Tensions were high along the Israel-Lebanese border, with rock throwing and some shooting by troops on the Israeli side of the border reported May 27. Israeli forces pulled out of Lebanon three days earlier, ending an 18-year occupation and leaving some Lebanese who helped Israel fearing for their future.

A once powerful intelligence officer for the Israeli-created South Lebanon Army militia, which collapsed, looked dazed and almost helpless as he sat under the shady trees on the Gesher Haziv kibbutz, in northern Israel, that has become a temporary home for him and 120 other militiamen and relatives.

�I cannot think now. I can�t talk about the future. It�s not only me that I have to think about, but my family here and my family in Lebanon,� he said this week after arriving from his first place of refuge, a tent-camp on the Sea of Galilee.

The officer�s son stayed behind in Beirut, and his sister and her family also remain in Lebanon. The officer said he felt safe, at least temporarily, amid the resort atmosphere of the Kibbutz�s tourist cottages.

After listening to his description of how he supplied information to Israeli Shin Bet intelligence officers, it was hard to see how he will be able to safely return to his border village in the foreseeable future.

Or defend himself against charges that he sold out, in this case to the losing side of a dirty war of attrition and endurance.

After 22 years, the SLA dissolved along with Israel�s presence in Lebanon. As members of Hezbollah drove around the area they had been arduously fighting for and thousands of villagers flocked back to hometowns they had to leave decades ago, SLA soldiers�collaborators with the enemy in the Lebanese view�ran for their lives into Israel. Around 5,000 have crossed into Israel, according to media reports.

The intelligence officer denied ever hurting anyone, saying the Israelis would ask questions, sometimes about people, and he and others would confirm information.

It was not affinity for the Israeli cause that prompted him to join up, the SLA officer indicated, but rather money. He said that there were no other opportunities to make a living for his family in the economically depressed south. �I was obliged to find anything to survive. This was the only solution I had. It improved my economic situation.�

Israeli public figures have issued a string of statements supporting the SLA arrivals and referring to the �moral debt� Israel owes them for participating in the fight against Hezbollah.

The statements, and public support for the plight of the SLA families appear to stem partly from guilt at the way they were left vulnerable by the withdrawal.

Around 1,200 SLA members surrendered to the Lebanese authorities in Beirut and will be tried again. Most of those who stayed behind know they have committed no real crime and can expect to receive relatively light sentences.

An estimated 200 of those who opted to flee to Israel are well known by the Lebanese judiciary for crimes committed during the 1975-1990 war in Lebanon and would be harshly tried.

There were indeed fears over the past months that the vacuum left by a withdrawal will trigger reprisal killings, even massacres.  However, none of this has happened with Hezbollah making sure that the victory not be turned into the people�s tragedy and UN sources have called the withdrawal �the best case scenario.�

Meanwhile Israeli forces continue to construct fences and other fortifications along the Lebanese border. And Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said most of the Chebaa farms region, north of Israel�s border, will not be evacuated. Hezbollah has said it will continue to fight Israeli troops who remain in the area.

Several people were reported hurt along the Israel-Lebanon border, but no deaths had been reported at Final Call presstime.

(Inter Press Service and media reports contributed to this article.)