There was jubilation in the Arab world when Israel withdrew its troops from Southern Lebanon. Bilal Hasan, the chief editorial writer for al-Hayat, a leading Arabic newspaper, echoes Arab joy and predicts that this event is a sign of victory to come for Palestinians in their own struggle with Israel. Some commentators think this event pumped up Palestinian hopes for a similar Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands and set the stage for the uprising that began in September, 2000. The event also emboldened Lebanon's Hizbullah movement to keep challenging Israel (see war of 2006).
The Coming Migration, No Doubt About it
by Bilal Hasan
The sight of Palestinian refugees from camps in Lebanon these past few weeks meeting their relatives at the border with Israel whom they have not seen in fifty years is an unforgettable one, a singular humanitarian event. This has indicated to many political leaders in the region and the world that there is a need for an agreement that will lead to the right of these refugees to return to their homeland, Palestine.
…The returning nationals have triumphed and have had their right to return affirmed through television pictures, images that have been broadcast across the world, and have leant credibility to the efforts of recent months to assert the right of return and the defense of this right.
As hundreds of refugees in Lebanon face toward Palestine, at the same time, millions of Palestinians will look toward the same borders in a tumultuous popular migration which no defenses and no rockets will be able to stop. This migration is coming, no doubt about it, and many are alarmed about it.
June 2, 2000
Translated by Ted Thornton