MIDDLE EAST:Lebanese Shias are paying homage to a dead tree that appears to honour 43 Hizbullah militants killed in last year's war with Israel, writes Borzou Daragahiin Bint Jbeil, Lebanon
Some would say Fatmeh Shaheen should know better. The 45-year-old psychologist is trained to recognise how a desperate mind might override its own sensibilities in search of solace. But here she is, piling into this chapel-like building in southern Lebanon with hundreds of other Lebanese Shias to pay homage to a miracle tree.
A dead, varnished poplar trunk somehow sprouted leaves after it was adorned with the names of the 43 fighters for militant Islamic group Hizbullah. They were killed in the war with Israel last year, a conflict that left hundreds of Lebanese dead and destroyed huge swathes of the country's Shia Muslim heartland.
"Can you have any doubts now?" the well-educated, trilingual professional asks as she stares, eyes aglitter, at the bright green leaves wiggling out of the dark brown tree trunk. Hizbullah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah declared the war a "divine victory" for Lebanese guerrillas fighting against one of the most powerful armed forces in the Middle East. With yesterday's anniversary of the war's end approaching, Hizbullah pulled out all the stops to reinforce its version of history.
In mostly Shia southern Beirut, a ruined district of the capital subjected to Israeli air strikes last summer, Hizbullah has opened the "House of the Spider" museum to celebrate the "divine" victory and demonise Israeli armed forces.
It includes the re-creation of a Hizbullah guerrilla base, with mannequins in camouflage uniforms looking at maps of northern Israel and punching Israeli grid co-ordinates into laptop computers.
Visitors navigate past the wreckage of Israeli tanks, captured Israeli walkie-talkies, a downed helicopter and bloodied boots. A television screen loops a video game in which a Hizbullah fighter hunts down enemy armour. Footage of exploding Israeli tanks and crying Israeli soldiers plays inside a darkened theatre.
Large photographs of US president George Bush, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert accompany embarrassing quotes.
"Hassan Nasrallah won't forget the name of Amir Peretz," says the former Israeli defence minister, who was pushed out of his job largely for his handling of last year's war.
And then there is the miracle tree.
A Hizbullah official, who gives his name only as "Abu Muhammad," stands on a stage and tells the story of the tree. Hizbullah officials, he says, commissioned an artist to make a monument for the war dead of this border town. The artist carved their names on wooden placards and nailed them to the tree trunk. He sprayed it with chemicals and placed it on a block.
Suddenly, about two weeks before the one-year anniversary of the war, the monument began sprouting leaves, even though it wasn't getting any water or sunlight, Abu Muhammad says. Exactly 43 leaves sprang to life, one for each of the town's combat casualties, he maintains.
Hizbullah's al-Manar television began spreading word of the phenomenon and the visitors flocked to see a miracle.
"Let this be proof to all those who doubt the divine victory," Abu Muhammad says over the loudspeaker. "The pure blood of the martyrs has watered the Earth." A recording of martial music fills the hall during a break. Abu Muhammad mingles with the crowd.
"Are roots growing, as well?" one woman asks Abu Muhammad.
"What are you going to do with it if it grows big?" another asks as she takes photographs with her mobile phone. "God knows," says Abu Muhammad.
"I saw it on television," says Aida Roz, a Beirut accountant visiting with her two daughters. "I couldn't believe it. Now I believe it."
Ms Shaheen drove with her two teenage sons for more than an hour from the coastal city of Tyre this morning. Then she came again by herself to marvel at the tree. She says she's not particularly religious. Unlike many of the women here, she doesn't even don the hijab signifying Muslim piety.
"You have to live in the south to understand," she says. "You have to be from south Lebanon."