Beirut, Beirut
Page 19
Headline in a Lebanese newspaper: “The first Soviet official statement calling on Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon.”
A statement by Yigal Allon in the Israeli newspaper, Davar: “The flame of civil war in Lebanon has consumed the PLO’s utopian idea of eliminating Israel by establishing a binational Arab–Jewish secular democratic state to take Israel’s place.”
A circle around a paragraph from an American magazine: “The women of Cairo who are covered from head to toe are still a minority, as are those groups that call for dealing with the Copts by considering them ‘dhimmis’, as was the case in the Islamic empire ten centuries ago. Dhimmis were excluded from full citizenship – that is, they were second-class citizens – and they either had to pay the non-Muslim jizya tax or become Muslim.”
A headline in the newspaper, Voice of the Tigers, the mouthpiece of Chamoun: “The theory of coexistence in Palestine came to an end in Lebanon.”
The headquarters of the Tigers forces. Chamoun reviews 3,000 Phalangist fighters in black uniforms on the drill field at their graduation from basic training. He addresses them, saying, “The war is a long one, and we are still at the beginning of the road.”
A Lebanese gunman carries an artillery piece, wearing an armband with the cedar emblem. He speaks in French in a filmed interview carried out by British actress Vanessa Redgrave: “Every Lebanese should kill a Palestinian.”
Pierre Gemayel and Camille Chamoun and Suleiman Frangieh walk through the gateway of an old palace. They are joined by Charbel Qassis in a sumptuously furnished reception hall.
A headline in a Phalangist newspaper: “Formation of a united military leadership headed by Bashir Gamayel.”
A headline in al-Safeer: “Jumblatt calls on the Palestinians to organize and form a provisional government.”
A newspaper headline: “George Habash, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, criticizes the hesitation of the Lebanese National Movement to establish popular sovereignty.”
A newspaper headline: “Moscow criticizes the extreme right and extreme left in Lebanon.”
A newspaper headline: “Nayef al-Hawatmeh, the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, says: ‘A military settlement is impossible.’”
A newspaper headline: “Habash says: ‘No compromise. We will establish an Arab Hanoi.’”
A newspaper headline: “The fifth newspaper closure in Kuwait after parliament was dissolved and the constitution annulled due to fear of Lebanonization.”
Lebanon’s presidential palace in Baabda: the new president Elias Sarkis ascends the stairs.
Title card:
On September 21, 1976, Sarkis assumed the presidency from Frangieh, and immediately called on the Palestinian resistance to withdraw from Mount Lebanon.
Yasser Arafat to reporters: “All we ask is that he not stab us in the back and doesn’t bargain with us or over us.”
A newspaper headline: “Chamoun’s Tigers fire at Jumblatt’s car after his meeting with Sarkis.”
A newspaper headline: “Attack on the ship carrying Jumblatt to Cyprus.”
Damascus. Hafez al-Assad delivers an address to soldiers of the “Defense Squadrons”: “Your efforts in Lebanon and your opposition to the conspirators have prevented the division of Lebanon.”
West Beirut. Tripoli. Tyre. Sidon. Public events commemorating the sixth anniversary of the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
A newspaper headline: “The Soviet news agency Novosti on the anniversary of the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser: ‘His absence is strongly felt.’”
Newspaper headlines: “Syrian forces enter most villages on Mount Lebanon. Joint nationalist forces fight and retreat.” “Israeli sea blockade of Tyre and Sidon prevents the arrival of provisions and weapons for national forces.” “The political council for the Lebanese National Movement criticizes Arab silence and the neglect of international progressive movements.” “Bashir Gemayel declares: ‘We will liberate Lebanon even if the Syrians halt.’”
A newspaper headline: “Yasser Arafat to fighters: ‘To arms, for victory is at hand.’”
Damascus. President al-Assad makes a speech on television on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War: “We are determined to continue to help Lebanon in order to rescue it from its sufferings and to preserve its independence and unity, and to save the Palestinian resistance.”
