Historian and professor at the Lebanese University, Issam Khalifeh published a book in 2006 in Arabic on the subject of the Lebanese-Syrian borders and the delimitation and demarcation attempts that took place between 1920 and 2000. He supports his book with several French, Lebanese and Syrian reports confirming the Lebanese origins of the Shebaa Farms and the Nekhaileh village. Issam Khalifeh is a member of the committee that submitted a report to the UN Security Council proving that the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese. His plan is to place the Shebaa Farms sector under United Nations trusteeship.

iloubnan.info: What is the evidence that you have gathered to demonstrate that the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese territory?

Issam Khalifeh: In addition to Shebaa, we need to incorporate the village of Nkheileh. There are a total of fourteen farms in Shebaa, out of which thirteen are in Lebanon and one in Syria: Moghr Shebaa. Under the French mandate, General Gouraud annexed the Hasbaya Caza to the Great Lebanon (Grand Liban) and, under the Ottomans, Shebaa as well as its Farms were annexed to the Hasbaya Caza. In 1925, the French General De Refeye administratively reorganized the Great Lebanon: an official order decrees that both Shebaa and Nkheileh are in Lebanon. The Lebanese government was exercising its sovereignty over these farms: the hamlet was paying taxes to the government, the region was governed by the Lebanese jurisdiction, documents prove that the Lebanese administration imposed fines on Farms, and both parliamentary and municipal elections took place in Shebaa and Nkheilh. There were also official cadastres documenting these activities. In January 1944, the Syrian Arab Republic took over the cadastre of Moghr Shebaa. When the Syrians went beyond Moghr Shebaa to other villages, the mayor of Shebaa asked the Lebanese government to intervene. Consequently, the Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs sent a dispatch of opposition to the Syrians inquiring about the reasons behind their presence on Lebanese territory. The Syrians acknowledged that the Farms are Lebanese territory. An official convention accompanied by an official map documenting this consensus was then signed by Lebanon and Syria on February 20, 1946.

How could this territory be then claimed as being Syrian while Syria had signed the document recognizing that it is Lebanese?

Between 1948 and 1949, the area was turned into a region of military operations between Lebanon, Syria and the Israelis. In 1957, the Lebanese government allowed Syrian military to enter one of the Farms in Zebdine. In 1964, the Syrian military penetrated all villages and demanded that the people change their identity cards and become Syrian. The Lebanese government expressed its discontentment but the Syrians were there de facto. One to two years later, they gave the green light to Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians to come into these villages and lead guerrillas against Israelis. In June 1967, the war broke out and the Israelis invaded the Shebaa Farms and Nkheileh. Following the 1973 war and the Golan treaty, the Syrians sent a map to the UN featuring the hamlets of Shebaa and Nkheileh as part of Syria. In 2000, after Israel's withdrawal, the Syrians accepted the fact that the Farms are in Lebanese territory. There are fourteen statements of the Head of State, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister confirming the above.

Why is it that, in light of all this evidence, the UN did not manage to resolve this problem?

I believe that Israel is the problem. Israelis do not want to leave. Long before 1948, Israelis wanted Mount Hermon to be part of their territory. They are motivated by a number of interests. First comes tourism because Israel has no snow and therefore no skiing, then there is the problem of water since Lebanon "gives" 1.2 billion m3 of pure and non-saline water to Israel; Moreover, there is a religious rationale given that it is on Mount Hermon that the spot where Abraham spoke to God is located; and finally, a strategic reason, since the Israeli observatory on Mount Hermon provides Israel with extended visibility of the Syrian territory up until the presidential palace in Damascus!