Members of the Uri Tsafon (Awake, O north wind) movement, whose aim is to establish Jewish settlements in southern Lebanon, held their first field activity over the weekend, as dozens of activists arrived near the Lebanese border––on the Lebanese side––in the area of the Shiite village of Maroun al-Ras, where they established a stronghold and announced its name was Mei Marom (water from heaven).
The group’s name, Uri Tsafon, is drawn from a verse in The Song of Songs (4:16): “Awake, O north wind / Come, O south wind / Blow upon my garden / That its perfume may spread. / Let my beloved come to his garden / And enjoy its luscious fruits.
פעילי עורי צפון, התנועה להתיישבות בדרום לבנון, צועדים לכיוון לבנון.
הצעדה התקיימה צפונית לקריית שמונה ביום שישי האחרון. pic.twitter.com/c9uzbJhtB5
— שיראל ללום נהיר?? (@shirellaloom) April 21, 2024
The group’s manifesto proclaims that Israel has often found it had no choice but to invade Lebanon to ensure its security:
There is an iron rule in modern Israeli history: any place Israel withdraws from becomes an enemy state of the most brutal kind. This was true in Gaza, and it was also true in Lebanon.
We withdrew from Gaza to never see the Gazans again, and in the end, we met them face to face in Ashkelon.
We withdrew from Lebanon to never see Hezbollah again, and only God Almighty and the treacherous Iranian strategy toward its allies in Gaza saved us from meeting thousands of their trained fighters on Simchat Torah in Kiryat Shmona, Acre, Ma’a lot, and Tsfat. Otherwise, the October 7 events in the south would have paled and been forgotten in the national memory in comparison to the atrocities in the north.
And what is this “southern Lebanon?”
It is simply the northern Galilee. The clear natural border between Israel and the mountains of Lebanon runs along the Litani River – the largest of the rivers of Lebanon – an area about which Moses said: “For your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill, a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.” (Deut. 8:7)
Our current border with the “state of Lebanon” – a state that does not really exist or function – is the result of a Franco-British trade in an attempt to increase the area of their Christian protectorate at the expense of the British Mandate – an attempt that has been rejected by its targets.
The Shiite population of southern Lebanon eventually expelled most of the Christian population and turned Lebanon into an Iranian satellite.
When you look at the border, there is no difference between the Lebanese Ramia and the Israeli Shtula, and there is no difference between the Lebanese Yar’un and the Israeli Kibbutz Yar’on. The current Israeli border is just as artificial as the wall that Israel has built along it in recent years. There is nothing sacred about the Sykes-Picot Agreements and the Paris Conference that created this border, and there is nothing defensible about a border that does not even bother to take into account mountain ranges and ravines – just a line on a map.
RESETTLING ON OUR FOREFATHERS’ LAND
The members of Uri Tsafon have announced their intention to establish an outpost in a village where there was a Jewish presence in the past. Cedar trees were planted there in memory of the soldier Yehuda Dror Yahalom H’yd, who fell in battle in Lebanon some two months ago.
A few hours later, when IDF forces arrived at the scene, the settlers left the area.
Uri Tsafon announced that their visit was in preparation for the establishment of a future settlement. “Marun a-Ras was an ancient Hebrew settlement called ‘Mei Marom.’ Judah fell in the battle of Ba’ita a-Sha’ab, a village where a guard of priests used to live,” they said. They added: “With God’s help, we will return to all the places where Jews used to live in Lebanon because the land is very, very good.”
