The Glorious Return of the Prisoners

Israelites and Muslims are eternal cousins, specialized and expert in phraseology, in distorting words in their vocabulary, and in demagogy.

During the years 1960 to 1990, the former called the latter terrorists and when they saw the term was no more deemed appropriate it was transformed into ‘activists’. In France for example during the German occupation, one spoke of members of the Resistance, which operated both inside and outside France itself, in Africa and even in Lebanon, directed from London. In their honor monuments, columns and statues were put up, for their having made history and helped restore in their fatherland freedom, independence and prosperity.

But here in the East the Resistance hero who offers his life and his blood for a great cause is called a terrorist! What a disgrace! Whoever dies for a national cause and offers himself as a possible victim is rightly called a martyr, a hero, a defender of his motherland.

Let me make myself absolutely clear; all those who meet death in their struggle and in acts of heroism directed against the national enemy are martyrs, are heroes, are men of courage, confronting all the cowards of this world.

What is most striking is that only one front saw action, the northern front of Israel and the southern frontier of Lebanon. In fact this real war of the summer of 2006 inflicted on Israel more loss and destruction what all the other wars in which she was ever engaged.

The so-called army of David, supposed to be invincible, floundered in South Lebanon and was helpless, while the state of Israel showed that it was itself the terrorist, sowing death and destruction on the innocent, destroying bridges, factories and infrastructure thanks to aerial superiority acquired from the West.

To launch rockets coming from the sky on people and places who have no cover or defense, that is terrorism! – a terrorism that profits from the profound indifference of the nations to whatever is done by Israel. Lebanon, this great people, this unique country, has ever been the victim of predatory neighbors.

– Victim of Israel, which expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians,
– victim of the Palestinians who dared to take up arms and turn them against Lebanon and the Lebanese who had given them hospitality,
– victim of the settling of old scores between the Arab states who were mutual enemies,
– victim of the silence of the international community strangely indifferent to whatever Israel did,
– victim of certain western powers, among them the United States, eager to change the map of the Middle East every time to the advantage of Israel,
– victim of the Lebanese themselves with their quarrels, sectarian rivalries, their fractions and their parties, unable to reach a common plan of action,
– and victim of the ambitions of the Syrian neighbor concerning Lebanon, whose political existence it refused to recognize.

There exists a Resistance which is not Palestinian but truly Lebanese and which sought to liberate South Lebanon. It has also been the most reliable actor working for the Palestinians, themselves more and more oppressed by the Zionist occupation.

Let us be clear: nobody has the intention or is capable of throwing an entire nation into the sea. Let the neighboring cousins agree among themselves and negotiate, and in this way they will find adequate solutions, the first being exchange of prisoners and return of the remains of the martyrs of both camps. This event took place in July 2008, two years after the routing of the Israeli invader.

In Lebanon this was an occasion of great rejoicing, of pomp, and for the tears of the mothers above all to receive their sons whether dead or still alive.

There came five surviving heroes as well as hundreds of bodies that had been waiting many years for burial in the soil of their home villages.
They were profoundly moving days for us, days of silence, respect, meditation, prayer, anguish, and joy together. This was the best way for us to express ourselves. It was another victory for the Resistance, one which may be conducive to fruitful negotiations.

If it is possible to reach understanding and to find a solution to the problems, why use violence? In all this long story, the true martyr has been the State of Lebanon and the people, whose land has been for sixty years occupied by “brothers” rejected by all the surrounding countries, who wish only to get rid of us.

During these historic days of July, I hail the heroes both living and dead and I call on all those who have sincere intentions and who are capable of reflection to act calmly and peacefully and so to reach a global settlement of this crisis and to put an end to our miseries.

Joseph Matar
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Translated from French: K.J.Mortimer