The Israeli government approved on Wednesday a plan to pull out its forces from the northern part of a village on the Lebanese border.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presided over a meeting of the 15-member security cabinet and passed the northern Ghajar withdrawal in a vote but did not set a date, Israeli officials said. That would await security talks with U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, they said.
During his recent visit to the USA, Netanyahu introdued the plan to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Meanwhile, Najib Khatib, a village spokesman, accused the Israeli government of ignoring the wishes of the locals. "No government body has spoken to us. They are playing with our emotions," he told Israel's Army Radio. "The uncertainty is killing us. Ten years we have been going through this. We are fighting for the village so that it won't be divided. It has never belonged to Lebanon and the Lebanese know this."
