It was not the state that actually arrived in the village of al-Tufail yesterday. Aid was sent from Ras el Harf, bordering Ain Baniyah on Brital’s side in the Bekaa Valley, in a convoy headed by sheikhs affiliated with the same confession as al-Tufail’s population.

Yesterday, men in al-Tufail slaughtered sheep and women ululated with joy celebrating the arrival of the state representative, while children ran to meet the “state” that their parents had told them was coming to them. Um Mahmoud bitterly laughed when her youngest son, Samer, pulled at her skirt to ask, while contemplating the faces of those who arrived: “Among these people, who is the state?”

Officials remembered their fellow citizens after Syrian events, particularly the aggravated battles in the Qalamoun area, displaced the majority of them, leaving only a few dozen there.

Yesterday, the Lebanese state, which had turned a blind eye to al-Tufail since the Sykes-Picot Agreement was signed and left it to Syria, suddenly remembered that it had abandoned nearly 4,000 of its people and 52 square kilometers [20 square miles] of its territory. It decided to compensate for all of that on one single day. That day will probably remain a singularity, unless political understandings are reached to suit sectarian calculations.

Yesterday [April 22] was al-Tufail’s day par excellence. This village — with all its inhabitants, young and old — celebrated being recognized by the homeland it belongs to, 71 years after independence. Albeit incomplete, the recognition resulted in women letting out shouts of joy, the slaughter of sheep and Lebanese flags being raised by youth, who went out to explore those coming from the distant homeland. Children took to the streets, leaving homes and raising white flags in an attempt to escape the violent Syrian fighting surrounding the village.

The state — which was represented by all of the security services and the HRC [Higher Relief Committee] secretary-general, represented by proxy by Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair — stopped in Ras el-Harf, which overlooked al-Tufail Valley, 25 kilometers [15.5 miles] away from the village. The relationship between al-Tufail and the state is no longer limited to a rough road, a Lebanese nationality (in name only) and the ballot box during election season. There is now bread, salt, a package of aid, a few liters of diesel fuel and, of course, a good number of blankets that are no longer needed, as winter is long gone.

Uninterrupted electricity

Al-Tufail, which extends into neighboring Syria through Qalamoun, and is located between Rankous, Hosh Arab and Assal al-Ward, is very grateful to the Syrian state. It is aware that its children would not have been able to get an education had it not been for the schools in the Syrian villages, which have opened their doors to compensate for the absence of Lebanese middle and high schools. They say that patients would have died on the rough road if it were not for the Syrian hospitals and physicians, and that their agricultural products — their only source of livelihood — are sold in the Syrian markets.

Syria itself has provided the village with electricity. Prior to the Syrian events, al-Tufail bragged about being the only Lebanese town enjoying electric power supply around the clock.

Suffice it to say that the official currency used in al-Tufail is the Syrian pound, and that the only paved road linking the village to the homeland passes through al-Sham [Syria] and then the al-Masnaa border crossing.

The only generosity the homeland has shown is an elementary public school. Once the students there complete that level, they spread around among the schools in Syrian villages. The University of Damascus takes credit for the fact that some of al-Tufail’s youth hold higher degrees. The accent of the population in al-Tufail is mixed with the Syrian dialect.

Al-Tufail has not asked or sought to be in such a situation. The Lebanese neglect over all these decades has imposed a reality that was no longer bearable after the adjacent Syrian areas fell into the hands of the regime forces. Many gunmen had fled toward its peripheral areas and settled in its desolate parts. Some say they have settled among the 7,000 displaced who have come from Assal al-Ward, Hosh al-Arab, Rankous and other regions they had lost in the fierce battles that had taken place in the surrounding regions.

As such, al-Tufail is surrounded now after its route toward Syria was interrupted, along with the various supplies it has depended on. There is no electricity after the Syrian power supply was cut off to the entire region. Water can no longer be collected from the artesian wells, because generators do not work due to the lack of diesel fuel and the absence of electricity. Mohammed Dako, a resident of al-Tufail, said the people were drinking from the stagnant water infested with frogs and insects, as rain in the country was scarce this season.

All of this pales in comparison to the separation from the Syrian clinics and hospitals that al-Tufail has suffered.

