interviews: I thought the stones are cold, so I tried to remove the ruins

interviewer: Mahmoud Zeidan

Hussein Ali Sweidan

Date: 10 August, 2006
Age: 38
Place of Origin: Qleileh
Occupation: School bus driver
Present address: UNRWA Martyrs School, Saida

Context: I went to UNRWA Martyrs School to ask if they had any injured person living there, and Hussein was introduced to me. He still has a bandage on his head, and his arm is bruised. On his way to Beirut, the Israeli fighters bombed the way; Hussein’s car was affected indirectly, and other cars in front of him were totally damaged. His car is parked outside the school: the front and back glasses are totally broken.

Q: Please tell me what happened to you?
A: We were sleeping in our house; the planes were raiding over our houses all the night. They bombed 5 houses in the neighbourhood. We couldn’t sleep or stay there any more. We waited 6 days and hadn’t known it would last for long. Then we decided to leave. We came to Saida and continued to Beirut. On our way, at Rmeileh [4 km from Saida], the Israeli fighters bombed us near the bridge. They raided twice. The first one hit 20 meters away from us, so I parked my car and tried to rub the dust from our eyes - we couldn’t see.

Q: Who was with you?
A: I was with my wife and son (8 months). We found him in the back of the car from the pressure of the bomb.

Q: Can you describe the bombs?
A: It had black thick smoke and smelled bad. Then we couldn’t see each other. The second raid exploded with more smoke and shrapnels. I got injured but stayed in the car. We were choked by the smoke, so I jumped out of the car and ran about 15 meters. Then I decided to go back, so I switched on and drove to Hamoud Hospital. They operated for one and a half hours until they removed the shrapnel from my head.

Q: Who was behind you or in front of you?
A: There was a new model Mercedes car in front of me and other cars; 8 people died. They had no guilt. They were like us just escaping from fear.

Q: How long did they wait to raid for the second time?
A: It was a matter of 3 minutes between the two raids. Then they bombed the bridge.

Q: Why do you think you or the other cars were targeted?
A: It’s a usual attack on civilians. I think even bridges are not the purpose because the planes can see the bridge and can bomb it when there are no cars, but they bomb it while people on it to kill people at the same time.

Q: Were you warned before leaving the village?
A: No, we left because we couldn’t tolerate the bombs any more. So we escaped under shelling. We were very afraid.

Q: Has the Red Cross come to you?
A: No, there were only TV reporters in the village, but they left quickly.

Q: Did the Israeli fighters bomb any infrastructures or other installations in the village like bridges, hospital, schools?
A: No, only houses.

Q: And why do you think they bombed the houses?
A: I don’t know. They are all civilians’ houses. Even the owners of these houses had left a few days before. They were empty houses. My cousin’s house was destroyed, and his wife (32 years) also was injured and died while leaving on the way to Qana, near Safiyeh Eddine fuel station.

Q: Do you have anything more to add?
A: No thanks.

Mahmoud Dakroub

Date: 9 August, 2006
Age:51
Place of Origin: Srifa
Occupation: Shepherd
Present address: Kuwaiti School in Saida
Name of interviewer: Mahmoud Zeidan

Context: Mahmoud Dakroub has lost his son, who is still under the rubble of his house in the Srifa district of Tyre. He looks so desperate as he feels uncertain about his situation. I understood that his daughters can’t afford to buy necessities. One girl complained to her cousin (who whispered to me secretly) that they didn’t even have money to buy black dresses for mourning the death of their brother. I was referred to Mahmoud by the municipality of Saida. I was instructed that survivors of Srifa massacre had been hosted in that school.

Q: Please tell us what happened to you?
A: We were sleeping as usual in our houses. Suddenly we heard a loud bomb. The whole village got afraid. I thought the bomb was at the village’s well. I was preparing myself to milk my goats like everyday. I prayed and went down [to see]. Then I was told Akil’s house [that] was bombed, and he was killed (45 years) along with his wife (35 years), his daughter (4 years) and his son (7 years).