A circle around lines from a Soviet newspaper: “Events in Lebanon have cast doubt on the nationalism of Arab regimes with regards to Palestine.”
Riyadh Airport. King Khaled welcomes Sadat, Assad, Sarkis, Yasser Arafat and the Emir of Kuwait.
Beirut. Jumblatt to reporters: “The situation is in the hands of the oil states now.”
Large headlines in a Lebanese newspaper: “Riyadh conference resolves on a ceasefire in Lebanon beginning from October 21, 1976. The conference resolves to change the Arab security forces into a Deterrent Force under the command of Sarkis. The new force will be made up of 30,000 troops, the bulk of which will be Syrian forces (21,000 troops) in addition to two Saudi and Sudanese battalions.”
A photograph in a newspaper of the meeting between Jumblatt and Abu Jihad, the leader of the joint forces in Mount Lebanon and one of the most prominent Fatah leaders. Below the photo are two captions: “Abu Jihad: ‘All is lost in the civil war’” and “Jumblatt: ‘I demand a united position from the Palestinians.’”
Title card:
Finally the war halted.
Crowds of Beirut’s civilians welcome the armored cars of the Deterrent Forces. A welcome and a slaughtering of sheep in Chouf, Keserwan and Jbeil. The Deterrent Forces occupy military barracks next to official military organizations. Their tanks cruise through bombed-out streets.
Newspaper headlines: “Return of telephone service between the two parts of Beirut. Electricity back for 8 hours a day.”
A Beirut street. A bulldozer clears away rubble. In the middle of the street, a barricade made of two burned-out passenger cars.
A hospital room. In the center of it is a bed, with the independent Maronite leader Raymond Eddé lying on it. Jumblatt enters to visit. As he leaves he announces to a reporter: “I expect further assassination attempts.”
A newspaper headline: “Al-Sa’iqa organization attacks the Democratic Front to reclaim its headquarters in the Studio Building.”
Title card:
• The Swedish Red Cross announced that 700,000 Lebanese had been harmed in the war. And that 10,000 people are missing or unaccounted for in Lebanon.
• Losses to the telegraph and telephone systems were estimated at 110 million lira.
• Losses in capital in the years 1975 and 1976 were estimated at 700 million lira.
• Indirect losses to the national income in the manufacturing sector were 2.274 billion lira.
• Losses in imports were 5.35 billion lira.
• Losses in exports were 2.225 billion lira.
• The war made it necessary to restrict the number of Australia’s visas for Lebanese citizens to 9,000.
• It was estimated that the war left behind a quarter-million orphans.
Kamal Jumblatt to reporters: “America has paid out 250 million lira during the course of the war.”
The headquarters of the United Nations in New York. Votes are cast on a resolution for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied Arab regions, and for the founding of a Palestinian state. The resolution is approved, with ninety votes in favor and sixteen against.
Damascus. Abd al-Halim Khaddam, Syria’s foreign minister, to reporters: “Disarmament includes the Palestinian resistance movement. The criterion for its Arab nationalism is its relationship with Syria.”
Amin Gemayel to reporters: “The Syrian position has saved us some very difficult steps.”
The Beirut street where Kamal Jumblatt’s home is located. The remnants of a detonated car-bomb near his home. Pieces of flesh on tree branches. Blood stains a nearby white car. An ambulance carries the
victims of the explosion. A doctor makes a public statement to a reporter: “So far, two killed and twenty-four wounded.”
A newspaper headline: “Elements from the al-Sa’iqa organization attack the offices of the al-Muharrir, Beirut and al-Dustur newspapers. Syrian spy agency attacks the offices of al-Safeer, arrests several of its editors, and transports them to a Damascus prison.”
A newspaper headline: “Jumblatt demands the resignation of Colonel Ahmad al-Hajj, head of the Deuxième Bureau, whom Sarkis appointed as chief of the Arab Deterrent Forces.”
A newspaper headline: “Phalangists refuse to shut down their radio broadcasts.”
