Sabra and Chatila, Lebanon – A week after a highly anticipated speech on the Israeli attack on Gaza, which did not declare war on Israel, Hezbollah reiterated this message on Saturday.
Although it would continue to retaliate against Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, the war with Israel would be long and victory “would take years.”
His message did not resonate with many Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp that spans two neighborhoods of Beirut.
“I wanted him to completely open the war,” said Abdallah*, 25, one of the Palestinians gathered anxiously on a cafe terrace in Sabra and Shatila to watch the speech.
He is one of an estimated 250,000 Palestinians who have languished in impoverished refugee camps in Lebanon since they were expelled from their country during the creation of Israel in 1948.
They watched in horror as Israel systematically and deliberately targeted civilian structures such as refugee camps, schools and hospitals in Gaza.
The attacks killed more than 11,000 Palestinians – nearly half of them children – and forced hundreds of thousands to flee to southern Gaza, most on foot and often attacked by Israeli troops even as they were fleeing.
“Hezbollah is fighting and trying, but we want them to do more,” Abdallah said.
Not enough pressure
Some Palestinians in Lebanon believe that Hezbollah should first take the fight to Israel.
Since Nasrallah’s previous speech on November 4, there has been an increase in violence between Hezbollah and Israel in southern Lebanon. On November 5, an Israeli rocket killed a woman and three children.
According to an Israeli army spokesperson, Hezbollah responded by killing an Israeli – with no information as to whether the victim was a soldier or a civilian.
Moments before Nasrallah’s speech on November 11, Israel licensed a rocket on a Lebanese village located about 40 km (25 miles) from their shared border.
Then, after the speech, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hezbollah was “on the verge of making a serious mistake,” although it was unclear what he was referring to.
Majdi*, who lives in Shatila, says he is frustrated with Hezbollah.
He expects Hezbollah to play a larger role in helping Hamas because the group, he noted, has long presented itself as a leader of the so-called “axis of resistance.” “, which includes Iran, Hamas and other Iranian-backed armed groups in the country. the region.
“Nasrallah will intensify his action against Israel from Lebanon, but he will not be a partner of Hamas in the great and decisive battle in Palestine. He said it himself,” Majdi told Al Jazeera.
Internal pressure
Nicholas Blanford, a Hezbollah expert at the Atlantic Council think tank, told Al Jazeera that the Iranian-backed Nasrallah was clearly thinking about his domestic situation.
In his speech, Nasrallah said there were “dissenting voices in Lebanon, but these voices are limited.”
Some Palestinians who watched the speech in Sabra and Shatila believe Nasrallah was referring to Samir Geagea, a Christian politician who heads the Lebanese Forces party.
Geagea reportedly told a local television station that Lebanon did not need something “that adds to all the miseries of the Lebanese people” shortly after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
“Dragging Lebanon into a destructive war will do Hezbollah no favors,” Blanford said. “But the responsibility lies with Tehran. If the Iranian calculus changes and they want Hezbollah to enter (into Israel) on a large scale, then Nasrallah will have to obey, regardless of the backlash. »
A significant escalation between Hezbollah and Israel could lead to civil war in Lebanon and scapegoats the Palestinians, Abdallah said. But he still wants Hezbollah to further ease the pressure on Palestinians in Gaza.
“The reason I want Hezbollah to step up is because all I see is Israel killing children. I am against the killing of children, whether Israeli or Palestinian,” he told Al Jazeera, moments before Nasrallah’s speech was broadcast on television.
Manage expectations
Some Palestinians believe Hezbollah is doing more than enough to help Gaza and accuse other Arab leaders, such as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas, of being complicit. atrocities committed by Israel.
They believe that the former kept the Rafah border crossing with Gaza virtually closed and that the latter sought to benefit from Israel’s war against Hamas.
“Egypt is not letting enough food into Gaza or opening its passage to help Palestinians get out,” Razan* said.
Baha*, also from Shatila, said Nasrallah is at least fighting Israel to some extent.
He adds that Abbas is the greatest traitor to the Palestinians for continuing his security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank – a product of the 1993 Oslo Accords – and for offering to play a role in the administration of Gaza if Israel defeated Hamas.
“Hezbollah cannot achieve this alone,” Baha told Al Jazeera. “But right now, we all love Nasrallah more than our own Palestinian leader (Abbas). »
*The last names of these Palestinians interviewed have not been released due to concerns for their safety.