By Michael Georgy

HERMEL, Lebanon (Reuter) When Sheik Sobhi Tufaili led the proIranian
Hizbollah in the 1980s, he fired up his militant cadres in the Bekaa Valley
with calls for holy war.

These days, the radical Shiite cleric is stirring passions in the region with
a new battle cry don't pay your electricity and water bills and turn away
the tax collector.

Tufaili is urging residents to start what he calls a ``hunger revolt'' on
July 4 to pressure the Beirut government into easing poverty in the Bekaa
which is suffering economically from a crackdown on crops of illegal drugs.

He has threatened to lead a march on Beirut if the civil disobedience
measures fail to persuade the government to meet his demands.

The Lebanese government is pouring billions of dollars into reconstructing
Beirut and the country's infrastructure which were severely damaged in the
19751990 civil war.

But Tufaili has focused attention on the lack of development in the eastern
Bekaa Valley where hashish and opium crops once generated an estimated annual
income of $500 million.

``Hunger is widespread. We will pressure the government. The campaign will
start in the Bekaa and then it will spread across the country,'' said
Tufaili.

``If the government uses force to stop us, you will see what will happen. Let
them try it,'' he told Reuters in his office in the Shiite southern suburbs
of Beirut where bodyguards with pistols tucked into their trousers monitor
surveillance cameras.

The 51yearold cleric, a rotund figure wearing a white turban and a black
cloak, sat twirling prayer beads beneath a picture of late Iranian
revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Tufaili was Hizbollah's first secretarygeneral from 1985 until 1991. Today
he holds no official post but a warm smile occasionally showed through his
thick beard as he spoke of attacks against the U.S. adminstration.

It is not yet clear if large numbers of people in Bekaa Valley towns like
Hermel will join his campaign.

But one thing is certain resentment is growing along fields where hashish
and opium once yielded hefty profits and Tufaili has won moral support from
some residents.

``The area has been marginalized. People are not able to pay for health care.
There is a feeling of deprivation,'' said Mohamed alFerjani, head of a U.N.
Development Program rural development project in the HermelBaalbek region.

Residents complain that the government has failed to support profitable
alternative crops and say cold weather this year has escalated the problem by
what they can grow.

Wheat farmer Ali alHuq and his family live in a concrete hut beside their
meager belongings a few mattresses, sheets, plastic chairs and a Hizbollah
calendar.

The father of four can only afford to feed his children meat every few months
when he slaughters one of his sheep for religious feasts. He said civil
disobedience is his only option.

``We used to have a comfortable life when I was growing hashish. Now I can't
afford to send my children to school,'' he said. ``Life has no more meaning.
That's why I will participate in Tufaili's campaign.''

The drive to wipe out drug crops has taken its toll on the oncethriving
economies of small towns that dot the lush Bekaa.

Tradesmen along Hermel's main street, from chicken vendors to snack shop
owners, say business is stagnant.

Several customers entering Hussein Amhaz's shop purchased ice cream, soft
drinks and sandwiches. But like many of his clients, they bought on credit.

``People have no money. We are neglected,'' he said, running his finger along
a list of 100 customers in debt.

Tufaili's civil disobedience call has alarmed the authorities in Beirut.
President Elias Hrawi has threatened Tufaili with legal action and accused
his supporters with arming and threatening Lebanon with a return to chaos.

Hizbollah, which has built health clinics and schools in the Bekaa and
provided farmers with agricultural engineers, says he has gone too far.

``What Tufaili says is true. But civil disobedience will lead to a clash with
the government and we don't want to clash with the government now,'' Hussein
Haj Hassan, a member of the Hizbollah bloc in parliament, told Reuters.

But it seems Tufaili, who condemns Hizbollah's current leadership as too
soft, has managed to spread his message in a land where many long for the
days of easy money.

``I support his hunger revolt 100 percent but I don't support him
ideologically,'' said a Maronite Christian woman who works for the
government.

``Look at that villa. It was built before the government banned hashish and
now the owners can't finish it because they don't have enough money,'' she
added, pointing to one of the villas that mushroomed during the lucrative
drug crop years.