Zgharta. Frangieh’s palace. The former president to reporters: “We won’t throw down our rifles until calm returns.”
A newspaper headline: “The Lebanese National Movement informs the Deterrent Forces’ leadership of the two places for collecting their weapons.”
Abu Mazen to reporters: “The resistance will not hand over its weapons but it will move them from the cities to the south.”
The French magazine Nouvel Observateur. A circle around a paragraph from a conversation with Jumblatt: “The Palestinians had carried on a kind of mandate over us: military administration and the means of subsistence and communication were in their hands.”
A newspaper headline: “Censorship of Lebanese newspapers has begun.”
A newspaper headline: “United political leadership between Egypt and Syria. Agreement to hold the Geneva conference before April, provided that the Palestinians are represented by an independent delegation.”
Alexandria. Saint Mark’s Cathedral.
Title card:
On January 17, 1977, Egyptian Copts in Alexandria held the first conference of its kind in modern Egyptian history. In attendance was Pope Shenouda III, who, since his election to the papal chair in 1971, had won great popularity among the Copts. Abba Samuel, the official in charge of foreign relations for the Coptic Church, had played a prominent role in organizing this conference. The conference examined “freedom of belief” and “the freedom to practice religious ceremonies”, “protection of the family and Christian marriage”, “equality and equal opportunity and the representation of Christians in parliamentary bodies”, and “the danger of extremist religious movements”.
The conference presented several demands to the authorities: “cancelling the proposed law on apostasy from Islam”, “abandoning plans to apply laws derived from Islamic sharia to non-Muslims”, “revoking Ottoman-era laws that restrict the right to build churches”, “rejecting sectarianism in filling government employment positions at all levels”.
On the same day . . .
Egyptian newspapers carry giant headlines: “Cancellation of subsidies for some commodities in compliance with demands of International Monetary Fund. List of 25 commodities whose prices have ‘moved’.”
Title card:
Early morning the next day, January 18, 1977, demonstrations set out to protest the new price increases in Alexandria. Then, hours later, they broke out in Cairo. Before noon, the demonstrations had struck the length and width of Egypt.
On the next day, the demonstrations were joined by some elements that rashly gave in to looting and destruction. Angry masses in Aswan marched by the presidential retreat there that Sadat loved – it was his favorite winter headquarters – and he was forced to flee and return to Cairo under the protection of Central Security troops.
Dozens were killed, fallen victim to the bullets of Central Security.
Chouf in Lebanon. Mourners flock to the funeral of a local resident. Kamal Jumblatt joins the mourners. Some form a circle around him. He talks to them about his philosophy of death, saying: “A person smells the odor of his impending death three days beforehand.”
Title card:
Two days later, on March 16, 1977, Kamal Jumblatt (age sixty) gets into his black Mercedes on his way from al-Mukhtara palace to his country house in Chawiya, where he was accustomed to secluding himself every Friday, immersed in books and nature, 1,500 meters above sea level.
But this time he wore khaki clothes, and helped several laborers move rocks in order to level a piece of land he had chosen for his private bodyguard. Afterwards he brought for his companions food consisting of eggs, local cheese and apples, to a table made of two large stones. When he finished lunch, Jumblatt stood up and said, “Let’s go, we should be on our way.” He put on his clothes, then got into the car with his companions – his driver and his private bodyguard – on the road to Beirut.
At the crossroads for Deir Durit monastery . . .
Blood fills the ground. Jumblatt’s car pierced by bullets from every direction.
In front of the ancient al-Mukhtara palace. Beneath a cloth awning: Jumblatt laid out on a wide bier made of white silk, between his companions in life and death. Weeping women in black clothes, and white sashes, surround the bier. Long lines of people in black clothes pass in front of the bier in the rain. Machinegun volleys in the air mingle with sounds of thunder and flashes of lightning.
Beirut. A solemn procession of tens of thousands of people paying their respects at Jumblatt’s funeral.
The site of the crime once again. A car with this license plate number: Baghdad 72719.
Title card:
The car used by the perpetrators. But suspicions are directed toward another Arab capital.
