Twenty years since the liberation of South Lebanon

I am writing the first draft of this essay on the 25^th of May 2020. Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the liberation of South Lebanon from a fifteen year-long Israeli occupation. A lot has happened since then, most notably a rewriting of Lebanese history about the role of the liberators of South Lebanon: the Islamic group Hizballah. History has been so thoroughly rewritten, and people have been so deeply brainwashed as to complete the amnesia that took place since the end of the Lebanese civil war.

Sitting here in Canada, I can claim some distance and begin to recant some facts long forgotten by the Lebanese. From 1975 until 1989, Lebanese Christians and Muslims have killed one another mainly over religion. It was during these years that the most horrible incidents occurred in the nation’s existence. The most egregious examples were the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, the Massacre of Damour, and the killing of civilians on checkpoints based on the religion inscribed on their identity cards.

The end of this war was engineered at Taif in Saudi Arabia and sponsored by the George H.W. Bush administration. The agreement called for many changes to the Lebanese constitution and laws, but most relevant for this essay were:

-          the disarmament and disbanding of all militias in Lebanon.

-          The temporary occupation of the Syrians of Lebanon for no more than two years to build the state.

-          And the adherence to the truce agreement with Israel in south Lebanon.

The only parts of the above clauses that were applied were the disarmament of the “Christian” militias. Most of the Muslim factions fighting in the civil war kept their arms. Most notably the Palestinians are kept armed in refugee camps to this day. Worse still, a little know Shia Islamist group known as Hizballah was allowed to keep their arms and even grow. They were tasked with keeping the fight in the South to “Liberate” it.

Since the occupation of South Lebanon by Israel, it had found allies in a local multi-religious group (although with a prominent Christian Leadership) later to be known at the South Lebanese Army. These fought along with Israelis and helped them maintain their occupation. Some also had engaged in torture and massacre against the Muslim population. However, massacres were not exclusive to one group in Lebanon. A truth and reconciliation commission never occurred after the civil war, and the war chiefs became the rulers of the country.

As time progressed in the 1990s, Lebanon was rebuilding. The local Christian population was banking on the possibility of a Grand Bargain for Lebanon. It would entail for both Israel and Syria to withdraw and all groups to disarm. Instead, Syria remained, and in the south of Lebanon, war raged on against Israel. Israeli politicians believed that to withdraw from Lebanon under fire would mean to show weakness and to incite further acts of terrorism or resistance against them from the Palestinians and other Arabs. Inside Lebanon, the Syrians and Hizballah leadership claimed that Israel was after Lebanon’s rivers and natural waters. Little did they know or admit that Israel was a leader in water desalination and had several inventions in that domain. Furthermore, Israel was assisted in its occupation by a local militia. In no other Arab nation was this the case.

The root of the Lebanese Israeli alliance stemmed from the civil war and from the alliance between some Christian factions who wanted a Christian majority state and their Jewish neighbours who had their own state.

Towards the end of the first Clinton administration, Israel fought a war against Lebanon in 1996 for about a month. It was named the Grapes of Wrath which culminated in several civilian death, most notably when they attacked a UN compound which sheltered civilian refugees from the south. It would be known as the Qana Massacre (not to be lost in symbolism, but Qana is said to be the site where Jesus turned water into wine). Israel claimed that Hizballah was using civilians to hide their military activities.

As the tensions subsided and as the Clinton administration was working hard to broker a peace deal with the Palestinians, the Israeli public no longer had an appetite for the Lebanese occupation, an occupation that was costing them lives and money. In 2000, Ehud Barak, the then prime minister of Israel, decided to withdraw from South Lebanon unilaterally. They even left the SLA army to fend for themselves and later escape into Israel.

Hizballah immediately declared a great victory. They claimed the success of the course of resistance. The legend of the defeat of the Zionist enemy at the hands of the brave jihadists was born. No one thought that Israel did not have an appetite to stay in a piece of land where it lacked international legitimacy and had no settlements. Yes, over 50 years ago, Israel had territorial ambitions on most of the Middle East, but that time had passed, and Arabs never accepted it.

Indeed, Israel withdrew from the Sinai desert in the 1970s upon the signing of a peace deal. And would withdraw from the Gaza strip in the 2000s. Yet where it does have territorial ambitions – the West Bank – it has yet to make any serious concessions. And the 2020 Trump peace plan proves it.

Yet a Legend was born, and it is hard to end a Legend. They would fight a war against Israel in 2006. A war that would devastate every aspect of Lebanon yet would claim another victory. Today, as Lebanon is ravaged by economic crisis the only real power in the country is Hizballah. They put in place the politicians and regime in power. And yet no one questions their miraculous victory. Why hasn’t Lebanon tried to implement the truce agreement with Israel south of Lebanon in 1990? Why haven’t they attempted any kind of negotiations? Even when the Syrians and Palestinians were doing so?

Israel left and made Hizballah the prime terrorist group in the Middle East. Their power far exceeds that of other Islamist groups, and they are well-armed and trained after the war they waged in Syria.  They are the true political masters of Lebanon, which is now officially a “Failed State.”