The Mukhabarat State: A Palestinian Woman's Testimony

Abstract

America's recent veto of the Lebanese government's complaint to the Security Council regarding Israel's oppressive practices against civilians in occupied South Lebanon points once again to the hypocrisy of President Reagan's crusade for human rights in Poland, Afghanistan, and selected Latin-American states, while upholding Israel's conversion of South Lebanon into a liberated zone for the mukhabarat.1 With access to this zone ever more strictly controlled by the occupying power, the daily acts of intimidation and reprisal carried out there are shielded from legal reaction (whether Lebanese, international or-most importantly-Israeli) as well as from media reporting. The Sohmor massacre of September 20, 19842 is only the most blatant so far in a chain of assassinations, arrests, and the transfer of detainees to interrogation centers in Israel. Although the evidence presented here by one detainee is now slightly outdated, it holds a particular value because of its detail and penetration, as well because of the slightness of information on conditions in South Lebanon outside the Arabic press.