Last update - 00:00 10/12/2006
Ghajar residents protest decision to divide the border village
By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent
Some 1,000 residents of the village of Ghajar demonstrated Sunday over Israel's decision to hand the northern half of the village over to Lebanon under the supervision of the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The protesters carried signs reading "the Berlin wall was torn down, and in Ghajar it is being built" and "you don't cut a human in half."
Ghajar council head Ahmed Fatali said that the village residents do not have access to civil services.
"No one will talk to us, we are not invited to take part in decisions regarding our future, the state is ignoring us," he said.
According to Fatali, there is no police presence in the village and therefore there is no law. In addition, the phone and electric lines are failing but technicians can't enter the village to repair the failures.
"Ghajar is one whole village and a part of the Golan," protesters called out. "We want to stay in the Golan."