Tree casts shadow of war in a blood-soaked land

Can A tree start a Middle East war? It almost did yesterday. That such a question can be asked is a symbol of the incendiary state of the region, the mutual distrust of Arabs and Israelis, and the dangerous border of southern Lebanon which was - as so often - drenched in blood yesterday, the blood of three Lebanese soldiers, an Israeli lieutenant-colonel and a Lebanese journalist outside an otherwise nondescript village called Addaiseh.

And after the tank shells, Israeli helicopter missile attacks, Lebanese machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire, the United Nations called on both sides to "exercise restraint" and the battle died down.

This comes after a tripartite Arab summit in Beirut, mysterious rocket attacks on the borders of Jordan, Israel and Egypt two days ago, a claim by the Lebanese Hizbollah that the UN inquiry into the murder of ex-Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri was an "Israeli project", and the discovery of another alleged Israeli spy in the Lebanese telephone network.

But back to the tree. It was a miserable, scrawny thing, probably a spruce and - after a 46C heatwave in Lebanon - its foliage blocked the Israeli security cameras on the Israeli-Lebanese border near Addaiseh. The Israelis decided to use a crane to rip it out. But there's a problem. No one is exactly sure where the Israeli-Lebanese border is.

In 2000, the UN drew a "Blue Line" along what was the frontier between the French mandate of Lebanon and the British mandate of Palestine. Behind it, from the Lebanese point of view, stands the Israeli "technical fence", a mass of barbed wire, electrified wires and sandy roads (to look for footprints). So when the Lebanese Army saw the Israelis manoeuvre a crane up to the fence, they began to shout at the Israelis to move back.

The moment the crane's arm crossed the "technical fence" - and here one must explain that the "Blue Line" does not necessarily run along the "fence" - Lebanese soldiers opened fire into the air. The Israelis, according to the Lebanese, did not shoot in the air. They shot at the Lebanese soldiers.

Now for the Lebanese Army to take on the Israelis, with their 264 nuclear missiles, was a tall order. But for the Israeli Army to take on the army of one of the smallest countries in the world was surely preposterous.

About this time, Al-Akhbar newspaper's local correspondent Assaf Abu Rahal turned up in Addaiseh to cover the story. And a little time later, an Israeli helicopter - apparently firing from the Israeli side of the border (though that has yet to be confirmed) - fired a rocket at a Lebanese armoured vehicle, killing three soldiers and the journalist.

Lebanese troops, on orders from Beirut, fired back and killed an Israeli lieutenant-colonel. Hizbollah, the Iranian-paid Shiite militia, announced his death five hours before the Israelis confirmed it; their information apparently came from an Israeli soldier using a mobile phone.

All afternoon, the Israelis and Lebanese abused each other as aggressors. Israel said the whole thing was a misunderstanding. Saad Hariri, Lebanon's Prime Minister and Rafiq's son, was on the phone to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, denouncing "Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty", while Israel said it was taking the whole affair to the UN Security Council. "Israel views the Lebanese Government as responsible for this serious incident and is warning of ramifications if the violations continue," a spokesman said.

Because of a tree? Of course, the Israelis would like to have a file of "incidents" before the next Hizbollah-Israel war, when they have promised to smash up Lebanon's infrastructure for the sixth time in 32 years - on the grounds that Hizbollah is now represented (as it is) in the Lebanese Cabinet.

And all this while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran - a Hizbollah sponsor - claims he wants face-to-face talks with United States President Barack Obama over Iran's nuclear programme, and when the International Crisis Group has just come out with a report warning that the next Israel-Lebanese war will be more violent than ever.

Yet the Israelis used tank shells and helicopters yesterday; the Lebanese Army used rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine-gun fire in the opposite direction. Briefly, Lebanon's much-abused mobile-phone system almost collapsed. Not because of Milad Ein, the alleged spy who worked for the Ogero landline communications company. But because everyone wanted to know if another war was about to start. Because of a tree.

Last night news reports said Israeli troops uprooted the tree as well as others. Unifil military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Naresh Bhatt told Reuters the UN had established the trees were on the Israeli side.

- INDEPENDENT