MY WAR DIARY: Lebanon June 5-July 1, 1982

by Dov Yermiya ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1984

Dov Yermiya is the Israeli senior officer--then 69, a veteran of the Haganah, the War for Independence--who caused a furor, in 1982, by denouncing Israeli treatment of civilians in Lebanon. Cashiered, Yermiya devoted himself to Palestinian refugee aid and, in 1983, self-published My War Diary; he figures prominently among the war-critics in Daniel Gavron's new Israel After Begin (p. 78), where the book is discussed too. First-hand, it vibrates with Old Testament fury and old-believer's outrage. ""Sunday, June 6"": Yermiya, called-up, is already fuming at ""the Arab-haters,"" consoling himself (against his wife's reproaches for going) with hopes of offsetting them. Entering bomb-leveled Tyre, meeting a refugee caravan, ""I recall the sights of my war years in Italy."" His particular concern is the water supply--repairing the mains, offering direct relief. HIS Israeli superiors are indifferent, hostile. ""Their entire world is filled with terrorists,"" He is reprimanded for endangering himself: ""It's better for a thousand Arabs to die, rather than to have a single one of our soldiers killed."" He sees ""monkeys""--collaborators, their faces concealed--passing on the rounded-up Palestinains: unreliably, it's conceded, but efficaciously: Let the innocent be imprisoned, ""know wha what waits for terrorists."" In the book's most sickening passage, Yermiya goes to a prison compound, sees an older prisoner, blindfolded and roped, repeatedly kicked in the face by a young soldier. ""Some are choking and crying silently, out of pain and fear. There are those who are begging for a glass of water. The wounded are pleading to be bandaged."" Yermiya remembers guarding German prisoners--forbidden to ""hurt either the body or the honor of the prisoner."" Lebanese officials are harassed, impeded: sure there were terrorists, but ""we came here to liberate the Lebanese population from the weight of their rule."" Reports of destruction are ""underestimated""--to protect Israel's image. Outside relief is refused--as anti-Israeli propaganda. Yermiya rails, but he touches the quick: Lebanese alienated; Palestinians made ""crueler and more aggressive."" But Yermiya, continuing his story here past publication of his book, also had supporters; and, as the introduction notes, in December 1983 he received Israel's top human-rights prize. The book is a contribution to that tradition, in Israel or anywhere.

Pub Date: June 1, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: South End

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION