LEBANESE MAN SEEKS ASYLUM IN ISRAEL, 2000-05-23 (photo)

A south Lebanese man gestures to be allowed through the barricade as Israeli soldiers try to keep the thousands seeking asylum in Israel in an orderly manner at the crossing point May 23. Thousands of SLA fighters and their families swarmed to the Metulla border crossing and were let in slowly after all weapons were turned over to the Israeli army. All the families had to leave their cars in a line at the border stretching for several kilometres. As Israel escalates its withdrawal from southern Lebanon its proxy force in southern Lebanon, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), is being left in a vacuum as the Hizbollah forces move into the area with SLA fighters, their families and Christians from the south seeking asylum inside Israel. JWH