Democratic Palestine : 14 (ص 35)
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- Democratic Palestine : 14 (ص 35)
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of ping-pong for more than a year,» said
ICRC chief in Lebanon, Reto Meister.°
In early November, it was estimated
that there were 120 persons held in
Khiam which is under direct Israeli
supervision, and staffed by five Israeli
and 20 SLA officers. A month later, new
information coming from _ persons
released, as well as new arrests, had
pushed the estimate to 180 detainees,
including teenagers, women and old
men. It is difficult to know exactly how
many are detained for several reasons.
For one, the detained are held incom-
municado, and besides Khiam there are
at least ten interrogation centers in the
‘security zone’ with an untold number of
inmates. Second, arrests are ongoing.
(For example, in the December 31st
expulsion from Kounin, some 32 people
were arrested.) Thirdly, there are fre-
quent kidnappings by SLA militiamen
and Shin Beth agents, and the fate of the
victims is most often unknown, though
bodies have been found to indicate that
some of them are murdered. At least
twenty villagers were kidnapped in
October alone, and are thought to be in
Khiam, but others are missing
altogether. Fourth, it is unknown how
many inmates have been tortured to
death in Khiam or other centers. At the
end of 1985, a Reuters report indicated
that 393 people had died during the year
in attacks launched by the Israeli occu-
pation forces or their militia allies, but the
real number of victims of Zionist terror
cannot yet be calculated.
«All testimonies of former Khiam
prisoners agree on the description of the
detention conditions as worse than in
the other interrogation centres in Mar
Elias, the Regie or Tyrus: malnutrition,
isolation, confinement, beating, physical
and sexual harassments, all kinds of
humiliations and insults, torture. An
important number of testimonies men-
tion torture, particularly with electricity:
electro-shocks produced by a machine
with handles are given on the sensitive
parts of the body (ears, fingers, neck,
sexual organs...) The victims are
splashed with water to heighten the
effects. At the end of September, strong
rumors spoke of the death of three
detainees from Bent Jbeil as a result of
these tortures...»4
Blockade
In addition to repeated acts of
piracy and sinking of cargo ships, the
Israeli occupation forces have imposed
collective punishment through block-
ades. On October 2nd, they established
a no-go zone for civilian boats off South
Lebanon. At the beginning of November,
the Israeli occupiers declared Leba-
non's southern coast a military area;
fishing was banned, and Sour (Tyre)
harbor was blockaded for two weeks:
incoming ships were searched and no
cargos could be unloaded. Again from
November 20th until the first days of
December, this harbor was blockaded; a
new naval blockade was imposed in
mid-December. Israeli gunboats patrol
the entire coast, as far north as Tripoli.
Enacted under various ‘security pre-
texts, these measures are an obvious
violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and
aim at disrupting the country’s economic
life.
The population of the ‘security
zone’ is subject to a permanent land
blockade. People are only allowed to
travel out of the zone on two days a
week, and then only after rigorous
searches supervised by Israeli occupa-
tion troops. This is part of the attempt to
cut the zone off from the rest of the coun-
try.
Escalating aggression
While the thirteen Israeli air strikes
on Lebanon in 1985 were launched from
within the Zionist entity, the ‘security
zone’ serves as a launching pad for con-
tinuous ground operations and artillery
attacks. The villages just north of the
zone are subject to constant shelling,
and artillery fire is also directed at Saida.
This shelling became heavier and more
frequent in November as efforts pro-
ceeded to find a _ solution to the
Lebanese civil war under Syrian
auspices. By mid-December, the area
between Jezzine, where fascist militias
are based, and Saida, home of the
Popular Liberation Forces, had again
become a major battlefield.
At the same time, Israeli operations
Outside the ‘security zone have esca-
lated from raids to major offensives. On
November 6th, the SLA and Israeli occu-
pation troops raided villages north of the
zone, destroying three houses and
rounding up 80 men to try and force
them to form a committee for keeping
‘strangers’ out of the area, i.e., resis-
tance fighters. On November 28th, 150
Israeli troops in armored vehicles and
helicopters made a four-hour raid on
three villages north of the zone, dynamit-
ing homes and arresting citizens. On
December 3rd and 4th, the Israeli occu-
pation troops launched their biggest
ground operation in Lebanon since
June; 150 troops raided the Wadi Horsh
Kanaaba area, northeast of Hasbaya,
attacking Palestinian freedom fighters.
The next day, 100 Israeli soldiers
attacked a _ resistance base near
Rachaya, in the southern Bekaa Valley.
Annexation
There are many concrete signs that
‘Israel’ is far from ready to relinquish its
positions in South Lebanon. This fall's
preparations for the winter were actually
an annexation of Lebanese territory. In
addition to bringing in prefabricated
houses to keep their occupation troops
warm, the Israelis installed mines and
electronic detection equipment along
the Lebanese-lsraeli border on land
expropriated from Lebanese farmers, in
effect, pushing the border northwards.
The statements of many Israeli officials,
including Defense Minister Rabin, that
UNIFIL is no longer needed, are another
indication of the Zionists’ desire for total
control. In line with this, there is frequent
harassment of the Norwegian troops in
particular, who are the only contingent
deployed exclusively in the ‘security
zone’. According to official Norwegian
sources, there have been 40 incidents
between the Norwegian soldiers and the
SLA or IDF in South Lebanon since
April. the US has seemingly given its
stamp of approval to Israelihegemony in
southernmost Lebanon, as indicated by
the December decision to suspend $18
million in aid to UNIFIL, and the January
veto of a UN resolution calling for Israeli
withdrawal.
In early January, Israeli officials
threatened an expansion of the ‘security
zone’. Though Defense Minister Rabin
denied this, there are indications of de
facto implementation. Daily Israeli-SLA
shelling in the new year has caused new
mass displacements in the villages north
of the zone. Mustafa Saad, Secretary
General of Saida’s Nasserite Organiza-
tion, charged that «Israel is trying to
enlarge the security belt, in order to pro-
tect Galilee, but also to acquire more
water and territory.»
" Newsletter 27 of the International Centre for Infor-
mation on Palestinian and Lebanese Prisoners,
Deportees and Missing Persons. This newsletter
contains extensive documentation about human
rights violations in the ‘security zone’ including first-
hand testimonies from released detainees and
refugees, maps, etc. The Centre is currently appeal-
ing for donations in order to enable it to continue its
documentation. Its next newsletter will focus on the
repression of children in occupied Palestine. The
address of the centre is B.P. 335.16, 75767 Paris
Cedex 16, France.
2 Ibid.
3 Monday Morning, Nov. 4-10, 1985.
“ Newsletter 21. )
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