Israel’s escalating war on Lebanon, particularly the intensified attacks and ground invasion in its southern region, are all parts of the historical Zionist objective of controlling southern Lebanon and parts of the wider region, according to a prominent Lebanese analyst.Even before there was the state of Israel, the Zionists were pushing for the British “to put the borders between Lebanon and Palestine at the time at the Litani River” as they saw it as part of their “Jewish homeland,” Karim Makdisi, an associate professor at the American University of Beirut, told Anadolu."They’ve always had this interest to try to have some form of control over south Lebanon, whether it’s through occupation, annexation or through, in more recent times, a kind of demilitarisation in the way of like the Sinai or these kinds of areas, "he said.There is even the possibility of taking over southern Lebanon through illegal Israeli settlements, as in the Occupied West Bank, as that has been on the agenda of extremists who are now in power in Israel, he added.
You can find Israelis who advocate thousands of ideas. Their existence does not mean that the government is remotely considering those ideas. International law is 100% against such an idea, and I cannot imagine as single country supporting any such Israeli plans.
That being said, I found a couple of articles in Hebrew media about the idea of annexing southern Lebanon to the Litani, and they are worth at least entering in the conversation.
In Mida, Yaakov Feitelson goes over the history of the early discussions of the borders of the Jewish national home shortly after the Balfour Declaration. At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the World Zionist Organization published its vision for what the borders should be.
This goes north of the Litani, and even includes the Zahrani River.
These are probably not Biblical boundaries. No one is quite sure exactly how far north the tribe of Asher went, nor how well they controlled the territory they did have, but most of Lebanon was controlled by Phoenicia during Biblical times.
Ben Gurion wrote about the desired borders of the Jewish state in a letter from Poalei Zion to the British Labor Party in 1921. His main concern wasn't Biblical but economic. He knew Israel would need reliable water sources, both for irrigation and for energy. "The Land of Israel is an arid land, and without artificial irrigation it is absolutely impossible for a large population to grow. There is no coal in Israel. And water power should be the main driving force of industry in the Land of Israel, " he wrote. The Litani was part of his vision.
Interestingly, Canada supported this idea, according to a news report I found from 1921 (The Hebrew Standard of Australasia, March 18, 1921):
Feitelson's main concern is not economic but security. Even though Hezbollah has long range rockets, there is immense value in strategic depth. He suggests the Zahrani River as being included because any rockets that are shot from north of there would give crucial extra time for people in Israel to seek shelter. He is not considering building settlements in Lebanon.
Hakol Hayehudi interviews Amiad Cohen, who advances a similar argument. But he is looking from the perspective of topography: a nation should have, as much as possible, natural borders and Israel needs to control high ground for its security. The current borders are the results of political concerns between England and France, not security. He points out that if Israel had not controlled the Golan Heights in 1973, the Syrians could have destroyed Israel during the Yom Kippur War. He looks at the Litani as the major natural boundary between Israel and her northern neighbors for similar reasons.
Cohen explained it on CBN in July.
Again, these ideas seem highly unlikely in today's world. But they are worth discussing if we want a solution, not a forever war between Israel and Hezbollah.
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