Good Fence (Getting Israel Together)
Good Fence (Getting Israel Together)
What is significant about the 'Good Fence' is not really the fence
at all, but the gate in it. The fence simply marks the international
border between Israel and Lebanon. But the gate marks the
opening of relations between the citizens of the two countries.
In June 1976, the Israeli government announced that it was
opening a section of the border to allow medical and other aid to
residents of southern Lebanon who stood in need. The border
was opened near Metulla; the gate in the fence marks the
crossing point where the medical center was located. Every
week for a number of years, the villagers of Southern Lebanon
came to this gate and received help from Israeli personnel.
Slowly the programme expanded. Lebanese workers deprived of
work in war-torn southern Lebanon began receiving permits to
work in northern Israel. Lebanese citizens who had relatives in
Israel were allowed to visit them. School children began to visit
sites in Israel, and vacation camps were arranged for them.
Agricultural aid was given, veterinary help was offered, and
commercial ties between Israel and Lebanon were established.
The following report appeared in Davar, an Israeli newspaper, in
1981:
It has been five years since the official opening of
the Good Fence. On January 26, 1976, Shimon
Peres, then Minister of Defense, announced the
existence of the Good Fence and by doing so
revealed for the first time a story of human caring.
Reporters and residents of Metulla and the
surrounding area had suspected for some time that
something unusual was going on near the border,
but had not succeeded in guessing what it was.
When the news was revealed, newspaper and
television reporters hurried to the area to send
reports to Europe and America.
The human stories behind the pictures kept the
media very busy for months: the first Lebanese
resident who reached the Good Fence with her son
and found an Israel Defense forces soldier who
helped her get treatment for her child; the first
Lebanese soldier, severely wounded, who was also
treated, but who died before he could return; the
first armored car that traveled the South Lebanon
road near the border, followed by the first tank,
filled with militia soldiers waving and making 'V'
signs; the first South Lebanese laborers who
crossed through to find work in Israeli territory;
Sister Enid, who served an important role in the
clinic at the Good Fence. The intention was to
present Israel to the world as an enlightened nation
helping her northern neighbors, who had previously
been her enemies and who were now engaged in a
civil war whose end could not be predicted.
During the first weeks, the crossing was
simply a crooked fence - all you had to do
was to crawl beneath it to get to the other
side. Alter a while, a more official crossing
was established near an I.D.F. post, close
to an apple orchard belonging to a resident
of Metulla. A hut was set up, which after a
while turned into a clinic, followed by other
buildings used as waiting rooms and
reception areas. The national flag was also
not forgotten, of course, and a dirt road was
laid down later for the convenience of those
coming to the area. Order reigned over the
area, and nobody, not even veteran Metulla
residents, minded that this point on the
uneasy border had turned into an attraction
for tourists who came in their thousands
from all over the world.
Davar 26/2/81
With the opening of the Good Fence, the northern border of
Israel began to take on some of the characteristics of a
'normal' border. From a complete lack of contact - the
sealed border of early 1976 - relations warmed considerably.
In 1981 alone, some 50,000 Lebanese visited Israel, and in
the first four years after the opening of the fence, Israeli
doctors treated some 200,000 patients.
But it did not last. The P.L.O. continued to build up their
strength in southern Lebanon, and eventually Israel decided
to take action to remove the threat. This was ‘Operation
Peace in the Galilee' or 'The Lebanon War.'