Caught in Between
Written:
On May 24th 2000, following a 22 year-occupation, the Israeli forces withdrew from South Lebanon, leaving behind a harshly divided population.
Caught in Between
A documentary by Katia jarjoura
Voice Over :
It all started in 1948, with the establishment of the State of Israel – an event the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or the Catastrophy. An exodus of Palestinians began : hundreds of thousands took refuge in neighboring countries, among them Lebanon.
In June 1967, the Arab-Israeli war caused another wave of Palestinian refugees. South Lebanon then became a general headquarters for members of the Palestinian resistance. Palestinian commandos used it as a base to launch their attacks on Israel.
In response, Israel invaded South Lebanon in 1978, at a moment when the Lebanese civil war had reached a peak.
But it was in June 1982 that the Israeli tanks charged and besieged the Lebanese capital Beyrouth to drive the Palestinians out of Lebanon. The Operation called Peace in Galilee, reached its goal.
Eventually, the Israeli army withdrew from most of Lebanon maintaining a buffer zone in the South, despite UN resolution 425 calling for a complete withdrawal.
Israel had decided to keep South Lebanon under its control.
From then on, a collaborating militia, the South Lebanese Army, the SLA, became the main Israeli ally in the area. The SLA soldiers were trained and financed by Israel. They were used as human shields to protect Israeli forces from attacks by different resistance movements.
The Resistance organized and coordinated its ranks, lead by guerillas from Shiia Islamic group Hezbollah, Backed by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah intensified its attacks against the Israeli occupying forces until they withdrew.
Trapped in such a dirty war, the South Lebanese people had to choose a side : with or against Israel
FADE OUT.
Images of the South
VO : Today, South Lebanon is free…
But the Israeli occupation has generated suspicion and resentment among the people. Hence, not long after the Israeli withdrawal, few dared to tell their stories in front of my camera.
In such a troubled land, everyone seems to be both a prisoner and a victim of his own cause…Everyone only believes his own version of History.
DEGAULLE in his Mercedes, village.
DEGAULLE VO
I had the opportunity to participate in the Resistance movement at a young age.
I was first periodically active in the National Resistance until 1986. Then, I joined the ranks of the Islamic Resistance Hezbollah.
DEGAULLE in his shop
I joined the Resistance because I learned and I saw
I saw how the Israelis treated my parents badly when they used to go to the border area to plough their land or look after their flocks.
How the Israelis harassed them, humiliated them.
We were witnesses of the daily bombings and massacres perpetrated against our people, Lebanese and Palestinian, and all the people, even before the South’s occupation.
Tobacco images
VO : Maha lives in the same village as De Gaulle. During the occupation, she used to work everyday in Israel. Her husband, like many others, joined the South Lebanese Army in order to make a living. During that period, the Israeli occupied zone was completely isolated from the rest of Lebanon.
Maha in the tobacco fields
My husband and children have been picking tobacco for a long time but I wasn’t. I was working in Israel, in a sewing factory and then after, in a hospital. It was a better job, it was more profitable. There was more money back then.
Maha picks tobacco
VO : With huge amounts of money, Israel bought relative peace in South Lebanon, wining over a big part of the population…But at what price?
I was washing the floor at a hospital in Haïfa. I was away from 4 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. I would go to the border, then cross to Haïfa. First, we had to pass through the SLA soldiers. We would take off all our clothes, then get dressed again and pass through the Israeli border checkpoint. Same scenario. It was a systematic search. We would take everything off. Even my purse, they would search it every day.
We were compelled to be humiliated to live. We were really humiliated, but it’s not that bad, if it allows you to make a living!
PIERRE in his car, Israël
VO : Pierre first fought with the Christian militias against the Palestinians during the Lebanese war. Then, he became a restaurant owner in South Lebanon and started to make business with the Israelis. Today, he lives in Israel and recalls the past.
PIERRE looks at the rain falling
At the time, Palestinian organizations were making the law. Our people were desperate. Many Christian villages were attacked on a daily basis. You only had to be Christian to be considered anti-Palestinian. There were some kidnappings, some murders.
PIERRE in the stairs – Israeli Allied
So originally, the SLA was created to defend the Christians inside the border zone. When the Christians felt threatened, they raised their hands to ask for help from anybody. At the time, only the Israelis helped us.
PIERRE walks under the rain
There was no alternative. This was the situation. Since 1975, there was no authority and no army in the South. Every political faction had its own militia. If the government had been on the ground, maybe the South Lebanese Army (SLA) wouldn’t have formed, and neither would the others. There would have been the Lebanese army.
SLA images
VO: Just like Lebanon itself, the SLA was a mosaic of confessions and interests. The militia men were mostly Shiia Muslims while the officers were often Christians and Druze. For most of them, the SLA was the only source of revenue. Nevertheless, some joined the militia to fight: first against the Palestinians, than against Hezbollah guerillas..
Israeli bombings
VO : For years, South Lebanon never ceased to be a theater of war: for the Palestinians, the SLA, Hezbollah, but mainly for Israel which never hesitated to bomb villages, killing civilians and forcing thousands into exile…..
On the road
DE GAULLE in his car
Why am I named De Gaulle? General De Gaulle came to Rmeich in 1943 when the French Liberation Forces arrived. He came from Palestine with Russian General Bechkov. They sat on the edge of a well at my grand parents’ house. They drank water and ate. My father was still a child. My grand father said to General De Gaulle : « I am going to make a wish : if my son gets married and has a son, we’ll call him De Gaulle.” I am thus the victim of this wish. But I am proud because General De Gaulle was a freedom fighter, a revolutionary who liberated France.
DEGAULLE at the outpost
Some find it odd my involvement in Hezbollah, considering the confessional nature of this country, because I am a Christian.
During the occupation, people didn’t know the real face of Hezbollah. The Israeli media presented us as murderers and terrorists hiding at the border, waiting to devour children and massacre women and old men.
