Singing in church

NATSOT - singing in church

00'00

Chanting/praying in mosque

NATSOT - praying/chanting in mosque

00'17

Bloodied men coming down the steps from the mosque

DOM VO

It's a weekend of religious festivities in the so-called Security Zone - the southern ten percent of Lebanon, occupied by Israel for the past two decades.

00'35

Palm Sunday procession leaves the church

NATSOT - procession starts out of the church

Ghattas and family walking past camera with candle

DOM VO

For Christians it's Palm Sunday.  They remember Jesus Christ's triumphal ride into Jerusalem, before his crucifixion and resurrection

00'45

Shiites on procession beating themselves

NATSOT - ashoura chanting

Tilt up from ambulance to crowd of bloodied men on the march

DOM VO

For Shiite Muslims, it's Ashoura.  Men cut their heads and beat themselves in reverence for their faith's first martyr - Imam Hossein- who was beheaded by traitors.

01'00

Christian procession down street tilt up to countryside

Procession coming down hill towards camera, singing

These are two very different religious groups.  They live side by side.  And for now, mostly fight side by side.  But that may change, when Israeli troops leave Lebanon

UP SINGING

01'10

DISSOLVE TO MAPS after shot has settled to show crowd in foreground, church in distance 

(NOTE: we have allowed about 20 secs for the maps)

MAP 1 - showing Lebanon with neighbours Syria and Israel. 

MAP 2- Lebanon showing Beirut and highlighting the Security/Occupied Zone, then placing Qlaiaa

MAP - UP MUSIC.  Coming out of Map crossfade with NATSOT

Dom handing special passes out car window to driver and Lebanese soldier

NATSOT - soldier and driver talking

DOM VO

Getting permission from the Lebanese Government to enter the occupied zone is difficult. It considers it enemy territory.

Only 60 kilometres from the capital Beirut, and this is the last Lebanese Army checkpoint.

From here on, the defacto ruling authority is Israel, through its proxy milita, the SLA - the South Lebanon Army.

01'30

Dom getting out of car, walks to boot

NATSOT - door opening

Driver carrying cases

Boot slams

DOM VO

We change cars soon after the checkpoint.

The SLA has approved our visit and arranged a driver. 

He'll take us to the town of Qlaiaa - an SLA stronghold

01'58

Low angle of car driving off

NATSOT - car takes off .  Fade up

MUSIC - (Artist: Ross Daly, Album:"Synavgia", Libra Music, 1999 - Catalogue number: LM019-2)

02'09

POV out front down winding road

FADE MUSIC and run under PTC and following VO

Dom PTC in car

PTC IN CAR - (fade MUSIC under)

We're now travelling through occupied southern Lebanon - the area Israel calls the security zone. In reality however, there's no security here for anyone, fighter or civilian. This is a place of the unpredictable, where a rock could turn out to be a roadside bomb, a house a tomb.  And even if Israel withdraws, there's no guarantee things here will be getting any safer

02'20

Israeli base out side window

SLA base seen out front window - we drive towards, shot ends on sheep by roadside with shepherd

Driver in rear-vision mirror

DOM VO

It's a fast trip.  We're told it's dangerous to stop.

All the military bases we pass belong to the SLA or its sponsor the Israel Defence Forces

But not all of the zone's 300-thousand residents support the SLA.

02'40

Village with mosque out side window

Dom cutaway

Driving thru mosque village - front on shot swings out thru side window, landscape and houses go by

03'00

FADE TO BLACK at end of tracking shot before interview

UP MUSIC and fade out

Ghattas interview (in uniform at army base)

If compiling - CUT repeat line highlighted

GHATTAS INTERVIEW

(29:8.08) If Israel go out without a agreement, it's a big problem.  I told you it's a big problem

Various CUs of Said putting on his uniform;  taking off his gold cross necklace

NATSOT

DOM VO

War is a way of life for 35-year-old Major Said Ghattas.

03'35

He's one of an estimated two-thousand-600 soldiers in the South Lebanon Army

Taking M-16 out from underneath bed

The SLA emerged as a Christian militia in the 1970s during Lebanon's civil war. 

It then joined forces with Israel to fight a common enemy - first Palestinian militants in southern Lebanon and then Islamic guerrillas from Hezbollah.

03'40

NATSOT - checking gun

03'55

DOM VO

Major Ghattas says his fight is not for Israel, but for his family and their future in southern Lebanon

04'05

Ghattas taking his helmet and army pack and walking out to say good bye to family

GHATTAS  THOUGHT-TRACK

I'm not fighting because I want to kill EDIT We live here with no hope, no government EDIT   I want to protect myself, to protect my family, to protect my village - this is my reason

04'10

Leaving house, plays with kids, kisses wife

NATSOT - playing ball with kids

04'25

Ghattas waves goodbye - gets into car

DOM VO

Major Ghattas doesn't mind saying goodbye to his Israeli brothers in arms.  He wants Lebanon for the Lebanese.

But he fears southern Lebanon may become a place of warring militias after Israel leaves

04'27

Ghattas interview (dom question)

Ghattas in vision

DOM QUESTION  You have two young boys what do you think their life is going to be like? Is it going to be like yours ?

04'42

Ghattas  interview

GHATTAS INTEVIEW - 

 I think yes because it's not finished, It's not finished

04'50

Tank through base, and Base GVS

NATSOT - tank driving through base

DOM VO

This is Major Ghattas' second home - his SLA army camp, just metres from the Israeli-Lebanese border. 

We're given rare access - with an Israeli withdrawal imminent, secrecy is paramount for the SLA

04'55

Tanks on manouevre

NATSOT - tanks

DOM VO

Israel provides virtually everything here

It pays the salaries and supplies the military arsenal- much of it recycled from Israel's wars against Egypt and Syria. 

05'12

Said addressing group of soldiers

NATSOT - Ghattas talking to troops

DOM VO

Major Ghattas is training SLA recruits.  Because of their ties to Israel, these are all marked men. 

05'25

Ghattas to troops - all or part

SUBTITLE

NATSOT -Ghattas - SUBTITLE

 If it is a Sagger (rocket),  we first return fire. Park the APC in a safe place before you leave it and join us.   We will form a line of defence on the ground to open fire towards the area from where the  Sagger came

05'50

APC firing machine gun

NATSOT - machine-gun fire

WS APC driving across country

Cutaways of soldiers on top of APC,

Chain of APC passing through frame

DOM VO

Outside the zone, SLA fighters are considered traitors.  So too, the hundreds of South Lebanese who cross into Israel each day for work

The Lebanese government sentences collaborators to jail or death.  If caught, Major Ghattas faces 25 years in prison.

05'58

Ghattas interview

COMPILE:  Add in Ghattas grab from B-roll (inserts)        

GHATTAS INTERVIEW

It's not my fault because I  was here in South Lebanon near Israel and Israel give me all and we are friend of Israel. It's not my fault, it's a geography thing

06'10

Soldiers jumping out of APC

Lining up on the ground and firing

NATSOT - soldiers jumping out of APC

DOM VO

Israel says it will provide protection or refuge for its SLA comrades when it leaves.

But the SLA commander vows his men will stay.  And unless they're granted amnesty, will fight to the death to keep the Lebanese Army out of  the south

06'30

Ghattas interview

GHATTAS  INTERVIEW

If the Lebanese government and the Hezbollah come to here

EDIT

we lost the last hope for Lebanon and the good people for Lebanon.  We are the good people, we are the really Lebanese people here.

06'45

Ashoura in Beirut, room full of men chanting, slapping themselves

NATSOT - chanting/ slapping

06'59

Muslim crowd chanting

REPLACE VO - one take (sent via ISDN)

REPLACE DOM VO

The future of Major Ghattas and the SLA will depend greatly on the intentions of Hizbollah - the largely Shiite Islamic resistance movement which has spearheaded the fight against Israel and its Lebanese allies.

07'02

Hizbollah may be content to declare victory when Israel leaves Lebanon, but it may decide to continue its war against the Jewish state.

07'20

Nasrallah addressing crowd from behind podium

At a religious gathering in Beirut, Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah outlined his movement's ultimate goal

07'27

Nasrallah speech - SUBTITLE

NASRALLAH SPEECH - SUBTITLE

The Lebanese resistance has not defeated Israel only to kick her out of Lebanon but to lay the foundations -  and it has already done so -  to eliminate Israel from existence by means of resistance

07'31

Hizbollah taking out an SLA post - Beit Yahoun - 15/5/99. (footage from Hizbollah TV)

NATSOT - gunfire

07'55

Exterior shots of post, firing within, SLA soldier with hands up surrendering

(back WS shot of Hizbollah fighter with dom listening)

DOM VO

It's attacks like this which have driven Israel and the South Lebanon Army into retreat.

