LEBANON --
Israel's Prisoners of War
1626
March 2000
V/O: Its been 22 years since Israeli tanks rolled across the international border to occupy South Lebanon
to eradicate Palestinian guerrillas like these.
A second invasion in 1982 took Israel right up to Beirut and forced the evacuation of thousands of Palestinian fighters.
But the very ferocity of Israel's assault led to the creation of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, or "Party of God".
A party that became the backbone of Lebanon's resistance to occupation. Under the weight of Hezbollah attacks like this, filmed by one of Hezbollah's own camaramen,Israel has decided to cut its losses.
The Israeli government announced earlier this month that its last troops will be out of Lebanon by July, but not everyone in Lebanon is rejoicing.
For some, suffering will not end when occupation does.
16 Lebanese families like this have sons who are hostages in Israel. Held either without trial, or after expiry of their sentences. Ahmad Abbas was 16 when he was taken captive.
This videotape, just received, is the first Israel has released in the 14 years since Ahmad was seized and accused of supporting the Hezbollah-led resistance.
Ahmad's Mother: When I heard my son was taken to Israel, my body shook all over. They took him from inside the house. Even though they accused him, I never saw my son ing weapons. Nothing like that.
Boy being held in lap: (Pause) He was at school.
Ahmad's Mother They accused him of something he didn't do even though it would be his legitimate right in his own country.
V/O: Ahmad was held for the first 6 months inside occupied south Lebanon in Khiam(?) prison, where more than 300 Lebanese are held without trial.
Ahmad's mother: I visited him twice in Khiam. He looked terrible. His eyes were red and he was shaking all over. Outside the jail, an old woman said to me, " Our kids are all like that. It's your first time. You'll get used to it."
Ahmad on T.V. screen in sitting room: "Mother, Hello. How are you? I hope you're well, and I hope you'll be patient."
V/O: From Khiam, Ahmad Abbas was taken to Israel and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. But at the end of his sentence he wasn't released. For the last decade, he's been held as a "bargaining chip." Airman Ron Arad is the man Israel is bargaining for.
Arad was shot down on a bombing raid in Lebanon in 1986 and taken prisoner by the Amar militia's security chief,
Mustapha Dirani. Dirani was then captured by Israel, and claims to be tortured and raped in an Israeli jail.
Ron Arad has never been seen in Lebanon, certainly not by Ahmad Abbas.
Ahmad's father: When they took Ron Arad, my son was in jail. He doesn't know him. He had nothing to do with him. He never saw him. They took him from in front of his own door. He'd done nothing. He'd never hit or killed anyone. He was inside his house, inside his village. That's his right.
V/O: The Lebanese government says it considers the 16 captives in Israel a priority issue.
Salim El-Hoss, Lebanese PM: We consider them to be hostages and we can't justify their captivity. We can't justify it at all. Inhuman, really. Illegal under international law, and contrary to human rights. If the Israelis are very concerned about sparing the lives of their soldiers, all they have to do is withdraw from Lebanese soil.
V/O: The village of AVRIKA is on the very edge of Israel's occupation zone, surrounded by Israel's military fortifications. It's a typical southern village. Most of it's inhabitants still live off the land. But even the old who have been radicalized by Israel's long occupation. Mariam Aitzur is 80 years old, but stands full square behind Lebanon's resistance, like everyone here.
Mariam Aitzur: Shelling, fear, pain, planes and gunfire. This is our life. When you're under a seige of fire, every day there are planes in the morning and in the evening --BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! I swear that if I were young, I'd go and kill an Israeli! I used to be strong, but I'm old now and I cant. This is one young man who could and did. Israel calls Kasem Kammas a terrorist. In Lebanon, he's a member of the National Resistance, and a hero.
Salim El-Hoss, Lebanese PM: Hezbollah is simply our resistance movement. It is very unfair to call Hezbollah a terrorist movement. We are not the first nation to have, embark, or engage in resistance against occupation. I think practically every nation in the world has some such episode in its history. And usually such nations are proud of their resistance history.
V/O: In a Resistance attack on a hillpost like this, Kasem Kammas killed three members of Israel's proxy militia in South Lebanon.
He and a fellow fighter, Ismail Zen, were released from jail in Israel a few weeks ago at the start of the new search mediated by Germany for Ron Arad. He says he joined the Resistance to defend his family and his village.
Kammas' house, father, wife looking out: This house has been hit 10 times by Israeli shells. It's been completely destroyed three times. We built it from scratch last year. But of course, we don't know what'll happen tomorrow. 45 members of the resistance have died in Abrika from 1978 until today. Three civilians were killed up there from shelling in the town square.
We carried out our attack for our land in the dignity of our nation. All that matters to us is to get rid of the occupying army
V/O: In this valley, known locally as 'Blood Valley', these two young men were wounded and captured. They say their captors in Israel mistreated them despite their wounds.