Explosives
VO DEGAULLE at the outpost
It is originally an Islamic Resistance. Neither my involvement as a Christian or that of other Christians will change its Islamic character. But its activities on the ground have proven that it’s not a fanatic religious party. Religious, yes. But fanatic, no.
Khiam prison, South Lebanon
VO : In this fortress, symbol of shame and humiliation, thousands of freedom fighters, men and women, were tortured by the Israeli forces and their Lebanese allies during the occupation.
ALI in a cell at Khiam. Ali : ex- Khiam prisoner.
Sometimes, alone, I ask myself : how did I resist all this torture? I can’t believe we were able to endure this period of our life, the exhaustion, the cold, the heat…It’s really…incredible…
Ali is beaten on the poll.
ALI in front of the gallow poll.
What shocked me the most, psychologically speaking, was when the jailers used to undress me. Then they would come and hit me and kick me. They would put a dog near me which would bit me and lick me. Or they would just pee on me.
I used to get beaten a lot, but hurt me even more was to realise that someone could behave like this towards me. Especially someone from my village, from my country, an acquaintance, a neighbor. Why was he treating me like this ?
ALI walks at Khiam
I was detained 11 years in the Khiam prison. There were no trials at the prison. We were at the Israelis’ mercy.
I am a member of the Islamic Resistance movement Hezbollah. I was 20 years old when I joined the Resistance.
Ma main motivation is Islam than after that, patriotism. There was an occupier on my land whom we had to drive out.
I started as a secret agent; than I obtained some weapons This lead to my arrest.
ALI enters the prison
DEGAULLE written in French on the wall
VO : DeGaulle was also detained in the same prison.
DEGAULLE explains his name
This is my name : De Gaulle. And this is my registration number.: 7532. And this is my entry date: 26 of August, 1999.
DEGAULLE in his cell
The jailers beat me up a lot because they were angry I was a Christian member of Hezbollah. One of them told me : « if you had belonged to another movement, it would have been easier. But the worse thing is that you are both Christian, and a member of Hezbollah.” They tortured me to a point that I thought I would die if there were no liberation.
DEGAULLE with his family
I avoided telling my parents I was working with the Resistance because I didn’t want to endanger them. It was a role which forced me to act normally with my family. I sometimes had to go home and despite all the pressures, smile in front of my kids and play with them. But I always felt it was the last time I might see them.
When they discover after my arrest that I was part of the Resistance, they endured as much as I did. It was as if they were imprisoned with me given all the humiliation the Israelis and their allies inflicted upon them during my incarceration.
The moon
MAHA smokes
I say it frankly, we were not peaceful. I was scared for my bothers, for my husband, my cousin, my neighbor. That they would leave and never come back.
How many SLA men died? Every day, attacks were launched against them, and there were bombings...
Night operation
ARCHIVES. .
VO : On May 24th 2000, the Israeli-Lebanese border closes after the last Israeli soldier moved out of South Lebanon, leaving the region in the hands of Hezbollah
LIBÉRATION
VO : The Hezbollah fighters triumphanty enter the area after years of heavy fighting against Israel and their allies.
The Lebanese step foot on their land again, a land long ago orphaned by the Lebanese State.
On this day of liberation, the Hezbollah proudly collects the laurels of victory !
Said Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah chief –
I say it clearly : these collaborators killers, assassins, traitors…We promise them and we threaten them : when the enemy will leave, if you don’t leave with him, we’ll come after you with our guns…
Cars in fire
Collaborators run away
VO : Abandoned by their allies, targeted by their enemies, the SLA experiences its worst hour. Caught by surprise by the abrupt Israeli pull out, more than 6000 people, militia men and their families, flee into Israel.
MAHA at night in her car
Fear pushed us to take flight. We left at midnight. I grabbed my son from his bed, wrapped him in a sheet, as if we had committed a crime, and we left! We didn’t know if the Hezbollah would come and kill us…
Khiam liberation
VO: At the same moment, the prison of Khiam is stormed by the villagers. The prisoners are freed…De Gaulle is one of them…
Séquence, Hezbollah victorious
Ecrire : Three days after the South’s liberation…
NASRALLAH speaking
Did we kill one of them? Or even wound one? Was a single drop of blood shed on Lebanon? The entire world was stunned by the exemplary attitude of the Islamic Resistance.
VO : Following the liberation of the South, Hezbollah spreads its control over the region with the green light from both Syria and Lebanon. The SLA members who stayed behind were handed over to the Lebanese authorities.
Fade Out
MAHA outside
Following our departure, the situation cooled down a little. And we came back. Hezbollah didn’t hurt anybody. Truly, it didn’t disturb anyone.
I thought in terms of family, of nation, of home, nothing more. That’s why I returned. Otherwise, I would have stayed in Israel.
Scene with Charbel
VO : Since her return, Maha is alone with her children. Her husband his behind bars at the State prison.
Sit down!
MAHA in the tobacco field
My husband has been in prison, in Roumieh, for the past two months. He came back from Israel and gave himself up to the Authorities.
Why did they throw him in prison? Because he was a traitor, he betrayed his country. Because he was in the SLA. He was a collaborator.
That’s how he ended up. He preserved his land, his family, his dignity and we call him a collaborator. Maybe they are right. Maybe we are wrong. Nobody knows. It’s our fault, us the little people. We should have left and let the State deal with the Israelis ! True or not? We shouldn’t have gotten ourselves into deeper and deeper murky waters !
DEGAULLE under the barbewires/ than Ali
VO: Even for the former prisoners, the liberation of the South doesn’t necessarly mean freedom.
When I got out of Khiam, I had to come back to a society based on religious principles, a society which rejected me.
I had many problems. Leaflets accusing me of being a traitor were distributed to hurt me.
Our habit in this country is that as soon as someone escapes from his confessional getto, he’s treated like a stranger…
ALI and the red walls
After 11 years between four walls, I now feel that I am part of this prison. If I don’t come for two days, I feel something is missing. I then do a short visit, and I feel better.
