Some Lebanese who fled to Israel in 2000 have returned, more expected

NOW Lebanon ^ | May 29, 2009 | Matt Nash

[forkinsocket]

Dozens of Lebanese who fled to Israel following the May 2000 withdrawal of the Israeli army from South Lebanon have returned and are currently living in Lebanon as a result of March 8 efforts. The coalition hopes that hundreds more will come following the June 7 parliamentary elections.

Around 7,000 Lebanese fled Lebanon in 2000, most of whom were members of the South Lebanon Army, an Israeli proxy militia, and their families. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah calls for repatriating as many of them as want to return, an objective the two allies are still committed to even at a time when it seems Lebanon is swarming with Israeli spies, said FPM official Ziad Abs.

Abs, who helped write the MoU, told NOW that 47 individuals have come back since 2006. A source close to the security services confirmed that some Lebanese have returned, but did not know the exact number. Abs said the 47 were brought back quietly, and their return has never before been reported.

With ongoing arrests of alleged Israeli spies, Abs said that now was not the best time to be raising the issue, and he added that the FPM and Hezbollah have not discussed it since President Michel Sleiman was elected in May 2008.

While Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah recently called for the execution of all convicted Israeli spies, Hezbollah and the FPM remain committed to bringing former SLA fighters and their families back to Lebanon provided they are not spies, Abs said. Hezbollah’s press officer Ibrahim Moussawi did not respond to an interview request, but the party’s official in charge of Christian relations, Ghalib Abu Zeinab, confirmed that many had indeed returned. Abu Zeinab said that while he himself was unsure of the figure, he trusted that the FPM had accurate information.

Under Lebanese law, because the two countries are still formally at war, it is illegal for Lebanese to travel to Israel or to contact anyone in Israel. Bringing the 47 Lebanese back, Abs said, required granting them amnesty and interrogating and continually monitoring them to ensure they are not spies.

“We had a system,” Abs said of the efforts that began after the February 2006 signing of the MoU. “First of all we made sure they wanted to come back. Then we checked with the [Lebanese] military court to see if there were warrants against them. We checked with the intelligence [services]. If they were clear, we told them it’s easy for them to come.”

He said that once a Lebanese came back from Israel, he or she underwent 48 hours of interrogation. The source close to the security services said some also spent time in prison to pay for the crime of fighting alongside or at the behest of the Israeli army during the occupation. Prison terms were short, the source said, similar to the few-month prison terms SLA members who stayed in Lebanon faced following the Israeli withdrawal.

Abs said that the repatriated Lebanese are under constant surveillance to ensure their loyalty lies only with Lebanon.

A former advisor to SLA commander Antoine Lahad, Claude Ibrahim told an Israeli newspaper earlier this week that only 2,600 of the Lebanese who fled to Israel remain there. Abs said he thinks some 90 percent of them hope to come back to Lebanon, and that the FPM and Hezbollah will work to facilitate that.

Not all of them would be allowed back, Abs said. A handful – around 10, Abs said – helped run Israeli prisons in Lebanon, notorious for torture, and are not welcome. The rest, however, should be brought back soon, he said.

“It’s better to bring them back now because every year we lose, their children are getting older, [and forgetting how to speak] Arabic. They’re studying [Hebrew], graduating from Israeli schools, from Israeli universities. They’re falling in love with Israeli girls and marrying them. Really it will get more and more complicated.”

During his exile in France following the civil war, FPM leader Michel Aoun frequently spoke of bringing Lebanese in Israel back and freeing Lebanese detained in Syria, though almost no movement has been made on the latter objective. (Syria barely admits it kidnapped thousands of Lebanese and Aoun did not mention the issue publically while visiting Damascus in December 2008.)

Abs said that since the signing of the MOU, the party has been in frequent contact, via phone and e-mail, with Lebanese in Israel, and he admitted they have broken the law in doing so.

He said the FPM devised a plan for dealing with a number of logistical issues involved in bringing Lebanese back from Israel, including hammering out a deal with Jordan whereby anyone educated in Israel would receive an honorary diploma or degree from a Jordanian school because Israeli institutions are not recognized in Lebanon.

In a February 2008 press conference Aoun and Nasrallah said they presented a plan to bring back all of the Lebanese in Israel who wanted to return, but the cabinet, which they both at the time called illegitimate, refused. Abs said he thinks the next government will act quickly on the issue.

“Definitely after the [June 7] elections and after forming the cabinet, this issue should be tackled more seriously,” Abs said.

[forkinsocket]

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[hflynn]

I have heard Lesbians are not welcome in Israel.

[SunkenCiv]

Around 7,000 Lebanese fled Lebanon in 2000, most of whom were members of the South Lebanon Army, an Israeli proxy militia, and their families. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah calls for repatriating as many of them as want to return, an objective the two allies are still committed to even at a time when it seems Lebanon is swarming with Israeli spies, said FPM official Ziad Abs.

Great, just in time for the big Hizzie victory and mass-murders of their political enemies.

[SJackson]

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