People of annexed Arnoun town in South Lebanon stage sit-in
Lebanon-Israel, Politics, 2/20/1999

The people of Arnoun, which was annexed by the Israeli occupation forces on Thursday to the occupied part of South Lebanon on Friday carried out a sit-in in al-Husseini club in Kafer Tabneet town in protest of the Israeli annexation.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces positioned in al-Shaqelf castle opened fire on several press correspondents who tried to enter Arnoun city. For their part, Lebanese government representatives joint the people of Arnoun on Friday in protest against the Israeli sealing off of their town a day earlier. Israel and its proxy SLA Militia effectively annexed Arnoun to their occupation Zone in South Lebanon on Thursday by installing barbed wire and land-mines to prevent access from the rest of Lebanon.

Lebanese Minister of Public works and Transport Najib Meqati led a group to the edge Arnoun and talked to the few old people waiting beyond the barbed wire. Miqati said I came here on behalf of the Lebanese President and government. We are doing our best to free Arnoun from the Israeli jail."

Old women and children behind the wires wept, demanding the restoration of access to their village. One Lebanese woman from the village said members of the International Red Cross Committee had entered earlier on Friday to bring bread and medicine.

Lebanese state officials and representatives of political parties joined the protest in the village of Kafer Tabneet, which overlook Arnoun on the edge of the Israeli-occupied 15-km deep occupation strip of Lebanon. The action by Israeli and SLA militia had forced residents of the largely depopulated village to enter and exit through a checkpoint Kafer Tabneet, one of the handful of places where one is allowed to move between the occupied area and the rest of Lebanon.

Furthermore, the head of the Foreign affairs committee at the Lebanese parliament A]Khalil, called for convening an emergency session on Saturday (Today) to discuss Israel's annexation of Arnoun town to the occupied Zone of South Lebanon seized by Israel.

In a statement on Friday, the Lebanese parliament member stressed the need of lodging an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council in order to debate Israel's new aggression which he described as a very grave event. Another Lebanese Parliament member Butrous Harb condemned the new Israeli crime which "unveiled the bellicose intentions of rulers of Tel Aviv and their false allegations about peace."

Meantime, the chief of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council I Sheikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams Eddine called for " repelling the new Israeli aggression by escalating acts of resistance against the occupation troops." He called on the Lebanese government to lodge a complaint to the UN Security council in this regard.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Hoss: Lebanon suffered under Israeli goverments from both Labor, Likud   (2/20/1999)
  Israel expands border by annexing a Lebanese town   (2/19/1999)
  Israel bombards south Lebanon, besieges the coasts   (2/18/1999)
  Continued Israeli aggressions against Lebanon, one Israeli soldier killed   (2/17/1999)

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