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Article: Who owns the Shebaa Farms? Chronicle of a territorial dispute
- Article from:
- The Middle East Journal
- Article date:
- October 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Middle East Institute Autumn 2002. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The roots of the border controversy in the Shebaa farmland lie in the clumsy manner France delineated the Syrian-Lebanese boundary during the Mandate years. Since 1920, maps located the area within Syria. However, for all practical matters, the area was considered to be part of Lebanon. French officials themselves noted this anomaly but did nothing to rectify it. For different reasons, Syrian and Lebanese governments perpetuated this anomaly. In 1967, with the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, this controversy entered the orbit of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
On April 16, 2000, after 22 years of direct occupation, Israel officially declared its intention to withdraw unilaterally from ...