Betting on the Blue Line

You have to hand it to Khalil Abdullah, who must be the most optimistic businessman in Lebanon. He is currently putting the finishing touches on an extravagant Afro-Arabic style tourist resort on the bank of the Hasbani River, less than a mile upstream from the border with Israel. This section of the Hasbani River cuts a narrow gorge through a grassy plain at the foot of the Shebaa Farms hills, flanked by dense oleander and eucalyptus trees. The Blue Line, the United Nations-demarcated boundary that corresponds to Lebanon’s southern border runs up the middle of the Hasbani at this point. If visitors to Abdullah’s resort swim to the far bank of the river, they will have entered Israeli-occupied Syria and risk being shot by Israeli troops. Indeed, when Abdullah began work on his project, Israeli troops would turn up on the cliff on the opposite bank and peer at him