BEIRUT: The political turmoil in Lebanon has delayed Israeli plans to pull out of the northern part of a village straddling the countries’ border, an Israeli official said Monday.

Israeli Cabinet ministers agreed in November to withdraw troops from northern Ghajar and to relinquish control to U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon. At the time Israel said the pullout would be worked out within a month.

An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is diplomatically sensitive, said Monday Israel continues to discuss withdrawal plans with the U.N. forces.

But because the previous government in Lebanon was toppled and a new cabinet is not yet fully formed, U.N. forces are not able to relay information between the two sides, he said.

A spokesman for U.N. forces in Lebanon said Israel has not notified U.N. forces of any change in its plan to withdraw. “We have heard the media reports but we have not been notified by the Israeli authorities regarding this matter. As far as we are concerned, nothing has changed,” Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, told The Daily Star.

“We remain in constant contact with Israeli authorities and they have not indicated any changes. What is important for us is to bring this dispute to a swift conclusion,” he added.

Ghajar, home to 2,200 people, lies in a strategic corner where the boundaries of Syria, Israel and Lebanon are in dispute. More than 1,500 residents live in the northern half.

Israel captured all of Ghajar from Syria in 1967 when it took the Golan Heights. After the Israeli military ended an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, U.N. surveyors split Ghajar between Lebanon and the Israeli-controlled Golan, but Israel recaptured the northern half during its war with Hezbollah fighters in 2006.

Under the truce that ended the fighting, Israel agreed to withdraw, but it wanted to clinch an arrangement with the U.N. troops that would keep Hezbollah from entering the village.

“Our position is very clear and we continue to be engaged with both sides to facilitate the withdrawal,” said Tenenti.

Virtually all residents have taken Israeli citizenship, further complicating the village’s future.

Israeli officials have said no one will lose their citizenship after the withdrawal and residents in the northern half will still have access to Israel.