ALI at night
ALI and the moon
Through a small crack in our cell, we could sometimes see a star, or the moon. We would then think about our youth, our love ones. And we would say to the moon: send this message to my parents, to my wife…
ALI guides Khiam
After the liberation, people ignored the real nature of the crimes committed in this prison. I thus decided to be a sort of guide. I consider this as my mission : to show the public how much we suffered here. And continue to suiffer….
ALI talks about tortures
We are in front of the ‘torture by electricity’ room. Every prisoner was first brought here. They would take off his clothes, throw him on the floor and leave him on his knees from dusk until dawn, beating him.
The torture tools were : the whip, the stick and the electrical wire. They also used electricity and applied it to every part of the body, the tongue, the fingers, the ears and the genitals – even for women.
Ali walks in the prison
It’s a shower. There was no hot water.
VO : The prison of Khiam is now transformed into a museum and a propaganda showcase for Hezbollah.
The empty road
VO : When the excitement of Israel’s withdrawal was gone, hopes brought by the liberation of the South quickly faded away. Investment promises made by the Lebanese State and the international community have never been fulfilled; now deprived of Israeli revenues, the South is slowly dying.
Maha in the tobacco fields
I used to make 800 dollars a month and my husband, 700 dollars. There is a difference between making 1500 dollars per month and waiting for the annual tobacco crop. How am I going to feed my children, send them to school, pay for their medication? Where is the help insurance? In Israel, my children were insured.
Work, in Lebanon? I looked for work as a maid, but without success! Of course I would go back to work in Israel! As soon as there is a salary, I don’t care about the rest of the world! I want to live!
DEGaulle in his shop
I had a sewing factory during the occupation. A lingery store. When the Israelis and their allies arrested me, they stole and destroyed a lot of merchandise. Then, they closed the shop. Since my release, I have tried to start again from scratch. Unfortunately, I had 24 employees before, now I only have six or seven. Sometimes we open, sometimes we close, depending on the demand.
VO: In the South, Hezbollah has assumed the role of the Lebanese State. The Islamic party has put in place a complete network of social assistance in order to respond to the needs of the population. De Gaulle is responsible for his village.
DEGAULLE at the association
We need help for an urgent case, a sick person. Her name is Hanné Hasrouni...
Maha selects the tobacco
I don’t feel Lebanese, I feel like a stranger. Because nobody sympathized with us. I am in need and there isn’t anybody to help us. There is no State to tell you: you are Lebanese and we will help you.
Prisoners demonstration:
VO : Former prisoners are even less content. Many demonstrations have been organized to criticize the indifference of the Lebanese State.
ALI talks about the demonstration
We spent months without anyone showing any interest towards us, without housing, without work. Some ex-prisoners slept in the streets, under stairwells.
ALI at the prison :
Nothing guarantees the inmates’ rights. The State could have helped us by at least proposing workshops, jobs, compensation…anything, to help us erase that image of the‘victim’. Many ex-prisoners are suffering a psychological crisis and just can’t get over of it.
Pierre smokes inside
Since we left our houses, we never slept in a tent, in the heat or the cold. The Israelis have provided us with suitable housing, a salary and welfare insurance. The treat us decently. Unfortunately, everything we have here our families lack in South Lebanon.
PIERRE smoking in front of settlements
We are comfortable here but not happy, because we can’t build a future. We are in a new society with its habits and traditions. But we try to stay away from this culture to preserve ours.
Pierre lights a cigarette and gets into the car.
VO : In Israel, most of the Lebanese don’t have jobs. They live in Jewish settlements at the expense of the Jewish State and are homesick. Many have decided to return to Lebanon.
PIERRE in his car in Israël
My sister and her husband will go back to Lebanon because they feel it’s better for them there. I hope it will be the case. As for me, when I feel it will be better there, I’ll return without a doubt.
In Lebanon, the situation is still tense. The law is after us and Hezbollah is still present. When Hezbollah lays down its arms and become a political party like the others and when the State realizes its mistake towards us, the fact that it abandoned us for 25 years, then we will come back.
TANIOS et NESRINE are packing their things
VO : After a year and a half in exile, Pierre’s sister and her husband are anxiously preparing themselves to return to Lebanon.
TANIOS packing his stuff
I feel there is a big black cloud in front of me. I don’t know precisely what awaits me. But I know I will go to prison. I don’t think I did anything wrong. What’s wrong to work to make a living ?
Packing stuff, taking out Hebrew
TANIOS with the Russian woman
Maybe we won’t leave today and we will still need the keys.
PIERRE
Is there anyone who might come today?
WOMAN
Maybe. If not, in the next two days, I should pass by. And if I don’t, leave the keys with the neighbors.
TANIOS
OK. Thank you very much
WOMAN
Take care
PIERRE angry
What’s happening? What’s happening?
Yes, we speak Hebrew!
Erase that!
MAHA looks at the pictures
Papa is dancing with a woman. Wait a minute so we can see!
Here is Clovis. Look at daddy Charbel!
Look at me here, when I was young…I was pretty, no?
MAHA shows the boats
My husband did this in prison. Isn’t it beautiful? This also, it’s like the other. Also this one. And this boat also, my husband made it in prison. And now, he is making a bigger one!
Roumieh’s prison
VO : It’s here, in Roumieh’s State prison outside of Beyrouth that Maha’s husband is serving his sentence along with other former SLA militia men. Since the militia’s dissolution, about 3000 members were judged. Sentences vary from one month to 15 years, the average being one year. Every week, Maha visits her husband who was sentenced to eight months in prison.
MAHA in Roumieh
Nobody deserves to go to prison, unless they committed a crime: robbed, killed, rapped or hurt someone. That person has to go to prison. But my husband and others didn’t hurt anyone ! They only worked to make a living.
