The US Secretary of Defense Harold Brown on American television: “The Israelis have admitted that they violated their agreement with the United States with respect to the use of cluster bombs in certain cases. The United States have examined with Israel Israel’s promises not to repeat this violation. But I don’t want to place any more emphasis than necessary on this matter. Because the important thing with regard to Lebanon is that there is withdrawal from this area.”
Title card:
Fragmentation bombs are considered the most dangerous and lethal weapons in the US arsenal. They are extremely effective when used against tanks and armored cars. If they are used in civilian areas, the result is a bloodbath.
These bombs were dropped from planes in cylinders, each of which carried a large number of slivers. At a certain height, these cylinders open up and each one releases 650 burning slivers, at 5.6cm diameter each. They fly outwards in different directions. One kind contains a timing device that makes the shards explode some time after the target is hit. Israeli planes used this kind in their bombardment of hospitals and children’s shelters in southern Lebanon.
A spacious dining hall. Several American and Israeli military officers and civilians surround a table piled high with different kinds of food. Enormous electric chandeliers hang from the ceiling. At the head of the table sits Mordecai Gur, chief of staff of the Israeli Army. He is making a speech to those in attendance, saying, “When I ordered the use of fragmentation bombs in Lebanon… I never had any doubt that it would be in keeping with the spirit of the agreement made between our two countries, and the spirit of the American people.”
Gur in an interview with a reporter from the Israeli magazine Al HaMishmar:
“Journalist: When bombing targets, did you make any distinction between the ‘ravagers’ and civilians?”
“Gur: I don’t have a selective memory. I’ve served in the army for all of thirty years. Don’t you realize what we did all those years? What we did along the Suez Canal? We created one and a half million refugees. We bombed Ismailia, Suez, Port Said and Port Fu’ad. One and a half million refugees.”
A circle around a paragraph from Haaretz: “Israel’s success lies in the fact that the United Nations — which in reality is the forces of NATO in blue helmets — is currently standing on the Litani River, not on Israel’s borders or within the Occupied Territories. Then there are the Christian pockets, and Israel is asked to pull back, but it hasn’t done so, and the Syrians haven’t gotten involved. Also, prominent Shia in Lebanon’s parliament have laid the blame on the Palestinians for the disasters that have befallen Lebanon. And the Druze cohort has issued a similar statement. Hostility to the PLO has become noticeably prominent among the Lebanese public.”
A circle around a paragraph from the Israeli newspaper Davar: “We must secure a peace treaty to be signed in the future with Lebanon’s government, which will make possible the joint exploitation of the waters of the Litani River.”
Title card:
“It is inconceivable that Palestine will remain confined by its present borders. For the Jews have the ability to spread out and expand into all the lands that surround it, from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and from Lebanon to the Nile. These are the lands that have been given to the Chosen People.”
— Norman Bentwich
“We will never abandon Israel.”
— Henry Kissinger
Chapter 21
The final scenes of the film depicted the Israeli forces’ withdrawal operation from South Lebanon, and the arrival of United Nations forces to take their place. I suggested to Antoinette that these scenes should be removed, and the movie should end with the Israeli occupation at the Litani River. I said that that solution would elevate the film from being merely a record of events to the level of a vision of the future. Because Israel has a history of growing, expanding and swallowing up territory. If it left Lebanon in 1978 after a three-month invasion, then it left behind in its place “NATO forces with blue helmets,” as Israeli leaders themselves put it. Likewise, nothing could prevent them from coming back at any moment.
Antoinette concurred with me about this, and we agreed that I would buckle down in the apartment for two or three days, during which time I would finish writing the required voiceover.
I left her as she was winding the last reel of the film, and went back to the apartment. Wadia hadn’t yet returned from Amman, so I took a bath. I made a cup of coffee. I sat down and flipped through the pages where I had recorded the film’s scenes. I wrote down some observations, then I put the papers to one side. I made myself a light dinner and ate it, accompanied by two cans of beer. Then I headed to bed.
My sleep was light and restless. I was aware of Wadia’s return, and his departure in the morning. Finally I got myself out of bed, feeling sluggish. I had breakfast and stood out on the balcony to smoke. I noticed that the streets were completely quiet. The shops were closed. Then I remembered that today was Lebanon’s independence day.
I sat at Wadia’s desk. But I didn’t have the energy to work. I pulled the telephone over and dialed Lamia’s number. I listened to the phone ring for a long time. Then I put the receiver back and walked to my room.
I put on my jacket. I made sure I had my passport in its inner pocket. I counted the cash I had on me and found that it came to no more than 200 lira. Then I left the apartment.
I headed toward Hamra Street, crossing streets that were almost empty of pedestrians. When I reached that familiar thoroughfare, I walked by Wimpy’s and the Mövenpick, then the Hamra Cinema and the Red Shoe. I stood on the corner by the Red Shoe and observed the Modka café on the sidewalk opposite.
I crossed the street and walked by the Modka. I kept walking as far as the Café de la Paix.
I pushed open the glass door and went inside. I sat down at a seat covered with artificial leather. A girl caked in makeup brought me a cup of Arabic coffee.
I sipped the coffee while smoking a cigarette as I watched the few other patrons. Then I paid my bill and left the café. I turned left and took a leisurely walk. I passed by the al-Nahar newspaper offices, and the Banque du Liban. I reached Burj El-Murr Square, then I looked out from the vantage point of the Fu’ad al-Shihab Bridge.
I passed through an abandoned checkpoint made of barrels into the neighborhood of Zuqaq al-Blat. The whole area seemed completely abandoned. Soon the street descended toward the left. A checkpoint blocked my path, with some gunmen standing there whose identity I couldn’t make out. But they paid no attention to me, and I walked through. A little later, I found myself in Riad al-Solh Square. I headed right and entered Martyrs’ Square.
Old Beirut’s main square appeared, surrounded by ruins on all sides. The old houses, most of which dated to the Ottoman era, were still standing. But their windows and the doors to their shops had been turned into dark holes pierced by twisted iron rods. On the roofs lingered the remaining frames of neon signs, which transformed the square at night into a blaze of light — prominent among them were the traces of an advertisement for Laziza Beer and Gandour Chocolate beside a Coca-Cola bottle.
In spite of that, the square teemed with activity. In front of the demolished buildings, wooden carts were lined up, carrying all kinds of goods, such as clothes, shoes, dishes and electrical appliances. In the entranceways of some demolished shops sat money-changers. Looking over all this were several armored cars bearing the emblem of the Deterrent Forces.