After the withdrawal: Metula has become a garrison

By Sharon Gal, Haaretz, 19.6.00

An incident last Thursday near the IDF's "Tulip" base, some 500 meters east of the Rajar village on the Lebanon border, encapsulated the confusion that has riddled the army since the withdrawal from the security strip. According to a story told by the commander of the eastern brigade in the IDF's Northern Command, Colonel Moshe Tamir, a young Golani infantry sergeant managed to stir the wrath of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.The Golani sergeant ordered soldiers under his charge to fire bullets in the direction of UN inspectors and two Lebanon army officers who were patrolling the border to certify that Israel had completed its withdrawal from Lebanese soil. This patrol passed through a gate that up to three weeks ago separated the security zone from Israel. Due to border adjustments made after the IDF pull-out, this gate no longer stands on Israeli territory.

"Our soldiers are simply accustomed to patterns of activity of being engaged in Lebanon," Tamir explained to Metula residents. "You have to understand that they served there until recently. Several weeks will go by before they get used to the new situation," he said.

In recent weeks, officers in the IDF's Northern Command have expressed concern that some rash act, along the lines of the incident perpetrated by the impulsive Golani sergeant last Thursday, could spark a conflagration of tensions and violence along the border.

With its new configuration, the border currently befuddles the Northern Command. Though many developments are not covered by the media, Lebanon has witnessed several transformations, such as those occurring in the Christian Kila village next to Metula.

Prior to the IDF's withdrawal, many of Kila's residents arrived in Israel each morning to work. The day after the pull-out, Hezbollah and Amal flags flew atop a majority of homes in this village.

Kila's affairs, like those in most South Lebanon locales, have been dominated by a power struggle between groups affiliated with Hezbollah, Amal, the Palestinians and the Lebanese government. "We'll know soon who is in control there," Colonel Tamir says. For the time being, however, the village's fate seems up in the air. Amal operatives have opened offices in Kila, and the Palestinians are "improving their position" by staking out areas close to the border fence. Palestinians are behind various acts designed to provoke IDF soldiers and farmers who work close to the fence.

Only about 30 Metula residents arrived for a scheduled meeting with Tamir at the town's main auditorium. Those who came wanted to be reassured that order along the border will be maintained. Tamir, however, didn't try to gloss over uncertain realities. "It's dangerous here," he said. "Our main fear is that some crazed lunatic might try to penetrate here and carry out a terror attack - not necessarily a terrorist dispatched by an organization. They have an interest in goading us to respond; and our soldiers are under orders to act with special caution."

As it has turned out, hostile intentions harbored by self-motivated partisans just north of the border have been kept in check by Hezbollah and by 1,300 policemen deployed by the Lebanese government. The IDF Northern Command, however, isn't content to rely on Hezbollah and these policemen to keep the peace.

In early morning hours last Thursday, Metula's Har Hatzfiya neighborhood looked like an armed garrison. For the first time, a civilian site in Israel was transformed into a full-fledged military area in response to the IDF's recent pull-out from Lebanon.

IDF scouts identified footprints belonging to two men along the fence, in Israeli territory; and so 2,000 IDF soldiers staged a night-long ambush in the vicinity of Metula. Rumors were rife in the town, as alarmed residents spoke about how two terrorists armed with Kalachnikov rifles had penetrated into Israel, only to fall back to Lebanon after being repulsed by the IDF. The IDF spokesman denied this report.

The following evening, IDF soldiers stationed around Metula were on alert once again. The Northern Command followed the new procedure: Soldiers were deployed at Har Hatzfiya, and patrol vehicles monitored events along the border from Kibbutz Kfar Giladi to the entrance to Metula. Tamir reflected that "such a large number of soldiers have never before guarded such a small number of residents."

This mass of IDF soldiers is not the only contingent watching over Metula. Yesterday, the town's official in charge of security affairs completed preparations for the establishment of two groups of volunteer civil guard.

Last week, the IDF revamped two watch towers that were used by civilian volunteers to protect Metula in the 1970s. In coming days, the new volunteer groups will start training - shooting at firing ranges, meeting with security officials, and so on.

The 30 local residents who did meet with Tamir complained that the IDF's large presence around Metula is insufficient. "I haven't been able to sleep at night since the withdrawal," complained one Har Hatzfiya resident. "Each night, for seven hours, I sit and watch the Good Fence [the gateway through which IDF soldiers entered Lebanon until recently]. Sometimes you can hear shots being fired; and fears of terrorists crossing over have become unbearable."

One Metula farmer declared that the stone-throwing at his tractor has become insufferable. "I feel helpless," he exclaimed. "It has become impossible to work." Another farmer complained that Israeli soldiers have been filching large quantities of fruit from his fields.

Tamir tried to placate the residents. "I definitely understand you," he said. "It's not an easy situation when such a small town holds so many soldiers. There's no more Lebanon - this has become the border. I'm sure that you'll get accustomed to the soldiers soon, and that they'll get used to you.