AIN AL-HILWEH, Lebanon: In the run-up to next week’s annual commemoration of the Nakba – the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948 – the enthusiasm of refugees is mixed about heading to the border and staging a protest on the edge of their homeland.
This year, the event will be marked north of the Litani River, as with the commemoration of Land Day at the end of March – no angry gatherings are expected to take place next to the border fence.
Last year, on the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba, thousands of Palestinians from Lebanon’s refugee camps, along with their supporters, gathered in the village of Maroun al-Ras, which lies across from the Israeli settlement of Avivim.
At the time, Hezbollah, Palestinian factions and the Lebanese Army mobilized their efforts in a bid to prevent protesters from approaching the border fence located 1 kilometer away, but events spun out of control – Army troops firing into the air failed to deter the thousands of mainly young people who participated in the “march of return,” as the event was billed.
The protesters braved a mine field and removed the deadly devices to approach the fence, where the confrontation between rock-throwing protesters and Israeli troops resulted in the killing of ten people and the injuring of scores of others.
In the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh near Sidon, posters bearing the pictures of two of those killed, Imad Abu Shaqra and Abdul-Rahman Sabha, can still be seen in the streets.
Some Palestinians stress the intense national symbolism of last year’s march, while others say it was the latest example of politicians exploiting the Palestinian cause.
Said Sabha, whose son was one of those killed, is a retired Fatah fighter.
He says the martyrs of that bloody day “weren’t the first for the Palestinian cause, nor the last, because the Palestinian people have a tremendous capacity for sacrifice.”
However, he adds that the Palestinian cause has been hampered by poor leaders, who are too self-serving, and the lack of real help from Arab states, particularly those surrounding Israel.
“If all the Arab countries would open their borders [for a confrontation] with Israel, Israel would be defeated,” he says.
Asked about the aftermath of the demonstration that took the life of his son, Sabha comments that he has had no contact with the families of other martyrs since last May.
He blames some parties, including religious figures, for exploiting the young people’s enthusiasm.
But when it came time for a confrontation at the border, after whipping up the crowd with “talk of jihad and marching toward Jerusalem,” these figures fled the scene, Sabha adds.
The father says he had been unaware that his son was going to take part in the protest, and adds that he would not send another of his five children to such an event were it being planned.
This year, public calls to stage a similar “march to Jerusalem” have been absent from refugee camps, according to Issam Halabi, the general director of the League of Palestinian Refugees, based in Ain al-Hilweh. But Halabi is a staunch proponent of holding such events, to cement the notion of the right of return in people’s minds, and express a rejection of displacement.
It’s all part of the process of building mass support for the right to a Palestinian state, he says, and last year’s event – even the rush toward the border – was legitimate.
“But what was needed was better organization, and a bigger crowd ... We had such a crowd, but there weren’t enough means of transport to bring all of the children, women and the elderly who wanted to take part to the site.”
Halabi says that not enough was done to ensure the safety of the crowds, such as rapid intervention to prevent contact between them and the Israeli troops.
“The march was aimed at sending a political message to the entire world, and especially the Israeli occupation,” he says. “This event should have been followed by other activities, such as regular trips to the border, to acquaint people with their homeland.”
Halabi discusses the “mistakes” that took place with last May’s protest, as well as the sense of frustration that has built among Palestinians, especially after a Land Day protest some six weeks ago was confined to a small space at Beaufort Castle in Nabatieh, well north of the border.
Abul-Abed Safsafi, a vegetable merchant in Ain al-Hilweh, says the Nakba commemoration means “everything in the world to me,” but termed last year’s incident at the border a “conspiracy.”
“We’ve been displaced since 1948, and no Arab country has gotten us to the border. But when the events in Syria heated up, they took us there, and people were killed,” he says.
For now, it appears that Syria has no interest in encouraging a similar protest, he continues.
For Hussam Miaari, a young man sitting in a shop that manufactures aluminum facades, May 15 is the most symbolic date on the calendar, as it is linked to the return to Palestine.
“Last year’s march was a step in the right direction – it was a huge undertaking ... for 63 years, we hadn’t known the borders,” he says, sitting under photos of the late Yasser Arafat and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
“Anyone who calls for liberating Palestine, I’m with him,” he says.
This year’s commemoration, however, will be limited to public gatherings and other activities north of the Litani River, to avoid a repeat of last year’s events.
A weeklong series of commemorative activities will take place in Sidon’s Martyrs’ Square.
Amina Abdul-Rahman, whose son Imad Abu Shaqra was killed last year, said that she encouraged him to take part in the rally.
She says that her family had watched a Turkish movie entitled “Valley of the Wolves,” a thriller that portrays struggle between Israel, and Turkey and Arab countries.
Abdul-Rahman, who was in Maroun al-Ras that day, says she had a feeling that when things began to spin out of control, her son would try to approach the border fence.
“I miss him, because I want to kiss him, but I remember what has happened to mothers inside Palestine, and how they have lost their children. I’m just a drop in the sea,” she said.
“We all went to the border, and I was sure that I would return without him ... my family members told me that he had only been wounded, but I responded by saying I was sure he would be the first one to approach the border and challenge the Israeli soldiers.
“If another march to the border is organized, I’ll be the first one to take part,” she said.
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