LEBANON: ARABS FORCED OUT OF THEIR HOMELAND SAY ISRAEL'S PLEDGES TO LEAVE SOUTH LEBANON AFTER 22 YEARS HAVE NOT DEMINISHED THEIR HATRED FOR THE JEWISH STATE

Record ID: 398993

  • Title: LEBANON: ARABS FORCED OUT OF THEIR HOMELAND SAY ISRAEL'S PLEDGES TO LEAVE SOUTH LEBANON AFTER 22 YEARS HAVE NOT DEMINISHED THEIR HATRED FOR THE JEWISH STATE
  • Date: 24th April 2000
  • Summary: QLAYLEH, SOUTH LEBANON, LEBANON (APRIL 24, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF ISMAIL ABDULLAH AND HIS FAMILY PLANTING TOBACCO AT THEIR FIELD OPPPOSITE THE SECURITY ZONE (5 SHOTS) 0.29 2. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (ARABIC) ISMAIL ABDULLAH SAYING: "I hope I will return to my land, dead or alive. I have one hundred and fifty hectares of land which I have not seen
  • Embargoed: 9th May 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: QLAYLEH, ZIBQUINE, SIDIQUINE, QANA, SOUTH LEBANON, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA4XX0CDD6PSFXJBRTN3HP3DXCP
  • Story Text: Victims of Israel's 1996 blitz on south Lebanon say its
    pledges to leave the area after 22 years have not diminished
    their hatred for the Jewish state.

    Twenty years ago, Lebanese farmer Ismail Abdullah and
    his family fled their hometown Marwaheen, inside the Israeli
    south Lebanon occupation zone, to become refugees in their own
    country.

    Since then Abdullah, once owner of lucrative olive groves,
    has been supporting his family growing tobacco on a tiny piece
    of land which borders the occupation zone.

    Abdullah, like thousands of other Lebanese refugees, is
    determined to go back home.

    "I hope I will return to my land, dead or alive.I have
    150 hectares of land which I have not seen for twenty years."
    The Israeli pledge to pull out of the occupation
    territories has given him hope but many, like his 21-year-old
    daughter Zeinab are full of distrust and find it hard to
    believe that Israel would ever relinquish south Lebanon..

    "I wish I could go back and see my home and family but I
    feel suspicious about this whole thing and I feel they
    [Israelis] are just trying to fool people," Zeinab said.

    The bitter conflict has left scars on almost everyone
    living in the villages neighbouring the security zone.

    Asked about the prospects of peace in the future, many say
    the future will always be marred by the past.

    "We can never forget and our enemy will never become our
    friend.We have had enough after the Qana and the Mansouri
    massacres they have committed.How can you trust the enemy?"
    Roda Beza, a 70-year-old villager, said.

    More than 200 civilians, most of them women and children,
    were killed in the April 18, 1996 "Grapes of Wrath" offensive
    which was aimed at crushing Hizbollah guerrillas fighting the
    Israeli occupation.

    The offensive's most grisly incident occurred in the tiny
    southern village of Qana, where 17 high impact shells struck a
    United Nations base, killing 106 men, women and children who
    were sheltering there.Israel said it had made a mistake but a
    U.N.inquiry said the attack was probably deliberate.

    The site of the Qana massacre has been transformed into a
    mass grave and mausoleum where visitors and relatives come to
    remember the dead.

    Israel has said it is going to quit south Lebanon with or
    without a peace agreement with Syria, the main power broker in
    Lebanon and a staunch Hizbollah supporter.

    Beirut and Damascus say that the withdrawal would neither
    bring peace to northern Israel nor guarantee it calm borders.

    The widespread hatred of Israel in the south gives credence to
    their words.

    Shawqi Balhas' first wife and five of his children were
    among the victims in Qana.Four years after the massacre, he
    says his life will never be the same.All he hopes for now is
    that it may be different for his other children, born after
    the Qana massacre.

    "I do hope we can reach real peace, not a temporary,
    fragile one," he said adding that the that the tragic memory
    of Qana should serve as a reminder and an incentive to the
    feuding parties in the region to seek real peace.


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