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Hamas official pays symbolic visit to Lebanese village
Top Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar paid a visit Sunday to the village of Marj Zuhour in southern Lebanon, where he and 415 Hamas and Islamic Jihad Zahar called on the Palestinians living in Lebanon not to take sides in internal Lebanese politics, and promised to help alleviate their suffering in the camps. Zahar and others lived for one year under harsh conditions in tents in Marj Zuhour, a rugged area. Their deportation gained unprecedented coverage by the local, Arab and foreign media. Zahar was welcomed Sunday by locals and politicos in Marj Zuhour, where he began his tour by kissing the soil at a monument for the spokesman for the deportees at the time, the late Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz Rantisi. Carrying the plough he used during his exile, Zahar said: "We have knelt for God several times. Each time, we prayed to return from this road through the Zoumaraya crossing to Palestine. God responded to our wish. After returning to Palestine, we implored God to grant us such a visit so that the will and dependence on God can be instilled in our minds." Zahar remembered living in "harsh conditions, when [Israeli] shells crashed in the area and in the surrounding villages." He said out of the 416 deportees, 37 have been killed by Israeli air raids in Palestinian areas, Rantisi foremost among them. Referring to Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, he said, "Despite all the losses, we have won." He thanked the Lebanese and the local residents, calling them "the most honorable and most sincere people we have ever known." To the Palestinians in Lebanon he said: "Learn from this experience of the deportees and do what we have done. You will get what we got. Don't tamper with Lebanon's security and don't take sides in this country's issues. Try to keep Palestine your target. Don't give any chance to those fishing in murky waters. You are here the closest people to the homeland [Palestine]." Zahar warned Palestinians against putting other priorities ahead of Palestine. "When Palestine was our political priority, we returned to it. If your political priority turned to partisan or sectarian purposes, you will not return [to Palestine]," he said. Referring to conditions in the refugee camps, Zahar said: "We will make all efforts either with the Arab League or with Arab states to help lift this injustice inflicted on you in the camps. It's injustice that cannot be tolerated by any man and cannot be accepted by God Almighty." He told Palestinians to respect the Lebanese people and their laws. Posted by: ryuge 2011-10-10 |
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