Israel to put forward plan to quit village on Lebanese border

Israeli withdrawal could also set the stage for more tension between Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariris Western-backed political bloc and its Shia Hezbollah rivals.

The political director of the UN force in Lebanon,Milos Strugar,said the force has been actively engaged with both parties in an effort to facilitate an Israeli withdrawal from the area. Ghajar sits on a strategic corner where the boundaries between Syria,Israel and Lebanon are in dispute. Israel captured the entire village of some 2,000 people from Syria in 1967. In 2000,after Israel withdrew its forces from south Lebanon,UN surveyors put the border in the middle of the village,leaving Israel in control of the southern half. Israel reoccupied the northern part in the 2006 war. Israel pledged to withdraw from that sector but gave no timeline.

Netanyahu plans to ask a group of Cabinet ministers to approve the withdrawal proposal after he returns from a US trip late this week.

Hezbollah on Sunday positioned itself to claim victory for any pullout.