Lebanon<\/a>, but just hundreds of metres away. The pre-war population was 1,670. It is now 900. In the war, \u201csome won, some lost,\u201d said David Azoulay, Metula\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\nThe town\u2019s 130-year-old synagogue is being reconstructed, the road repaved and the town hall\u2019s roof replaced.<\/p>\n
David Azoulay said Metula would be rebuilt better than it had been. Photograph: Jason Burke\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t have funds to fix many of the buildings that needed work before the war \u2026 Now we are going to make the whole of this town way better than it was \u2026 We can build up luxury facilities, cultural opportunities, better health and childcare, build a new neighbourhood,\u201d said Azoulay.<\/p>\n
But it is clear that whatever the new investment in some communities along Israel\u2019s northern border, there are some former residents who will not come back. Those with young families have children in school elsewhere in Israel, others have found new jobs, or simply enjoy the convenience and attractions of big cities such as Tel Aviv, almost 125 miles (200 kilometres) away.<\/p>\n
Students who used to rent cheaply in Metula have stayed away too, but there has been a new influx: 40 families of nationalist and religious Israelis who see the reconstruction of Metula as a worthy cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cMetula will stay secular [but] we can\u2019t tell them not to come,\u201d said Azulai. \u201cThey are Zionists and Jews like us. Personally, I have no problem with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The social consequences of the conflict are obvious in Kiryat Shmona, the \u201ccapital city\u201d of the north, which is still missing around a quarter of its pre-war population. In a small mall on the northern outskirts, a third of shops and restaurants remain closed, and those that have reopened struggle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to work my ass off to make ends meet,\u201d said Sergio Helman, who kept serving humus and salad in his Blue Bus cafe throughout the war, despite rocket attacks.<\/p>\n
But Helman\u2019s children, sent away during the conflict, have got used to life elsewhere in Israel and are in no hurry to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings are slowly getting back to normal but the war created inner conflicts within communities here. There are kids who went to three schools in two years,\u201d said Helman.<\/p>\n
New residents and businesses have moved to Metula to replace original residents who are not returning. Photograph: Jason Burke\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Residents of Kiryat Shmona have long complained of being economically disadvantaged and forgotten by national politicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis city is important strategically for Israel. It anchors all our defences across the north \u2026 but it\u2019s a ghost town. If people are going to come back we need to give them confidence that we can stop the enemy reaching our children\u2019s beds,\u201d said Yamit Malul Yanai, a local commentator and lawyer.<\/p>\n
Like many along Israel\u2019s northern border, Malul Yanai frequently refers to the surprise Hamas raid into Israel in October 2023 which killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostage, triggering the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a buffer zone to push the enemy back from our towns, but we are making the same mistakes all over again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
From Metula, the de facto border between Israel and Lebanon runs south and then west along across forested ridges to the Mediterranean. Known as the \u201cblue line\u201d, it has not been formally recognised internationally. Since the ceasefire, Israeli forces have held five hill-top bases between up to a mile and a half inside Lebanon, and are building sections of high walls. The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (Unifil) has said at least one is within Lebanese territory, a charge denied by Israel.<\/p>\n
At Shtula, another Israeli border community evacuated during the war, residents have also been slow to return. A row of damaged homes faces Lebanon, many as yet unrepaired. The Israeli military has built a high concrete barrier just to the north and positioned tanks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are fortifying the border \u2026 We want a barrier and the military between civilians and the enemy. We also have cameras, weapons systems, soldiers monitoring,\u201d said a senior Israeli officer based close to the border. \u201cWe have learned the lessons of Gaza. We understand that the wall is part of the system, not the [whole] system, which was the mistake in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
From an outpost near Shtula, one of the new Israeli bases inside Lebanon is clearly visible, beyond slopes cleared of forest by the military during its invasion last year. Across a swath of the dry brown hills lies the scattered rubble of destroyed houses in now-deserted villages, starkly white against under the clear blue winter sky.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as [the] Lebanese army is not there, then we will have to be there,\u201d the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.<\/p>\n
Israel has accused Hezbollah of trying to rearm since a US-backed ceasefire last year, and has launched more than 1,000 attacks in Lebanon since the 2024 ceasefire, killing hundreds of people. Fresh Israeli airstrikes <\/a>have hit targets across southern Lebanon in recent days.<\/p>\nHezbollah says it has complied with ceasefire requirements for it to withdraw from the border region near Israel, and for the Lebanese army to deploy there. Hezbollah\u2019s leader, Naim Qassem, has refrained so far from ordering the movement\u2019s tens of thousands of fighters to launch any military response to the Israeli strikes.<\/p>\n
Some analysts say talk of a fresh Israeli offensive may be designed to increase pressure on the Lebanese army to move more aggressively to disarm Hezbollah, but suggest it could also be intended to reinforce support for Israel\u2019s rightwing ruling coalition.<\/p>\n
Israeli military officials said they were \u201ccommitted to the ceasefire agreement, but also to Israel\u2019s security\u201d.<\/p>\n
Azoulay is unconcerned by the prospect of a new attack by Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will deal with it if it happens,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the [Lebanese Shia] villages around us, they are destroyed and basically uninhabitable. If you ask what is our victory, it is that we have been rebuilding for a year and they haven\u2019t put a single pipe back in the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Noam Erlich looks out over what was his beer garden. Beyond the disordered chairs and tables and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-146851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}