MAHA with the Titanic
ALI, with his son and the moon
****ALI walking with his son in the prison
I spent eight years without seeing my parents, eight years in complete isolation. I noticed that the Israeli collaborators have only been sentenced for one or two years in jail. These sentences are unfair. The Lebanese State has to put those people who tortured me in the Khiam prison – not for 15 years but for one or two months – to make them understand what they put us through.
Naturally, we don’t judge all the collaborators the same way. There are some murderers who have blood on their hands, others who harmed people and others who only worked. But a collaborator is a collaborator.
ALI with his son in his arms
This is my son. I often take him to the prison. I try to make him understand that his father lived here 11 years so that he will grow up to hate the Israelis. So that he knows Israelis are the enemies who tortured his father and many others.
True?
TANIOS happy
To Lebanon! To the country of freedom!
Loading the bus
PIERRE with his sister in the bus
Prisoner here? Prisoner in a society to which I don’t belong. But what’s even more difficult is that in Lebanon, I will really be a prisoner. Here, I am more free. I can express myself without the fear of being tried.
Israeli border
VO : On this day, dozens of former SLA members and their families are taking the road home. Even though it leads to prison.
Around 3000, like Pierre, have chosen to stay in Israel; Many others have emigrated to foreign countries.
TANIOS at the border
This is Lebanon! After a hundred meters, we will be on Lebanese land. I am really happy. No, no, no, I am not afraid of anything.
Other side of the border
VO : On the Lebanese side of the border, locals from many villages are waiting for friends and families. Maha has come to welcome her brothers
TANIOS and the money
VO : The Israeli State has given former SLA militiamen up to 30 000 $ per family to encourage them to leave.
Come here!
This is for the prison. We’ll give this to the Lebanese State. This is pocket money for prison.
It’s a reward to all the people who worked with the Israelis. And they say they are not kicking us out of here! They are proud of us because we are going to prison.
VO : Pierre doesn’t change his mind. He stays in Israel.
DEGAULLE smokes
I know that the man who is responsible for my arrest returned to my village and wasn’t brought to justice. He lives a normal life. Until now, I haven’t met him and I hope I won’t because the situation would be really upsetting.
SOUK
VO : At Khiam, in Ali’s village, many Israeli collaborators have returned…
ALI walks in the souk
Some try to greet me but I avoid them because they might have contributed to the destruction of my house or to my arrest. Maybe I am waiting for any kind of provocation, in order to take my revenge, to humiliate them in turn. But the leaders of the Resistance forbid us to confront the collaborators. There as been an agreement between Hezbollah and the State saying that the State has to judge the collaborators and we obeyed. If we could have acted freely, there might have been massacres…
Cars at night
VO : Today in the village of Rmeich, Christians feel a bit more secure. And night life has picked up again…
DEGAULLE who danses dabké
Lately, I noticed that the Christian community and the Islamic Resistance have gotten closer. People were surprised: they didn’t think Hezbollah would enter the area in such a civilized way.
MAHA under the Christ
Some people are suspicious because there are still many spies. Every lttle word can be turned against you and generate misunderstanding. It’s better not to go out and not to visit anybody.
Maha frustrated
VO : When Maha learned that De Gaulle was also part of the film, she got upset. It was the last time we were able to film her.
PIERRE watches TV
If we are against Hezbollah, it doesn’t mean we are against the State. Except if Hezbollah replaces the State. In this case, we would be effectively against the State.
So, the State should clarify its position: who has authority in the South, him or the State or Hezbollah?
Hezbollah parade
VO : In South Lebanon today, the Lebanese government refuses to deploy its army. It is Hezbollah that patrols the border.
Nasrallah à sa tribune
In Lebanon, they tell us : if you are member of Hezbollah as a political party, you are welcome. In the social field also, no problem. But if you want to protect yourselves, you have to renounce terrorism. In fact, the problem is that we possess the strength and it is forbidden to be strong in this region unless you are with Israel. The strong person is a terrorist even if she doesn’t use weapons. The strong person is a terrorist even if she doesn’t use her strength.
Night of the accident
VO : Despite the Israeli pullout, tensions along the border are still high. That night, I was shot by an Israeli soldier. .
Israeli soldiers
Stop or we are going to shoot!
VO : This is South Lebanon’s tragedy : a population caught in between two countries at war. A never-ending war fueled by an explosive Middle East. At any time, the palestinian-israeli conflict can destabilize the border just like it did in 1948 and 1967. Frequently, Israeli planes frighten the people of the South by flying over their villages while on the ground, the Lebanese are still victims of the thousands of mines left behind by Israel.
Hezbollah hiding in nature
VO : Following the liberation of the South, the United Nation delaclared the Israeli withdrawal complete. Yet, this odd war continues, manipulated by Syria from one side and Israel from the other. All this for a tiny disputed piece of land located near the Syrian Golan Heights: the Chebaa farms, occupied by Israel but claimed by Lebanon. This is where Hezbollah and the Isreali forces still confront each other in artillery battles which threaten to escalate into a regional conflict…
******Explosion at Chebaa
VO Ali in the prison
Since we have an enemy at the border, we are always exposed to threats, possible invasions and detention. Even if I had to be detained again, in worse conditions, it wouldn’t discourage me, quite the contrary, it would increase my determination.
VO Pierre under the rain
We hope that Lebanon will one day become a country which preserves our honor and insures our future and that of our children. Not a country where war is sparked every 20 years and where the government crumbles every time a political party gains strenght. We need a strong government…it’s a dream. And I hope it will become a reality.
VO DeGaulle in the outpost
I dream of living a normal life like everybody else but our destiny is to pursue the resistance as long as the enemy is present. We have to persevere in this belief…
VO Maha in the tobacco fields
Does anybody know what’s happening behind the scenes? What the future will be? We didn’t know Israel was going to withdraw. Suddenly it did. Just as suddenly it could return. Suddenly, they could make peace. Nobody knows. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, in one year or two, they could sign a peace agreement. In the meantime, we are suffering, while the powers that be, thrive!
