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Hamas official pays symbolic visit to south Lebanon village
A touching politeness, but are they horning in on Hizb'allah territory?
Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar paid a symbolic visit Sunday to the village of Marj Zuhour in south Lebanon, where he and 415 Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists camped for one year after they were expelled by Israel in December 1992 for their role in igniting the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

Zahar called on the Palestinians living in Lebanon not to take sides in internal Lebanese politics, promising to help alleviate their suffering in the camps.

Zahar and other Islamist deportees from Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials lived for one year in harsh conditions in tents in Marj Zuhour, a rocky and rugged area, where they had to do daily chores like cooking and washing their laundry and in some cases protect against mosquitoes and snakes. Their deportation gained unprecedented coverage by the local, Arab and foreign media.

Zahar was welcomed Sunday by residents and political parties in Marj Zuhour, where he began his tour of the village by kissing the soil of a monument of the spokesman for the deportees at the time, the late Hamas Gaza leader Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, who was assassinated by Israel on April 17, 2004.

Carrying a plough he used during the deportation period, 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 recalled that he and the other deportees lived one whole year 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, at the forefront of them Rantisi.

“Despite all the losses, we have won,” he said, apparently referring to Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip which is now controlled by Hamas.

He thanked the Lebanese and the residents of Marj Zuhour, calling them “the most honorable and most sincere people we have ever known.”

Addressing the Palestinians in Lebanon from Marj Zuhour, the Hamas official 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].”

He warned Palestinians against giving priority to issues other than that 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],” Zahar said.

Referring to the miserable conditions in the refugee camps in Lebanon, 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 urged the Palestinians to respect the Lebanese people and their laws.
Posted by: ryuge 2011-10-10
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=331356