“Israel will not allow Hezbollah take over the disputed border town of Ghajar,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“Israel will not allow Hezbollah take over the disputed border town of Ghajar,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, less than a week after his cabinet approved Israel's withdrawal from the town's northern half.

Israel's security cabinet approved the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces troops from the northern half of Ghajar, four years after it took the area in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Speaking during a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini in occupied Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Monday that it was Israel's intention to "pull out of the north side of the village and instate a regime there that would not allow the vacuum Hezbollah could use to take over the area."

The premier also extended his thanks to Frattini for the aid Israel received from Italy in working toward the Ghajar pullout deal.

Deputy U.S. Special Mideast envoy Fred Hoff, who had been working with Israel in recent months to try and advance the Ghajar withdrawal, arrived in Israel earlier Monday, meeting with Foreign Ministry officials as well as security officials in an attempt to finalize future security arrangements in the border town's northern part.

Hoff met with Minister Yossi Peled, who was named in a recent cabinet meeting as the government's liaison with Ghajar's residents.

Later this week the United Nations' envoy to Lebanon, Michael Williams will also arrive in Israel to discuss the issue, accompanied by UNIFIL chief General Alberto Estrada.