The sun
The barbwires
- THE END –
Written:
On May 24th 2000, following a 22 year-occupation, the Israeli forces withdrew from South Lebanon, leaving behind a harshly divided population.
Caught in Between
A documentary by Katia jarjoura
Voice Over :
It all started in 1948, with the establishment of the State of Israel – an event the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or the Catastrophy. An exodus of Palestinians began : hundreds of thousands took refuge in neighboring countries, among them Lebanon.
In June 1967, the Arab-Israeli war caused another wave of Palestinian refugees. South Lebanon then became a general headquarters for members of the Palestinian resistance. Palestinian commandos used it as a base to launch their attacks on Israel.
In response, Israel invaded South Lebanon in 1978, at a moment when the Lebanese civil war had reached a peak.
But it was in June 1982 that the Israeli tanks charged and besieged the Lebanese capital Beyrouth to drive the Palestinians out of Lebanon. The Operation called Peace in Galilee, reached its goal.
Eventually, the Israeli army withdrew from most of Lebanon maintaining a buffer zone in the South, despite UN resolution 425 calling for a complete withdrawal.
Israel had decided to keep South Lebanon under its control.
From then on, a collaborating militia, the South Lebanese Army, the SLA, became the main Israeli ally in the area. The SLA soldiers were trained and financed by Israel. They were used as human shields to protect Israeli forces from attacks by different resistance movements.
The Resistance organized and coordinated its ranks, lead by guerillas from Shiia Islamic group Hezbollah, Backed by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah intensified its attacks against the Israeli occupying forces until they withdrew.
Trapped in such a dirty war, the South Lebanese people had to choose a side : with or against Israel
FADE OUT.
Images of the South
VO : Today, South Lebanon is free…
But the Israeli occupation has generated suspicion and resentment among the people. Hence, not long after the Israeli withdrawal, few dared to tell their stories in front of my camera.
In such a troubled land, everyone seems to be both a prisoner and a victim of his own cause…Everyone only believes his own version of History.
DEGAULLE in his Mercedes, village.
DEGAULLE VO
I had the opportunity to participate in the Resistance movement at a young age.
I was first periodically active in the National Resistance until 1986. Then, I joined the ranks of the Islamic Resistance Hezbollah.
DEGAULLE in his shop
I joined the Resistance because I learned and I saw
I saw how the Israelis treated my parents badly when they used to go to the border area to plough their land or look after their flocks.
How the Israelis harassed them, humiliated them.
We were witnesses of the daily bombings and massacres perpetrated against our people, Lebanese and Palestinian, and all the people, even before the South’s occupation.
Tobacco images
VO : Maha lives in the same village as De Gaulle. During the occupation, she used to work everyday in Israel. Her husband, like many others, joined the South Lebanese Army in order to make a living. During that period, the Israeli occupied zone was completely isolated from the rest of Lebanon.
Maha in the tobacco fields
My husband and children have been picking tobacco for a long time but I wasn’t. I was working in Israel, in a sewing factory and then after, in a hospital. It was a better job, it was more profitable. There was more money back then.
Maha picks tobacco
VO : With huge amounts of money, Israel bought relative peace in South Lebanon, wining over a big part of the population…But at what price?
I was washing the floor at a hospital in Haïfa. I was away from 4 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. I would go to the border, then cross to Haïfa. First, we had to pass through the SLA soldiers. We would take off all our clothes, then get dressed again and pass through the Israeli border checkpoint. Same scenario. It was a systematic search. We would take everything off. Even my purse, they would search it every day.
We were compelled to be humiliated to live. We were really humiliated, but it’s not that bad, if it allows you to make a living!
PIERRE in his car, Israël
VO : Pierre first fought with the Christian militias against the Palestinians during the Lebanese war. Then, he became a restaurant owner in South Lebanon and started to make business with the Israelis. Today, he lives in Israel and recalls the past.
PIERRE looks at the rain falling
At the time, Palestinian organizations were making the law. Our people were desperate. Many Christian villages were attacked on a daily basis. You only had to be Christian to be considered anti-Palestinian. There were some kidnappings, some murders.
PIERRE in the stairs – Israeli Allied
So originally, the SLA was created to defend the Christians inside the border zone. When the Christians felt threatened, they raised their hands to ask for help from anybody. At the time, only the Israelis helped us.
PIERRE walks under the rain
There was no alternative. This was the situation. Since 1975, there was no authority and no army in the South. Every political faction had its own militia. If the government had been on the ground, maybe the South Lebanese Army (SLA) wouldn’t have formed, and neither would the others. There would have been the Lebanese army.
SLA images
VO: Just like Lebanon itself, the SLA was a mosaic of confessions and interests. The militia men were mostly Shiia Muslims while the officers were often Christians and Druze. For most of them, the SLA was the only source of revenue. Nevertheless, some joined the militia to fight: first against the Palestinians, than against Hezbollah guerillas..
Israeli bombings
VO : For years, South Lebanon never ceased to be a theater of war: for the Palestinians, the SLA, Hezbollah, but mainly for Israel which never hesitated to bomb villages, killing civilians and forcing thousands into exile…..
On the road
DE GAULLE in his car
Why am I named De Gaulle? General De Gaulle came to Rmeich in 1943 when the French Liberation Forces arrived. He came from Palestine with Russian General Bechkov. They sat on the edge of a well at my grand parents’ house. They drank water and ate. My father was still a child. My grand father said to General De Gaulle : « I am going to make a wish : if my son gets married and has a son, we’ll call him De Gaulle.” I am thus the victim of this wish. But I am proud because General De Gaulle was a freedom fighter, a revolutionary who liberated France.
DEGAULLE at the outpost
Some find it odd my involvement in Hezbollah, considering the confessional nature of this country, because I am a Christian.
During the occupation, people didn’t know the real face of Hezbollah. The Israeli media presented us as murderers and terrorists hiding at the border, waiting to devour children and massacre women and old men.
