determined that no Israeli soldiers remained in Lebanon, and they mapped out a “blue
line” to serve as a temporary border between Israel and Lebanon. In part because the
two countries had never reached a peace agreement following the 1948 Arab-Israeli
war, the exact border remained unclear, and the two sides disputed several locations.
The most serious dispute concerned the status of the Shabaa Farms, a small, agri-
cultural area at the intersection of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. Israel had held most of this
area since June 1967, when it captured the neighboring Golan Heights from Syria.
Lebanon claimed Shabaa Farms, but Israel insisted that the land belonged to Syria and
stated that it would not return it until reaching a peace agreement with Syria resolving
the fate of the Golan Heights. This dispute’s significance stretched beyond the demarca-
tions on a map, as Hizballah made known that it would retain its militia, and the option
to strike against Israel, as long as Israel occupied any Lebanese territory (Map, p. 330).
Despite these lingering border disputes, Roed-Larsen reported to Annan on June
7 that Israel had withdrawn from Lebanon, and Annan officially informed the Secu-
rity Council on June 16. Speaking to reporters after meeting with the council, Annan
said, “This is a happy day for Lebanon—but also for Israel. It is a day of hope for the
Middle East as a whole, and it is a day of pride for the United Nations” because its
resolutions finally had been respected.
Five years later, Syria—the other occupying power in Lebanon—would withdraw
its army and intelligence services under international pressure. Any hope that the
removal of foreign forces would end Lebanon’s painful agony was short-lived, how-
ever, as a cross-border raid by Hizballah in July 2006 led to a month-long war that
destroyed much of what had been rebuilt in Lebanon since the civil war ended in 1990
(Lebanese Civil War, p. 331; Syrian Withdrawal from Lebanon, p. 359; Hizballah-
Israeli War, p. 365).
Following are three documents relating to Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in
2000: the text of the resolution adopted by the Israeli cabinet on March 5, 2000,
approving the withdrawal of forces; an excerpt from the report on the withdrawal
to the UN Security Council by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on June 16, 2000;
the text of Annan’s statement to the media following his meeting with the Security
Council on June 16, 2000, informing it of a complete Israeli withdrawal.356 LEBANON AND SYRIA