A still photograph of another two-person meeting between Kamal Jumblatt and the Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in Damascus.
Chapter 18
“There’s only the last part of the film left, and it’s about Operation Litani,” Antoinette said as she took the reel out of the machine. “Do you think we’ll be able to finish it tomorrow?”
“Why don’t we try today?” I wondered.
She looked at her watch.
“It’s three o’clock now. We have to have something to eat. And then I want to take you somewhere,” she said.
I gave her a quizzical look.
“I want you to meet someone I know,” she explained.
“Who?”
“I won’t tell you now.”
I stared at her in surprise.
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“Then don’t ask.”
We left the office and went out into the crowded street. We entered a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant. We had zucchini with tomatoes, meat and rice, along with lentil soup. Antoinette insisted on paying the bill, which came to 20 lira.
We went back to where she had left her Volkswagen, and we got in. A little later, we were setting out on the road leading to the airport.
We reached the Sabra refugee camp, and she turned the car off the road toward it. Several gunmen accosted us at a barrier made of barrels. They were wearing the insignia of the Palestinian Armed Struggle. One of them recognized Antoinette and greeted her affectionately, so they let us pass.
Antoinette stopped the car a few meters further on, beside a falafel vendor who had several chairs and wooden tables set out – an open–air restaurant. She got her purse and rolled up her window, so I did the same thing with my window. Then I got out of the car and stood there looking at the jars of colorful pickled turnips distributed among the tables of the small restaurant.
She pulled me by the arm and we set out on a street crowded with boutiques and shops, including one for used clothes, which hung from hangers attached to the ceiling. The walls were covered with slogans, political posters and pictures of martyrs.
We headed toward a network of back alleys, with humble homes – most of them no more than two stories tall – set on the sides. The smell of fried onions and coriander with garlic slipped its way into my nose. I nearly bumped into several children who were playing football. We were forced to stop and stand against the walls to make room so that three women in black frocks, with their heads wrapped in white kerchiefs, could walk three abreast.
The sound of a heated argument reached
us through a window overhead. I heard a woman yell in a real Egyptian accent, asking for her passport so she could go back to Egypt. We passed the three women again and then kept walking for several minutes. Then we went inside a house and knocked on a door belonging to one of the two first-floor apartments.
A tall young man in pants and a sweater opened the door. A beaming smile lit up his face at the sight of us. We walked inside to a clean living room with a metal table and several chairs. At the far end was a desk with bookshelves above it.
He gestured for us to sit, then slowly took a step, moving one of his legs with difficulty. He took a chair facing us. He observed me silently without letting the smile disappear from his face. It was a handsome face, with sharp features, and filled with lines belied by the luxuriant black hair. A lock of it hung down over his brow, and there was a strange expression in his eyes, the significance of which I couldn’t make out.
Silence settled over us and I lit a cigarette. Antoinette did the same. Finally, I forced a smile and asked her, “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
“Walid is Palestinian, originally from Jaffa. He is an art teacher at the camp school. He also does translating for the media institute.”
After a moment, she added: “I talked to him about you. He is happy to meet you.”
I looked at both of them in confusion. I noticed that he didn’t take his eyes off her lips.
“He can’t hear or speak,” she said in a trembling voice.
I looked at him, and he exchanged looks with me. I got the feeling he understood what she had said.
“What do you want to drink?” she asked me. “I don’t think we’ll find alcohol here.”
“I don’t want anything to drink,” I said quickly.
“I want some coffee,” she said. “Should I make one for you, too?”
“Sure.”
She walked to a door at the side of the room. I could see a gas cylinder through it. I looked up at the walls, and began scrutinizing the posters all over them. Among them was a newspaper aimed at children, of the kind printed to be displayed on a wall. I happened to glance at Walid, and I found him watching me with a friendly smile. I realized that the strange expression reflected in his eyes was the same one we always see on people with disabilities connected to hearing and sight. It makes them seem as if they are seeing you, but thinking about something else at the same time.