Comments on: Israeli FM Tells Border Villagers: You Weren’t Conquered, You Were Liberated

By: Popsiq

Popsiq — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:19:08 +0000

They should be 'liberated' out of their houses. Property is such a drag.

By: Daily Briefing — 6th-7th August 2009 « Little Alex in Wonderland

Daily Briefing — 6th-7th August 2009 « Little Alex in Wonderland — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:50:01 +0000

[...] “You weren’t conquered, you were liberated,” Israel’s neo-fascist FM Avigdor Lieberman told the people of Ghajar, invaded and occupied by Israel in its 2006 war with Lebanon (AntiWar.com). [...]

By: homingpigeon

homingpigeon — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:55:11 +0000

This is an interesting community. As Alawis, they are physically cut off and far from the demographic center of other Syrian Alawis. The rest of the Golan residents remaining from the pre-67 era are Druse. Through most of modern history their village has been too remote for either Syria or Lebanon to care precisely where the border line went. Apparently the French colonial officers marking the border in the '20s had had enough for the day and drew a line on their own charts without hiking through the terrain and correlating the line to the facts on the ground, hence the confusion as to whether they are part of the Syrian occupied Golan heights, to be returned to Syria someday, or part of Southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, they are reputed to be the main hashish smugglers for the area, keeping the Israelis supplied with good stuff from Lebanon.