Fateful Triangle

Peace for Galilee407justice. It was a long time indeed, but justice triumphed anyway. “I donot know what he meant,” this man adds, concluding his story. 148The story was translated into Hebrew and appeared in Ha’aretz, butcuriously, it was missed by the New York Times, New Republic, andother journals that were lauding the “purity of arms” and magnificentmoral standards of the liberators. Apparently, it was not deemed ofsufficient importance to be communicated to those paying the bills.According to other reports, prisoners were held blindfolded andbound in barbed wire compounds; while Lebanese prisoners were keptwith arms tied, Palestinians were kept naked, blindfolded, with armstied. Despite daily appeals from June 6, the ICRC was permitted to seeonly 18 injured Palestinians in a hospital in Israel until July 18. WealthyLebanese detainees who say that they had “fought the PLO” describebeatings and humiliation, confirming the reports of others. 149 One readsan occasional description, usually in the foreign press, of “the agitatedcrowd of Arab women gathered in the shade of a neighbouring wall tosee whether any of their relatives could be spotted,” 150 but the tormentof the families is of as little interest to the paymasters as is the fate ofthe prisoners themselves.The Greek Orthodox Archbishop of “demolished Tyre,” MonsignorHaddad, described “the arbitrary arrests” as “an insuperable barrier tothe establishment of a just peace,” expressing his certainty “that 95percent—if not 99 percent—of the people arrested are innocent.” 151 Itmight be added that some questions also arise about the concept“guilt,” as applied by a conquering army.Correspondents in Lebanon provide more information. One Reutersreporter gives this eyewitness account after seeing prisoners underguard:Flicking a two-thonged leather whip, an Israeli soldierClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky