Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon – Palestinians in Lebanon have watched the Israeli assault on Gaza with simmering anger and now face the prospect of a similar fate if Israel wages all-out war against the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began engaging Israel almost immediately after the latter began its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 people and uprooted almost the entire population.
The Lebanese group has repeatedly said it will stop its attacks on Israel once a ceasefire is established in Gaza and Israel stops its bombings against the people living there.
The Israeli assault follows a surprise attack by Hamas on Israeli communities and military outposts on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and 250 captured.
Ready to go home
In Beirut’s Shatila Palestinian refugee camp, many people involved in resistance movements told Tel Aviv Tribune that they were not afraid and would fight to support Hezbollah and the “axis of broader resistance in the region against Israel.
But they fear for their families and civilians, fearing that Israel will deliberately target Lebanon’s densely populated residential areas, such as Palestinian camps, where tens of thousands of people live crowded together.
“The Israeli army has no ethics. They do not respect human rights and do not take into account the rights of children,” said Ahed Mahar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) in Shatila.
“The Israeli army is simply motivated by revenge. »
About 250,000 Palestinians live in 12 refugee camps across Lebanon, fleeing there after Zionist militias expelled them from their homeland to make way for the creation of Israel in 1948 – a day called the Nakba, meaning ” disaster “.
Since then, Palestinians have yearned to return to their homeland, Hassan Abu Ali, a 29-year-old who grew up in Shatila, told Tel Aviv Tribune.
If a major war broke out in the country, he said, he and his mother would grab a few things and head to the Lebanon-Israel border.
“I think many Palestinians will try to return to Palestine immediately if there is a war. This is what people in the camp are talking about,” he said.
Abu Ali said he believed Israel could bomb Palestinian camps and then claim they were harboring resistance fighters, justifications similar to those it has used in bombing neighborhoods and displacement camps in Gaza, according to rights groups and legal experts.
Palestinians will have “no choice” but to return to their homeland if camps in Lebanon are destroyed, Abu Ali said, adding that as stateless refugees, Palestinians face harsh legal and legal discrimination. live in poverty in Lebanon.
“The only places I could go are Palestine or Europe,” Abu Ali told Tel Aviv Tribune. “But to go to Europe, I need $10,000 or $12,000 for a smuggler to get out of here. It’s impossible.”
Ready to fight?
In Shatila, several Palestinians said their peers would join the armed struggle against Israel if it launched a broader war against Hezbollah.
They added that Hamas has attracted thousands of recruits from among its traditional supporters and from communities historically aligned with Fatah, a rival faction led by Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.
“First of all, there are many resistance fighters in all camps in Lebanon. Second…if a big war breaks out, then we are not afraid. We have thousands and thousands of fighters ready to be martyred to liberate Palestine,” said a man named Fadi Abu Ahmad, a Hamas member in the camp.
Abu Ahmad acknowledged that civilians – especially children, women and the elderly – could suffer disproportionate harm if Israel were to target Palestinians in Lebanon. But he said most Palestinian refugees believe that “their blood is the price they must pay to liberate Palestine.”
He made a comparison with Algeria’s war of independence against France, which lasted from 1954 to 1962 and resulted in the deaths of a million Algerians. However, other Palestinians said they feared for their families and loved ones if war broke out in Lebanon.
“I’m not afraid of Israelis or what might happen to me,” said Ahmad, 20, a Palestinian from Shatila who refused to reveal his last name to Tel Aviv Tribune.
“But I’m afraid of what they might try to do to my little brother and sister. They are only 14 and nine years old. I don’t want anything to happen to them. »
What to expect?
Despite Israel’s threats, many Palestinians do not expect a larger war against Lebanon because of Hezbollah’s strength.
They believe the group’s arsenal, which reportedly includes guided missiles and sophisticated drones made in Iran, deters Israel from seriously escalating the conflict.
But Hamas’ Abu Ahmad notes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could still start a war against Lebanon to appease his far-right coalition partners and maintain power.
“Netanyahu is a criminal,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune. “And we know that if there is a war in Lebanon, many civilians will be killed here, including Palestinians. It could be like Gaza.
Mahar, of the PFLP-GC, said a war between Hezbollah and Lebanon would be different from the last major war.
In 2006, Hezbollah killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others in a surprise ground attack. In response, Israel targeted civilian infrastructure and power plants in Lebanon.
The fighting lasted 34 days and resulted in the deaths of 1,200 Lebanese – mostly civilians – and 158 Israelis, mostly soldiers. However, the Palestinian camps were largely spared.
“We all expect the camps to be targeted this time,” Mahar told Tel Aviv Tribune. “Israel no longer has red lines.”
“Israel exists to commit crimes against Palestinians. »