By Zvi Bar'el
The shopping festival organized by the residents of Jezzine
last week was a total flop. Too few tourists showed up and
too few local residents were willing to spend their money in
the stores that took part in the festival. Jezzine's hotels -
located just north of the Israeli-controlled security zone in
southern Lebanon - are still empty, and even the foreign
correspondents who covered the withdrawal from the
Jezzine enclave by the South Lebanon Army, the
Israeli-backed militia, have left and no longer take an
interest in the place. The main complaints of the residents,
as reported in the Lebanese press, are about the tough
roadblocks the Lebanese army has set up at the town's
entrance points. On top of that, tourists who want to visit
have to obtain a special entry permit from the Lebanese
army - and the permit is usually valid for only one day.The
official pretext offered for the army's roadblocks around
Jezzine is to ensure that the former SLA fighters who
remain in the town do not slip out, and to prevent
collaborators with Israel from returning. Lebanon, at least
as things look now, less than three months after the SLA's
evacuation of the Jezzine enclave, wants to give the
impression that it is punishing the former SLA personnel
and that collaborators with Israel will face trial. A few dozen
SLA personnel have already been given a quick trial, in
fact; most of them were sentenced to one year in prison and
a fine, though the former deputy commander of the town
received 10 years in prison at hard labor.
Lebanese sources say that all these trials are only for show
and that none of those who have been convicted will spend
more than a month or two behind bars. In fact, the sources
say, the Lebanese army couldn't care less if SLA personnel
leave the town; what the army really wants is to prevent the
entry of a flood of Hezbollah people or, worse still, the entry
of opposition or Palestinian groups, which could take
advantage of the power vacuum that was created when the
SLA pulled out.
The largely Christian Jezzine enclave, which the IDF
considered an essential strategic stronghold for so many
years - whoever controlled it also controlled the passage
between western Lebanon and Syria, and it also functioned
as a crucial location from which to monitor the movement of
Hezbollah personnel from the Lebanese Beka'a into
southern Lebanon - was beside itself with glee. The fact
that it was once under Israeli control through the auspices
of the SLA already seems to be ancient history. The military
advantages that accrued from holding the enclave could
not conceal the fact that it had become a serious security
burden.
At the same time, the Israeli fear that Hezbollah would
seize the town and massacre the residents has not
materialized. Lebanon, which is continuing to assert that it
will not provide security guarantees in the event of an IDF
withdrawal from Lebanon - during the SLA's evacuation of
Jezzine, the Lebanese army did not deploy in place of the
withdrawing forces, either - proved that it is unwilling to
cede any Lebanese territory, not even in favor of an
organization that has won the title of the "national
resistance."
Once the IDF decided, together with SLA commander
General Antoin Lahad, on a pullout from Jezzine, the
evacuation became a test case for the intentions of
Lebanon and Syria ahead of a possible total Israeli
withdrawal from Lebanon. Three months after the
evacuation, it can be said, albeit cautiously, that "Jezzine
first" is a success. And not only from the point of view of
Israel, which is still skirmishing with Hezbollah in other
sectors of southern Lebanon; it is also a success from the
viewpoint of the SLA, which wanted to see how the
Lebanese authorities would treat its personnel.
In Jezzine, the Lebanese government showed SLA
militiamen that, in return for comparatively light punishment,
they can resume their lives as full-fledged citizens of
Lebanon. Hezbollah, for its part, showed the Christians in
the area and the villages around Jezzine that it is not a
vindictive organization and that it does not massacre
Lebanese civilians.
The withdrawal from Jezzine, it should be remembered,
was decided on and executed without any agreement with
Lebanon or Syria - it was done because the situation
compelled it. Prime Minister Ehud Barak promised that in
one year, the IDF would no longer be in Lebanon - and that
year is up in 10 months. They are also counting the months
in Lebanon, as in Israel, and trying to decide how serious
Barak's pledge is.
But residents of Kiryat Shmona and Nahariya find it difficult
to understand why the residents of Jezzine have already
begun to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, while
they have to go on listening to threats broadcast over
Lebanese television in order to know whether to scramble
for their bomb shelters. Ten months for the residents of
Upper Galilee is too long a period for those who
understand that the real threat is the security zone
© copyright 1999 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved