For a long time, Lebanon was accused of being the pampered country in the midst of an Arab world defined by struggle and sacrifice. At best, it was treated as a nation of questionable belonging and suspect intentions.
It therefore had to be stripped of its Arab identity, its rights, and its sovereignty, and placed at the disposal of a “pure” Arab proxy that neither toyed with dignity nor betrayed the nation. Thus, for years, the Palestine Liberation Organization managed Lebanon’s internal affairs. It was decided that “the road to Palestine” would pass through Oyoun el-Siman and other ski resorts. Then Syria came to rule Lebanon, accused the Palestinian leadership of treachery, and decided to govern both it and Lebanon together. To that end, it spread its army across the country. And as proof of pan-Arab “transparency,” the Lebanese army was expected to salute its Syrian master while waiting for its own nationalist consciousness to mature.
The Iranian phase brought with it the rule of the spiritual elite. Resistance MP Hajj Mohammad Raad stood denouncing the state as nothing more than a land of cabarets, debauchery, and the like.
Under these successive orders, there also had to be local “pure” elements. The ever-watchful eye therefore turned to squads and battalions of volunteers who moved alongside the shifting tides and shifting loyalties, distributing rewards to those deemed deserving.
Thus dawned yet another era and another glory. If the Palestinians were agents, and the Syrians who followed them were agents as well, then what about the men of the Revolutionary Guard?
No sooner had this transparent order begun imposing its agenda than Lebanon filled with tent dwellers and people stripped of national belonging. The Lebanese themselves became the inhabitants of scorched and barren land. Southerners were left sleeping on sidewalks or, if fortunate, in parks, passageways, or the “refugee playgrounds” that outside Lebanon would simply be sports fields and youth gathering places.
Israel’s defense minister said that Lebanon under occupation would be governed like Gaza. Thank you for this noble equality. There have been many precedents of this kind, indeed of every kind: that the Lebanese person should enjoy a ceasefire, rise each day to the sight of rubble, calmly rub his eyes, and groan: where is the next road to Palestine? Or to Jerusalem? Or whoever gets there first.
