“Israelis” Terrified Despite Fortifications of Border Settlements Adjacent to Lebanon

By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies

The “Israeli” occupation authorities continue to fortify settlements in the north of occupied Palestine, adjacent to the border with Lebanon, in the context of what they call the “Northern Shield” project, in anticipation of a new war with the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

In this context, the “Israeli” Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported that a year after the start of the “Northern Shield” project to fortify the settlements adjacent to the border fence with Lebanon, the fortification of the units in the “Kfar Yuval” settlement was completed this week, noting that this settlement has become the first on the northern border to be fully fortified from missiles.

The newspaper said, “The settlement, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, accommodates about 100 families, as there were no emergency protection solutions in 67 of their homes.”

Referring to the futility of the “Israeli” project, the newspaper quoted a settler in the “Kfar Yuval” settlement as saying, “The warning time here is very short, and the public shelter is located 100 meters from my house. When we are under the range of missiles, there is no time to reach it.”

Further, the newspaper pointed out that the “Northern Shield” project, which is estimated to cost about five billion shekels [equivalent to more than one billion and 700 million dollars], was decided in 2018, but it was implemented this year.

It is planned to fortify 21 settlements adjacent to the border fence with Lebanon, according to the plan, whose implementation is supervised by the North Directorate in the Engineering and Construction Division of the “Israeli” entity’s Ministry of War.

During the last year, the “Israeli” occupation authorities began building dozens of shelters and fortified rooms in the settlements of “Metula”, “Shtula”, “Misgav Am”, “Shlomi”, “Avivim”, “Margaliot”, “Al-Manara” and “Arab al-Aramshe”, in addition to the settlement of “Kfar Yuval”.

Yedioth Ahronoth pointed out that the heads of local authorities in the northern settlements have been warning for many years that fortification in their settlements, units, educational institutions, and public institutions “suffer from major shortcomings, and any shooting at us may end in a great disaster.”

Moshe Davidovich, head of the so-called “Forum of Front-Line Communities” and head of the “Mate Asher" regional council, said: “We, the heads of the frontline authorities, want to believe that the new government will not only continue to allocate a budget for the project this year, but will even increase it to shorten the timetable until we collide with a confrontation, God forbid.”

In turn, Orna Raviv, the deputy head of the Engineering and Construction Division at the entity’s War Ministry said, “Today, we are able to give an improved and quick answer in eight settlements. We are working today to fortify their homes, and we will finish the works in 2023.”