UN To Map Disputed Shaba Farms Area On Israel-Lebanon Border

Taken from Haaretz, 30/10/2006
By Aluf Benn

The United Nations will appoint a cartographer to map the precise location and area of the Shaba Farms, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni reported to the cabinet on Sunday.

The status of the territory on the slopes of Mount Hermon is disputed by Lebanon, Syria and Israel and its boundaries have never been precisely defined.

Livni said the cartographer would start working in mid-November from UN headquarters in New York, and not conduct surveying at the site itself at this stage.

The move was decided on following the periodical report of UN envoy Terje Larsen about the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559.

Israel took over the area in 1967 and sees it as part of the Golan Heights. The UN accepted this position following the IDF's pullout from Lebanon in May 2000 but Hezbollah and Lebanon claim that this is Lebanese territory still under Israeli occupation.

During the recent war in Lebanon, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Israel should leave the Shaba Farms and place the area in UN custody until the sovereignty issue is settled.

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried to persuade Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to agree to discuss Shaba Farms, but he refused.

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Once this issue is settled then the issue of the The Golan Heights should be addressed then Jerusalem and the remaining occupied Palestinian Land. When all of these issues are settled then the rest of the world can live in peace and get on with our lives, unfortunately the governments of Isreal and USA beg to differ and feel that illegal occupation is necessary for the survival of Isreal and a tool to control Middle East policies.