What Is Shebaa Farms?
Question: What Is Shebaa Farms?
Answer:
Shebaa Farms is a 10-square-mile area of of disputed land on the Syria-Lebanon border occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Iraeli war.
Controversy over Shebaa Farms flared up in 2000 following Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon after 22 years of occupation beginning in 1978, and in belated compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 425.
The United Nations certified that Israel had withdrawn from all Lebanese territory. Hezbollah, the militant Shiite militia and political organization that controls South Lebanon, insisted that Israel was still occupying Shebaa Farms, and that Hezbollah would continue its attacks on Israel until Israel withdrew. Israel maintains that Shebaa Farms was Syrian territory when Israel occupied it, and that Hezbollah has no claim.
The Lebanese government, however, officially seconds Hezbollah's position. And, in fact, the United Nations subsequently confirmed that the village of Shebaa itself, after which some 14 farms that make up Shebaa Farms are named, is in Lebanese territory, thus establishing that Israel seized the village of Shebaa, in Lebanese territory, during its 1967 invasion.
According to the Shebaa Farms Foundation, "Lebanese and Syrian officials insisted that Syria had officially given the territory to Lebanon in 1951. Lebanese officials pointed to the fact that a number of residents in the area have land deeds stamped by the Lebanese government.
Lebanese army maps published in 1961 and 1966 specifically pinpoint several of the Shebaa Farms, including Zebdine, Fashkoul, Mougr Shebaa and Ramta, all of which are designated as being lebanese. Lebanese Ministry of Tourism maps also show the Lebanese-Syrian border running west of the Shebaa Farms. Syria has officially acknowledged the Farms are Lebanese."
In a 2000 report to the Security Council, then-UN Secretary General Kofi Anan wrote, ""There seems to be no official record of an international boundary agreement between Lebanon and Syria that could easily establish the line for purposes of confirming the withdrawal." Syria, however, never officially recognized Lebanon as an independent nation, nor had full diplomatic relations with Lebanon, until 2009, when the two nations opened embassies in each other's capitals and exchanged ambassadors. Since Lebanon won its independence from France in 1943, Syria had insisted that Lebanon remained part of greater Syria. That leaves Shebaa Farms' official status even murkier, since Lebanon may have claimed the farms as its own (as it did the village of Shebaa), while Syria hadn't recognized them as such.
All of which is irrelevant today. Syria agrees with Lebanon: Shebaa Farms is Lebanese territory. Syria likely has its own motives finally to declare Shebaa Farms Lebanese territory since it would force Israel to give up territory it captured in 1967, when it took over Syria's Golan Heights.
While the Lebanese government's position and motives appear the most justified and defensible, Hezbollah's motives are the least legitimate. Hezbollah is not the Lebanese government, although it holds a few seats in the 128-member Lebanese parliament. Hezbollah's militia, the most powerful in Lebanon, is an illegal organization in defiance of Lebanese sovereignty.
But it is also the most powerful military force in Lebanon, with two significant feathers in its cap: Israel's withdrawal in 2000 was a direct result of Hezbollah's guerilla war against Israeli occupation since the early 1980s, making it the first time that Israel was compelled militarily to surrender territory tpo an Arab force. And Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 2006, ostensibly to destroy Hezbollah, ended in humiliation for Israel as the Israeli military withdrew again at the end of the 34-day war with nothing gained. Lebanon's infrastructure was in ruins, earning Israel sever global criticism, and Hezbollah was rendered stronger for having merely not lost to Israel. Hezbollah's legitimacy was burnished, giving it further claim to speak for the "liberation" of Shebaa Farms.
Still, without Shebaa Farms as an excuse, Hezbollah would have no other reason to claim that Israel is an aggressor or an occupier of Lebanese territory--the only justification for Hezbollah's maintenance of a militia.
As a result, Shebaa Farms has become the principal flash point between Hezbollah and Israel and, by extension, between Lebanon and Israel--and may yet lead to another war.
What is beyond question is this: the land known as Shebaa Farms belongs either to Lebanon or to Syria, not to Israel. But it is illegally occupied by Israel according to the United Nations.
