Sojod is on ground zero

"The end of "Israel's" occupation has meant the return of thousands of villagers to their homes in south Lebanon. One group of villagers from the former front-line village of Sojod has returned to an alarming reality. They found their village on ground zero.

" Little did they know what they were returning to. The village of Sojod was a regular target of "Israeli" gunners. It now lies in ruin. It is a ghost town. Like many people from south Lebanon, villagers enthusiastically flocked to their homes after "Israel" retreated from the region. Their homecoming was bittersweet, after years of forced absence. A total of four hundred homes have been demolished by "Israel". The village's mosque, clinic and school were also razed. The villagers are not disheartened -life is beginning to resume in this tiny place, which for years played host to one of "Israel's" most notorious encampments in Iqleem al-Toffah ridges. Villagers want the government to draft a reconstruction plan for Sojod. This man said when he left in 1984 his home was standing- now it is a pile of rubble. (Man telling FTV: "All the people from the south are rejoicing except for the people of Sojod- we are crying for our loss"). Villagers believe it was the price they paid for resisting "Israel's" bloody occupation. Their homes were leveled, but the people of Sojod have returned despite harsh memories of occupation. They have settled for tents, instead of their homes that once stood on this hilltop south Lebanon village. There is also severe destruction in the nearby village of Mlikh. Lebanese living on the border with "Israel" are getting accustomed to a new way of life. "Israel" withdrew from the area, but there is no peace treaty between Lebanon and the Jewish state. The region remains potentially dangerous. But streams of villagers have returned to their homes in south Lebanon after more than two decades of "Israeli" occupation. Residents of the village of Mlikh-on the frontline with "Israel", returned late Thursday after twenty four years of displacement. People went straight to their deserted homes to check them out. An old woman found her husbands jacket-I t had hung untouched for more than two decades. [Woman saying: This is my husbands jacket. Its been hanging here for 24 years.] Church bells rang for the first time in more than two decades, and bulldozers started clearing the main road into the town from the weed that grew wildly and uncontrollably from lack of use. Many houses badly need renovation- nevertheless, people are happy to be back.

Future TV, 26-5-2000.