Directly after this the air raids started on the peripheries of the village. Then they started to target the houses, so we became cautious not to move a lot. On Wednesday, the Israeli fighters raided on 14 houses at 3:30 am. They demolished them in seconds. So they started bombing houses; all civilians. Israelis say they don’t target civilians. My son is civilian. They hadn’t injured any militants in our village. They committed a massacre in 14 houses, and after another 9 houses were bombed in the afternoon.

After the raids end, I ran to check my goats.

Q: Where were the goats?
A: They were in a house at the end of the village.

Q: Is it isolated?
A: No, there are houses beside it.

Q: What happened then?
A: I arrived to find the house on the ground. It was totally destroyed, and my son and his cousins were dead. I started to cry and shout. I thought the stones are cold, so I tried to remove the ruins, but it was like biscuits crushing in my hands.

Q: Did you recognize the smell of the bombs?
A: It was so bad [a] smell, and then my body started to itch, so I rubbed my hands with soil (the interviewee showed me corns on his chest and back) and after there was yellow liquid in the corns. I consulted the doctor here, and he said he didn’t have a suitable cream for it, but he brought it the other day.

Q: What is the name of the doctor?
A: Dr. Ali Zein Eddine.

Q: Please continue.
A: I went back to my brother’s house to check who was with him. He told me my son hadn’t been with him.

Q: Why was your son with the goats?
A: I used to sleep with the goats, but that night he came and told me his mother and sisters were afraid. So he proposed that I sleep with them and he stayed with the goats.

Q: What happened then?
A: When I went home and my son stayed with the goats, we decided to send children to shelters in the village, but they continued shelling the houses. They bombed our neighbour’s house. He died with his mother-in-law and three sons. They were buried under the rubbles of their house. They are still there like my son.

Q: Why hadn’t you removed them?
A: Every time we tried to remove them, the planes were raiding over our heads, and canons were bombing us. I found the house bombed and the goats scattered under the olive trees. My brother also lost two donkeys.

Q: Why hadn’t you left then?
A: How can I leave my property and animals? Where could I take them? In 1993, Israel bombed villages, but they didn’t target civilians, but here they warned people to leave, and they bombed them on the way. People preferred to die in their houses. Look today in Gazieh, they bombed, and while people are removing the dead, they raided on them. They bombed the ministrants. We didn’t want to leave our property and our animals. So I gathered my animals to my brother’s [home] and locked them in one place, but [the Israelis] bombed there and we lost more than 100 goats. Then we left the village.

Q: Why do you think the houses in your village were bombed?
A: Because they are civilians.

Q: Do you think militants passed by?
A: I bet and challenge Israel that has all the scanning and filming technology to show a single image of a militant in the village. Not one militant at all; they were all civilians. My nephew is still under the rubble in a blue shirt and the other in a white shirt. Is the goat a militant too? Was the goat fighting? Where is the conscience? There is no ceasefire because there is no conscience even for the Arabs, only Saudi Arabia and Egypt can press on US to ceasefire.

Q: Were you warned by the Israeli Army to leave the village?
A: Not at all. We hadn’t received anything. On the second day after the massacre, the Southern Lebanon Radio broadcast at 8:00 pm a call for people to leave, but who could leave at 8:00 pm? Besides, 15 people left Deir Qanoun al Nahr and were bombed on the way.

Q: When did you leave?
A: We left on Friday at 10 in the morning.

Q: Were you bombed on the way?
A: They kept bombing around us till we arrived at the river. We didn’t have cars to move, so we crossed the river on foot; our 3 – 4 year children walked 20 km in the valleys.

Q: Had the Red Cross arrived in the village before you left?
A: No.

Q: So where did you go?
A: You know, we are shepherds and know the roads well. We arrived to Zraryeh, and there we found buses for Hariri that brought us to Saida here. They brought us first to Hariri complex, but as we didn’t find place to stay there, they took us to the municipality, who in their turn brought us here. [Kuwaiti school]

Q: How do you find the living here?
A: We don’t feel comfortable.

Q: Why?
A: They bring us food, but sometimes one wants to eat something else; there is no gas to cook or prepare something. Sometimes we can’t eat what they bring.

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