Shebaa Farms

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SHEBAA FARMS

Territory of approximately 38.5 square miles situated on the Lebanese side of Mount Hermon (Jabal al-Shaykh) on the Lebanese-Syrian frontier; under Israeli occupation since 1967. At the beginning of May 2000, before the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon, the Lebanese authorities demanded that Israel also pull out of this area, citing the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 425. Israel claimed that the territory belonged to Syria and that evacuating it would be part of the application of Resolution 242, and therefore that an Israeli withdrawal would be tied to Israeli-Syrian peace talks. It is unclear whom the territory belongs to, but both Lebanese and Syrian officials suggest that Syria had officially given the territory to Lebanon in 1951. On 30 May 2000 Syria broke the stalemate by accepting its restitution to Lebanon at a later date, in the framework of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

SEE ALSO Resolution 242;Resolution 425;South Lebanon.