Region lived through centuries of warfare

KFAR HITTIM, Israel -- Beyond wheat fields speckled with golden haystacks, a large swath of once-green land is scorched black from fires ignited by Hezbollah rockets.

Shabtai Hakim, still spry at 62, walks around this small farming community of 75 families near the Sea of Galilee's western shore, pointing to where two Katyushas landed 400 yards from his house and unleashed 55 pounds of explosives and ball bearings.

"I heard, on the roof, like a rain of metal balls," he says, opening one hand to reveal some of the deadly steel bearings and shrapnel.

This moshav, or cooperative, was established in 1939; past its cow shed, horse stable and chicken coop are mango and lemon trees. Although 20 miles from Lebanon, it has not escaped the rocket barrages showered daily on northern Israel for almost four weeks.

And as the Crusader castles dotting the landscape attest, the region has endured centuries of warfare. Former history teacher Zvi Schulman describes it as "one layer of battles over another layer of battles, over another layer of battles."

Kfar Hittim (the word, meaning "wheat," is spelled Hittim in Hebrew and Hittin in Arabic) lies near a famous battleground of the Third Crusade. In 1187, the Muslim warrior Salahdin defeated a Crusader army in the Battle of Hittin, leading to the siege and defeat of the Crusaders who controlled Jerusalem.

Hakim, a veteran of more-recent wars, points to the Horns of Hittin, the twin hills and valley below where that battle unfolded.

"The Muslims are very proud of this battle ... this victory," he says.

Indeed, many Arabs proudly recall Hittin and Salahdin while cheering what they see as today's victories of Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Egyptian parliamentarian Mustafa Bakri gleefully praised Nasrallah for "reviving the history of Salahdin. ...We are proud to be living in his times." The Palestinian Liberation Organization named one of its military units the Hittin Brigade.

In a 1990 article, Dr. Kenneth Stein, director of Emory University's Middle East program, recalled a mural of the Battle of Hittin in the office of then-Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad. "This was where the Arabs defeated the West," Assad told Stein.

"We are talking about a region where history is a very important element," says Reuven Paz, director of the Herzilya-based Project for the Research of Islamist Movements. To Arabs, Paz says, Salahdin is "the last Arab ruler to bring them glory and honor," although he actually was a Kurd.

In grassy, rocky Two Horns of Hittin National Park, a sign depicting a Crusader with an outline of the battle is the only visible vestige of the site's history. The Arab village of Hittin, destroyed in 1948, is remembered only on Palestinian Web sites.

The Battle of Hittin occurred in summer, when the grass here is tinder-dry. Salahdin's troops burned the grass, cutting off the Crusaders' access to water in the Sea of Galilee.

"It was exactly a day like this -- warm -- and with one match you can burn all the area," Hakim said. Scanning the scorched landscape, he calls Hezbollah's rockets "the match of this time."

The ruins of that ancient era are now on the front line between Israel and Hezbollah.

In the latest barrage of Katyushas, some rockets fell on the Golan Heights site of Nimrod Castle (to Arabs, the Castle of the Large Cliff), built by Salahdin's nephew in 1227.

On a clear day, from Israel's northernmost city of Metula, you can see Beaufort Castle in south Lebanon, the scene of recent fierce clashes. And the Israeli city of Acco, rooted in Crusader history, has come under rocket attack.

Acco, designated a world heritage site by UNESCO, is considered one of mankind's oldest continually inhabited cities. After the Crusaders' defeat at Hittin in 1187, the Knights Templar settled there. It also is where Richard the Lionhearted fought Salahdin.

Just off Salahdin Street in Acco's old walled center, Mohammed Dadan, 32, reflects on the sentiment of its largely Arab populace.

"I think there are mixed feelings here because we feel sorry for the Jews being killed, just as we feel sorry for what is happening across the borders in Lebanon and in Gaza," he says.

Dadan walks on worn stone steps past shops and cafes still open despite daily rocket attacks that killed four in Acco on Thursday. Men sit outside, smoking water pipes and sipping Turkish coffee.

"Bullets and rockets don't discriminate, but humans do," Dadan says. "We need peace. We need heroes in our time."

As he speaks, air-raid sirens wail, warning of more rockets. He and others huddle under an ancient arched stone roof.

"They are always shooting rockets after the prayer," one man says, referring to the five-times-daily Muslim prayers.

Bilad Kilani, who works in the Nazareth Sweets shop, shows chunks of the stone roof blasted away by an explosion. As sirens wail again -- the second time in 15 minutes -- another man yells out support for Hezbollah.

"For the first time, the Arabs feel honor!" he says, identifying himself only as Omar.

He and his companions blame the United States and Israel for the war, and complain American media is not showing the many Lebanese victims. Omar calls President Bush and Israel "the No. 1 terrorists in the world. Different faces of the same coin." Kilani says he believes the U.S. government hates Arabs.

The sirens wail a third time.

Acco's old city is a mix of Arab Muslims and Christians, Bahais and some Jews. No bomb shelters are in the old section, as they are in newer neighborhoods.

Small fishing boats remain docked in the harbor, the fishermen afraid to venture into the Mediterranean now.

"The fish have shelters, but we don't," Dadan jokes.

The 12th-century Templar Tunnel is the only real shelter in the old city. Hand-hewn stones form its upper arch; a fresh-water spring runs underneath. The tunnel once ran 380 yards from the Templars' fortress to the port. Today, it is under reconstruction.

Tunnel caretaker Anwar Amara, 37, leads the way to its opening on the Mediterranean, where a few men fish from shore and an Israeli warship floats on the horizon. Amara, a Muslim, is puzzled that more people don't use the tunnel as a shelter.

He proclaims Hezbollah a terrorist organization, adding, "All these problems come from Iran and Syria."

"Where is the real government of Lebanon?" he asks. "Why do they let Hezbollah be a state within a state• They hate the Israeli people" who "have only one state ... a small state."

His opinions differ from many of his Muslim friends, he concedes, but he feels strongly: "The Iranian government -- today, they make a bomb, an atom bomb. They want to kill or make Israel not on the map anymore.

"When religion (mixes) with politics, it is not good. (It) makes all the people miserable."