ALLEGED ISRAELI BOUNDARY CHANGES IN SOUTH LEBANON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00287R001200350001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 31, 1984
• Content Type: MEMO

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LC1111yI II IZCIII CIICC Y~CUCy
35
31 August 1984
MEMORANDUM FOR: David Mack, Director
Lebanon, Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic
Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs
Department of State
South Lebanon
Chief, Geography Division, OGI
SUBJECT: Alleged Israeli Boundary Changes in
1. Attached is a memorandum concerning recent Israeli
activity in the Lebanon-Israel border region. This memorandum
is for your use in providing
United Nations.
intelligence to officials in the United States Embassies and the
Division, Office of Global Issues.
2. The research and analysis for the text and graphics were
done by the Near East Branch, Geography
please call me
3. If you have any auestions concerning this memorandum,
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NGA Review Completed
Attachment:
Alleged Israeli Boundary Chan es
in Southern Lebanon GI M 84-10150, August 1984 25X1
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SUBJECT: Alleged Israeli Boundaries Changes in Southern Lebanon
OGI/GD/NE~
(31 August 1984)
Addressee
SA/DDCI
Exectutive Director
DDI
DDI/PES
NIO/NESA
- CPAS/ISS
- D/NESA
- Ch/NESA
- Ch/NESA/AI
- Ch/NESA/AI/I
- Ch/NESA/AI/L
- D/OGI, DD/OGI
- Ch/GD
- GD/NE
- OGI/PG
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Washington, D. C. 20SOS
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
31 August 1984
Alleged Israeli Boundary Changes in South Lebanon
Summary
Recent charges have been made by Lebanese officials and the
press that Israel has changed boundary fences in South Lebanon to
facilitate "stealing" water from the Wazzani Spring and the Nahr
al Litani (Litani River). The Lebanese claim the boundary fences
have been moved from 3 to 5 kilometers into Lebanon. They also
accuse Israel of building a fence around the Wazzani Spring so
that the spring can be used as the terminus of a tunnel from the
Litani River. The charges gained credibility on 14 August when a
UNIFIL detachment was denied access to the Wazzani Spring to
investigate. The Israelis later claimed that their local
commander was merely repairing an existing fence. On August
26th, a UN team was permitted to visit the Wazzani site and found
no evidence of new roads, water diversions, fences, or
adjustments of the boundary.
Since the 1982 invasion, Israel has erected some fences and
built and resurfaced roads inside Lebanon, but has not made
significant changes in the boundary. One of the improved roads
crosses the Nahr al Hasbani (Hasbani River) near the Wazzani
Spring and follows along the western side of the Hasbani to the
Israel-Lebanon boundary. None of the fences or roads appear to
be associated with taking water from either the Litani River or
This memorandum was prepared byl (Geography
Division, Office of Global Issues. The information contained
herein is undated to 31 Aug 1984. Comments may be directed to
Chief, Geography Division,
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The Lebanese''fear Israeli intentions concerning Litani River
water and have periodically charged that construction of a tunnel
is underway to steal the water. The Israelis have long coveted
the Litani and have made contingency plans to divert water
southward from the river but claim they would seek Lebanese
approval before starting the project. The failure of Lebanon to
use all the Litani water has led some Israeli officials to
suggest that an agreement could be made to sell the water that
now flows unused into the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon has
consistently opposed any diversion of Litani water to Israel and
refused suggestions to sell any of the water. Lebanon blames-the
Israeli invasion and occupation of South Lebanon for its
inability to complete development plans for the Litani that would
to Israel is technically feasible and could be accomplished inya
year's time with a 3 to 6 kilometer tunnel, depending on the
route. The longer tunnel would permit connection to a gravity
flow system--a shorter tunnel would require pumping. The
diversion of Litani water to the Wazzani spring has not been
mentioned before the most recent alle a i s; such a tunnel/canal
would be about 11 kilometers long.
Wazzani Sprin
The Wazzani Spring is the principal water source for the
lower Hasbani River in Lebanon and its name is often substituted
for the Hasbani. Water from the Wazzani enters the Hasbani from
Lebanese territory on the right (west) bank of the stream and
flows downriver into Israel where it feeds the Jordan River
system. The spring rises only a few meters west of the Hasbani
bank, in the narrow floodplain at the bottom of the entrenched
river valley. The spring flows in a separate channel parallel to
the Hasbani for a short distance before entering the main
-- _-F_ I
The Wazzani Spring is not surrounded by a fence. Fencing by
Israel is unnecessary because Lebanon uses little of the water
and both sides of the river below the spring are controlled by
the IDF. The only Wazzani water used inside Lebanon is piped up
from the spring to the small village of Arab al Luwayzah, on a
The Boundary
Israel exercises total control over the boundary but has
made no major changes in its alignment. Most of the Israel-
Lebanon boundary is an armistice line that dates to March, 1949
and follows a boundary that was demarcated in 1922 by a mixed
Anglo-French Commission. Israel has made only slight adjustments
in the armistice line over the years to accommodate changes in
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the roads or new fencing. In the east, where the armistice line
.ends at the Hasbani River, it meets the former Lebanon-Syria
boundary along .the-northern side of the Israeli occupied Golan
The Wazzani Spring is astride the undemarcated boundary
between Lebanon and the Golan Heights. This boundary is based on
old internal boundaries from the Ottoman Empire that were rather
vaguely delineated in Lebanon's first constitution in 1926 and
its revision in 1943. In 1958, a Lebanon-Syria Mixed Boundary
Commission, consisting of representatives from both countries,
was established to delimit a boundary, but the Commission did not
The traditional undemarcated boundary splits the Alawite
village of Al Ghajar. The northern part of the village, usually
referred to as Al Wazzani, was inside Lebanon. The village was
reunited when Syria moved the boundary northward in 1963 to
facilitate the digging of a canal from the Wazzani Spring to the
Syrian-occupied Golan Heights. Israel has used this de facto
To the south of Al Ghajar, the Hasbani (Wazzani) River is
considered to be the boundary by the United States Government,
based on 1964 Lebanese 1:50,000 maps. Some maps, including all
large-scale Israeli maps, show the boundary up on the western
bank overlooking the river bed, in places about 500 meters from
the river channel. Israel probably claims this narrow strip, but
has not erected boundary fences or built a road here such as it
has along the rest of the Lebanon-Israel boundary.
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. Wazzani Spring: Lebanon Border Area
BEIRUT
INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT
Israeli withdrawal line
Mediterranean
Sea
`C O h l
ssible
iversiz~ A
1
-n,i
Syria
/UNDO
*Zone
Galan Heights
-v (Israeli occupied)
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. Wazzani Spring: Lebanon Border Area
BEIRUT
INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT
Israeli withdrawal line
Mediterranean
Sea
`C O h l
ssible
iversiz~ A
1
-n,i
Syria
/UNDO
*Zone
Galan Heights
-v (Israeli occupied)
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