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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 March 1999 Issue No. 421 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 March 1999 Issue No. 421
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Year 21 in the balance
By Zeina Khodr
Israeli warplanes, helicopter gunships and pilotless reconnaisance planes flew over Beirut and areas in the south, north and east of the country nearly every day this week. The Lebanese army deployed tanks along the seafront and its forces were placed on alert. The Hizbullah resistance movement also placed its fighters on maximum alert footing to counter a possible Israeli commando operation against a Hizbullah leader.
Supporters of the Hizbullah burn an Israeli flag as they march in the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon on Sunday to mark the 21st anniversary of the first Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon (photo: AP)
The overflights came hours after Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Arens said Lebanon was a "powderkeg waiting to explode if Hizbullah continue to attack Israeli troops in south Lebanon". Israel has also been threatening to launch fierce attacks in retaliation for the killing of its top general in the south by Hizbullah in late February. "Israel has decided to retaliate in a decisive way for the 28 February attack," General Eli Amitai said. It is still not clear whether the intensive overflights were part of a muscle-flexing exercise to back up the threats or whether an attack was being planned.
But Hizbullah Secretary General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah ruled out an all-out strike by Israel. "Israel may be planning some sort of attack against Hizbullah -- a surgical strike or it may try to kill one of our officials," he said.
"Israel is creating tension with its flights over Lebanon that violate this country's sovereignty," President Emile Lahoud said. "This aggressive policy comes particularly after Lebanon objected to Israeli calls to amend the 1996 cease-fire understanding." That truce bans attacks on civilians on both sides of the border but sanctions resistance attacks against Israeli occupation troops in the south.
Prime Minister Selim Al-Hoss made it clear Beirut would not be intimidated. "Israel is wrong to think that such pressure might weaken Lebanon's determination and insistence on its (Israel's) unconditional withdrawal from the south in line with UN resolution 425," he said.
The heightened tension coincided with the 21st anniversary of Israel's first invasion of Lebanon. Israeli tanks rumbled over the border on 14 March, 1978 and have remained in the south ever since. A series of events were held across the country to commemorate the Day of Solidarity with the South and the West Beqaa as part of a nationwide protest against the occupation and Israel's refusal to implement Resolution 425.
One official was optimistic about the situation on the ground. "I think after all these years, we are closer to peace than ever before," Timor Goksel, spokesman for the UN peace-keepers in south Lebanon told international journalists who were on a tour of front-line villages. "This is my personal assessment after being here for over 20 years. I base this on what we are seeing in Israel. Lebanon has become a national issue there. In society, when issues become national, a solution will follow."
But Goksel's assessment was not shared by House Speaker Nabih Berri. "Israeli statements about withdrawal are part of ongoing manoeuvres to split the Lebanese and Syrian peace tracks in negotiations but they will never be able to achieve this," he said "Israel has two choices: either to withdraw unconditionally or negotiate with Lebanon and Syria with the intention of exchanging land for peace. It is these manoeuvres and media publicity stunts that Israel uses to try to convince international public opinion that it wants peace when the contrary is the case."
The journalists' tour was organised by the Ministry of Information to raise awareness of the conflict in the south, the suffering of southerners and Israel's 21-year occupation of Lebanese territories.
It is widely believed in Lebanon that the international media does not properly cover the conflict. "There is a need for the ministry to constantly meet the foreign press to explain the situation," Berri told the Weekly. "We all know that the killing of Israeli soldiers who are occupying our land makes headlines in the international media. But the death of Lebanese men, women and children in Israeli attacks is never covered. There is a clear and obvious bias towards Israel."
Arab and international journalists on the tour agreed that the world only understands the story from the other side of the border.
"The killing of Israelis makes more noise," Stefano de Paolis, representative of the Italian news agency told the Weekly. Mohamed Said Idriss from the Khaleej newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates also said the coverage of the conflict in the south was weak.
Goksel told the Weekly that reporters based in Lebanon covered events well but that misleading coverage came from so-called experts making comments without knowing the facts on the ground. "They have preconceptions about what the story is," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu last week said for the first time that he may be ready for a unilateral withdrawal of forces from the south. But Lebanon described the statement as a ballot box gimmick for the forthcoming elections on 17 May. A day later, Netanyahu qualified his statement, saying he was prepared to authorise a pullback without the formal normalisation of ties with Lebanon but on condition of security guarantees by the Lebanese government. Such a proposal is not new and the conditions have been categorically rejected by Lebanon which says that UN resolution 425 is non-negotiable.
"Israel has to understand that Lebanon will be the last Arab country to sign a peace agreement," Berri said. "And there is no way we will provide it with security arrangements because we are not responsible for Israel's security in the absence of a peace treaty."
