I’lam demands from the Northern Military Commander that Arab journalists be granted permission to report from the northern Ghajar village that Israel has occupied since the Lebanon War 2006 and has declared a closed military zone.
This demand is in order to ensure Arab journalists’ rights to freedom of occupation (work), freedom of movement and the right to freedom of expression. This call is particularly relevant as it is being made on May 3, World Press Freedom Day.
Read the full Press Release in Arabic here.
Read the Letter to the Northern Military Commander in Hebrew here.
Background on Ghajar:
There have been talks by Israel to withdraw from the Ghajar village, located on the border of the Israel-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, Syria and Lebanon. The village is under illegal Israeli occupation. While residents may move liberally to other parts of the occupied Golan Heights and to Israel, many say they feel trapped in a political predicament. They have no right of entry to Syria or Lebanon just yards away from their homes, and while they are more disturbed by the fact that no outsiders are permitted into the village, other than occupying Israeli soldiers.
The village has the nuisance of finding itself on the frontlines of Israels conflicts with adjacent states. Prior to 1967, Ghajar was considered part of Syria, until Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel integrated Ghajar in its occupied territory and residents soon accepted Israeli citizenship. Over the years, the village expanded northward into Lebanese territory. In 2000, the United Nations drew the blue line to establish the absolute borders between Israel and Lebanon, the northern half of the village came under Lebanese control and the southern part remained under Israel. Israel re-occupied the northern half of Ghajar in the 2006 Lebanon War, citing security concern to validate unrelenting presence.
Israel agreed to retreat from the northern part of Ghajar in April 2009, although recently the Israel government suspended talks pending the outcome of the Lebanese Parliamentary elections, fearing Hezbollah victory. | .jpg)
