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Description
When your mandate is to report Israeli intrusions in South Lebanon, you’re not always welcome at the Israeli border.
Fred Gallant
Issu d’une famille acadienne de Mont-Carmel à l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard, M. Gallant s’engage dans l’armée et devient capitaine. Au cours des années soixante-dix et quatre-vingts, il sert deux fois à titre de Capitaine de batterie au sein de la Force des Nations Unies chargée du Maintien de la Paix à Chypre (UNFICYP). Ses méthodes de travail ont aidé plus d’un soldat et sauvé la vie aux siens ainsi qu’à plusieurs Turques et Grecs. Des années plus tard, en tant que major cette fois-ci, il est nommé Observateur militaire des Nations Unies au sein de l’Organisme des Nations Unies chargé de la Surveillance de la Trêve (ONUST) au Moyen-Orient. M. Gallant a des histoires fascinantes à raconter.
Transcription
As an unarmed observer, we were there to provide assistance. We were there to report to the UN any violations of land, sea or air transgression by invaders which was Israel and the South Lebanese army so anytime an Israeli plane flew over we reported it and they were not very happy with that, so going in and out from Israel where I was living was always about a six hour session because when you were coming out, your vehicle that you were driving would be stripped completely. The wheels taken off, x-rayed, they would lift the cap in the back of your gas tank and they’d have a probe going in there with a camera to see that there was no hidden explosions or anything like that. It was basically harassment because you’d see other vehicles that had a pass would just drive on through but because the job that you were doing and they weren’t receptive to it, then you had to go through the agony of the six hour crossing to get across. After you’ve been out there for 11 days, you want to go back to your apartment it’s hard to be patient for six hours while they’re doing that and the more you protest the longer it takes so that was hard.