Antoinette came back with the coffee, and she noticed I was yawning.
“It looks like you were up late last night,” she said.
“Not at all,” I replied. “I went to bed early, but I didn’t sleep through the night. Perhaps it was because of the climate here, one thing happening after another.”
“When the fighting was at its most intense,” she said, taking a sip of coffee, “I used to sleep soundly. It’s a question of habit. You can easily get used to the sound of bullets. Unlike other things.”
“Such as?”
She looked down into her cup. “Sitting down to eat after witnessing a group of rotting corpses,” she replied. “Fires blazing and rockets launching while the radio is playing pop music. Several gunmen standing in your way and asking to see your identity, so they can find out your religion, although you don’t know what theirs is. Or spending Sunday by yourself inside four walls.”
“I’ve often had that same Sunday experience.”
She put the cup back on its saucer and, picking up her purse, led me to the editing room without saying a word. I helped her carry the film canisters from the storage space and then thread into position the film we would be watching. Then I got my pen and paper ready, and took my place in front of the Moviola screen.
The Third Part of the Film
Title card:
On the same day as Syria’s entrance into Lebanon, June 1, 1976, in a move that Western news agencies portrayed as support for the Syrian initiative, the Soviet Premier Kosygin arrived in Damascus at the head of a large official delegation.
Damascus International Airport. Soviet flags everywhere. The large escort for the Soviet official sets out from in front of the airport.
The lead headline of Syria’s al-Baath newspaper: ‘‘Kissinger, after the first round of talks with President Hafez al-Assad: ‘We support the resumption of the Geneva Conference as soon as possible, with the participation of all parties directly interested in the Middle East crisis, and we support the Lebanese forces that are fighting for national unity, territorial unity, and a settlement of the crisis via peaceful means.’ ’’
Scattered headlines in Lebanese newspapers: “Islamic Council under the leadership of Shafiq al-Wazzan welcomes Syrian intervention.” “Kamal Shatila, head of the Union of Working People’s Forces (Nasserist), welcomes Syria’s move and attacks reactionaries, isolationists and regionalists under the sway of secularism, sexual license and hostility to Arabism.” “Shia, Guardians of the Cedars and Phalangists welcome Syrian intervention and commend Syrian president for his bravery.” “Iraq offers 3 million dollars to the Joint Arab Front in the Palestinian uprising.”
Beirut. An office of the Sa’iqa organization in Chiyah. Fatah forces surround the building. Other Fatah forces besiege an office belonging to Kamal Shatila’s organization in the Caracas neighborhood.
Title card:
In response, Syrian forces moved toward Beirut. So the Palestinian resistance sought the help of the Libyans and Algerians, asking them to stop the advancing forces in exchange for a return to the status quo ante. The attacks on the Sa’iqa and Shatila offices were abandoned.
Headline in a Lebanese newspaper: “Syrian forces occupy all of northern Lebanon.”
A paragraph from Pravda: “The armed fighting among the parties fighting in Lebanon has virtually ended thanks to Syrian intervention.”
Zuheir Mohsen, leader of the Sa’iqa, from Radio Damascus: “Fatah has changed: once it was a tool for the Palestinian uprising, but now it’s become a dagger directed against the people of Palestine.”
Headline in a Lebanese newspaper: “Syrian forces and al-Sa’iqa rain down rockets on Beirut and the camps. 700 killed and wounded. Nearly 4,000 homes destroyed. Rockets fall at a rate of one explosion every 6 minutes.”
Moscow. Headquarters of the Soviet Foreign Ministry. A Soviet authority reads an urgent statement to reporters: “With respect to Syria, which announced that the mission of its forces is to help stop the bloodshed in Lebanon, it is evident that blood is still being shed, and in greater quantities.”
Damascus. The entrance to the Republican Palace. The Jordanian prime minister and Zayd bin Shakir, commander-in-chief of the Jordanian Army, accompanied by Mustafa Tlass, Syrian minister of defense.
A circle around a paragraph from an Israeli newspaper: “The largest division of Syrian forces, which had taken up positions in recent months between Damascus and the Israeli lines, was withdrawn and sent to Lebanon and the Syrian — Iraqi border.”
A headline in a Lebanese newspaper: “Syrian forces strip citizens of their money, possessions and food.” A telegram sent from Maronite leader Raymond Eddé to President Hafez al-Assad: “The Syrian Army robbed my house in Sawfar… It has not escaped my notice that it did the same to Rashid Karami’s house.”
Sawfar. A Syrian soldier is talking to a French television crew: “We are waiting impatiently for our turn. Coming to Lebanon was always a dream… Well-stocked shops, imported goods, movies and women. They selected us from every army division so we won’t feel loyal just to our group, and so everyone feels that they all have an equal chance of going to Lebanon.”
President Hafez al-Assad addressing a large crowd: “They attacked the Syrian soldiers who entered in order to help them… We chose these soldiers from different sections of the army, and we made this choice intentionally; we intended for soldiers from every division in the Syrian army to go, for reasons of Arab nationalism, so they could defend the refugee camps, and so that the spirit of defending the Palestinian cause and the camps would be strengthened in all branches of the Syrian military.”
Cairo. A television anchorman reads a news bulletin: “Arab foreign ministers decide to replace Syrian forces in Lebanon with Arab security forces.”
Beirut. The Achrafieh neighborhood in East Beirut. Abd al-Salam Julud, Libyan prime minister, in the car of Abu al-Hasan, Fatah’s security chief. The car stops in front of Pierre Gemayel’s home.
Title card:
While a solution for Lebanon was forging ahead into existence under Arab protection, members of a small leftist organization calling itself the Party of Arab Socialist Labor, which was linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (headed by George Habash), kidnapped the American ambassador and the US Embassy advisor, as well as their Lebanese driver. The kidnapping took place in West Beirut before the ambassador’s car reached the border separating the two sides, on its way to Sarkis’s headquarters. After three hours, the bodies of the three men were discovered in the Janah district.
A headline in a Lebanese newspaper: “The Soviet government offers immediate assistance in the form of food and medical supplies to the Lebanese National Movement and Palestinian resistance via Beirut Airport and other ports.”
A headline in Syria’s al-Baath newspaper: “Syrian minister of media denies that there are battles between Syrian forces and the so-called joint forces (Lebanese and Palestinian), saying, ‘What is happening in Lebanon is a battle among Palestinian forces.’”
A circle around a paragraph from the Soviet newspaper, Sovetskaya Rossiya: “Despite repeated Syrian declarations about helping Lebanon stop the bloodshed, in reality the bloodshed has increased since Syrian forces entered this country. They are coming down hard in regions that are dominated by nationalist forces and where the Palestinian camps are located.”