Once Upon a Farm
Current dynamics are changing, and one of these factors are Shebaa Farms. Quite a few people have said that they were part of the 10,452 km^2 Lebanon, but the history behind these farms is slightly grayer than such a decisive answer. There are also people, like Elias Bejjani, who mistakingly states that "Only one week after the Israeli withdrawal, Syria concocted the problem of the Shebaa Farms and made an issue out of it", but some of his other assertions are more correct.On April 16, Israel announced its aim of leaving Lebanon, and the UN was involved in demarcating the line of withdrawal. Israel provided maps showing that the land was part of Syria before 1967, and the Lebanese government provided land deeds, tax reports, and government documents which were meant to show the lands were under Lebanese control.
We know that the Syrian-Lebanese border was never officially determined, and that the residents paid taxes to Lebanon. In fact, the French maps located the lands within the Syrian border, and did report this anamoly, but nothing was done by France, Syria, or Lebanon. In the late 1950's, Syria tried to force the residents to use Syrian identification cards instead of their Lebanese ones, and they were included in a state census. A few years before the 1967 war, an attempt was made to demarcate the borders, but without success.
After the 1967 war, the Lebanese government did not really press the issue. It was revived slightly in the 1980's (with Hezbollah), and in fact did become an important Lebanese issue before April 2000, but the government only made it an offical claim in May 4, 2000.
The issue of liberating this land (which is just over 20 square km) was agreed upon by most, if not all political groups, but the means for doing so were not. Several saw Hezbollah's actions in Shebaa as detrimental to the Lebanese interests, including Qornet Shehwan, Patriarch Sfeir, Gerban Tueni (at the time, through his editorials), and Shaheed Rafiq Al-Hariri, who had countered Hezbollah's actions several times (and who was "calmed" down by Syria). An interesting example comes from none else than Walid Jumblatt, who initially attacked Hezbollah's actions (arguing that Shebaa might not really be Lebanese), but after a short visit by Khaddam, Jumblat supported the continuation of the struggle (and for continued Syrian presence). After an incident in 2002 (when Palestinian militias attempted to join Hezbollah's attacks on Shebaa), Ghazi Aridi said that "We do not approve any [military] action if it is not within the framework of the Lebanese resistance." Part of Hezbollah's approach to this was to remark that it fights and protects Lebanese sovereignty, not realizing the contradiction that they also "challenge the sovereignty of the state by fulfilling its functions on the civil and military levels", something which is partly a result of the weakness of the state.
Shebaa can be seen through the lens of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Something I had not known before was that Shebaa farms also contain a religious aspect. There is a site in the center of the region where the "Covenant of the Pieces between Abraham and God" occured (for Islam and Judaism), and was a pilgrimage site for Muslims before 1967. Of course, since an Lebanese struggle is never claimed to be one sided, people also stated that parts of Shebaa belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church ... thus both religions have a stake in regaining Shebaa.
Three years ago, Asher Kaufman published a case study on Shebaa Farms (this was in fact the only publication I could easily get my hands on with regards to Shebaa - there were others, but they entailed wading through microfilm ... ), where he analyzes in more depth the nature of this conflict, how it entered and left Lebanese political discourse, and the unprofessional nature of the Lebanese government in all this. This may soon change with the recent public declaration that Shebaa is Lebanese - however, it is yet to be seen whether Israel will reciprocate and fulfill the resolution. Sharon did hint towards this, but provided a condition.
In this publication, Kaufman compares Shebaa to Taba (Taba is Egyptian land) and to the "Temple of Preah Vihear" (between Thailand - then Siam - and Cambodia). In the case of the Temple, which was originally Siamese, the ICJ ruled in favor of Cambodia (based on a 1908 French map that was accepted by both sides) since Siam was "not entitled to vitiate its consent now, given the fact that its very conduct had contributed to the perpetuation of the error". Let's hope Lebanon's case doesn't get framed like this.
posted by Lazarus, 8:33 PM
9 Comments:
Thanx for the historical insight, I learned a lot more about Shebaa farms issue in this post than thru all the articles I have read in the media. Good job!
By
Anonymous, at 8:44 AM
Good research! I am not sure about your political allegiance, but the article seems unbiased. It is too bad that Syria still plays games regarding who owns these farms.
By
Anonymous, at 10:51 AM
Maya and May - glad you enjoyed it. May, the publication is called "The Shebaa Farms: A Case study of border dynamics in the middle east". If you need more info concerning this, just send me an email.
Free Lebanon - political allegience? :) Do I have to be loyal to someone?
By
Lazarus, at 2:53 PM
Lazarus,
what was Sharon's condition? do you have a link?
