Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 44)
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- Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 44)
- المحتوى
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and member of chamoun’s National Lib-
eral Party, assumed command of the
South Lebanon Army. He was once
chief-of-staff for military intelligence and
has served in all areas of Lebanon in the
course of his career. He «retired» at the
early age of 54, while serving as the
Lebanese Army's commander in the
Shouf last year. He is thus representa-
tive of those fascists who moved south in
the regrouping that followed the
nationalist victory.
Lahd claims to be acting within the
realm of Lebanese legality. The failure of
the Amin Gemayel government to refute
this proves that the Phalangist authority
has in fact relinquished the South to the
Israeli occupiers. At the end of March,
Amal leader Nabih Berri challenged the
regime to state its position. Berri pointed
out that it is not enough to abrogate the
May 17th accord when it is actually
being implemented on the ground
through the South Lebanon Army. He
also indicated that Lahd has commercial
interests in the South which he will cer-
tainly use his new position to exploit.
Berri called on southerners to confront
this army for what it is: an instrument of
‘Israel’. By mid-March, the Lebanese
National Resistance Front had made
seven attacks on these forces. @
South Lebanon
The Confrontation Escalates
Due to the nature of the conflict between the Zionist occupiers
and the masses of the South, a small village can become the focal
point and symbol of the overall confrontation. Such has been the
case with Jibsheet, southwest of Nabatiyeh, in the recent period. The
events in this village were one of the catalysts of the anti-occupation
protests which swept the South as the month of March turned into
April.
The story of Jibsheet dates back to
February 16th, when the village sheikh,
Ragheb Harb, an outspoken critic of the
occupation, was shot by «unidentified»
men at his home. Southerners were sure
that the Israelis were behind the murder.
This was confirmed in late March, when
Amal captured two of the killers (mem-
bers of the Israeli-sponsored National
Guard militias) in Beirut, where they had
been sent to assasinate Amal officials.
One of the captives revealed that the
order to assasinate Sheikh Harb had
been given by the Israeli military gover-
nor in Nabatiyeh, and that he had been
paid 10,000 Lebanese pounds (US $
1,800) for his part in the killing, while
others of his gang had surrounded Jib-
sheet, firing at anyone who tried to
leave.
Then, on March 28th, an Israeli
armored column pushed its way into Jib-
44
sheet. One unit occupied the religious
meeting place, while another headed for
the home of the new prayer leader,
Sheikh Abdelkarem Obeid. Fearing for
their new sheikh, the people gathered in
the square and began to throw stones at
the invaders. The Israelis opened fire,
hitting about 20 people, some of whom
died instantly, while others bled to death
because the occupation troops pre-
vented the enterance of ambulances. At
the same time, roads leading to the vil-
lage were straffed from helicopters to
prevent anyone from leaving or entering.
Reporters were kept out of the area for
several days. Later it was known that six
villagers had died, while 12 others sus-
tained serious injury. The Israelis also
arrested about 500 villagers, including
the sheikh. According to the Interna-
tional Red Cross, 225 of these are now
in Ansar.
Lebanese fascists of the South
Lebanon Army accompanied the Israeli
troops besieging Jibsheet. Israeli media
reported only three deaths and attri-
buted these to the fascists, giving the
whole incident the character of a mini-
Sabra-Shatila. Reports from the
neighboring villages at the time confirm
that it was a planned operation with the
village having been encircled by the IDF
from the preceding night.
On the same day, the Israeli army
closed the Batar-Jezzine mountain
road, the South's only passage to the
rest of Lebanon, after the February bat-
tles blocked the coastal highway. They
cut telephone and telex lines as well,
and imposed curfews in several areas.
The occupiers claimed the closure was
for the purpose of clearing a mine field
where four Israeli soldiers had been
wounded. Yet the cut-off continued with
only intermittent let-ups, fueling suspi-
cion that this is the Israelis’ punitive
response to the abrogation of the May
17th agreement, and that they will iso-
late the South until their fascist proxies
can take over «security».
Nabatiyeh, Saida and later Sour
went on strike, protesting the Jibsheet
massacre and the isolation of the South.
Rallies occurred in many places with
people burning tires and building bar-
ricades to keep out the occupiers’ con-
voys. At Shahabiyeh, this led to a clash
when Israeli troops opened fire on chil-
dren piling stones. Villagers, armed with
makeshift clubs converged on the Israeli
convoy, which was held up for two hours
until UNIFIL intervened to diffuse the
situation.
Continuing arrest campaigns and
earlier killings had precipitated the mas-
ses’ rage: In early March, two Lebanese
died of injuries sustained when the
Israelis had opened fire on a demonstra-
tion in Maarakah, on February 24th. On
March 6th, a youth was killed in Kanaa,
when the occupiers fired on a crowd pro-
testing the arrest of village residents.
Two days later, a woman and four chil-
dren were wounded when the Israelis
opened fire on a busy street in Saida,
after an attack on their forces. Saida’s - هو جزء من
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