Um Mohammed Osman has regained her glory. Within 15 days of the blockade, the 80-year-old woman supervised seven childbirths. Her services were not limited to the usual inhabitants of al-Tufail; she has also overseen many deliveries of the numerous Syrian women displaced into the town and of its Syrian residents.

Um Mohammed’s eyes sparkle as she tells of how she managed to help mothers give birth, including a woman giving birth to her first son. She said that the job was not easy and that she had been retired for nearly 15 years. She pointed out that she regained her skills when Mustafa Saad Eddin knocked on her door and told her that Hamida, his displaced neighbor’s wife, would probably die while giving birth and needed her help.

Pregnant women and infants as well as patients with diabetes, blood pressure and chronic diseases face an acute shortage of medicines. Abdul Hakim al-Sayyed carries his weakened body and moves around among those who arrived in al-Tufail yesterday. “I need my blood pressure medicine, or I may die today,” said the 75-year-old man. He has not been taking his medication for 15 days now. The Ministry of Health’s delegation accompanying the aid convoy did not give him what he was looking for. The ministry delegate looked at him and said: “We have vaccines against polio and measles, a stomach medicine (Flagyl) and antibiotics.” The relief mission does not provide drugs for chronic diseases, although it is well known that elderly people suffer the most from these diseases. The representative of the Ministry of Health promised to bring some drugs on his second visit. Sayyed shook his head, not believing that there would be another visit. Abdul Karim leaned on his son and said, “I hope you can also provide a physician or even a nurse for al-Tufail, as the only physician who was working here has left town.”

The harsh situation of the residents and the displaced to al-Tufail made the relief convoy members forget their difficult and dangerous trip to the town. It is clear that the militants who disappeared in the valleys and mountains leading to the al-Tufail wanted the relief mission to be completed and the Lebanese Red Cross members to transport the wounded. There are 10 wounded — one Lebanese (Fawzi Daqu) and nine Syrians — including a one-year-old infant from among the displaced from al-Tufail’s neighboring villages.

You are in your own country

When arriving to al-Tufail, you notice the high density of displaced Syrians and that they outnumber the Lebanese residents, of whom only about 350 to 400 are left in town. Many families have fled with their children, fearing the bombing of their town surrounded by militants and regime army members. The displaced residents of al-Tufail do not know where to go. Some of them preferred to flee toward the town’s mountains and valley linking it to Ras-el-Haref on the cliff overlooking Brital’s lands and mountains. Other residents are living in caves overlooking the valley.

The Lebanese state has neglected its citizens who have fled from Syria since the outbreak of the events. These citizens know that very well. International relief agencies do not recognize them as refugees. They told them: “You are in your own country; let your state take care of you.” Adnan as-Sayyed said: “Those who know the truth know how hard the situation is, but those who don’t fail to realize the seriousness of the situation.” Sayyed is a goat herder who preferred to stay with his family in a cave in the heart of the mountain overlooking the valley of al-Tufail rather than flee to Lebanon.

However, the Lebanese state’s neglect of al-Tufail and its ownership situation is another matter. The director of al-Tufail public school, Mahmoud Hussein Schuman, said that the 52-square-kilometer town was mortgaged to the Central Bank of Lebanon and that its residents did not have the title deeds to any inch of it.

An Agha used to own al-Tufail and used to collect one third of the earnings of the Syrian and Lebanese farmers who worked on its lands. The Agha mortgaged al-Tufail and failed to repay the loan. That was back in the 1990s. After that the whole town became mortgaged to the Central Bank of Lebanon.

Residents in al-Tufail whisper about a potential request that they may submit to the state. They are asking the [Lebanese] state for compensation for the neglect and historical deprivation they have suffered by giving them back the ownership of their town’s lands. They want the roads linking al-Tufail to Lebanon to be paved and their citizenship to be recognized, which means the recognition of rights and obligations they are willing to fulfill.

When evening came, most of those who came in the convoy had left al-Tufail. The few residents who remained there had not left their town. They just want paved roads, an access road to their homeland, an easy entry and exit and aid relief. Yesterday, the General Security created a one-day border point at Ras-el-Harf for stamping the identity papers and passports of those coming in and out of al-Tufail. The stamped seal included the name of the Masnaa border crossing. It is no coincidence that al-Tufail used to be outside these borders.