Northern Israeli residents voice concerns over ceasefirepublished at 21:59 Greenwich Mean Time
Lucy Williamson
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem
Image source, EPAMany residents in the north of Israel – large numbers of whom have been evacuated from their homes – are angry about this ceasefire deal.
Shelly, an English teacher in Shlomi says a ceasefire was “irresponsible and hasty political decision” after Netanyahu’s announcement.
Rona Valency, evacuated from kibbutz Kfar Giladi on 8 October last year, told me she wanted to go home, and that a ceasefire was needed.
From Kfar Giladi there are clear views of the Lebanese village of Odaisseh just across the valley.
“The only thing I can hope for is that Hezbollah will not infiltrate these villages and build a new network,” Rona told me.
“Apart from completely erasing these villages, and having no people there, there is no real physical thing that can make me feel safe. It’s just, you know, hope.”
Her husband, Onn, said the key to security lay, not in the terms of the ceasefire agreement, but in people “understand[ing] again, where we live; understand[ing] some things that a lot of us forgot”.
He said he didn’t trust the Lebanese army, nor the Americans, to restore security along the border.
“I trust only our army,” he said. “I think if the army won’t be there, it will be very, very hard to get the citizens back.”
Read more: Israeli anger at ‘irresponsible and hasty’ ceasefire