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1/ On the 20th anniversary of the liberation of South Lebanon by #Hezbollah from the Israeli occupation, I wan to share a memory with you that displays all the complexity of #Lebanon, past and present. It is related to the perception of Palestinians in Lebanon. #Palestine
2/ Beirut, btw, is the only Arab capital that was occupied by #Israel, although briefly, with the help of the Christian militia.
3/ The #Israel-i occupation of South Lebanon followed the 1982 invasion during which also part of the south were occupied by Israel. After this an agreement was reached to allow the PLO to be evacuated from #Lebanon. This was followed by the massacres of #Sabra & #Chatila.
4/ At this point I was in Paris, fleeing the civil war and pursuing my studies after trying to study and achieve a degree in Lebanon in a Lebanese university totally imporvised in East Beirut's suburb, Mansourieh, under the bombs.
5/ I was new to Paris and my friends were all from the Mansourieh university, displaced to Paris, all Christians, most sympathetic to the Christian militia, I wasn't, they knew, but our friendship in times of war had overcome our differences.
6/ We were watching on TV the evacuation of the PLO leadership from Beirut at the Foyer Franco-Libanais. The moment was tense. Suddenly everybody started to cry uncontrollably. Tears were running on every cheek, and it wasn't joy, it was sadness. #Israel #Lebanon #Palestine
7/ A French friend asked me why are they all crying, aren't they happy the PLO is leaving? I relayed the Q and he got his response: everyone agreed that Palestinians are part of our history, we couldn't be indifferent to their plight. #Israel #Palestine #Lebanon
8/ Our generation grew up with the Palestinian refugees' stories of displacement & dispossession. This is the core of what motivates the Resistance today. As Nasrallah said, if it wasn't for Hezbollah, #Israel would be in control of #Lebanon today and we will be all dispossessed
9/ #Israel made partial peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan in order to dissolve the solidarity that was formed around Palestinian refugees in the Arab world after the Naqba and this peace was the single factor that was most detrimental to the plight of the Pal resistance.