Explosives
VO DEGAULLE at the outpost
It is originally an Islamic Resistance. Neither my involvement as a Christian or that of other Christians will change its Islamic character. But its activities on the ground have proven that it’s not a fanatic religious party. Religious, yes. But fanatic, no.
Khiam prison, South Lebanon
VO : In this fortress, symbol of shame and humiliation, thousands of freedom fighters, men and women, were tortured by the Israeli forces and their Lebanese allies during the occupation.
ALI in a cell at Khiam. Ali : ex- Khiam prisoner.
Sometimes, alone, I ask myself : how did I resist all this torture? I can’t believe we were able to endure this period of our life, the exhaustion, the cold, the heat…It’s really…incredible…
Ali is beaten on the poll.
ALI in front of the gallow poll.
What shocked me the most, psychologically speaking, was when the jailers used to undress me. Then they would come and hit me and kick me. They would put a dog near me which would bit me and lick me. Or they would just pee on me.
I used to get beaten a lot, but hurt me even more was to realise that someone could behave like this towards me. Especially someone from my village, from my country, an acquaintance, a neighbor. Why was he treating me like this ?
ALI walks at Khiam
I was detained 11 years in the Khiam prison. There were no trials at the prison. We were at the Israelis’ mercy.
I am a member of the Islamic Resistance movement Hezbollah. I was 20 years old when I joined the Resistance.
Ma main motivation is Islam than after that, patriotism. There was an occupier on my land whom we had to drive out.
I started as a secret agent; than I obtained some weapons This lead to my arrest.
ALI enters the prison
DEGAULLE written in French on the wall
VO : DeGaulle was also detained in the same prison.
DEGAULLE explains his name
This is my name : De Gaulle. And this is my registration number.: 7532. And this is my entry date: 26 of August, 1999.
DEGAULLE in his cell
The jailers beat me up a lot because they were angry I was a Christian member of Hezbollah. One of them told me : « if you had belonged to another movement, it would have been easier. But the worse thing is that you are both Christian, and a member of Hezbollah.” They tortured me to a point that I thought I would die if there were no liberation.
DEGAULLE with his family
I avoided telling my parents I was working with the Resistance because I didn’t want to endanger them. It was a role which forced me to act normally with my family. I sometimes had to go home and despite all the pressures, smile in front of my kids and play with them. But I always felt it was the last time I might see them.
When they discover after my arrest that I was part of the Resistance, they endured as much as I did. It was as if they were imprisoned with me given all the humiliation the Israelis and their allies inflicted upon them during my incarceration.
The moon
MAHA smokes
I say it frankly, we were not peaceful. I was scared for my bothers, for my husband, my cousin, my neighbor. That they would leave and never come back.
How many SLA men died? Every day, attacks were launched against them, and there were bombings...
Night operation
ARCHIVES. .
VO : On May 24th 2000, the Israeli-Lebanese border closes after the last Israeli soldier moved out of South Lebanon, leaving the region in the hands of Hezbollah
LIBÉRATION
VO : The Hezbollah fighters triumphanty enter the area after years of heavy fighting against Israel and their allies.
The Lebanese step foot on their land again, a land long ago orphaned by the Lebanese State.
On this day of liberation, the Hezbollah proudly collects the laurels of victory !
Said Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah chief –
I say it clearly : these collaborators killers, assassins, traitors…We promise them and we threaten them : when the enemy will leave, if you don’t leave with him, we’ll come after you with our guns…
Cars in fire
Collaborators run away
VO : Abandoned by their allies, targeted by their enemies, the SLA experiences its worst hour. Caught by surprise by the abrupt Israeli pull out, more than 6000 people, militia men and their families, flee into Israel.
MAHA at night in her car
Fear pushed us to take flight. We left at midnight. I grabbed my son from his bed, wrapped him in a sheet, as if we had committed a crime, and we left! We didn’t know if the Hezbollah would come and kill us…
Khiam liberation
VO: At the same moment, the prison of Khiam is stormed by the villagers. The prisoners are freed…De Gaulle is one of them…
Séquence, Hezbollah victorious
Ecrire : Three days after the South’s liberation…
NASRALLAH speaking
Did we kill one of them? Or even wound one? Was a single drop of blood shed on Lebanon? The entire world was stunned by the exemplary attitude of the Islamic Resistance.
VO : Following the liberation of the South, Hezbollah spreads its control over the region with the green light from both Syria and Lebanon. The SLA members who stayed behind were handed over to the Lebanese authorities.
Fade Out
MAHA outside
Following our departure, the situation cooled down a little. And we came back. Hezbollah didn’t hurt anybody. Truly, it didn’t disturb anyone.
I thought in terms of family, of nation, of home, nothing more. That’s why I returned. Otherwise, I would have stayed in Israel.
Scene with Charbel
VO : Since her return, Maha is alone with her children. Her husband his behind bars at the State prison.
Sit down!
MAHA in the tobacco field
My husband has been in prison, in Roumieh, for the past two months. He came back from Israel and gave himself up to the Authorities.
Why did they throw him in prison? Because he was a traitor, he betrayed his country. Because he was in the SLA. He was a collaborator.
That’s how he ended up. He preserved his land, his family, his dignity and we call him a collaborator. Maybe they are right. Maybe we are wrong. Nobody knows. It’s our fault, us the little people. We should have left and let the State deal with the Israelis ! True or not? We shouldn’t have gotten ourselves into deeper and deeper murky waters !
DEGAULLE under the barbewires/ than Ali
VO: Even for the former prisoners, the liberation of the South doesn’t necessarly mean freedom.
When I got out of Khiam, I had to come back to a society based on religious principles, a society which rejected me.
I had many problems. Leaflets accusing me of being a traitor were distributed to hurt me.
Our habit in this country is that as soon as someone escapes from his confessional getto, he’s treated like a stranger…
ALI and the red walls
After 11 years between four walls, I now feel that I am part of this prison. If I don’t come for two days, I feel something is missing. I then do a short visit, and I feel better.
