“The Lebanese Army declared the area adjacent to the border a closed military zone in anticipation of any developments that could take place on Naksa Day,” one source told The Daily Star.

“This means that the rally could be replaced by celebrations at the [former] Khiam detention center” to reduce the possibility of a faceoff with Israeli troops, the source added.

Khiam is about four kilometers from the Lebanon-Israel border.

Meanwhile, security measures were being increased on both sides of the border ahead of calls for a rally at Lebanon’s border with Israel Sunday.

The army’s move followed a decision by the commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon to visit Israel to discuss arrangements on Lebanon’s border with Israel.

“[UNIFIL commander] Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta is a capable and highly responsible person … He will head soon to Israel to discuss with Israeli officials Sunday’s demonstration at the Fatima Gate [along the border],” said Brig. Gen. Miguel Alcaniz, the commander of UNIFIL Sector East, speaking to reporters in the village of Blat in Marjayoun Wednesday.

Alcaniz said that Asarta would discuss with Israeli officials the controlling of the border on both sides in order to prevent a repeat of the events of May 15, when 11 Palestinians were shot dead in the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras, as thousands of unarmed Palestinian refugees flocked to the frontier to mark 63 years since their expulsion from their homeland.

Palestinian groups are planning to organize a similar march to the Fatima Gate near Israel’s borders with Lebanon Sunday to commemorate the Naksa, or the defeat of 1967, which saw Israel occupy the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, Syria’s Golan Heights and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Facebook campaigns are calling on Palestinians to march to the border line with Israel in neighboring Arab countries.

Alcaniz said that UNIFIL was cooperating with the Lebanese Army to control the situation on the border, and voiced hope that the demonstration would be peaceful “so that it’ll achieve its goals.”

Israeli soldiers were seen Thursday putting wire on top of a fence on the Israeli side of the border, near the southern village of Kfar Kila.

The additional wire increased the height of the fence from two to six meters.

Asarta held a tripartite meeting with senior officers from the Lebanese and Israeli Army at the U.N. site in Ras Naqoura Thursday to discuss the investigation into the border incident.

“Our discussions today will help the investigation that UNIFIL is carrying out into the tragic events that took place on May 15, and my priorities now are to conclude the investigations in a swift manner,” Asarta said after the meeting, the U.N. statement said.

Asarta also said that UNIFIL would exhaust its efforts to prevent a repeat of the May 15 incident and any violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.

“It is our duty to put [in] all our efforts to prevent incidents in the future that could lead to breaches of Resolution 1701 and to prevent civilian loss of life as well as prevent escalating tensions and the threat of escalations across the Blue Line.”