Under the approving gaze of Father Pierre Rai, men unloaded cargo from a truck near Saint George's church. A humanitarian convoy carrying 20 tonnes of food, medicine and hygiene products had just arrived from Beirut in Qlayaa, a Christian village four kilometers from Lebanon's border with Israel. Lebanese soldiers, who escorted the convoy from the Litani River that irrigates the south of the country, were ready to leave at any moment.

"We don't have enough medicine," said the cleric. "There’s no doctor. Life has come to a halt. We need someone to transport the supplies, as the usual carriers no longer come here – the road is too dangerous." To reach the village from Sidon, an hour's drive further north on the coast, you have to take a road through ghost towns that have been heavily bombed by the Israeli army, like Nabatieh.

The clergyman greeted the parishioners who had come for the distribution. Half of Qlayaa's population, around 1,500, remained in the village. Some 30 families have returned over the past few days, like Norma and her daughter, who returned from Beirut because her husband, a policeman in Sidon, couldn't get posted elsewhere. "They can't live without Qlayaa! We are brave and determined. We won't abandon Qlayaa," said the priest, working hard to bring in one or two humanitarian convoys a week with the support from organizations and religious groups.

'It's a war between Hezbollah and Israel'

Women teased the stubborn cleric. On October 4, when Qlayaa received an evacuation order from the Israeli army, Father Rai stood his ground. Contacted by an Israeli officer, he cited Qlayaa's neutral status. "This is a war between Hezbollah and Israel. There is no Hezbollah in the village, so there is no reason to evacuate it or attack it," he said. A few hours later, the Israeli army called him back to inform him that the evacuation order had been canceled.

Qlayaa's long-standing collaboration with Israel worked in its favor. In 1979, many men from Qlayaa, who were soldiers in the Lebanese army, formed militias to protect the village from Palestinian fighters who were surrounding it and attacking Israel from the area. One of the first battles between Israel and the fedayeen on Lebanese soil occurred in June 1982 at the Beaufort Castle, which sits on a hill opposite Qlayaa. The Israeli army seized Beaufort and gained control of southern Lebanon.

Many men from Qlayaa joined the South Lebanon Army (SLA), Israel’s allied militia in southern Lebanon. When Israel withdrew in 2000, some left for Israel with their families. "They were afraid of Hezbollah, which threatened those who had worked with Israel. Many were imprisoned," said Christina Salamé, head of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Lyon congregation and a native of Qlayaa, who was organizing the humanitarian convoy that day with the Christian organization L'Œuvre d’Orient. More than 1,000 inhabitants of Qlayaa live in Israel. The nun herself has a sister there.

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