Chronicle Editor Emeritus Jerry Bellune shares with you his adventures in the Holy Land. The experience gave him a greater appreciation of shared US and Israeli values.

Metulla, Northern Israel

Tiny, historic Matulla sits on the Lebanese border, 3 hours north of Jerusalem. It has a little more than 1,600 residents, about twice the size of Gilbert or Pelion.

It is the northernmost community in Israel.

When I visited there in April 1982, it was still a quiet region – but that was to end a few months later.

Lebanese north of the border had passed through “The Good Fence” to work in Israel or for medical care, schooling and necessities.

In turn, Israeli farmers plowed the fertile fields north of the border.

Lebanon’s civil war

During Lebanon’s civil war, 350,000 Lebanese – many of them Christian farmers – felt abandoned by their government.

Southern Lebanon was controlled by the Maronite Christian militias and the South Lebanon Army as the Free Lebanon State.

At the urging of Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres, gates were built along the electronically-controlled fence through which Lebanese and Israelis could pass.

This coincided with the beginning of Lebanon’s civil war in 1976 and Israeli support for the predominantly Maronite militias in southern Lebanon in their battle with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Israel allowed the Maronites and their allies to find jobs in Israel and assisted in exporting their goods at the Israeli port city of Haifa.

The main border crossing through which goods and workers crossed was the Fatima Gate crossing near Metulla. This provided economic stability to the Free Lebanon State.

The Good Fence ceased to exist with Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 and disintegration of South Lebanese security.

Surrounded by enemies

Our press bus was allowed to pass through the gate at Metulla. What we saw on the other side was alarming. We saw armor-plated tanks with exposed guns parked in drives beside homes as casually as you might see Mom’s van parked in a driveway back home.

The Lebanese were ready for whatever came.

To fully appreciate this, you need to understand the geography of Israel and its neighbors on 3 sides.

The tiny Jewish state sits on the far eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

On its other 3 sides are largely Muslim states. With the exception of Jordan, the others are hostile.

Hamas militants plot against Israel on the south and Hezbollah militants war against them on the north.

Defend yourselves

Could you imagine how we might feel if Canada and Mexico were hostile to us?

Or North Carolina and Georgia harbored terrorists who wanted to drive South Carolinians into the sea?

The Israelis now feel their hostile neighbors have forced them to build walls to protect their people.

That is a departure from the early settlement of the Jewish state. It has gone from a pro-active security concept to a protective and defensive one.

A prime example is the 140-mile long security wall between Israel and Egypt that cost $1.7 billion.

This is unlike our porous Mexican border fencing which unsuccessfully keeps out criminals, drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.

The Israelis aim to keep out homicidal terrorists who smuggle in explosives to kill as many Israeli civilians as they possibly can.

It would be like thousands of Timothy McVeighs, the Oklahoma City bomber, trying to infiltrate our country.

In the early days of Israeli settlement, the Israeli Defense Forces made it a point not to hide behind fences.

They marked borders with stones or symbolic fences to give soldiers’ an option to cross in and out as needed.

In defense of fences

American poet Robert Frost quoted his neighbor as saying, “good fences make good neighbors.”

He meant fences eliminate possibilities for feuds, disappointments or trespassing literally or figuratively on a neighbor’s land.

Frost worked with his neighbor to repair the fence. This cooperation gave them a reason to get together.

Mexico and the US have reasons to work together on the immigrants flooding both our countries.

Next: What the Temple Mount means to those of 3 major religions.