Ramallah- They were known in the media as “the deportees of Marj al-Zuhur,” in reference to an area bearing the same name in southern Lebanon, to which 416 leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad were deported on December 17, 1992.
The deportation came in response to the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, as the occupation launched a massive arrest campaign in the West Bank and Gaza and deported the detainees.
There, the deportees agreed to reject the decision and insisted on returning to their homes. When the occupation army faced them with bullets every time they packed their bags and approached to return to the border, they decided to remain outdoors in harsh weather conditions before supplies of tents, food and drink arrived.
The Marj al-Zuhur experience represented an important milestone in the history of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, as their camp in southern Lebanon turned into a focus of attention for the international media, as well as an opportunity to expand relations and mobilize energies against the occupation.
During their stay in southern Lebanon, the deportees organized their affairs in committees that varied between politics, thought, and education, and appointed the martyr Abdel Aziz Rantisi as their official spokesman.
As a result of international pressure, Security Council Resolution No. 977 was issued on February 19, 1993, stipulating their immediate return to their homes. Most of them returned within a year, and a few of them preferred to remain outside the country.
