Cease-fire Holds Between Israel, Hezbollah

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• JIM LEHRER:

  The cease-fire in the Israeli-Hezbollah war. We start with two reports, the first from Julian Manyon of Independent Television News in southern Lebanon.

• JULIAN MANYON, ITV News Correspondent:

  Fifteen minutes before the cease-fire, an Israeli missile struck. Then the planes and guns fell silent.

  The Israelis said their vehicle ban was still in force, but we set out and found people emerging from their hiding places.

  Wreckage was still smoldering from the frenzied bombing just before the cease-fire. Petrol stations had been a special target, and roads were again wrecked by the Israeli air force.

  Just a mile outside Tyre, a massive bomb crater severs the road. And behind me, a bulldozer is now working to try to clear an alternative route so we can get through further south.

  Next to the hospital in Didnein (ph), devastation. The Israelis had used a cluster bomb. In the hospital basement, some frightened refugees were still refusing to come out. This woman clung to her baby, born just three days ago, but a small boy's spirit was unbroken.

• YOUNG LEBANESE BOY:

  I'm happy, so happy because we have victory. And Israel has been done. And we'll be back to our home.

• JULIAN MANYON:

  Further south, the town of Bint Jbail devastated by the fighting. We found old people still surviving in the wreckage of their homes.

  This woman's husband and son lie buried beneath the rubble. This old lady was left for dead but still has the strength to call out for water.

  Hezbollah fighters are everywhere. They threatened to take our camera if we tried to film them. Some Hezbollah men led us to what was the front line. The village is in ruins, but the Israelis have pulled back across the border.

  This moonscape was the center of the battle for Atalshab (ph). Repeatedly the Israelis tried to seize the village but they were hit by anti-tank missiles and their troops were ambushed in the narrow streets.

  A Hezbollah fighter emerging from the rubble told me, "We fought them for 34 days. Now we are here, and they are gone."

  Amid the ruins, ordinary people now have some hope, and a few are starting to return to their homes. But no one knows if the cease-fire will hold or if the bombs will start to fall again.

• JIM LEHRER:

  Next, Martin Geissler of Independent Television News reporting from northern Israel.

• MARTIN GEISSLER, ITV News Correspondent:

  This was relief, not celebration, these soldiers just glad to be alive. After a punishing month for both sides in this conflict, the guns fell silent at day break. Some claimed victory; for others, a moment of prayer. This war has had a profound effect on many who fought in it.

• ISRAELI SOLDIER:

  I saw things I didn't see before, that's for sure. I did things I didn't do before.

• MARTIN GEISSLER:

  Do you think it will change you?

  But despite the mental and physical exhaustion, many here feel this truce has come too early.

• ISRAELI SOLDIER:

  It's a nice feeling, but it's also a feeling of a failed mission because I think it's just…

• MARTIN GEISSLER:

  Just off-camera, a senior officer signaled his disapproval.

• ISRAELI SOLDIER:

  It's a nice feeling.

• MARTIN GEISSLER:

  But while it may not be the party line, it is what many Israelis believe: The war may be over for now, but it's not been won. And nowhere is that feeling more acute that in the bombed border communities.

  For the first time in more than a month, there is absolute tranquility here in Kiryat Shmona, but there's no one out on the streets celebrating this cease-fire because, for the time being at least, no one here can bring themselves to trust it.

  The town's mayor has been working from a bunker for the past four weeks. He believes that before long his people will be forced back underground.

• HAIM BARBIBAI, Mayor, Kiryat Shmona:

  One more year, two or three years, the Hezbollah try again.

• MARTIN GEISSLER:

  This is the man they blame, and Ehud Olmert is feeling the heat. The Israeli prime minister told his parliament today Israel will do better next time, and there may be a next time, he said. The guns here may be silent tonight, but they're not being moved away just yet.