23 August 2012
By Franklin Lamb
Remarkably, this Ramadan holiday season in Lebanon
designees from both the Shia Higher Islamic Shiites
Council and the Sunni Dar el Fatwa, figuratively
speaking, pointed their binoculars deep into the
eastern sky and in almost unheard of unison,
proclaimed that Eid al Fitr this year was to be August
19th. It was a good omen for many in
Lebanon that Shia and Sunni religious leaders agreed
of this important event given the internal and
external forces at work to further divide the two main
denominations of Islam as well as all of Lebanon by
sect, confession, geography, region, tribe, clan and
neighborhood. It was
also good news for Palestinians living in places like
Finland which these days have approximately 20 hours
per day of sunlight and many devout Muslims have very
long fasts. Mercifully, a majority of Muslims far up
North tend to adopt the mere sixteen hours of daylight
for seyam (fasting) using Mecca hours for dawn
to dusk days without, food, water, sex, or smoking as
well as avoiding bad thoughts or acts of incivility as
they test and renew their devotion to Islam while
engaging in introspective struggle self-criticism. During
the three day Al Fitr holiday, much of Muslim Lebanon
becomes less active and many businesses close
including Lebanon's largest wholesale fruit and
vegetable market which borders Shatila Palestinian
refugee camp. Just before closing time on Eid eve,
this observer entered the vast produce market now run
mainly by Shia who buy agriculture products from Bekaa
Valley and southern farmers (minus one of Lebanon's
oldest and most important crops, Hashish or " Lebanese
Red Bud" as it's known in Amsterdam smoke cafes and
elsewhere). With little refrigeration, many of the
wholesalers next to Shatila dumped, in time for Iftar
and Eid feasts, large quantities of really fine
produce at a designated corner of the ten acre market.
They have been doing this for more than three years
ever since the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign was
lucky enough to convince the owners to dump their
leftovers or soon to spoil fruit and vegetables in the
southeast corner bordering Shatila camp. As a result
of this charitable cross-denomination act, rather than
disposing of the extra produce in dumpsters,
Palestinian refugee families are given the much
appreciated chance to collect free produce for their
families. Every day, men women and children from
Shatila camp, as well as poor Lebanese and Syrian
workers can be seen climbing over and thru hewn holes
in the cinderblock wall bordering Shatila and
gathering really excellent produce. This basic
humanitarian gesture is an example of how the Shia
can, and do, reach out to the largely Sunni
Palestinian community. Cross-confessional gestures
such as this are among the reasons Palestinians in
Lebanon support Hezbollah and the growing regional and
international Resistance it leads. Eid al Fita also coincides this
year with International Quds Day which was introduced
from Iran in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini and which
is commemorated on the last Friday of Ramadan,
expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and
opposing Zionism and Israel's control of Jerusalem. In
Lebanon's refugee camps this Eid Al Fitr holiday
season there is intense heat, little electricity or
drinking water, and a paucity of fresh air or breeze
available to the jammed populations. Ein el Helwe,
the largest of Lebanon's 12 camps which according to
the most recent UNWRA statistics houses 47,500
refugees but in reality now is home to more than
100,000. They like their fellow countrymen temporarily
in Lebanon, have few reasons to celebrate. The
competition for breathing space has increased as the
camps populations have swelled even more with refugees
fleeing the violence in Syria. This
year there are fewer sweets for the children, less
food, not many gifts or new clothes and few flowers to
place on the graves of deceased love ones, a gesture
by custom made during traditional Eid Al Fitr cemetery
visits. In the tightly packed Palestinian cemeteries,
of which they are only four in Lebanon, sometimes as
many as five layers of bodies are buried on top of one
another due to lack of space. There
is another anniversary that coincides in Lebanon this
year with Eid al Fitr and with International Al Quds
day but it's no occasion for joy among the Palestinian
refugees in Lebanon. It is
the second anniversary of the August 17, 2010
amendment to article 59 of the Lebanese Labor Law
which constituted a betrayal of Palestinian refugees
by Lebanese politicians. Before the vote, across the
political spectrum were heard promises to enact
legislation granting the elementary civil rights to
work and to own a home in Lebanon. This country is the
only one on earth that denies Palestinian refugees the
basic right to work or even to own a home. The
legislation passed was simply a cruel hoax and has not
facilitated one Palestinian refugee obtaining a job
over the past 24 months. The amendment, while waiving
work permit fees which were never a serious problem in
obtaining a work permit, left in place numerous
restrictions and catch-22 Kafqesque barriers that
previously blocked Palestinians from being able to
work. Parliament also left in place the racist 2001
law which outlawed any Palestinian from owning a
home.
Ministers of Labor over the past two years have
willfully failed to implement the new law, such as it
is, by refusing the simple act of signing
implementation papers. Less than two months ago a
Palestinian delegation was promised yet again that a
majority party in Parliament would see to it that the
Minister of Labor did his job as mandated by the
Lebanese constitution. Once more nothing was done. On
this second anniversary of the fake "Palestinian work
permit legislation" most Lebanese politicians who
made so many promises to this observer and others
over the past four years to comply with international
and Lebanese law and grant basic civil rights to
Palestinians in Lebanon remain asleep on this issue.
