Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 21)
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- Democratic Palestine : 9 (ص 21)
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. Israeli tanks attacked Zrariyeh-34 villagers
So
were killed.
damage is done, the Lebanese Forces
will join Amin Gemayel’s tactic of trying
to get Syria to rein in the nationalists.
Population Transfer
The logic of Geagea’s crusade was
an Israeli plan, hatched after initial fai-
lure to incite sectarian strife in the Saida
area. Geagea’s fascists were inserted to
do the job, making local Christians hos-
tage to a hoped-for «Muslim back-
lash». The Israelis and the Lebanese
Forces calculated the stream of Christ-
ian refugees southwards. This is part of
a population transfer, to empty the «sec-
urity zone» of militant Shiites and other
nationalists, and install pro-Israeli or at
least anti-Muslim, subdued residents.
Aside from this overall logic, there
were many concrete proofs of Israeli
involvement. The nationalist forces pub-
lished information that an Israeli arms
shipment had reached the Lebanese
Forces in Beirut port just days before
Geagea announced his «revolt». Israeli
planes carried out surveillance of Syrian
troops in North Lebanon as Geagea took
over adjacent areas. On March 22nd,
Sharon visited the fascist stronghold at
Jezzine while the Israeli army crossed
their occupation line and took positions
in three villages east of Saida. According
to Lebanese security forces, these
events caused 150 Christians to flee
their homes near Saida, realizing the
seriousness of the coming conflict.
The Maronite bishop of Saida con-
demned the Lebanese Forces, giving
further indication that many Christians
were unwilling hostages in the Israeli
plan. On April 10th, Israeli gunboats
shelled Ain al Hilweh and villages east of
Saida as the fascist bombardment con-
tinued. The Zionists’ proxy, Lahd’s
South Lebanese Army, also joined in the
shelling and some of Geagea’'s forces
were stationed in Jezzine under Lahd’s
command.
Media Warfare
Knowing that they could not sustain
their positions without close Israeli back-
up, the Lebanese Forces declared a
cease-fire the last week of April, as the
Israeli army withdrew from the central
and western areas of the South. Geagea
retreated eastwards to join Lahd in Jez-
zine, taking the fighters he had brought
from ouside the Saida area. The
nationalist forces, under siege for a
month, then moved to disarm the
remaining Lebanese Forces and estab-
lish nationalist control. This, the logical
aftermath of any battle, was viciously
labeled in much of the bourgeois media
as «Muslims plundering Christian vil-
lages».
In the following days, the nationalist
forces eliminated the last positions of the
Lebanese Forces on the coast north of
Saida (!klim Karroub). Others moved
into the areas vacated by the Israeli
occupiers, clashing with Lahd’s army.
The bourgeois media focused on the
plight of Christian refugees in Jezzine,
quoting exaggerated figures of their
numbers from Israeli and _ fascist
sources, and portraying them as faced
by a «Muslim onslaught». In a joint state-
ment, Walid Jumblatt and Nabih Berri
pledged that Jezzine would not be
attacked, but demanded that Lahd’s
army leave. The nationalists declared a
cease-fire in order to «thwart the Israeli
plans to drive our Christian people to the
border», in the words of Osama Saad,
leader of the Nasserite Organization of
Saida. This was however rejected:
Geagea declared that the Lebanese
Forces would «redeem by blood» all that
they had lost. In view of the ridiculous
nature of Geagea’s claim after a smash-
ing defeat, Hobeika’s replacing him can
also be viewed as a face-saving man-
euver, and an attempt to win over the
refugees in Jezzine. Many of them had
derided Geagea for leaving the Saida
area on a moment's notice, expressing
feelings that they had been sold out.
Nationalist leaders have welcomed
the return of refugees to their homes. In
fact, a pilot project began in a village just
north of Saida in early May: 200 Christ-
ian families returned to their homes with
guarantees of safety and help from the
nationalist forces. Yet the refugee prob-
lem in Lebanon is not restricted to Chris-
tians as the Israeli and fascist media
pretend. It involves thousands of all
faiths, dating back a decade when the
Phalangists began «cleansing» the
areas under their control of Muslims,
Palestinians, the poor and non-fascist
Christians.
In the same way, the conflict in
South Lebanon between nationalists
and pro-Israeli fascists is connected to
the overall Lebanese crisis. The battles
in the South were paralleled by esca-
lated fighting in the Beirut and mountain
areas in late April. As we go to press, it
seems a new chapter is opening in the
Lebanese civil war, further complicated
by persisting Israeli intervention. The
coming stage will demand even clearer
political vision and tighter unity among
the national and progressive forces if the
Israeli-fascist plan for reentrenching
sectarianism and oppression is to be
foiled.
“Samir Geagea, Israeli-trained commander of the
Lebanese Forces in the North, unsuccessfully led
the fascists in the 1983 Shouf Mountain war, only to
be escorted out by the Israelis. His revolt is related
to long-standing differences in the Phalangist ranks
over which tactics can best insure their dominance:
Total alignment with ‘Israel’ or a modus vivendi with
the nationalist forces and Syria. In early 1984,
Geagea was promoted to greater authority in the
Lebanese Forces as part of a reorganization that
gave the militia a stronger political profile, nominally
independent from the Phalangist Party. This divi-
sion of labour allowed Amin Gemayel and the
Phalangist Party to pursue the latter tactic, while the
Lebanese Forces kept alive the militantly fascist,
anti-Arab line. This set the conditions for Geagea's
«revolt».
e
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