Resistance: My Life for Lebanon [Paperback]

Souha Bechara (Author), Gabe Levine (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 19, 2003

In 1988, at the age of 20, Souha Bechara attempted to assassinate General Lahad, chief of militia in charge of Israeli-occupied Southern Lebanon. In Resistante, she details her further involvement as a young secular Orthodox Christian left rebel in the movement to free her country from occupying military forces — and the subsequent punishment and incarceration she experienced. The author speaks movingly of how her childhood in a war-torn country shaped her political belief system as an adult and offers an engaging personal look at the Middle Eastern conflict.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This scathing memoir of a Christian and communist Lebanese woman is devoted not only to the author's as-yet short but eventful life, but also to a fierce indictment of Israeli military involvement in Lebanon and beyond. Bechara relates the childhood experience of war that formed her later persona as a strong and fearless crusader against Israeli occupation, her 1988 attempt to kill a militia leader in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon, and her capture and brutal incarceration. She reiterates throughout her memoir her abhorrence of violence and her view that her action was nevertheless acceptable and necessary. "After thirteen years of civil war and all kinds of horror, I realized that I was still just as resistant to brutality and force, still just as disturbed by violence, even the fictional violence shown on television...And I knew that I would have to overcome this repulsion." Her relentless denunciations of Israeli actions in Lebanon may lead some readers to question her objectivity regarding exceedingly complicated and painful events, but her story is a riveting and impassioned one that will keep the reader fascinated.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Souha Bechara is well-known internationally because of the campaign that eventually won her release. This is her first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (December 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887128808
• ISBN-13: 978-1887128803
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > History > Middle East > Lebanon

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A primary source on the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, April 11, 2005

By 

Hussain Abdul-Hussain (Washington,DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Resistance: My Life for Lebanon (Paperback)

Whether you think of Suha Beshara as a freedom fighter or a worthless terrorist, there is one truth about this woman: that she sets a precedent in women's role in the Arab world. She stood up for her beliefs as she ended the male monopoly of all kinds of military activity in the oriental societies.
Suha, a supporter of the Lebanese Communist Party, was recruited during the days of Israeli occupation of Lebanon to assassinate her compatriot, Antoine Lahad, who defected from the army and formed his own pro-Israeli militia known as the South Lebanese Army (SLA).
The assassination attempt failed and Suha was eventually detained and taken to the notorious Khiam Prison, where SLA detectives tortured their subjects causing the death of many of them. Evidently Suha survived.
The book is written in a chronological context and is concluded by the time Suha was released in 1998. It would have been very much in place, however, had Suha decided to look back at her violent activity and her decade in prison and gave her assessment in retrospect. Suha claims that her violent experience later changed her into a peacenik while her stay in prison taught her the love of life and patience.
Despite the drawback, the book is a primary source and a firsthand account of a witness who once contributed to the making of news in Lebanon and Israel in the 1980s.
Suha's book brings to the forefront the perspective of a silent South Lebanese population that had lived under Israeli occupation.
Unfortunately, there is very little literature about what these southern Lebanese locals thought and believed at the time away from the divergent claims and perspectives of the two contending parties mainly Israel and Hizbullah. This volume covers particularly this area.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational and informative., April 12, 2008

By 

M. Khatib (Sydney) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Resistance: My Life for Lebanon (Paperback)

Soha Bechara's story, "Resistance: My Life for Lebanon" is a fascinating account of a young girl's life of war and brutal imprisonment in Lebanon.

Soha was born in 1967 in Deir Mimas, a village in South Lebanon. Growing up, she was an energetic, enthusiastic and cheerful girl - a "lover of life", as she describes. Life was beautiful for the Becharas in her childhood years - merry family gatherings, extravagant parties, and the enjoyment of the picturesque country side of Deir Mimas. However, the commencement of the civil war in 1975 transformed such a gifted life into years of madness and bloodshed.

Her father Fawaz was a loyal and steadfast member of the Lebanese Communist Party. Soha adopted his philosophies on politics and nationalism. Throughout the frenzy of the civil war, with the Muslims and Christians clashing, something had become clear to her: "Lebanon had only one real enemy, one occupying power: the state of Israel. To my mind, the civil war was just a consequence of this situation". In 1982, she decided to actively join the resistance against Israel.

At first, Soha helped with intelligence gathering and logistics support. In 1986, she was assigned the mission of assassinating Antoine Lahad, head of the South Lebanon Army - the collaborators of Israel and traitors of Lebanon. She managed to win the trust of Lahad and Lahad's wife, Minerva, by posing as her aerobics instructor. On the night of the operation, while having coffee at the Lahad house, Soha took her handgun from her purse and shot Lahad twice in the chest. She was arrested and taken to Khiam prison, Israel's illegal torture den of resistance fighters in South Lebanon. There she spent 10 years of her life, six in solitary confinement.

"Resistance: My Life for Lebanon" is an interesting, memorable book that certainly puts things into perspective. It simplifies the political issues of Lebanon during the 80s - the issues were not complex; the overwhelming problem was Israel. For a person new to Lebanon's political history over the last 30 years, I think the book provides a good overview of the events that unfolded, and why.

I would have liked to read more about Soha's emotions while in Khiam, and especially after being released. Did her experience change her as a person? What was her opinion of the Lebanon Israel conflict after Khiam? Is she still proud of what she did? I certainly am, and I am sure many, many Lebanese today feel the same.

I strongly recommend this book - it's an amazing, inspirational story that will keep you turning the page in anticipation.

[...]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An important book, October 19, 2007

By 

Matthew Smith "Roger Mexico" (TN USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Resistance: My Life for Lebanon (Paperback)

This is an important work for anyone who wants to look into the impact of war and occupation. This first person account of an act of resistance and the aftermath is a powerful work that forces the reader to see things from the perspective of the innocent people who are forced by circumstances into decisions that are incomprehensible for those who will never be faced with war.

Whether one considers the author a criminal/terrorist or a resistance fighter her story is compelling and relevant. Her account details her progression from a normal Lebanese girl going to school and living with her family into a politically radicalized woman willing to risk her life and her freedom to strike a blow against the enemy of her country and her people. Her account humanized those who we too often dismiss as "terrorists". It made me realize that those who commit these violent acts are not mindless fanatics, but real people with family's and friends and life that they love. These are people who have been driven to the brink of hopelessness to the point where they feel their only recourse is to lash out against those they perceive as the protagonists of their torment.

It is important to understand what drives a person to these actions, and to realize that military actions affect real people. Benign terms like precision bombing and collateral damage belie the horrific consequences for those who see and feel the real impact of what these words really represent. Criminal or honorable, resistance fighter her story is one that represents a thousand similar stories.