JERUSALEM - Israel's internal security agency has recommended evacuating part of the divided village of Ghajar on the Lebanese border, a flashpoint with Hizbollah guerrillas, officials said on Monday.

But a source in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said the proposal was unlikely to be adopted after talks to be held on Wednesday because of opposition from the Defence Ministry, which believes it would look like withdrawing under fire.

Israeli media said residents were also opposed.

The southern part of Ghajar lies on Israeli-occupied land that was captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. The north is inside Lebanon. The inhabitants are Arabs, many of whom have taken Israeli citizenship.

Officials said that the Shin Bet security agency proposed bringing residents with Israeli citizenship to the southern part of the village and then cutting Ghajar in two permanently.

Ghajar is a particular point for friction on a border where violence has erupted sporadically since Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000 to end more than two decades of occupation.

The latest clashes in Ghajar were in November. Three Hizbollah guerrillas were killed in a botched raid aimed at capturing Israeli troops. Eleven Israeli soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

The officials said the proposal for evacuation was floated over a year ago, but gathered momentum after the attack.

A report on Channel Two television said that the plan proposed that residents who had to move would get compensation similar to that which Jewish settlers were entitled to after being removed from the Gaza Strip last year.

But the source in Sharon's office said that the Defence Ministry rejected anything that could be seen as a concession to Hizbollah and favoured shoring up positions in Ghajar as a way to prevent further attacks.

The Web site of Haaretz newspaper said residents were also against the idea.

"We have been approached before with this evacuation idea, and residents strongly opposed it," it quoted local council head Ahmed Fatali as saying. "This is our land and our homes." (Reuters)