From: hyper@ecf.toronto.edu (Hypersonic CFD Combust Diag)
Subject: A "Globe and Mail" article.
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Distribution: all
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 16:34:23 GMT


LEBANON/ 'They are the only ones fighting the Israelis,' community leader
          says. 'Someone has to'

"FOR HEZBOLLAH, THE WAR NEVER ENDS."

[ This article is being reposted without permission.
[ The article appeared in "The Globe and Mail",
[ a canadian national newspaper, on Sep 30, 92.
[ It has been retyped and thus it may contain some 
[ added typographical errors.

[ BY PATRICK MARTIN
[ Middle East Bureau
[ Jibsheet, Lebanon

"THIS is Hezbollah country," a shia Muslim driver said as he approached
the town.  "The people here hate the Israelis".  Located just north of 
Israel's self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon, Jibsheet and 
several other towns in this hilly area are subject to frequent- sometimes
almost daily- artillery fire from Israel's guns and those of its ally,
the South Lebanon Army.

The barrages usually arrive with an explanation that they are in
reprisal for attacks amde on Israeli or SLA forces inside the security zone.

Yesterday, in the fiercest fighting in months, guerrillas of the pro-Iranian
Hezbollah battled SLA militiamen and United Nations troops, leaving nine 
people dead and 12 wounded.  An Irish peacekeeper, six guerrillas and
two civilians were killed during a pre-dawn guerrilla raid on an SLA 
outpost and an ensuing retaliatory bombardment, Lebanese officials
told The Associated Press.

The incident capped five days of hostilities in southern Lebanon after
the recess in the Arab-Israeli peace talks in Washington.  Hezbollah 
also had allowed a lull while it participated - quite successfully- in
the recent Lebanese elections.

Although Jibsheet and scores of other Shia Muslim communities welcomed
Israel's 1982 lebanese incursion- which was designed to eliminate
the palastenian presence in the south of the country- antipathy in the
area turned against the Israeli occupiers by 1985 and a national 
resistance developed into a well-organized movement.  That movement
is increasingly admired in Lebanon, and its success now is spreading
into social and political areas.

In the summer of 1989, Israeli helicopters and soldiers landed in
the middle of Jibsheet and kidnapped Sheikh Abdul-Karim Obeid, 
one of the spiritual leaders of Hezbollah.  Sheikh Obeid remains 
in an Israeli prison, and Jibsheet remains at war with Israel.

Entering this town, one can be forgiven for thinking that he
has been transported to Iran.  In the mid-1980s, members of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards were posted in Jibsheet; though they
are long gone, they left behind huge banners depicting the late
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.  Women are dressed more 
conservatively than in less dedicated towns, all wearing "hejabs"
(headscarves) and many being more completely veiled.

The Hezbollah leadership also left, moving into more secure headquarters
in the southern suburbs of Beirut.  But the area remains the place
where the resistance is based.

The united States has insisted that the Lebanese authorities disarm
Hezbollah, as most other political militias in Lebanon were disarmed
in the past two years.  Hezbollah, however, insists it is waging a war
of resistance against Israeli occupation and against the SLA, which
also has retained its arms.

It is an attitude that is endorsed by a surprisingly large number of
Lebanese whether they are Hezbollah supporters or not.

"All the people -big and small- believe Hezbollah should keep its
arms until the Israeli leave lebanon," said Sheikh Hani Fahez, a
Shia spiritual leader in Jibsheet who drew 10 per cent of the votes
in southern Lebanon running as an independant candidate in the
election.

"The people will lose honour if Hezbollah is forcibly disarmed,"
he said.

Moein Jaber, a prominent community leader in Nabatiya, a regular
target of Israeli shelling, makes no secret of his hatred of
Hezbollah.  "No one around here even likes to talk about them."
But he agrees with Sheikh Fahez's assessment. "They are
the only ones fighting the Israelis. Someone has to."

Selim Hoss, a respected former prime minister who won more votes
in the recent election than any other candidate, said: "If you
want to disarm them, you have to offer an alternative."

Mr. Hoss, a Sunni Muslim, said the Lebanese army should move 
into the south so that the Israelis will not be able to complain
about disorder in the area.  Until the army is ready for that,
however, "Hezbollah should not be disarmed."

Support from such moderates for Hezbollah as a resistance force
underscores the futility of Israeli policy in Lebanon.

"If the Israelis think their shelling villages is going to stop
the growth of Hezbollah, they're crazy," one senior western
diplomat said, "It's having the opposite effect."

Sheikh Fahez said :" When the Israelis go, Hezbollah will lay
down its arms by itself."

Mr. Jaber added: "When the Israelis go, support for Hezbollah
will drop dramatically."

For that reason, among others, Hezbollah has branched out from
its resistance campaign. offering social services to impoverished
Shiites and, most recently, running for parliament.
   Places such as south Beirut's Mother and Child Health Centre are
Hezbollah's new battleground.  And in the teeming tenements of greater
Beirut, Hezbollah offers hospitals, garbage collection, a television
station and orphanages.
    Most funds for these services are provided by foundations largely
financed by Iran.  Each, however, contributes to its own upkeep.
Hospitals and clinics charge modest fees, and the orphanage, where
lessons on the religious-political struggle are taught to hundreds 
of children, is financed by a large and popular gas station on the
outskirts of the capital.  Few customers realize where the profits
of the gas station go, a Hezbollah spokesman said.
    At the Mother and Child Centre, Iranian-educated Imad Beidoun 
said his clinic is available at the same cost to non-believers 
as well as to Hezbollah supporters.  "It's the only comprehensive
maternity and pediatric centre in teh city," he said.
   Born as a resistance force, Hezbollah has become a revolutionary
movement.

In the recent election, 12 Hezbollah candidates were elected to
the 128-seat legislature.  Along with the victories of four allied
Sunni Muslim fundamentalists, the results give the party a good 
chance of being askedto join a new government.

Mohammed Obeid, a Hezbollah member, said Hezbollah ran for 
parliament to ensure it was not left out of decision-making.  The
next legislature will negotiate an end to the country's 
confessional system of alotting political offices on the basis
of religion.

Lebanon's Shia population is the country's largest but has been
deprived of a fair share of power under such a system.  "We
want to make sure that changes," Mr. Obeid said.

Hezbollah officials deny any connection with the kidnapping of western
hostages in Lebanon.  They acknowledge, however, that individuals
also who share their views and "probably support Hezbollah" were
behind the acts.

"You have to remember what was happening here during those years,"
Mr. Obeid Said. "People were fed up with the Israelis, the 
Americans, their poverty, and no one was listening.  Desperate
people do desperate things."

Now, however,  Hezbollah may become part of the a government that
is negotiating a peace treaty with Hezbollah's arch enemy.  "That's
why hezbollah is going to have trouble deciding whether to join
a cabinet or not," Sheikh Fahez said.

"Hezbollah is a realistic organization.  I do not believe they 
are going to push on onto Jerusalem as the Israeli say.  But 
neither can they accept the Israeli state."
 
 


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