This Week

View From The North

A B ord er W a i t s

An eerie quiet
descends
on northern
Israeli towns.

A Palestinian man on the Lebanese side of the border tries to reach his relatives through the barbed
wire at the Lebanon-Israel border in the southern Lebanese village of Doheira on May 30.

GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

lir

Metulla, Israel

hen Israel ordered its troop with-
drawal from Lebanon, government
officials did not take into account
the fact that cherries and apricots
were -ripening early this year.
But the farmers in northern Israel were all too aware
that they needed hands to help them with the harvest.
They were also painfully aware that they could no
longer count on the help of workers from southern
Lebanon, many of whom disappeared during the Israel
_
Defense Force's hectic withdrawal last week.
The farmers cannot depend on unemployed
Israelis from neighboring Kiryat Shemona, accusing
them of preferring to receive unemployment benefits
rather than work in the orchards.
So the farmers are learning the hard way how total-
ly dependent they are on foreign workers.

,

,

Across The Road

"I now have only two Thais, two Chinese and two
Mongolians. I just cannot cope," said Ehud Neustein,
60, a resident of the northern town of Metulla.
Escorted by his newly recruited Mongolian work-
ers, Neustein went down to his apricot and cherry
orchards, which had turned overnight into a front line.
Streams of Lebanese cars could be seen jamming

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2000
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the road across the border fence, located just a few
yards from the orchard.
In some parts of town, the border with Lebanon
was totally open. Theoretically, Hezbollah fighters
could simply walk across the street into Israel. And
some did just that.
They broke down the fence and placed Hezbollah
flags on the Israeli side of the border, chanting, "We
will continue all the way to Jerusalem."
The army had torn down the former border
fence, but a new, more sophisti-
cated electronic fence has not yet
been erected.
Everyone thought there was
plenty of time left before Israel
would withdraw its troops from
Lebanon — a move that was com-
pleted, taking many by surprise,
on May 24.
As a result, long sections along
the border remained relatively open
for infiltrators. It was not until
Sunday that the defense ministry
gave the go-ahead for intensive
construction of a new border fence.

Weapons For Residents

"It's not that I am afraid," said Yair
Neustein, 16, Ehud's son. "But I
know that I should be afraid.

Imagine that I am going with the tractor to the
orchard, and suddenly I face a Hezbollah fighter.
What do I do then?"
On Monday, Israel distributed weapons to resi-
dents of the northern communities.
The move came as tensions lessened on Israel's
northern border with Lebanon following violence
along the frontier over the weekend.
The Fatma crossing, scene of demonstrations and
rock-throwing by Lebanese civilians and armed
Hezbollah members in recent
days, was quiet Monday as the
Lebanese army and Hezbollah set
up roadblocks preventing civilians
from reaching the area.
The previous day, at least three
Lebanese civilians were injured
when Israeli troops fired warning
shots to push back demonstrators
attempting to enter Israeli territory.
Now, despite the relative quiet,
the situation is still considered
highly fragile, and people are not
making predictions.
Last week, just before the IDF
staged its dramatic pullout from
Lebanon, Zehava Neustein
feared the worst.
"All hell broke loose.
Everyone was shooting at every-

