Eye Witness Report a New Era in South Lebanon

Sixteen days after Palestinian terrorists carried out their murderous assault on Israel’s coastal highway, I drove up the same road and crossed the border into Lebanon, almost to the banks of the Litani River. It was a pleasant drive. I watched men, women and children going about their daily routine with no fear on their faces. A new era has come to south Lebanon with Israeli control of the region. But the peace and quiet may not last long.

The signs of war are visible all along the road. The villages where the terrorists found shelter were badly damaged by Israeli bombing. But the residents are returning and the army and Israeli technicians are helping them rebuild their homes. Army convoys have brought in carpenters, plumbers and electricians and all are lending a hand to make the bombed out homes habitable again.

I saw this yesterday in Bet-Yahoun, just north of the former terrorist stronghold in Bint Jebeil village. There was a stone house with its doors and windows blown out by a shell-burst. Within minutes Israeli workmen had a new door and new windows in place. The Moslem family that occupied the house was grateful. The Israelis had smashed their home but later repaired it.

Tebnin village, where this is written, did not suffer damage. The elders decided it was better to get rid of the terrorists and invite the Israeli army in for protection. Tebnin is a district township. It boasts a small hospital but none of the medical staff remained, except for one nurse. The hospital is now manned by Israeli army doctors. One of their first patients was a pregnant Lebanese woman. They delivered her baby, a daughter, who she christened Israel.

Some of the villagers, children or elderly people, are too ill for this hospital’s limited facilities. They are taken by helicopter ambulance to better equipped hospitals in Israel.

TRUCKLOADS OF FLOUR FROM ISRAEL

A few miles along the road, in the tiny village of Zidkin which has a population of 800, there were long queues to be seen. Truckloads of flour just arrived from Israel and were being distributed to the villagers. Meanwhile, women washed clothes and

My journey ended at a promontory overlooking Tyre, an ancient seaport built on a tongue of sand that curves to form a bay. It is a hotbed of terrorists. But Israeli forces refrained from capturing it in order to avoid harm to the civilian population.

I did not see much of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) during my trip. From time to time, a water carrier with a large blue UN flag painted on the tank, passed us along the road. The UN has set up its command post at Ras el Naqura where the Israeli and Lebanese borders meet on the Mediterranean coast. The UN officers are tight-lipped. They are not fully organized and are far from able to control any areas or undertake missions. It will take time, they say.

But the population of northern Israel would like to see an end to the shelling by terrorists deployed north of the Litani. The Israeli general commanding the northern sector says the shelling is the terrorists’ last gasp. But to those under fire–Israelis and Lebanese Christians–it is a prolonged finale. Neither wants the Israeli army to pull out of south Lebanon.