Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 20)
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- Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 20)
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The Iron Fist
The Israeli flight to their «security»
zone» in South Lebanon was covered by
the «iron fist». From mid-February until
late April when they left Sour, hardly a
day passed without a southern village
being besieged. The most typical days
witnessed multiple attacks on civilians,
dozens indiscriminately shot and up to
one hundred arrested, while homes
were blown up. In early March, Jebal
Amal hospital in Sour, itself raided sev-
eral times with patients snatched from
surgery or donating blood, reported that
80% of its cases were a result of the
Zionist «iron fist» policy. In March alone,
the Zionist occupiers murdered at least
120 southerners, including 11 killed by a
bomb they planted in Maarakeh’s mos-
que. This is in addition to the victims of
four Israeli air strikes on Western Leba-
non in the same period, and almost 100
civilians killed by car bombs planted by
Zionist and CIA agents in West Beirut.
This brutality did not stunt the
Lebanese National Resistance how-
ever. Anti-occupation operations aver-
aged five daily throughout the first two
phases of the withdrawal. Most typical
was the response of a South Lebanese
woman while mourning her brother:
«They killed my brother because he was
in the resistance, but | am going to
replace him. | have hands, legs and the
heart of ahundred men.» Since the with-
drawal decision, about 30 Israelis have
been killed in South Lebanon according
to their own counts, while the Lebanese
National Resistance Front estimated
casualties to be much higher. One
reason for the difference in figures was
that the Israelis did their best to overlook
the operations carried out by young
Lebanese who had consciously pre-
pared to give their lives for the sake of
dealing a major blow to the occupiers. In
April there were five attacks of this kind
with explosive-laden cars ramming
Israeli Convoys or posts. What the
enemy forces most wanted to black out
was that these were not motivated by
religious «fanaticism». Two of the mar-
tyred resistors were women, and all
belonged either to the Lebanese Com-
munist Party or the Syrian Social
Nationalist Party, both well known for
their secular ideas.
20
The «iron fist» is now concentrated
in the southernmost area where the
Israelis have openly spoken of creating
a «balance of fear» to keep anyone from
aiding the resistance. A proof of this «ba-
lance» came on May 9th, when Israeli
radio announced that the South
Lebanese Army, which was halved by
desertions early in 1985, had suddenly
swelled to 2,000 again. This ‘miracle’ is
the fruit of an enforced conscription
campaign, part of the Israeli plan to
«Cleanse» this area. To the same end,
dozens of families were forcibly evicted
from southernmost villages around Bint
Jbail in February. In further admission
that it will never tame Lebanese patriots,
the Israeli army has finally replaced the
so-called Good Fence to ‘Israel’ with a
12x12 foot ditch cutting across most of
the Lebanon-Palestine border.
Geagea-new Israeli invasion
The other prong of the Israeli plan
for their «security zone» was Samir
Geagea’s_ crusade for Christian
privilege, cantonization and alignment
with the Zionist state*. Geagea’'s «re-
volt» began after a meeting between
Lebanese leaders and Syrian Vice-
President Khaddam, where it was
decided to abolish or amend many of the
Wazzan government's decrees of 1982-
83, which gave greater power to the
Maronites in the Lebanese Army and
administration. It was also decided to
open the coastal road linking Beirut to
the North; this meant closure of the
Lebanese Forces’ illegal checkpoint at
Barbara, where they extract huge
revenues in the form of tolls. The deeper
cause of the «revolt» was the impending
Israeli withdrawal. In its wake, the most
militantly pro-Israeli fascists feared los-
ing the last of their gains from the 1982
invasion, gains as were never achieved
by their own struggle despite much
bloodshed.
Geagea'’s take-over of the
Lebanese Forces command, and of the
Phalangist areas in the North and East
Beirut, was a quick, bloodless coup. The
Lebanese Forces’ real aggression was
directed against nationalist Saida,
explicitly the Muslim population and
Palestinians of Ain al Hilweh and Mia
Mia refugee camps. On March 19, the
Lebanese Forces gave Muslims in the
neigborhoods east of Saida two hours to
leave theirhomes. Those who were slow
in doing this were beaten and forcibly
evicted as 20,000 streamed towards
Saida’s center. Then began a month of
merciless bombardment, which forced
25,000 Palestinians to flee the camps for
Saida, and later forced many more from
Saida towards Beirut. This was the first
wave of refugees from the new Zionist
invasion, though they have received
less publicity than the subsequent Chris-
tian exodus engineered by Geagea in
accordance with Israeli plans.
The local nationalist forces, Palesti-
nians in the camps, and parts of the
Lebanese Army stationed in Saida after
the Israeli withdrawal, fought the
Geagea invasion, but had insufficient
equipment to fully protect the masses
from the fascist artillery. Meanwhile the
government stood by as_ though
paralyzed. It is telling that President
Amin Gemayel and his army failed to
confront the revolt supposedly aimed
against themselves. Actually the
Phalangist Party and _ President
Gemayel can reap the benefits of these
events in a variety of ways. As the
nationalist forces press for democratic
reform, and Syria supports these
demands, Amin Gemayel can point to
the «revolt», warning that such violence
can reoccur if Christian privileges are
infringed upon. More importantly, the
Geagea crusade serves to aggravate
sectarian strife, diverting from the pro-
found political radicalization which the
majority of southerners have undergone
in their heroic resistance to the Israeli
occupation.
After failing to accomplish anything
for the Lebanese except murdering over
110 people and making thousands of
Christians and Muslims homeless,
Geagea was replaced as commander of
the Lebanese Forces by Eli Hobeika.
Substituting one butcher for another
(Hobeika led the Sabra-Shatila mas-
sacre), is intended as a trap for the
nationalist forces. Hobeika’s first decla-
ration termed the Syrian role in Lebanon
«essential» and called for Lebanese
dialogue, signaling that now that the - هو جزء من
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