Answer:
Shebaa Farms is a 10-square-mile area of of disputed land on the Syria-Lebanon border occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Iraeli war.
The Controversy
Controversy over Shebaa Farms flared up in 2000 following Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon after 22 years of occupation beginning in 1978, and in belated compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 425.
The United Nations certified that Israel had withdrawn from all Lebanese territory. Hezbollah, the militant Shiite militia and political organization that controls South Lebanon, insisted that Israel was still occupying Shebaa Farms, and that Hezbollah would continue its attacks on Israel until Israel withdrew. Israel maintains that Shebaa Farms was Syrian territory when Israel occupied it, and that Hezbollah has no claim.
Lebanon and Shebaa Farms
The Lebanese government, however, officially seconds Hezbollah's position. And, in fact, the United Nations subsequently confirmed that the village of Shebaa itself, after which some 14 farms that make up Shebaa Farms are named, is in Lebanese territory, thus establishing that Israel seized the village of Shebaa, in Lebanese territory, during its 1967 invasion.
According to the Shebaa Farms Foundation, "Lebanese and Syrian officials insisted that Syria had officially given the territory to Lebanon in 1951. Lebanese officials pointed to the fact that a number of residents in the area have land deeds stamped by the Lebanese government.
Lebanese army maps published in 1961 and 1966 specifically pinpoint several of the Shebaa Farms, including Zebdine, Fashkoul, Mougr Shebaa and Ramta, all of which are designated as being lebanese. Lebanese Ministry of Tourism maps also show the Lebanese-Syrian border running west of the Shebaa Farms. Syria has officially acknowledged the Farms are Lebanese."
The United Nations and Shebaa Farms
In a 2000 report to the Security Council, then-UN Secretary General Kofi Anan wrote, ""There seems to be no official record of an international boundary agreement between Lebanon and Syria that could easily establish the line for purposes of confirming the withdrawal." Syria, however, never officially recognized Lebanon as an independent nation, nor had full diplomatic relations with Lebanon, until 2009, when the two nations opened embassies in each other's capitals and exchanged ambassadors. Since Lebanon won its independence from France in 1943, Syria had insisted that Lebanon remained part of greater Syria. That leaves Shebaa Farms' official status even murkier, since Lebanon may have claimed the farms as its own (as it did the village of Shebaa), while Syria hadn't recognized them as such.
All of which is irrelevant today. Syria agrees with Lebanon: Shebaa Farms is Lebanese territory. Syria likely has its own motives finally to declare Shebaa Farms Lebanese territory since it would force Israel to give up territory it captured in 1967, when it took over Syria's Golan Heights.
Hezbollah and Shebaa Farms
While the Lebanese government's position and motives appear the most justified and defensible, Hezbollah's motives are the least legitimate. Hezbollah is not the Lebanese government, although it holds a few seats in the 128-member Lebanese parliament. Hezbollah's militia, the most powerful in Lebanon, is an illegal organization in defiance of Lebanese sovereignty.
But it is also the most powerful military force in Lebanon, with two significant feathers in its cap: Israel's withdrawal in 2000 was a direct result of Hezbollah's guerilla war against Israeli occupation since the early 1980s, making it the first time that Israel was compelled militarily to surrender territory tpo an Arab force. And Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 2006, ostensibly to destroy Hezbollah, ended in humiliation for Israel as the Israeli military withdrew again at the end of the 34-day war with nothing gained. Lebanon's infrastructure was in ruins, earning Israel sever global criticism, and Hezbollah was rendered stronger for having merely not lost to Israel. Hezbollah's legitimacy was burnished, giving it further claim to speak for the "liberation" of Shebaa Farms.
Still, without Shebaa Farms as an excuse, Hezbollah would have no other reason to claim that Israel is an aggressor or an occupier of Lebanese territory--the only justification for Hezbollah's maintenance of a militia.
As a result, Shebaa Farms has become the principal flash point between Hezbollah and Israel and, by extension, between Lebanon and Israel--and may yet lead to another war.
The Indisputable
What is beyond question is this: the land known as Shebaa Farms belongs either to Lebanon or to Syria, not to Israel. But it is illegally occupied by Israel according to the United Nations.
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