Israel 101: The Lebanese Israelis

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the Galilee trip (which begins here) was meeting two former SLA people.

The South Lebanon Army (SLA) is a group of Lebanese army soldiers-turned-mercenaries who have acted as proxies for the Israelis during the occupation of South Lebanon, which began in 1982. When Israel withdrew from South Lebanon, most of the SLA soldiers moved inside Israel, for fear of retaliation by the compatriots.

A bunch of traitors, basically.

But as we all know - following any description with the word ‘basically’ implies that it’s grossly inaccurate, glossing over the complex details to limit the explanation to a line or two.

1. Sylvana.

We met Sylvana when we overheard someone speaking in both French and Arabic in that steak restaurant we ate at. Lisa suggested she’s probably SLA.

I stopped her as she was passing our table, carrying a stack of menus. I asked her if it was her I heard speak Arabic - and we chatted in the language she grew up in for the following 20 minutes, which she enjoyed a lot - she even scolded me once when I started shifting to English... “It’s so good to speak in Arabic! I speak Hebrew very well (she’s fluent) but it gets tiring after a while...”

Despite having recently acquired Israeli citizenship - after a long 7-year wait - Sylvana is Lebanese and proud of it, as she reminded me several times.

Mother of three - her eldest is 16; the youngest was born during the war, 2 years ago. I told her that she looked way too young to be the mother of a 16 years old - her resounding laugh filled the restaurant. “Lebanese girls!”, she said.

She’s lived in Metula for 8 years -since the withdrawal - and has worked in this restaurant, which she now co-owns, for fourteen.

Sylvana is from Marjeyoun, a mere six km north from there. Her family is still there. She gets to call them on occasion, but it’s expensive; calls have to be routed through a third country, as she can’t dial an Israel-Lebanon call.

The day I met her, on Saturday, her aunt had just passed away. She could not call her father to console him. “Good thing I’m at work. It takes my mind off of it”.

As we leave this charming woman, I hug her.

Hugging a traitor, huh?

Shades of grey...

2. Lebanese car wash.

The other SLA I met was a man I randomly hailed at the entrance of the military zone, to ask about ‘Fatma’s gate’, the official border crossing - closed, of course - between Israel and Lebanon. I saw the small plastic cross hanging from his rearview mirror - and tried my luck in Arabic.

“Marhaba”.

“Ahlein”.

“I’m a visitor from Egypt and visiting the region and wanted to see the border crossing”.
(translation: No, I don't work for any secret service; yes, I am that blissfully naive)

He thinks for a few seconds.

“You’re not allowed to cross into the military zone...
(3 more seconds of silence..)
So follow me- try to keep up”.

He speeds away. I hit the gas - thank God for automatic transmission!

We cross the Israel Army’s “Stop! Border in front of you!” sign and drive up for 3 minutes.

We stop a hundred metres away from the border crossing and exit the cars. He gets a sponge a bottle of soap from the trunk - and starts cleaning his car.

100 metres away from the border crossing, 100 metres from the Israeli border soldiers, 101 metres away from the Lebanese army, and 102 metres away from the Hezbollah soldiers - he bloody starts washing his car.

This guy is insane.

It is clinically proven that Lebanese water cleans better!

“You’re in our country here.” He points vaguely around him, doing a half turn around himself. “You’re in Lebanon. Well, almost”.

“I’ve been in this crap country ("هالبلد الخرا"!) for eight years. Eight fucking years. We survive but we’re still shit”.

He almost splashes me as he hoses down his soapy car.

“Fucking soldiers. They wouldn’t dare say anything. I come here every now and then. Washing my car with Lebanese water - no one would dare say anything.”

“See over there? The yellow flag? That’s a Hezbollah flag. These are the biggest traitors. Those fuckers. See how they welcomed that dick Samir Kuntar. That ass gets to go to Lebanon - and I don’t. And you know what’s the funniest part of it? He was never part of Hezbollah. He was with those fuckers, the Palestinians. Screw him, and his Palestinians. ("كس إخته عاكس إخت الفلسطينية بتوعه")”

“That Mubarak of yours - a traitor too. He screwed us all. The one real leader in the region, the one, was that guy before him - Sadat, Anwar El Sadat. He came here, made peace, and got it over with. Now that’s a man”.

(An interesting praise, since I only hear insults when it comes to Sadat around here...)

“You know, I can see my house from here and I can’t even go. See, see over there, on the flank of the hill, the big white building, the one that looks like it has chimney? That’s the village school. Right beneath, the smaller white building?
That’s my house”.

Fatma's Gate - the official border crossing between Israel and Lebanon. Weird, huh?

(Photos 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 are copyrighted for Lisa Goldman - whose post on this visit is not up yet so you should harass her for it!! :)