Many nations, tribes and armies successively visited and occupied the town and camped in the area so they gave it its present name Al khiam which means tents in Arabic. On the town’s highest hill the French built a well-fortified barracks that the Lebanese army took over in 1943 after the Independence of Lebanon. During the 15 years of its occupation by Israel, more than 2000 Lebanese captured by Israeli forces were imprisoned there. After the liberation of South Lebanon in 2000, the Lebanese government decided to rehabilitate the prison camp and turn it into a museum.