Infiltration from Lebanon suspected

By David Rudge, Jerusalem Post, 15.6.00

HAIFA (June 15) - The first suspected infiltration from Lebanon last night put the northern communities on alert and sent the IDF scrambling to locate who put a hole in the border fence near Metulla.

As of press time, no infiltrators were located and military sources said the army was waiting for daybreak to try and determine just what caused the rip in the fence.

The IDF has been on high alert for infiltrations since Israel withdrew from the security zone three weeks ago.

UN teams are expected to complete their work on verifying the withdrawal in compliance with Security Council Resolution 425 by this afternoon, following a series of setbacks.

Diplomatic sources said that after completion of the process a full report would be sent to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and would also be submitted for the approval of the Security Council and the Lebanese government.

UNIFIL verification teams reached Metulla yesterday, having started their work on the Lebanese side from the coast, but still have the rest of the eastern sector to examine. This includes the village of Ghajar, which the UN withdrawal line dissects, and the Sheba farms district, both in the foothills of Mount Hermon.

Ghajar residents are categorically opposed to any division of the village, which has a population of 2,000 people, stating that they were never Lebanese citizens.

The withdrawal line determined by UN cartographers puts the northern section of the village in Lebanon and leaves the rest of Ghajar in Israel, which captured the village from Syria in the Six Day War.

The Lebanese government has raised objections over various points along the withdrawal line where it claims that land that should be under its control has been left in Israeli territory.

The Lebanese accompanying the UNIFIL verification teams charged that Israel is still holding military positions inside Lebanon. News agencies said the Lebanese allegations of encroachment ranged from 50 - 250 meters in areas that have already been examined.

One of the objections relates to a security fence built on the outskirts of Metulla which Lebanon claims extends onto fields belonging to Kafr Kila on the Lebanese side of the border.

The UN, however, has made it clear that it is not involved or concerned about delineating the official border between Israel and Lebanon but only in drawing up what it refers to as the withdrawal line to which Israel must withdraw in order to comply with Security Council Resolution 425.

UNIFIL spokesman Timur Goksel said last night that verification of Israel's withdrawal to the line marked by UN experts was the sole responsibility of the UN. "The Lebanese are checking it from their point of view, but the task of verification is that of the UN," said Goksel.

The work on verifying the withdrawal has been delayed on the Lebanese side by mines left behind in the field by the IDF as well as the difficult access to the marker posts and the fact that the Lebanese Army officials accompanying UNIFIL teams Tuesday attended the funeral of Syrian president Hafez Assad.

Arieh O'Sullivan contributed to this report.