Nevertheless, the hope of Palestinian refugees to
achieve the basic civil right to work and to own a
home is not extinguished in the camps this holiday
season by the impotence of Lebanon's big talk but do
nothing Parliament. One reason for hope comes from the
voices of people like Miss Hiba Hajj, a Palestinian
princess living in Ein el Helwe camp. This observer
visited with her recently after sneaking into Ein el
Helwe camp thru that smelly claustrophobic 30 inch,
heavily trafficked sewer conduit at the eastern edge
of the camp. The US Embassy here made crawling through
the sewer line sort of obligatory for Americans
wanting to visit Ein el Helwe camp ever since it
directed the Lebanese Armed Force (LAF) not to grant
Americans permission to enter the camp out of
presumed, but misplaced, concern for their wellbeing.
It was Hiba ("gift from God" in Arabic), then a
youngster of 14 years, who proclaimed three years ago
when she volunteered to help achieve the right to work
and home ownership for "my people" as she referred to
them, stated to this observer and friends: "Failure
is not an option for the Palestine Civil Rights
Campaign, our only choice is success." And so it
remains. While
the most elementary civil rights still have not been
granted, Hiba continues to inspire us all with her
rapid, charismatic and at times mesmerizing speech
outlining what needs to be done and how to do it to
achieve dignity for her fellow refugees. This
blooming seventeen year old Jean d'Arc, has zero
problem smacking around, verbally at least, some of
the toughest looking unkempt wannebe salafists and
jahadists from the eight Islamist groups who
periodically show up in Ein el Helwe. Hiba explains
that she definitely wants the help of Usbat al-Ansar,
who earlier this month helped resolve the traffic
blocking sit-in by the controversial preacher, Sheikh
Ahmad Assir in nearby Saida, but she demurs from the
fictitious Jund al-Sham, or gangs who claim a spot
under the imaginary loose cloak of al-Qaeda. "I
want you to do something worthwhile with your lives so
we can get back to Palestine without more delay! Do
you want to spend your lives in Lebanon? It's not and
will never be our country!" she scolds them as she
asks for help to organize a major intifada here in
Lebanon to prevent another anniversary from passing
without Palestinian refugees attaining the civil
rights to work and to own a home. Hiba
is encouraged this holiday season despite the failures
of Lebanon's political parties, international
activists, the international community "so very
concerned with humanitarian values!" as she lectures
her mates, and most especially the failure to date of
groups here in Lebanon including the Palestine Civil
Rights Campaign to achieve our goals. This
remarkable youngster idealistically reminds her
coterie of likeminded teens of last week's words of
Hezbollah's Secretary-General who she and her friends
admire, trust, and believe. During
his International Al-Quds Day speech, Hassan Nasrallah
stated that Imam Khomeini`s declaration of Al-Quds
Day falls within the context of a long continuum of
religious and political commitment to "the sacred
cause of Palestine" and that Al-Quds Day should not
be simply a seasonal occasion to support the
Palestinian people.
Hezbollah's Secretary-General added,
"Unfortunately, today the suffering of the Palestinian
people (Hiba thinks he also means within Lebanon's
camps) has become secondary and just ordinary news
items in the Arab and Islamic world, even in the
entire world which claims to be civilized, the news
has become second row even late news. Today, the
nation can do much for Palestine and its people. At
the very least, the rulers can themselves stop
blockading the Palestinians before asking them to
assist in lifting the siege off the Palestinians. A
Part of the blockade suffered by the Palestinian
people is practiced by some Arab regimes. This embargo
must be lifted and support must be submitted". Hiba
and her friends interpreted these words to mean
Hezbollah will use its power in Parliament and finally
grant them the right to work in Lebanon thus
delivering to them a less bleak future. Palestinians
in Lebanon, and their international supporters, are
acutely aware that Hezbollah still holds majority
power in Parliament and will do so at least until next
year's Parliamentary elections if they are even held
which to this observer appears doubtful. Hiba
particularly liked Hezbollah's Secretary-General's
words which she quoted: "We must help the
Palestinians towards this cause to uphold the right of
return and to refuse any resettlement as well as to
reject assimilation in any country as is happening
through their forced migration to countries in Latin
America, Europe, Australia and others."
Members of Parliament who support this country
granting the right to work and to own a home to
Palestinians insist that if the political decision is
made by the Parliamentary majority led by Hezbollah,
the necessary legislation, still in the legislative
hopper from two years ago, can be enacted in an
afternoon. Hiba
and Hezbollah's other supporters who share Sayed
Hassan Nasrallah's oft expressed views demanding basic
human rights for Palestinians in Lebanon believe that
the Resistance block will, on this 30th
anniversary of the massacre at Sabra-Shatila, finally
act on what the late Imam Khomeini declared was a
central "moral, religious, and political" obligation
of all people of good will.
Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and is
reachable c/o fplamb@gmail.com. Comments 💬 التعليقات |