Bouncer at Israel's Gate

In order to make their night assault on Palestinian bases in southern Lebanon, Israeli troops had to cross a strategic ribbon of land, some 47 miles long and averaging four miles wide, along their northern border. Presiding over this L-shaped strip is Saad Haddad, 42, a renegade Lebanese army major and a Christian. He grandiosely calls it "Free Lebanon, "but "Haddadland, " as it is irreverently known to some journalists, is actually supported by Israel as a buffer against infiltration by P.L.O, terrorists. TIME Jerusalem Bureau Chief David Aikman entered Haddadlandfrom the Israeli border town ofMetulla. His report:

Once an amiable rendezvous for Arab and Jewish smugglers, Metulla (pop. 500) is now the focus of Israel's "good fence" policy with Free Lebanon. Each day, across the heavily fortified Israeli border come day laborers, sick children bound for Israeli clinics and expectant mothers eager to give birth in Israeli hospitals. Traffic in the other direction is mostly military. Israeli officers make daily visits to offer advice and encouragement to an unlikely ally. Explains one Israeli commander: "As long as the P.L.O. is kept out, we don't care if the devil runs Lebanon."

Israel has provided Haddad with millions of dollars' worth of military hardware for his 2,000-man militia. Haddad needs all the help he can get. P.L.O. 105-mm howitzers and mortars at Beaufort Castle regularly pound his headquarters in Marjayoun (pop. 14,000). Haddad also has to contend with an estimated 700 Palestinian guerrillas who have set up 40 outposts in the zone nominally controlled by UNIFIL, the 5,900-man U.N. observer force.

Haddad complains about the inability of the U.N. force to keep out the P.L.O.; meanwhile, his men have seriously hampered the peace-keeping effort by frequently firing on the U.N. troops. However, this harassment has lessened since Prime Minister Menachem Begin also became Israel's Defense Minister last May.

Haddad remains something of an enigma. In an interview at Bennt Jbail, a Shi'ite Muslim village three miles inside the Lebanese border, the stocky, smiling officer claimed to belong to no political party and seemed to have no interest in joining forces with the Phalangist militia in northern Lebanon. Said he: "My only ambition is to see Lebanon united and peaceful. I don't have a clear idea of what is going on in Beirut." For Haddad, the biggest threat to Lebanon is the Syrians; he fears they want to annex the entire country. "Take the Syrians out of Lebanon," he said, "and the P.L.O.

will have retreated to the borders before them."

For the moment, Haddad is completely dependent on Israel's military and economic support. A group of his officers, gathered in Bennt Jbail for a briefing, wore Israeli khaki jackets with Haddad's Christian militia shoulder insignia; one was in jeans and several sported cowboy boots. About 70% of the people who live in Free Lebanon are Shi'ite Muslims; to the area's Christian minority of 33,000, Haddad is nothing short of a hero. In Marjayoun, several young militiamen gathered around pinball machines to talk about their leader. "We are so thankful for Major Haddad's presence here," said Chaamoun Abou Kassem, 18, a Greek Orthodox Christian.

"It's very natural that the U.N. doesn't defend me as I defend myself. We have nothing against them, but we have to look after ourselves." In southern Lebanon, that is but one expression of the country's continuing agony.

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