The other day our neighbor’s relative came from Lebanon. He is a Christian. Here is what he has been saying:
- The best thing in Lebanon right now is to die from natural cause or from a disease. Hizballah will pay for the funeral and provide a death allowance to family members. That is, so long as the name of the deceased is put on the list of the “victims of Israeli military atrocities.” The body may also be taken to wreckage sites and photographed, in which case the payout will be larger. The authorities know this, and so do the foreign journalists, but they prefer not to talk about it for various reasons.
- Hizballah does not allow photographing or videotaping to be done freely inside towns. Only the sites that they designate can be shown, and only in the ways that Hizballah wants them to be presented. For example, buildings that were destroyed a long time ago could be described as the aftermath of recent bombings.
Everyone knows about this but reporters either have reasons not to talk about it or they are simply scared to do so.
- All Hizballah military centers are located within civilian neighborhoods. Civilians are discouraged from leaving them. Sometimes they get threatened, but more often they are simply told that if they leave, they would lose their properties and all their belongings. People believe it, and they often decide to test their luck [and stay].
_translated by muchnik.livejournal.com, via sid75@lj
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