These pictures show  Hizbollah fighters destroying an SLA post.

On the ground, Hizbollah's focus is still very much on war, not peace. 

08'00

Hizbollah fighter interview - SUBTITLE

(mid back shot of fighter with dom listening - cutaway of guy with weapon on back)

DOM QUESTION- Do you believe there will come a time when you can lay down your weapon?

HIZBOLLAH FIGHTER - SUBTITLE

 This matter is to be decided by the Hizbollah command only.  It is a political question.  We are military men.

EDIT

 Whether fighting is ceased or continued, we have no worries about our future, both in life and in post-life

08'20

REPLACE VO - one take (sent via ISDN)

Various of  group, cutaways

REPLACE DOM VO

We're in an undisclosed valley just north of the security zone.  It's from areas such as this that Hizbollah launches its attacks on Israel and the SLA.

08'47

Hussein holding his hand up to camera

Walk thru bush behind one fighter, end up on another behind rock

We've been brought here in a curtained van. Our filming is tightly controlled.  No faces. No location shots. 

Discipline and secrecy are key elements in Hizbollah's military success.

08'58

Pics of feet walking through the grass

NATSOT - Israeli jet overhead

09'15

Legs up hill, dom sits under a bush

DOM VO

An Israeli jet flies overhead.  We're told to take cover.  It signals the end of our brief visit

09'18

Hossein and dom talking under tree

HOSSEIN GRAB As soon as  surveillance planes come and take  pictures of the area, within seconds Israeli warplanes come and target the area

DOM QUESTION - So it's not safe for us to be here

HOSSEIN GRAB

Not safe at all  

09'27

Israeli black and white target shot

Black and white target explosion

REPLACE VO - 2 takes (sent via ISDN - the first take is faster, the second a little slower)

NATSOT - (MUSIC?)

REPALCE DOM VO

But it's not safe near the capital either.

In a wave of air strikes this year, Israel has bombed non-military targets on the outskirts of Beirut and across Lebanon.

Lebanese civilians were killed, dozens injured.

09'49

Burning power stations

The cross-border propaganda war has also flared.

In February Israel's foreign minister warned that if Israel itself were hit, Lebanon would burn: "blood for blood, soul for soul, child for child".

Hizbollah used his comments in their counter-attack... this stinging advertisement

10'05

TV ad with Levy ranting and raving, then Hitler ranting and raving - Israeli bombings, dead and wounded - ends with nazi swastika

REPLACE VO - 1 take (sent via ISDN)

NATSOT AD

REPLACE DOM VO

This TV spot - broadcast on Lebanese national  television -compares the Jewish state to the Nazi regime responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews.

NATSOT - AD

REPLACE DOM VO

Whether this bitter war will continue after Israel withdraws will depend not only on Hizbollah, but its backers, Iran and Syria

10'38

Dom question

NEW VO - 2 takes (sent via ISDN)

CUT - DOM QUESTION

How much will Hezbollah take its cue from Syria and Iran?

REPLACE WITH DOM VO

Newspaper publisher Gebran Tueni says Hizbollah will take its cue from  the Iranian and Syrian regimes

11'12

Tueni interview

NOTE:  cut first line of Tueni grab

SUPER:  Gebran Tueni

Publisher

An-Nahar newspaper

TUENI INTERVIEW - CUT first line of Tueni

 A lot, let us talk frankly, a lot, you know when you receive something like more than 15 to 20 million dollars per month to finance a party from a foreign country, I think its not for nothing,- DOM - that's from Iran? - TUENI - that's from Iran, then when you have the logistic

of the Syrians and the Syrian Army, that's not for nothing too.

11'25

Beirut GVS - skateboarding, bike-balancing on corniche; coffee vendor

NATSOT - MUSIC - (Artist: Fairuz, Track: "Habbeytak", Album "Café Arabia", EMI, 1999)

11'43

REPLACE VO - 1 sent (via ISDN)

Pullout from Assad poster to reveal Beirut coastline

REPLACE DOM VO

This is Beirut -  the official capital of Lebanon, but Syria is the real ruling power.

Syrian president Hafez el-Assad oversees every aspect of Lebanese life - political, economic and military.