Kasem and Ismail sitting on rocks: The first thing they did was to hit me on my wounds. On my leg and my head. One put a gun to my head and threatened to kill me. One soldier fired close to me. In hospital, they didn't let us eat or sleep. We're free now, but there are many Lebanese prisoners who are hostages in Israeli prisons, even though they have served their time.
V/O: Sheikh Mohammed Obeid, the Hezbollah cleric, is one of Israel's most prized hostages. Together with two companions, he was seized in the village of Shipsheit in 1989 in a midnight commando operation which killed an ordinary villager on this street.
Ahmad Obeid, one of the two men seized with the Sheikh, has just been released after more than 10 years detention without charge. He too claims that he was tortured in Israel, although he was never a fighter.
Ahmad Obeid sitting in house: For 5 years, I was held in solitary confinement in a room like this. Sometimes 2 metres square, sometime one metre square. The interrogation lasted for six months. They tortured me in different ways. They hit me on the head with sticks. They put a hood on my head and kept me in the rain with my hands up. They played very loud music that drove you mad. Sometimes they would fire gas in my face. My eyes watered and I passed out.
V/O: There were no charges and no proof. But it was said that Sheikh Obeid had held a Western hostage in the basement of his home --a home that has no basement.
Ahmad: Sheikh Obeid was treated worse than we were. He was very badly beaten. But we had nothing to do with the Western hostages. The Israelis took us to Allad. They told us "You are hostages for Allad. We own you.
V/O: There is no independent confirmation of Ahmad Obeid's claims. But a journalist allowed inside Khiam has documented similar torture and conditions just like these.
Psychotherapist Dr. Gerard Hafez works with former prisoners. He says research in the West shows that 15% of prisoners suffer from psychiatric disorders. In Khiam, it's almost 6 times higher.
Dr. Hafez: 80% of prisoners in Khiam have psychological problems. There's something wrong here, something that doesn't make sense. In my opinion, the problem is Khiam itself. It's a place that destroys people. They try there to destroy the psychological makeup of the human being.
V/O: Mahmoud Ramadan, who fought against the Israeli occupation in south Lebanon, spent 7 years in Khiam. Three of them in solitary confinement in a small, windowless cell. He was tortured with electric shocks throughout his detention, but most frequently after he masterminded a successful escape from Khiam. Three prisoners got away, but he was wounded in the minefield that surrounds Khiam, and recaptured.
Ramadan After the explosion: I looked at my body. I saw I'd lost my hand. I touched my eye, and realized I had lost my eye. I saw other wounds on my body. After 15 or 30 minutes, I heard a voice saying "Who are you? Stay until the morning and die there. Then we'll come for you."
V/O:Ramadan has been in and out of this psychiatric hospital since his release 2 years ago. Today, it is only his medication that keeps him stable. Israel denies any responsibility for Khiam. It is, they say, under the control of their Lebanese proxies, the so-called South Lebanon Army, their very close allies.
Dr. Hafez: It isn't possible to have a Lebanese infrastructure like Khiam prison in south Lebanon. We all know that south Lebanon lacks ANY infrastructure. Let's be serious, and let's be scientific about it. The infrastructure at Khiam is Israeli.
Many of my patients have seen Israelis and heard them talking Hebrew. Directing the interrogators and giving orders.
V/O: Israel's impunity in Lebanon has not been confined to the south. It was just outside Barbek in the Bekar valley that Mustafa Dirani, the former security chief of Ammau, was kidnapped in 1994. No prisoner released from Israel has ever seen Durani, who has been held in solitary confinement for the last 6 years. His father has heard nothing from him. Other prisoners have recently been allowed visits from the International Red Cross, but not Dirani.
Muhammad Dirani, Mustafa's brother, was shot through the chest and paralysed in 1982 while fighting the Israeli invasion in Lebanon. Another brother was killed. The only news of Mustafa comes from the press.
Mustafa's father: Did you see my son at all?
Kasem: I was hoping to, but it wasn't to be. He was in a jail under the control of military intelligence. Completely isolated from the rest of the world.
V/O: To capture Dirani, Israeli commanders flew deep into Lebanon.
Dirani's brother: They landed by helicopter on the outskirts of the village. It was sometime around midnight. They drove until they were close to his house. There were thirty or forty of them. I don't know, perhaps there were even more. When they got here, they broke down the door and rushed in. They put all the children in one room. Then they hit a little girl Sarah here, on her face.
V/O: Since that day, they say, the old man hasn't been quite the same. He's paid a heavy price for Israel's occupation.
Mustafa's brother: This family has lost three sons. I was shot, a second was killed by the Israeli's, a third is a hostage. This is ridiculous! Let them liberate our land. It's ours, not theirs!
V/O: Israel's decision withdraw from Lebanon will satisfy an Israeli public whose opposition to occupation grows with every casualty. But the Israeli public is also demanding the return of Arad --dead or alive.
More releases from Khiam seem likely, as Israel withdraws from South Lebanon, and leaves Khiam. But for the families held hostage across the border, there's no geographical solution. Without a settlement from Israel, and the continuing absence of Arad, there's little to cling to but hope.