Occupation blues still haunt South Lebanon

By Kesava Menon

MARJAYOUN (LEBANON), DEC. 23. This township and the countryside around it are still in limbo. Till May this year, these areas were deep inside the zone that Israel had occupied for 22 years. The people of these areas have cast off the many linkages with Israel and its occupying force but they have yet to fully reincorporate themselves with the rest of Lebanon.

Unemployment is the biggest problem. The harsh, hilly terrain does not contain much level land for agriculture though there is a bit of grazing to be had. There is no industry worth the name. Like the people of the U.P. hills (Uttaranchal now), the people in southern Lebanon are quite dependent on the money order economy. But for the people who did not leave during the years of occupation, the far easier access they now have to the rest of the country has not yet brought meaningful changes.

During the years of occupation, people could commute between the zone and the rest of Lebanon. But the procedures were extremely tedious. Clearances had to be sought from the U.N. which in turn had to get the nod from the controlling power inside or outside the zone. (As an example, it can be pointed out that permits for journalists seeking to make authorised visits to the zone had to be cleared from New York). This time-consuming process might have been useful for family visits but was hardly conducive for someone who lived in the zone but wanted to work outside it.

Many did uproot themselves during the years of occupation and move to Beirut and other cities along the coast. Those who stayed behind cannot now do so in any profitable manner though travel is so much easier. The Lebanese economy has experienced negative or zero growth for the last two years and there are simply not enough jobs for the late-comers. In some ways, the people of southern Lebanon are economically worse off now than they were during the occupation.

There were jobs to be had with the occupying force itself. About 3,000 men from these parts were soldiers in the South Lebanon Army, the pro-Israel militia which operated against the liberation movement. Some of these soldiers were certainly motivated by sectarian considerations. That many more were motivated by financial considerations is clear from the fact that by the end of the occupation, over 50 per cent of the SLA cadre were members of the same community that threw up the most resilient and formidable of the forces that resisted the occupation. Hizbollah and Shia Amal.

SLA soldiers spent in the local market, from the myriad non- military jobs that were available and from the employment opportunities in the farming communities of northern Israel. A lot of money could also be made from the thriving cross-border trade in marijuana and other narcotics. Drug smuggling has become far more difficult with the border sealed and production in Lebanon has fallen drastically after a major crackdown in the Beqaa Valley.

If there is a silver lining to the currently bleak existence in southern Lebanon, it is that the bitterness of the occupation period is not being deliberately kept alive. The most ruthless and hardcore of the SLA cadre fled to Israel and some of the dozens who returned have been tried and sentenced to stiff punishments. But there have hardly been any of the reprisal killings that could have sustained the bitterness long after the original cause was gone. Credit for this must be given to Hizbollah which for months after the end of the occupation was the main power in the region.

The Lebanese Government is making a very serious effort to revive its economy. Even if these efforts are successful, the relatively remote south-east of the country will be among the last to derive the benefits. Meanwhile, there does not appear to be any great sense of urgency being applied to the task of re-integrating the region with the rest of Lebanon. Administrative services including police services, electricity, water supply and health and education are not being extended with any great rapidity. It will be a while before south Lebanon emerges from its current limbo.

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Section  : International
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