ALI at night
ALI and the moon
Through a small crack in our cell, we could sometimes see a star, or the moon. We would then think about our youth, our love ones. And we would say to the moon: send this message to my parents, to my wife…
ALI guides Khiam
After the liberation, people ignored the real nature of the crimes committed in this prison. I thus decided to be a sort of guide. I consider this as my mission : to show the public how much we suffered here. And continue to suiffer….
ALI talks about tortures
We are in front of the ‘torture by electricity’ room. Every prisoner was first brought here. They would take off his clothes, throw him on the floor and leave him on his knees from dusk until dawn, beating him.
The torture tools were : the whip, the stick and the electrical wire. They also used electricity and applied it to every part of the body, the tongue, the fingers, the ears and the genitals – even for women.
Ali walks in the prison
It’s a shower. There was no hot water.
VO : The prison of Khiam is now transformed into a museum and a propaganda showcase for Hezbollah.
The empty road
VO : When the excitement of Israel’s withdrawal was gone, hopes brought by the liberation of the South quickly faded away. Investment promises made by the Lebanese State and the international community have never been fulfilled; now deprived of Israeli revenues, the South is slowly dying.
Maha in the tobacco fields
I used to make 800 dollars a month and my husband, 700 dollars. There is a difference between making 1500 dollars per month and waiting for the annual tobacco crop. How am I going to feed my children, send them to school, pay for their medication? Where is the help insurance? In Israel, my children were insured.
Work, in Lebanon? I looked for work as a maid, but without success! Of course I would go back to work in Israel! As soon as there is a salary, I don’t care about the rest of the world! I want to live!
DEGaulle in his shop
I had a sewing factory during the occupation. A lingery store. When the Israelis and their allies arrested me, they stole and destroyed a lot of merchandise. Then, they closed the shop. Since my release, I have tried to start again from scratch. Unfortunately, I had 24 employees before, now I only have six or seven. Sometimes we open, sometimes we close, depending on the demand.
VO: In the South, Hezbollah has assumed the role of the Lebanese State. The Islamic party has put in place a complete network of social assistance in order to respond to the needs of the population. De Gaulle is responsible for his village.
DEGAULLE at the association
We need help for an urgent case, a sick person. Her name is Hanné Hasrouni...
Maha selects the tobacco
I don’t feel Lebanese, I feel like a stranger. Because nobody sympathized with us. I am in need and there isn’t anybody to help us. There is no State to tell you: you are Lebanese and we will help you.
Prisoners demonstration:
VO : Former prisoners are even less content. Many demonstrations have been organized to criticize the indifference of the Lebanese State.
ALI talks about the demonstration
We spent months without anyone showing any interest towards us, without housing, without work. Some ex-prisoners slept in the streets, under stairwells.
ALI at the prison :
Nothing guarantees the inmates’ rights. The State could have helped us by at least proposing workshops, jobs, compensation…anything, to help us erase that image of the‘victim’. Many ex-prisoners are suffering a psychological crisis and just can’t get over of it.
Pierre smokes inside
Since we left our houses, we never slept in a tent, in the heat or the cold. The Israelis have provided us with suitable housing, a salary and welfare insurance. The treat us decently. Unfortunately, everything we have here our families lack in South Lebanon.
PIERRE smoking in front of settlements
We are comfortable here but not happy, because we can’t build a future. We are in a new society with its habits and traditions. But we try to stay away from this culture to preserve ours.
Pierre lights a cigarette and gets into the car.
VO : In Israel, most of the Lebanese don’t have jobs. They live in Jewish settlements at the expense of the Jewish State and are homesick. Many have decided to return to Lebanon.
PIERRE in his car in Israël
My sister and her husband will go back to Lebanon because they feel it’s better for them there. I hope it will be the case. As for me, when I feel it will be better there, I’ll return without a doubt.
In Lebanon, the situation is still tense. The law is after us and Hezbollah is still present. When Hezbollah lays down its arms and become a political party like the others and when the State realizes its mistake towards us, the fact that it abandoned us for 25 years, then we will come back.
TANIOS et NESRINE are packing their things
VO : After a year and a half in exile, Pierre’s sister and her husband are anxiously preparing themselves to return to Lebanon.
TANIOS packing his stuff
I feel there is a big black cloud in front of me. I don’t know precisely what awaits me. But I know I will go to prison. I don’t think I did anything wrong. What’s wrong to work to make a living ?
Packing stuff, taking out Hebrew
TANIOS with the Russian woman
Maybe we won’t leave today and we will still need the keys.
PIERRE
Is there anyone who might come today?
WOMAN
Maybe. If not, in the next two days, I should pass by. And if I don’t, leave the keys with the neighbors.
TANIOS
OK. Thank you very much
WOMAN
Take care
PIERRE angry
What’s happening? What’s happening?
Yes, we speak Hebrew!
Erase that!
MAHA looks at the pictures
Papa is dancing with a woman. Wait a minute so we can see!
Here is Clovis. Look at daddy Charbel!
Look at me here, when I was young…I was pretty, no?
MAHA shows the boats
My husband did this in prison. Isn’t it beautiful? This also, it’s like the other. Also this one. And this boat also, my husband made it in prison. And now, he is making a bigger one!
Roumieh’s prison
VO : It’s here, in Roumieh’s State prison outside of Beyrouth that Maha’s husband is serving his sentence along with other former SLA militia men. Since the militia’s dissolution, about 3000 members were judged. Sentences vary from one month to 15 years, the average being one year. Every week, Maha visits her husband who was sentenced to eight months in prison.
MAHA in Roumieh
Nobody deserves to go to prison, unless they committed a crime: robbed, killed, rapped or hurt someone. That person has to go to prison. But my husband and others didn’t hurt anyone ! They only worked to make a living.
