590
PARTISAN REVIEW
Despite Anthony Lewis's assertion that there was no "purity of
artillery" fire, Israeli big guns worked with meticulous precision to
within several hundred yards of their own infantry. As for Sidon,
where Congressman Nick Rahall, of Lebanese extraction, was
exposed to "the worst devastation I have ever seen," I can honestly
say that the city is in better shape than most parts of the Bronx,
where I come from . TV cameras would zoom in on the one de–
stroyed building in a block, ignoring those that suffered only the
pock marks of small-arms fire, and still others where only one apart–
ment was damaged; encountering fire from a window, Israeli tanks
would take out that window, limiting the response to the source of
the fire. War is not wonderful; and I am on record as being opposed
to this one. But facts are facts, even when they don't fit one's politi–
cal viewpoint, and the facts are that the Israeli army was especially
careful in avoiding loss of civilian life, though loss of life there tragi–
cally was.
Shuki Yeshev, the leader of the antiwar Soldiers Against
Silence, a group of army reservists organizing an opposition to this
particular war, was interviewed in the same edition of Uri Avneri's
muckraking, gossipy weekly,
Ha 'a /am Hazeh,
in which the editor's
great scoop-his interview with Arafat-appeared. The following
testimony is that of an antiwar spokesman and activist working for
the resignation of Arik Sharon. Yeshev and his group demonstrate
outside the prime minister's office daily, so he cannot be regarded as
a government apologist. Yeshev's paratroop unit was ordered into
the El Hilweh refugee camp following its bombardment by artillery
units, including mine. (We were stationed on a golf course in the
Tapline oil refinery area below Sidon.)
Our orders were clear. Go in shooting. They thought that
after a week of shelling there would be few terrorists left and
only a handful of civilians. So the order was to go in shooting.
But if we find civilians,
not to shoot them.
I have to say, our people
were really careful about this ....
A woman came
to
our commanding officer. She had come
from Sidon and wanted to return to E l Hilweh. She'd left her
five kids there when it all started and then she couldn't get
back. She came
to
our commanding officer and asked him if the
I.D.F. could hold its fire so that she could go in and get her kids
out. She also wanted us
to
accompany her to the camp because
the PL.O. were shooting anyone who returned there. We didn't
