An-Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday that Israeli officials informed UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy last week, who traveled to Tel Aviv after a visit to Beirut, that it is willing to withdraw from the northern part of the Ghajar Village based on the military negotiations held with Lebanon on May 6 in Naqoura, but said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was busy preparing for his visit to Washington on May 18.

A source told the paper that the Israeli security cabinet studied on Thursday Lebanese officials’ reactions to the possible withdrawal, mainly that of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora after he said that the Israeli withdrawal, if accomplished, will only be according to UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The Lebanese PM had rejected in his statement Netanyahu’s declared support to “Siniora’s moderate cabinet.”

The source also said that Netanyahu was exploiting the matter in the media, adding that if he really wanted to withdraw his troops from Ghajar, it will be through negotiations with US President Barack Obama to show him good Israeli intentions by withdrawing from “some of the occupied Arab territories,” because the Golan Heights were still too strategic a position for Israel.

-NOW Staff