MAHA with the Titanic
ALI, with his son and the moon
****ALI walking with his son in the prison
I spent eight years without seeing my parents, eight years in complete isolation. I noticed that the Israeli collaborators have only been sentenced for one or two years in jail. These sentences are unfair. The Lebanese State has to put those people who tortured me in the Khiam prison – not for 15 years but for one or two months – to make them understand what they put us through.
Naturally, we don’t judge all the collaborators the same way. There are some murderers who have blood on their hands, others who harmed people and others who only worked. But a collaborator is a collaborator.
ALI with his son in his arms
This is my son. I often take him to the prison. I try to make him understand that his father lived here 11 years so that he will grow up to hate the Israelis. So that he knows Israelis are the enemies who tortured his father and many others.
True?
TANIOS happy
To Lebanon! To the country of freedom!
Loading the bus
PIERRE with his sister in the bus
Prisoner here? Prisoner in a society to which I don’t belong. But what’s even more difficult is that in Lebanon, I will really be a prisoner. Here, I am more free. I can express myself without the fear of being tried.
Israeli border
VO : On this day, dozens of former SLA members and their families are taking the road home. Even though it leads to prison.
Around 3000, like Pierre, have chosen to stay in Israel; Many others have emigrated to foreign countries.
TANIOS at the border
This is Lebanon! After a hundred meters, we will be on Lebanese land. I am really happy. No, no, no, I am not afraid of anything.
Other side of the border
VO : On the Lebanese side of the border, locals from many villages are waiting for friends and families. Maha has come to welcome her brothers
TANIOS and the money
VO : The Israeli State has given former SLA militiamen up to 30 000 $ per family to encourage them to leave.
Come here!
This is for the prison. We’ll give this to the Lebanese State. This is pocket money for prison.
It’s a reward to all the people who worked with the Israelis. And they say they are not kicking us out of here! They are proud of us because we are going to prison.
VO : Pierre doesn’t change his mind. He stays in Israel.
DEGAULLE smokes
I know that the man who is responsible for my arrest returned to my village and wasn’t brought to justice. He lives a normal life. Until now, I haven’t met him and I hope I won’t because the situation would be really upsetting.
SOUK
VO : At Khiam, in Ali’s village, many Israeli collaborators have returned…
ALI walks in the souk
Some try to greet me but I avoid them because they might have contributed to the destruction of my house or to my arrest. Maybe I am waiting for any kind of provocation, in order to take my revenge, to humiliate them in turn. But the leaders of the Resistance forbid us to confront the collaborators. There as been an agreement between Hezbollah and the State saying that the State has to judge the collaborators and we obeyed. If we could have acted freely, there might have been massacres…
Cars at night
VO : Today in the village of Rmeich, Christians feel a bit more secure. And night life has picked up again…
DEGAULLE who danses dabké
Lately, I noticed that the Christian community and the Islamic Resistance have gotten closer. People were surprised: they didn’t think Hezbollah would enter the area in such a civilized way.
MAHA under the Christ
Some people are suspicious because there are still many spies. Every lttle word can be turned against you and generate misunderstanding. It’s better not to go out and not to visit anybody.
Maha frustrated
VO : When Maha learned that De Gaulle was also part of the film, she got upset. It was the last time we were able to film her.
PIERRE watches TV
If we are against Hezbollah, it doesn’t mean we are against the State. Except if Hezbollah replaces the State. In this case, we would be effectively against the State.
So, the State should clarify its position: who has authority in the South, him or the State or Hezbollah?
Hezbollah parade
VO : In South Lebanon today, the Lebanese government refuses to deploy its army. It is Hezbollah that patrols the border.
Nasrallah à sa tribune
In Lebanon, they tell us : if you are member of Hezbollah as a political party, you are welcome. In the social field also, no problem. But if you want to protect yourselves, you have to renounce terrorism. In fact, the problem is that we possess the strength and it is forbidden to be strong in this region unless you are with Israel. The strong person is a terrorist even if she doesn’t use weapons. The strong person is a terrorist even if she doesn’t use her strength.
Night of the accident
VO : Despite the Israeli pullout, tensions along the border are still high. That night, I was shot by an Israeli soldier. .
Israeli soldiers
Stop or we are going to shoot!
VO : This is South Lebanon’s tragedy : a population caught in between two countries at war. A never-ending war fueled by an explosive Middle East. At any time, the palestinian-israeli conflict can destabilize the border just like it did in 1948 and 1967. Frequently, Israeli planes frighten the people of the South by flying over their villages while on the ground, the Lebanese are still victims of the thousands of mines left behind by Israel.
Hezbollah hiding in nature
VO : Following the liberation of the South, the United Nation delaclared the Israeli withdrawal complete. Yet, this odd war continues, manipulated by Syria from one side and Israel from the other. All this for a tiny disputed piece of land located near the Syrian Golan Heights: the Chebaa farms, occupied by Israel but claimed by Lebanon. This is where Hezbollah and the Isreali forces still confront each other in artillery battles which threaten to escalate into a regional conflict…
******Explosion at Chebaa
VO Ali in the prison
Since we have an enemy at the border, we are always exposed to threats, possible invasions and detention. Even if I had to be detained again, in worse conditions, it wouldn’t discourage me, quite the contrary, it would increase my determination.
VO Pierre under the rain
We hope that Lebanon will one day become a country which preserves our honor and insures our future and that of our children. Not a country where war is sparked every 20 years and where the government crumbles every time a political party gains strenght. We need a strong government…it’s a dream. And I hope it will become a reality.
VO DeGaulle in the outpost
I dream of living a normal life like everybody else but our destiny is to pursue the resistance as long as the enemy is present. We have to persevere in this belief…
VO Maha in the tobacco fields
Does anybody know what’s happening behind the scenes? What the future will be? We didn’t know Israel was going to withdraw. Suddenly it did. Just as suddenly it could return. Suddenly, they could make peace. Nobody knows. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, in one year or two, they could sign a peace agreement. In the meantime, we are suffering, while the powers that be, thrive!
The sun
The barbwires
- THE END –