Syria also channels weapons from Iran to Hizbollah

11'55

Dom question to tueni

DOM QUESTION TO TUENI

How much control does Syria have over Lebanon ?

12'12

Tueni interview

TUENI INTERVIEW

 Too much, too much  I think.

Intro sequence of tueni

DOM VO

Gebran Tueni is the publisher of Lebanon's respected An Nahar newspaper. 

File pics of  Syrian troops in Beirut (CHECK ORIGIN)

He says Syria - which entered Lebanon by invitation during the turmoil of Lebanon's civil war - has over-stayed its welcome.

There are still 30-thousand Syrian troops in Lebanon and now as many as one-million Syrian workers

12'30

Tueni interview

TUENI INTERVIEW

 We never had free elections in Lebanon we always had mock elections with pre prepared lists with approval of Damascus

EDIT

12'42

 Economically we have a problem of the Syrian workers in Lebanon

EDIT

these workers are working and taking work from Lebanese people, so it is directly creating a problem concerning unemployment in Lebanon

12'50

Anti-Syria student protests  (CHECK SOURCE)

NATSOT - anti syrian protestors

13'08

REPLACE VO - 1 take (sent via ISDN)

REPLACE DOM VO

Lebanese protest against Syrian control is growing.

But President Assad is unlikely to relinquish his hold on Lebanon.  It's an important staging ground for  his own battle against Israel which occupies parts of Syria, as well as Lebanon.

Until now, the Syrian leader has used Hizbollah to fight his war - but in future he may use disaffected Palestinians living in Lebanon.

13'10

Tueni interview

CUT highlighted section out of Tueni grab

TUENI GRAB - CUT BIT IN BOLD

A lot of small Palestinian groups are directly under Syrian control and we know that Syria is not very comfortable with the Israeli withdrawal

EDIT

13'38

thats why we saw the Syrians trying to make the Palestinians in the camp move and maybe asking for operations against Israel for the Palestinian cause,

13'49

Sidon coastline with old port

NATSOT -

Palestinian refugee camp pics

DOM VO

Ein Helwah refugee camp, in the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon, has always been a hotbed of Palestinian unrest.

Israel bombed the camp during its 1982 invasion, killing and injuring scores of people. 

14'05

Old man praying on bed with kids - gets his papers out of bedside cupboard

There are 365-thousand Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, living in United Nations-run camps like this.

Five generations of Palestinians. 

The young hold even less hope of returning to their homeland than those who first fled here during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

14'22

NATSOT - old man

Unwrapping papers on bed

DOM VO

These papers are Khalil Maqdah's most treasured possession. The titles to his property bought in British Mandate Palestine - now Israel. 

14'15

Khalil Maqdah interview - SUBTITLE

OLD MAN INTERVIEW - SUBTITLE

This is my land. It is mine and registered. The houses and everything else. This is a receipt for the tax we paid for the British

14'55

DOM VO

Maqdah fled Palestine with his family more than half a century ago.  Time has only sharpened his desire to return home.

15'05

Khalil Maqdah interview - SUBTITLE

KHALIL MAQDAH IV - SUBTITLE

 God willing. The Jews will  be slaughtered -  disappear.  Then we shall return to our country, to live on our land and rest there, God willing.

15'18

Maqdah walking with bodyguards around camp, talking with residents

REPLACE VO - 1 take (sent ISDN)

NATSOT

REPLACE DOM VO

Colonel Munir Maqdah wants to make his grandfather's dream  a reality.

He's a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the camp's commander.

He says Hizbollah has shown that only force defeats Israel.

15'33

Maqdah in exchange with mechanic and his young labourer

SUBTITLE

NATSOT - SUBTITLE

Maqdah to mechanic

 Why is someone so young working? -(mechanic)  Don't worry he'll join the fighters -  (maqdah to kid with tool) you want a Kalashnikov instead of that (tool)?

15'47

Maqdah interview - SUBTITLE

MAQDAH GRAB - SUBTITLE

 Our experience with the (Israeli) occupiers shows that they do not understand the language of negotiations. They only understand the language taught by the school of the south, the school of Hizbollah. This so-called invincible (Israeli) army was defeated while it asking for help and international protection to cover its withdrawal from the south.

15'56

Dom reverse

COMPILE:  Add in Dom reverse, next Maqdah grab, Dom VO and Qassem grab - from B-roll (inserts tape)

DOM REVERSE

 Hizbollah has received support from Iran and Syria. Do you believe a Palestinian resistance could expect enough military support to make it as effective as Hizbollah has been?

