Fateful Triangle

Peace for Galilee405severe beatings. Independent Lebanese witnesses gave similar accounts;one claimed to have seen one prisoner beaten to death by an Israeliguard. Israeli authorities first denied the allegations, then confirmed thatthe bodies had been found and that an investigation was proceeding.One died from a heart attack, they claimed. The Times reports that fivewere Lebanese citizens of Palestinian origin, one was a Palestinianrefugee, and one an Egyptian.A lengthy account of the experiences of one prisoner in Israel and inAnsar appears in the German periodical Der Spiegel. This man, a LebaneseShiite Muslim (the largest religious group in Lebanon), was takenprisoner on July 2, when his village was officially “liberated” by the IDF.At 4:30 AM the village was awakened by loudspeakers announcing thatall inhabitants from ages 15 to 75 were to gather in the village center at5 AM. IDF troops with tanks and armored personnel carriers surroundedthe village while, to the amazement of the villagers, a network ofcollaborators within the village, clearly established in advance, appearedwith IDF uniforms and weapons, prepared for their task, which was toselect the victims. Each person received a notice, “guilty” or “innocent”;this man was “guilty,” with a written statement describing his “crime”—in Hebrew, so he never did find out what it was. The guilty wereblindfolded and taken to a camp in southern Lebanon. There they wereinterrogated while being beaten with heavy clubs. Teachers,businessmen, students and journalists received special treatment: moresevere beatings. The interrogation-beating sessions lasted from 10minutes to half a day, depending on the whims of the liberators.Prisoners slept on the ground, without blankets in the cold nights. Manywere ill. They were forced to pass before Lebanese informants, and ifselected, were sent to Israel.For no reason that he could discern, this man was one of thoseselected. Their first stop in Israel was Nahariya, where Israeli womenClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky