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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Guerrillas on extended leave
By Ranwa YehiaHajj Jawad has begun to discover a side of life from which he was spared since joining the resistance in 1982. The requirements of daily routine work, as Jawad describes it, are all new to him. He is only now opening his eyes to the onerous responsibilities other family members had to bear during the long absences he was forced to take to plan and execute resistance operations against Israeli occupation forces.
Since the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon on 24 May and Hizbullah's decision to abide by a cease-fire, Jawad has had more free time on his hands. This has enabled him to spend more time with his wife and four children. "I believe God has blessed me with two people I feel I don't even deserve -- my mother and my wife -- and it is only now that I've realised the tremendous task they have had to assume when I was fulfilling my jihad duty in fighting the enemy," Jawad said.
Jawad, 34, is one of Hizbullah's military officers who joined the party since its establishment in 1982. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Jawad recounts the stages of his life starting with his joining the resistance at the tender age of 16, spanning his gradual rise in the party's military wing, finally leading up to his discovery of a life that was led in his absence. "I didn't realise the effort required to run a household and raise four children single-handedly. Before the liberation, I would come to the house when I could and see everything spick and span, but I wouldn't think anything of it," he admits.
Minor issues like changing the gas container for the stove, buying fruits and vegetables for the household and organising expenses are all novelties for the former military man. Now that he has "more time on his hands," he is being introduced to civil life.
At present, the fate of Hizbullah fighters is a prime concern. Although the resistance party has never revealed the exact number of fighters it possessed, experts believe it counts some 2,000 men who have pledged to sacrifice their lives for the liberation of their land. Jawad repeatedly said he was not worried about his fate whether on spiritual or financial fronts.
Because of Hizbullah's efforts over the past decade to build up a network of institutions including social, cultural, medical and construction administrations, Jawad believes there is enough openings for former Hizbullah fighters to join. "There is no cause to fear the fate of Hizbullah fighters. Resistance is not only in military work," Jawad said defiantly.
Hizbullah has at least 15 different institutions targeting a variety of basic needs for the people of the south, the Beqaa and the southern suburbs. Hizbullah's financial support stems mainly from Iran, as well as many donations and religious duties (known in Arabic as Al-Khoms) offered by devout Muslims and Hizbullah sympathisers from all over the Arab and Islamic world.
"The money I receive every month is my legitimate right because I'm fighting to ward off the enemy and even though there is no military work, there are other forms of jihad," he said.
Jawad is not in the least worried about his future if the option of military operations against Israel no longer exists. He explains that although the bulk of Hizbullah fighters spent most of their time in training, this training was not exclusively military. "Preparing for operations requires basic knowledge in many fields, including mechanics, medicine, accountancy, trade and computer training. Every Hizbullah fighter is well versed in these fields and is therefore able to adapt to working in civil society. In fact, he is in demand," Jawad claimed.
In 1986, Jawad was pursuing a degree in chemistry at the Lebanese University and another one in business management at the Beirut Arab University. The young Jawad, however, abandoned his ambitious academic career "because resistance work at the time required complete dedication, this is the price to pay for your convictions."
It was only last year that Jawad decided to join college again and work towards a degree in history. "I want to widen my scope of knowledge and this major does not require attendance in classes so I can do it as I conduct my resistance work."
Jawad did not offer any clear answers to repeated inquiries regarding his livelihood, now that he is no longer a professional resistance fighter.
"Isolation from society put us out of touch with a few things but we are not strangers to civil society and are able to adapt to it when necessary," Jawad argued.
His final response was that "we believe that God will always take care of our survival."
The Hizbullah fighter said he does not believe "the issue is as complicated as people think."
"I am not convinced that Hizbullah fighters will one day find themselves useless and unemployed. We will work in anything as long as we can maintain a decent and respectable lifestyle, no matter how modest," he added.
The current stagnation in the Lebanese economy does not seem to deter Jawad from his convictions. At a time when large sections of Lebanon's workforce are leaving the country in pursuit of better job opportunities and living conditions, he continues to insist that there will always be a source of income for Hizbullah fighters.
While recalling his long years with Hizbullah, Jawad said that he always felt it was the right thing to do.
"In 1978, when I was 12-years-old, the Israelis attacked my village in the south and I lost some family members. This was my first experience with injustice, an injustice that I wanted to fight against. "In 1982, following the Israeli invasion, I and a group of eight young men from my village decided that we wanted to resist the occupation. It was the time when Palestinian factions and members of leftist parties such as the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and the Communist Party began retreating. I remember how my friends and I approached these parties and asked them to give us weapons so we would fight the Israelis.
"That was when we encountered the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards and joined them. We started staging resistance operations using weapons left over by the leftist parties; we were fighting like children in contrast to the expertise we later developed when we joined Hizbullah. But before that, we really acted like children. I remember incidents when we would leave a roadside bomb in the market to target Israeli militias and then join the rest of the villagers in carrying the wounded to the hospital."
He cites abandoning his studies as one of the biggest sacrifices he made for the cause, but "the one thing that really tore me apart during this period, from 1982 until 1993, was the way we were treated by our own countrymen."
"It was as if we were shunned for defending our country. I remember once that some of my friends stopped standing with me at the village square for fear that he would be associated with us.
"This made us feel like strangers and although I attempted to discuss my convictions with other villagers, they did not want to listen. This created a feeling of bitterness within me and it was the only thing that used to make me cry at night. I would see other young men the same age as me standing in a group at the village square and talking about their plans for a trip here and a picnic there and I would think, 'what a waste of potential.' I keep thinking that, had more people joined us from the beginning, our liberation would have occurred earlier and saved more lives. There were some men who initially joined us but then couldn't continue and wanted to go on with their lives."
Jawad does not blame such men, but claims he would never have forgiven himself has he followed suit. He continued to follow his vocation, without a personal life, dedicated to working for the resistance. At the age of 24, he decided it was time to marry -- but not just any woman.
"I knew I needed a wife who shared the same views as mine," said Jawad. "And I can say I am blessed to have found such a wife, who carried the responsibilities required from both a husband and wife while I carried out my resistance work." The freedom fighter admits to have only realised the greatness of her accomplishment after the liberation, once he was able to immerse himself in family life.
"I truly believe that the efforts she has made equaled top resistance operations achieved by the resistance."
Related stories:
The greater Jihad 8 - 14 June 2000
Making Lebanon whole again 1 - 7 June 2000
Liberation 25 - 31 May 2000
