The Jewish State has opened its northern border for Lebanese agricultural workers so they could pick olives from trees in Israeli territory, IDF Arabic-language spokesperson announced Monday.
نظرًا للوضع الاقتصادي المتردي في وكبادرة حسن نية لمساعدة اللبنانيين قرر فتح الحدود أمام مزارعي ، و واجتياز في حد معين لقطف محصول العام من شجر داخل السيادة الإسرائيلية، إبلاغ الجانب اللبناني تم عبر pic.twitter.com/vphvuXOE2r
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee)
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) officials, who oversee the international border between the two countries, “reported the gesture” to the Beirut government.
“Due to the economic situation in Lebanon and as a goodwill gesture to the Lebanese people the IDF opened the border to agricultural workers of Al Jabal, Itaron and Balida,” the IDF said in its statement. “The IDF allowed the workers to cross the Blue Line, to a certain extent, allowing them to harvest the olive crop from trees in Israeli territory,” the statement said.
The so-called “Blue Line” is the international border between Israel and Lebanon, drawn in 2000 by the United Nations.
Lebanon is struggling to survive economically due to various political and social crises, with the population facing skyrocketing inflation, as well as shortages of fuel, medicine and electricity.
The local currency has plunged 90 percent against the US dollar on the black market.