Issam
By
Anonymous, at 10:10 PM
Issam, it can be found here. The part I was referring to was:
وقال المسؤول نفسه ان "اسرائيل لن تنجر وراء استفزازات حزب الله ولن تجعل عمليات تكتيكية عند الحدود حدثا استراتيجيا" معتبرا ان "حزب الله يحاول جرّ اسرائيل الى كمين كهذا وتنفذ ردا عسكريا كبيرا". وتابع ان "من الجائز التوصل الى اتفاق تعلن سوريا من خلاله انها تتنازل بشكل رسمي عن ادعاءات حول ملكيتها لمزارع شبعا، وسيكون بإمكان اسرائيل في مقابل ذلك إعادة هذه المنطقة الى لبنان في مقابل نزع سلاح حزب الله او انخراطه في القوات اللبنانية الرسمية".
By
Lazarus, at 10:24 PM
Silly question: how many people actually live in Shebaa? What do they think about it? What country do they want to belong to? Does anyone else think it's a good idea to let them decide?
If only it were a fairy-tale. Things would be much simpler. Hizbollah would decide to stop using Shebaa as an excuse for keeping its weapons, Syria would officially declare that the farms are not Syrian, and Sharon would withdraw Israeli troops without conditions. Then everyone will live happily ever after.
By
Anonymous, at 10:30 AM
Anon - I don't have any hard facts concerning this, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that there are several thousand people ... but don't take my word for that.
I don't know what they currently want, but recently there lebanese land documents were put forth as proof that shebaa is lebanese - although i don't know if this was done because they wanted it to be done.
And yes, I wish everyone could live happily ever after :) but we wouldn't be having this discussion then would we :)
By
Lazarus, at 5:42 PM
Hola aficionados,
llevo tiempo intentando encontrar un MAPA de las SHEBAA FARMS.
Yo busco un BUEN MAPA, no lo que hasta ahora ha salido en internet.
Deseo un mapa FISICO-POLITICO, es decir con las "fronteras" o "demarcaciones" del territorio o del lugar de las FARMS.
El pasado dia 27 de diciembre, estuve allí,desde DAN pase a lo que es el GOLAN, al OESTE de la SION JUNCTION, y donde esta la carretera que va a las SHEBAA FARMS.
Los soldados israelis no me dejaron pasar, volví a la SION JUNCTION, y pocos metros más lejos me metí en un CAMPO DE MINAS, para poder decir que habia estado en las SHEBAA FARMS, e hice unas pocas fotos.
En los mapas de SURVEY OF ISRAEL, escala 1:50.000 no aparece la "frontera" de las SHEBAA FARMS, y en GOOGLE EARTH se puede ver la zona, pero es FISICA, y yo deseo tambien la parte POLITICA, con las demarcaciones o fronteras.
En la oficina del SURVEY OF ISRAEL, en Jerusalem, no me quisieron vender o dar información sobre las "fronteras" de las SHEBAA FARMS, ni tampoco información sobre mapas a la escala de 1:10.000 o escala similar.
¿Alguien puede ayudarme?
De antemano agradezco cualquier MAPA o sugerencia de como encontrarlo.
Gracias. mauricioespinar@hotmail.com
By
Anonymous, at 4:25 AM
Helo there,
I am most interested in obtaining a GOOD MAP of the SHEBAA FARMS AND AREA.
I would like a PHISICAL=POLITICAL MAP, a map that SHOWS the BORDERS OR DEMARCATIONS OR FENCES OF THE AREA.
The maps in internet are not good enogh at all, the GOOGLE EARTH map is great, but shows no borders.
I was there on December the 27th 2005. From DAN went to the SION JUNCTION, turned west up to the road that goes to the SHEBAA FARMS, the soldier at the GATE on the road did not allow me to proceed, so went back to the SION JUNCTION, and a few meters further, saw the sign "DANGER MINES", and I knew that I was there. Then opened the barbed wire and WENT INSIDE THE MINE FIELD, so at least I knew that I had been inside the area of the SHEBAA FARMS.
In the map office of the SURVEY OF ISRAEL in Jerusalam, they have maps othe area, scale 1:50.000, only in HEBREW, but do NOT SHOW THE BORDERS OF THE SHEBAA FARMS, and they do not have for the public maps on the scale 1:10.000 nor do they want to tell me where could I get them.
Can someone help me?
Thanking you in advance for all the troubles, and hoping for a soon and positive reply.
Greetings from the island of Mallorca.
Mauricio Espinar
mauricioespinar@hotmail.com
By
Anonymous, at 4:52 AM
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