16'18

Colonel maqdah interview - SUBTITLE

MAQDAH INTERVIEW - Subtitle

 We hope to find support in the future the way our brothers in Hizbollah found

16'33

Sheikh Naim Qassem (sits during lead-in vo)

SUPER:  Sheikh Naim Qassem

Hizbollah deputy leader 

(NOTE:  we have left 5 secs for supering his name)

SUBTITLE

DOM VO

Hizbollah says it's prepared to support Palestinian militants

SHEIKH QASSEM  IV - subtitle

(  super first then subtitle from )

we support their act to liberate their country and when we are capable of helping then we are ready to do so 

Dom walk with boys in camp market

Dom and guys up on roof

NATSOT

DOM VO

Colonel Maqdah's nephews, Mohammad and Jamal see no future in the refugee camp

It's easier to imagine them in a café than on a battlefield, but they say they're trained, and ready to fight.

17'04

Mohammad interview - SUBTITLE

MOHAMMAD INTERVIEW - subtitle

 Currently, peace is useless. Force is useful. By force we may restore Palestine - with our gun, to which we are committed until our return.

17'16

Jamal interview - SUBTITLE

JAMAL INTERVIEW

Jamal:  We have no future other than that on our land. Life here is not life. Real life is only on our land 

17'30

Pics of bombed out houses in zone

REPLACE VO - 1 take (sent via ISDN)

MUSIC - (Artist: Ross Daly, Album:"Synavgia", Libra Music, 1999)

REPLACE DOM VO

If there's one thing the Lebanese fear, it's a Palestinian militia operating out of the so-called security zone.  It's happened before.

17'40

Dom PTC amongst ruins in zone

PTC IN FATAHLAND

 During the 1970s this area of south-eastern Lebanon was known as Fatahland - home to Palestine Liberation Organisation militants loyal to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.  It was from towns such as this, that the PLO launched its attacks on Israel, finally provoking the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in 1978. The fear now, is that history may repeat itself.

OPTIONAL DOM VO LINE - to use if the replace VO before PTC still doesn't make it clear we're talking about Palestinians

DOM VO

Gebran Tueni says the Palestinians must go

18'22

Tueni interview

TUENI INTERVIEW

  for more than half a century, we gave them our lands, our homes, everything, they've been behaving with us like animals, they've been entering our homes, killing our children, killing our land and creating problems

EDIT
Now, please  allow us to say clear and loud that we don't want them to remain in Lebanon

EDIT

This will be a direct threat to the future of our country 

18'35

Indian marching band, soldiers on parade

NATSOT - Indian marching band

DOM VO

If there is trouble, these are the people who'll probably have to deal with it.

18'55

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has been waiting 22 years to fulfil what began as a 6-month mission - to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and ensure the peaceful transition to Lebanese government control

19'08

UN APC on the move around countryside

NATSOT

19'26

DOM PTC on APC - starts on countryside, pans to dom on apc and ends on barrel of gun

DOM PTC ON APC

The Indian battalian is the only UN force whose operations are entirely within the security zone.  Like everyone else here they don't know what their future holds - except that if there's cross border fighting after any Israeli withdrawal, they're right in the firing line

19'30

Continue over end of PTC as it pans to gun

DOM VO

The Lebanese government is hardly reassuring

19'47

More apc vision

It's demanding the UN disarm Palestinian militants as part of any withdrawal. 

Without a resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem - and a Middle East peace deal involving Syria - the government has warned it will not be held responsible for attacks on Israel

19'55

Information minister interview

SUPER:  Anwar al Khalil

Lebanon's Information Minister

SYDNEY - SOUND CHECK/ IMPROVE???  (there's a hiss on the interview)

LEBANESE INFO MINISTER

 By withdrawing from Lebanon and not withdrawing from the Golan Heights in Syria

EDIT

Israel would have itself incur the great mistake of not entering into a total and comprehensive peace settlement so the area of resistance cannot be stopped by Lebanon at all, as long as a comprehensive settlement has not been attained

20'10

UN checkpoint - stopping cars, checking in boot and peacekeepers on foot patrol through village

REPLACE VO - 1 take (via ISDN)

NATSOT

REPLACE DOM VO

But it's not just cross-border conflict the UN may face. 

