Sheba’a farms

The third Caliph after the Prophet Mohammed in the seventh century A.D. was assassinated. His shirt, sodden with blood, became a symbol for martyrism.

Today the Sheba'a farms, a small Lebanese hamlet, still under Israeli occupation has become the Lebanese symbol for martyrism. The hamlet, although Lebanese, had been administered by Syria, and continues to be regarded by the United Nations as part of Syria, and as such it is not covered by United Nations Resolution 425 which called for the total withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon. So far Syria has refused to establish formal documentation with Lebanon to the satisfaction of the United Nations that the hamlet is in fact Lebanese, and as such, that it is covered by the Resolution referred to above; not that Israel has paid much attention to U.N. Resolutions in the past. The American veto was always there to protect it from sanctions.

On an official visit to Lebanon, the first of its kind since the evacuation of the Syrian army, Walid el Muallem, Syria's Foreign Minister, declared officially that the Sheba's farms belonged to Lebanon. Whether his declaration will be formalised in a manner to satisfy the United Nations is one crucial question, and the other, will Israel withdraw from that disputed hamlet is the second question. If not, Hezbollah combatants will continue to have a valid reason to fight Israel, and Israel will continue to have an alibi to destroy what is left of Lebanon, in the knowledge that Lebanon has no defence against Israel's air strikes.

On the ground, however, Israel has made little progress, at best a few meters, here and there, not withstanding yesterday's fierce combats, which resulted in a record of dead and wounded on both sides. And again we were awakened in the early hours of this morning by the Israeli bombing of the southern outskirts of Beirut.