial if they are responsible.”