There's also a danger Lebanon's complex weave of  ethnic and religious groups may unravel.

The last time it did that - in 1975 -  it resulted in a brutal 15-year civil war. 

20'38

Kids jumping up and down pulling rope

MCU bells in tower

(possibly show vista of area with flowers in foreground)

Ghattas and family standing in church

 NATSOT - church bells

DOM VO

It's Palm Sunday in the security zone.

Saint George's Church in Qlaaya is packed.

This is an SLA stronghold and Major Ghattas' home town - a staunchly Christian enclave in a majority Muslim  population. 

21'00

Choir singing

NATSOT - singing

21'19

DOM VO

Christians account for about 30 percent of the Zone's residents.  A minority, that's shrinking.

Church-goers say last year's crowd was twice as large

Fear and bad economics have driven many away. 

21'25

Procession coming out of church door

Ghattas with family lighting candle out the front of church

NATSOT - amen

DOM VO

Although Israel has promised refuge for its SLA comrades, Major Ghattas says he won't abandon his friends and family to become a refugee. 

He's praying the Lebanese Government won't oversee a witch-hunt

21'45

Ghattas interview - thought-track

Ghattas and family in procession

GHATTAS IV -  THOUGHT-TRACK

 I want from the Lebanese government to make the peace. 

EDIT

22'00

 This is what I want to see in Lebanon good thing, to see work, to see people smile to see people happy to see all the people in the Lebanese government  

EDIT all people live together

21'58

LL of crowd coming down hill singing, church in background

NATSOT

DOM VO

While the prayer is for peace and forgiveness after an Israeli withdrawal  -the unspoken fear is that there'll be only war and revenge.

22'20

Valley vista

NATSOT - call to prayer echoing across the valley

Disused church

DOM VO

Across the valley, at El Khiyam there are five churches  - but only a handful of Christians.

This is now a Shiite Muslim town.  

22'35

People in mosque

NATSOT -

DOM VO

Shiites are a majority in the Zone -about 60 percent of the population.  In El Khiyam, they take their traditions seriously.

Bloodied men chanting - start spilling down the stairs

NATSOT - chanting

DOM VO

During Ashoura men and boys cut and beat themselves and women walk in chains.

It's  a  symbolic reenactment and display of grief over the death of the first Shiite martyr - Imam Hossein - who was slain by traitors in the seventh century.

22'55

Man collapsed and receiving first aid

NATSOT

DOM VO

Even fundamentalist Islamic clergy in Iran advise against such bloody rituals.   Here it's still practised with fervour

23'15

Women and girls marching in chains

NATSOT - women chanting

DOM VO

People in El Khiyam remember another blood-letting - a massacre of thirty Muslim civilians by Israeli-backed SLA forces in 1978

23'30

SLA milita with guns

Noone here would dare speak out publicly against the SLA - it's the ruling militia - and many Shiites are in fact SLA soldiers.

But noone knows where their loyalties will lie after Israel leaves.

Unlike SLA leaders, people here do express a keen desire to see the  Lebanese Government retake control

23'42

Bloodied man vox

BLOODY MAN- SUBTITLE

 Of course we like to see the Lebanese government taking over  here. Precisely the Lebanese government and not the Syrian government.

24'02

Woman spectator vox

 WOMAN VOX - SUBTITLE

God willing. The Lebanese government will return to protect us and then every strange foot on Lebanese soil will depart.

24'15

Naim qassem two-shot/ cutaways

DOM VO

Hizbollah's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, goes further.  He insists the SLA must be punished or there'll be trouble.

Sheikh naim qassem interview - SUBTITLE

SHEIKH QASSEM - SUBTITLE

I do not believe that people will accept an amnesty (a deal) .. Whoever is following up this file should take into consideration the feelings of those people because any settlement has to be just, otherwise it won't be a solution and it would carry the seeds of explosion.

DOM VO

The tremors are already being felt.

24'30

MWS of Hasbaiya town

Druze people in market

NATSOT

DOM VO

Hasbaiya is home to the Druze.

At ten percent of the population, they comprise the Zone's smallest religious community.

NATSOT

DOM VO

Although there are Druze soldiers in the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army, many here are not fond of the SLA.

Human Rights Watch reported last year that the SLA forcibly expelled two families from this town because their sons had either deserted the army, or allegedly killed an Israeli-allied militiamen.

