Official announcements indicate that Israel has initiated talks on establishing a mutually agreed upon border line with Lebanon. Such agreement is indeed welcome, but it must protect Israeli interests, primarily by drawing a defensible border line that allows Israeli citizens to live safely in the northern towns. The new border should be determined at the close of the war and its Israeli victory, not based on reconstructing the Mandatory border line from 100 years ago.
Since the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 and the international recognition of the Blue Line, approximately 13 points have remained in dispute. Such disputes served as the pretext for the Hezbollah terror organization to justify its military buildup and its threats to conquer the Galilee. The current war and its results preclude the return to the point that negotiation talks were at before October 7th. For nearly a year, Hezbollah launched strikes that destroyed homes along the northern border. The IDF’s military operation “Northern Arrows” also exposed enormous weapons stockpiles intended for the massacre of Israeli residents. Now that Israel has completed the destruction of Hezbollah targets intended for assault on northern towns, it is time to redefine the border in a way that prevents future aggression and enables adequate defense. Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah was the aggressor in this war, joining Sinwar and Hamas in their assault on Israel, and Lebanon must pay the price. During the war, the IDF has positioned itself at vulnerable security points along the fence, and such deployment must be preserved, drawing the new border in a way that ensures sustainable defense and reduces the incentive to attack Israel once more.
Despite the similarity to the legal conditions that led to the application of Israeli law in the Golan, the issue here at hand is simply border corrections. In the Golan, Israel defeated Syria, which had invaded sovereign Israeli territory after turning the plateau into a forward base to shell Israeli towns. Israel transformed the area it had historical claims to into a flourishing Israeli region, after defeating the aggressor. Israel has similar historical claims in southern Lebanon: Zionist leaders saw the Litani as the natural northern border, and lands in southern Lebanon were owned by Jews. But despite Israel’s claims to the territory, and unlike the situation in the Golan, the State of Israel has no demand that southern Lebanon become Israeli territory. However, this background does provide justification for border adjustments, even in cases where the topography creates a limited security strip to allow peaceful living down to the border line itself. Only thus can the lives that were disrupted as a result of the war Lebanon started be rehabilitated.
There is also a clear international interest here. Incentives for aggression must be denied to ensure regional stability. The Israeli victory in the war against Hezbollah should be reflected territorially. In order for Israel to achieve peace with its neighbors, it must make it clear to its most determined enemies that they have no alternative but to accept its existence, and that choosing war will worsen the situation for them.
The first defenders of Kibbutz Hanita recalled a British officer who approached them in the very first days after its establishment, explaining that proper defense of the settlement required the capture of the territories outside that controlled it:
“On a hot summer day,” recounts their memoir, “a man in a brown suit and hat came up to us in Hanita… As soon as he arrived, he immediately went to inspect our fortifications. ‘Why are you sitting here, inside? Why don’t you go out and build positions outside?’ I explained our theory of fortification. He listened to me, then grumbled angrily that our fortifications were worthless – we needed to go out toward the enemy… Over time, that man became famous – first among us, and then around the world – for his unconventional military perception and his elevated moral belief.”
That man was Orde Charles Wingate, who won the accolade “The Friend” from the Jews in Israel he territory in question is now in need of border correction.
Israel now has many friends in Washington, and with their assistance, the military perception that Israelis have become accustomed to must be changed, and the border with Lebanon reshaped in line with Israeli interests. An agreed upon, defensible border will ensure safe living in the Galilee, create incentives to avoid any attack on Israel, and establish the basis for peace agreements from a position of strength, contributing to global stability.
First published in Hebrew in Israel Hayom)
