Border area was farmed by Lebanese but registered as part of Syria

FINTAN LANE (Irish Examiner letters, August 30) accuses me of being utterly incorrect in my assertion (Irish Examiner letters, August 18) that the area known as Shebaa Farms is generally considered to be a part of Syria. He also claims it is widely accepted to be part of Lebanon.

Until the Six Day War in 1967, the area belonged to Syria. The legal base for Syrian sovereignty was the edict issued by General Henri Gouraud, the French high commissioner, on August 31, 1920, defining the territory and boundaries of the ‘State of Greater Lebanon’, separating it from Syria.

Between 1920 and the capture by Israel of the Golan Heights in 1967, the Syrian territory, including the Shebaa Farms, was farmed mainly by Lebanese from their local villages.

The farms and their residents were registered as Syrian and are included in the district of Damascus in the Syrian census, for example, in 1960.

However, even if we forget the history of the Shebaa Farms, it is a fact that the UN was informed on May 22, 2000, that Israel had met the requirements of Resolution 425.

Those requirements were that Israel completely withdraw from Lebanese territory. This meant, ipso facto, that the Shebaa Farms were part of Syria.

While there may have been some reservations, “both governments have confirmed that establishing the identifying line was the sole responsibility of the United Nations and that they would respect the line the United Nations identified”.

Surely, Mr Lane, nothing could be clearer than this.

He has taken me up also for saying Beirut was relatively undamaged, adding that apparently I believe the people of Lebanon should feel grateful to Israel for its consideration. He knows I made that point in reply to his statement that missiles and bombs fell on Beirut. His intention was to make readers think that Beirut was bombed to destruction.

The point I was making was that 95% of Beirut was not touched and life went on there throughout the war because people knew Israel had no fight with Lebanon, but only with the Hezbollah state within the state.

Mr Lane says a time will surely come when Arab and Jews can live side by side in peace and harmony. If he really wants this to happen, he should stop writing propaganda.

Henry Guterman

42 Lidgate Grove

Didsbury

Manchester M20 6TS

England