The United Nations denied an Israeli newspaper report that said it had asked Israel to cede control over Shebaa Farms.
Israel s daily Ha aretz reported Tuesday that the United Nations had proposed it take control of the farms, which Israel captured along with the neighboring Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War but which Lebanon s Hezbollah claims as its own.
According to the article, U.N. officials, having long designated Shebaa Farms as having been part of Syria, not Lebanon, wanted to re-designate it as part of Lebanon.
But Reuters quoted a U.N. source saying that no such request had been made of Israel and that the world body has not re-designated the area, known by Israel as Mount Dov.
Hezbollah has used Israel s presence in the territory as a pretext for attacking Israel, saying the farms are part of Lebanese territory. But the United Nation s certified Israel s full withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and says the farms are matter of dispute between Israel and Syria, not Lebanon.
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