24'58

25'16

Site of ambush - shattered windows in house, glass on ground

Only recently, a jeep full of SLA soldiers was ambushed on the road climbing out of Hasbaiya.  All five men were killed

25'28

CU key in door - Harry opening up milk bar and walking in

NATSOT - key in door

Harry writing at counter

DOM VO

Hassib Abou Najem - Harry to his mates in Australia - believes the SLA's days are numbered.

25'47

Harry and customer saying hello, shaking hands

NATSOT  - greetings

Harry serving customer

DOM VO

Back home in Lebanon after 20 years in Melbourne, he gets the feeling there won't be much local support for the SLA after Israel withdraws.

25'58

Harry interview

HARRY INTERVIEW

 the people here because there's no job, no money, they go with the SLA to get pay, four hundred or five hundred dollars a month to live for food, nothing else

26'05

EDIT

 95 percent of them they don't know why they're having a machine gun, why they shoot that way or that way

26'25

SYDNEY - SOUND IMPROVE????

(Bit of a hiss on this)

DOM REVERSE

 So if Israel withdraws, then these people won't be in the SLA anymore?

HARRY INTERVIEW

  that's for sure, that's for sure

Harry stacking fridge

DOM VO

Harry's not so certain, however, about his own future.  He despairs about Lebanon's different communities ever living together in peace

26'40

Harry interview over counter

HARRY IV -

Australia , noone asked me for my passport or for my religion not even once   

EDIT - (in vision)

, but if I go from here to Beirut, may be five, six stops each one they ask me questions, so I don't feel free

26'50

CU meat being fanned on the BBQ

NATSOT - MUSIC played a BBQ

People at table clapping, eating dancing

Major Ghattas and co eating and  laughing

DOM VO

The Lebanese know how to enjoy life.  They've learnt to live for the day.  None more so than Major Ghattas, and his family and friends.

27'17

Kids playing soccer on lawn

DOM VO

In less than two months, Israel says it'll be out of southern Lebanon. 

The SLA will be on its own to face an uncertain future - and the very real threat of revenge attacks

27'30

Ruba Daher interview

RUBA INTERVIEW

(Ruba)  I think that it will be the same like now, or it will be worse

27'42

EDIT

DOM QUESTION TO RUBA

Have you got Muslim friends ?

27'50

RUBA INTERVIEW

(Ruba)  Most of our friends are Muslim

DOM QUESTION

How do they feel about the situation ?

RUBA INTERVIEW

(Ruba) Like us, we all feel the same

DOM QUESTION

 Does it worry you that there might be problems between the two communities. ?

28'02

Mary Daher interview

WS of group of kids with dom on lawn

MARY INTERVIEW

With us as a children no, for bigger than us our parents maybe yes they think differently, that's the problem here

Tueni interview

TUENI INTERVIEW

 Our generation paid the price of all the mistakes our fathers did, we paid the price of the weakness of Lebanon, we paid the price of all the

Arab conflicts, Arab Israeli conflicts, international Cold War

EDIT

28'17

but what we want now is a real Lebanon and not folk Lebanon with real answers and we don't want our children to go into a war every five, or ten to twenty years because we have regional or internal problem

28'33

Slo-mo montage -

Shepherd herding goats, Israeli troops evacuating injured soldiers; Shi'ite girl, Christian girl

MUSIC - fade up from under tueni

 (Artist: Ross Daly, Album:"Synavgia", Libra Music, 1999)

DOM VO

An Israeli withdrawal will not - on it's own - bring peace to Lebanon.

That won't happen until there's a comprehensive Middle East peace - one involving not just Israel, but Syria, Iran and the Palestinians. 

Until then, Lebanon will continue to be the staging ground for greater regional battles.

28'50

FADE MUSIC - under Ghattas

Ghattas interview (in uniform at base)

DOM QUESTION - thought-track

 Is peace a dream for Lebanon ?

29'16

Ghattas - thought-track first bit

GHATTAS IV- thought-track first bit

Yeh it's a dream

EDIT

 (IN VISION) my dream is to visit Beirut without gun, this is my dream.

29'20

EDIT

, you dream to go to the moon

EDIT

, to do something special -  to visit your country, I don't know if we have some day to do this. 

29'55

Slo-mo shot of guy walking over tank, Lebanese flag in background

UP MUSIC

END                                                               

An ABC Production

30'05