South Lebanon

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So David and I went to the south of Lebanon this weekend, with Fouad and our Lebanese friend Ali. We required permits to go into this part of Lebanon because it is the area that borders Israel. Israel and Lebanon have had a turbulent history from the day Israel was created, which I'm sure you can google if you wish to know more. Israeli forces have occupied parts of Lebanon since 1978, only withdrawing fully in 2000 due to Hezbollah's resistance. I say fully, but actually there is a small part of South Lebanon, including a village, that is still occupied, as it has been since Israel invaded the Golan Heights (Syrian) in 1967. This continued occupation of Lebanese territory, and the persistent threat along the border, is why Hezbollah still exists, and why the UN maintain an 'observing' presence at the border. They are a military deterent (along with the army) to further agressiveness from Israel, but also a political body in the Lebanese government and a governing body throughout most of the South and some other parts of the country. I don't want to start any controversial arguments about their right to exist or whether or not they are needed, I will leave that to the bloggers who have been studying and commenting on the situation for years. I will just try to relay what we saw throughout the region, and what impressions we got.

Permits to visit the area used to be issued by Hezbollah themselves, but are now given by the Lebanese Army. It was easy enough with Ali as any Lebanese citizen can vouch for guests to see the area. So on saturday afternoon we hired a car and set off from Beirut, stopping off for dinner at a cafe that had live lebanese music and singing and many of the customers got up and danced and clapped and joined in, very entertaining! Driving through the south we finally got to see what the Lebanese countryside looks like. All up the coast from Saida to Byblos (the only area we'd seen before) the 'towns' and 'villages' all merge into one big urban concrete sprawl spreading along all the highways and up the hillsides. But getting away from the main coastal highway the country really showed itself. OK so the villages are still made almost entirely of concrete apartments and houses (only sometimes finished or painted) with concrete stubs and reinforcement bars sticking up from the roof (ready for a new floor to be added), but they are disctinct villages and towns, with countryside in between. The landscape rolls and the roads weave in and around small(ish), picturesque hills and valleys. There is sparse vegetation throughout, with small herds of goats and sheep grazing on the low bushes and scrub, but the view is generally of sandy-coloured rock and earth with patches of green. It is almost bleak in places, but by no means barren, and there is always a village or two in sight, if only distantly on the next hill.

Driving to Ali's village we passed through several very new villages that have mostly been built completely from scratch by Hezbollah since 2006, to replace the buildings and homes destroyed by Israeli bombing in 2006 war and of course the many years before too. The villages include shops, schools, and health centres as well as all the houses. The village of Ali's extended family (it is common for families to stay close here, so everyone in the village is a relative of Ali by blood or by marriage, sometimes a few steps removed but is still counted) was also rebuilt by Hezbollah. Ali's house is actually one of the few that isn't finished - his close family who it is built for currently live and work elsewhere so it isn't a priority I suppose. He made us very welcome in his family home though, and showed us around his village that evening. The ground floor of the house is finished inside so we could use it, expecially the stove in the kitchen that kept the room lovely and cosy! And we also explored the upper two floors and roof which are still very much a building site but offered wonderful views of the valley.

We drove to the border the next morning. There are two fences with a no man's land in between, about 10m apart here but I'm told much bigger further west. The Lebanese Army have regular posts along the fence manned by a couple of men, but the UN peacekeepers were most prevalent, standing around their big white tanks with sky blue helmets and making sure no-one takes any photos they aren't supposed to, amongst other things (you can take photos across the border but not zoom in on any anything specific, or photograph the UN forces themselves who want to stay out of the public eye and be as back-seat as possible - quite respectable I thought. We didn't see any activity on the Israeli side of the fence, but there was a covered shelter very close that presumably they were watching us from. Interestingly, the UN only patrol the Lebanese side of the border, but this seems to be accepted and they are welcomed by the locals for the most part. Houses and cafe's run right up to the border, and we ate lunch just a stone's throw from Israel. People just get on with their lives though, with a nod and smile for the UN forces (and sometimes the army too).

We also visited the Khriem museum. Khriem was the site of an Israeli prison during their occupation, that they partially destroyed when they withdrew in 2000, and bombed the hell out of during the war of 2006 essentially to minimise the evidence of what happened there. Since it's liberation, Hezbollah have turned the prison into a museum, which you can walk around and see the remains of the tiny cells that held men, women and children for years. There are markings on many of the walls - messages from the detainees, calendars, counting the days (sometimes in thousands), poetry, words of wisdom... Fouad translated manyof them for us, it was very moving. They also had tanks and artillery on display that Hezbollah captured from the Israelis during the war, and very emotional photos of the liberation of the camp. The strangest thing about it for me, that I couldn't quite get my head around, was how recent it all is. I learnt about similar places and worse that were used during the world wars for example, but that was all history, it happened a long time ago. Whilst these people were here, some of them confined to solitary cells for months at a time not big enough for them to lie down in, I was playing in the playground. Massacres were carried out throughout Lebanon and including Beirut whilst I was at home watching TV. It hit me quite hard how oblivious we can be, safe in our homes, to what people are capable of doing to others and still do elsewhere in the world.

Driving along the border the next day I couldn't forget it either. There was incredibly thick fog most of the way so we couldn't actually see the far fence even when we stopped and walked up to the edge. But the reminder came from the roads themselves - Hezbollah have rebuilt a lot of the infrastructure in the South but many of the roads remain in appalling condition after years of repeated bombardment and tanks driving along them and ripping them apart. Potholes can be several inches deep and spread most of the way across the road, and were annoyingly filled with muddy water at the time so we often didn't discover how big the hole was till we were bouncing in and out of it!

I am very glad I have seen the South of Lebanon. I'd never seen a border before this trip, and have now seen an open border to Syria and a closed border to Israel. It is quite fascinating, but hearing the first-hand stories of the history at this border and right up as far as Beirut (the plumber that fixed our boiler last week was a sniper on the balcony opposite our flat during the war) is disquietening to say the least. The countryside is beautiful, if stark, but it is the resilience of the people that I find so admirable. Villages tend to be occupied by people of the same religion, but whether Shia, Sunni, Christian or Druze they have all had their struggles, and whichever town we stop in there is the same sense of community, welcome and willingness to help each other - whether from the same village or religion or not. They all smile when you say hello, get on with their lives despite the situation, and go out and have a good time in the evenings with each other. It is amazing.

I wonder what it is like from the other side of the border. We will find out in a few weeks!

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