The stupendous view from the hills of south Lebanon: too good to give up

" From the top of the Tellat Katma hill, standing next to a church that lies in ruins, the view stretches over the village of Rmeish to the north and the "Israeli" border on the south.

"That's where I lost 10 dunums (one hectare, 2.5 acres) of land. My land is on the other side," said Najib Shufani, a peasant from Rmeish, pointing at the fence the "Israelis" put up in 1986.

"I used to plant wheat and tobacco over there," he told AFP, insisting the land in question is Lebanese territory.

Another villager, Elias Hanna Kallas, explained that the "Israelis" took more than a thousand dunums, or one square kilometer (half a square mile), five hectares (12 acres) of which belonged to him.

The son of the mayor, Elias Karim Aalam, says his family lost four hectares (10 acres) on the other side of the fence.

Despite "Israel's" troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon on May 24, this area remains one of the three points on the ground that are still contested.

To conform with UN Resolutions 425 and 426, which called for "Israel's" complete withdrawal from Lebanon, "Israeli" forces must withdraw beyond the internationally recognized border.

UN cartographers have been busy marking out the line of withdrawal, and UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said Tuesday he expected both sides to comply with the UN's assessment that the withdrawal was complete.

But Lebanon wants the land of the Rmeish villagers returned.

At the foot of the hill lies a ravine and the border fence winds its way across the opposite slope. Along the Lebanese side runs a sandy footpath that has been kept carefully swept, in order to show up the footprints of any would-be intruders, and on the "Israeli" side there is a road.

But the land is mined, and therefore inaccessible.

The road running along the hilltops veers away from the line of the watershed, to dip down to the gully and then move back up. At the high point at each end stands an "Israeli" redoubt.

This is the point -- two kilometers (one mile) to the south of Rmeish, between the Sumaka hill on the west and the Haramon on the east -- where "Israel" has encroached into Lebanon, the Lebanese government says.

The "Israelis" refuse to give back the heights above Rmeish for military reasons, the Lebanese believe.

The hilltops provide a stupendous view into "Israeli" territory, first of vineyards and olive groves two kilometers (one mile) away, then in the distance beyond one can make out an "Israeli" village, with its red-roofed buildings and neat rows of cypresses.

Elias Hanna remembers vividly the white-painted rocks dating back to the time of the French mandate over Lebanon, which marked the 1923 border with British mandate Palestine.

Behind the fence, Hanna says there there was always another one, on the "true" border.

Rauf Hajj, a businessman, remembers that in 1948, when the state of "Israel" was created, Rmeish residents found any titles they held to property on the Palestinian side had become worth no more than the paper they were printed on.

The rocky, unirrigated land looks like nothing, but everywhere neglected mulberry and fig trees are to be seen, testifying to the fact that it was once cultivated.

A first infringement in 1967 brought in the UN truce observers, who confirmed the 1949 armistice line and made the "Israelis" head back.

Three years later, when the "Israelis" were fighting Palestinian guerrillas, they advanced as far as Tellat Katma hill, and stayed there two years.

A metal gate on the small road linking Rmeish with "Israel" -- painted blue and white, the colours of the "Israeli" flag -- is closed.

It was through this fence that hundreds of Rmeish residents, some of them members of "Israel's" proxy militia fled last month, fearing reprisals after the "Israeli" pullback.

And it was here that the "Israelis" abandoned a position they had held since 1978 and moved back some 200 meters (yards). But not quite to the line along the hilltops.

AFP, 7-6-2000.