When this nightmare will end!?
By: Eli Atmé - UALM – Australia
22/11/2005

The recent crisis in Southern Lebanon forcing our people to keep asking an old new question (when this nightmare will end?) that was first asked in the sixties (4 decades ago) when then terrorist group the PLO decided to launch their attacks on Israeli civilian targets drawing a harsh reprisal from the Israeli on Southern Lebanon. A country is held hostage by a bunch of terrorist groups dictating when and where they’ll turn their peaceful working day to a day of death and destruction while the whole world trying to decide whether their arms are an internal or an external issue! Since when the arms of a terrorist group that was supplied on a monthly basis by foreign countries is an internal issue (loads of arms shipped to Hezbollah in Lebanon from Tehran thru Damascus airport).

Lebanese citizen in Southern Lebanon continually watched for more than 4 decades their politicians appease terrorist groups over their presence in the area, despite the fact that the people are paying the ultimate price in the lives of their families. But the part that was hardest for southerners to accept, was when they see their fellow citizens talk of unity and independence and freedom while their lives been manipulated by terrorist groups in which affecting their daily living severally. The rest of the country living the euphoria of riding the country of all occupation, thus far is forgetting the daily agony of their fellow citizen down south and the occupation of a terrorist group to their villages, holding them hostages day in day out. The politicians appointed by these groups keep a blind eye to the empty promises of somehow the government should extend its control in the area, a promise more than four decades old and still no light at the end of the tunnel.

The newly elected government have failed on their promises in protecting the republic at the same time they are celebrating Independence day, they failed in giving the people of Southern Lebanon what they always yarned for; to be truly once, just once part of the Lebanese republic rather than been controlled by armed thugs. The newly elected politicians incessantly arm wrestling each others over a positions or a spot in government, while the lives of thousands of people in southern Lebanon are hanging in the balance waiting and hoping for a new dawn, a better future to their children. 

The situation is reaching a crisis proportion when the people are seeing and feeling no improvement in their living standards and the reasons are:

They feel that they’ve been abandoned particularly the youth.
Feeling delusional over talk of government involvement in bringing about changes to the rising numbers of unemployed people.
Systematical increase of migration numbers out of the region,
Resentment of not feeling secure and safe in their own homes
Lack of support of any governmental facilities whilst increase of facilities of the terrorist group.

Furthermore, the population is growing bitter of not having true representation during the recent election, a true voice to represent them and make their voices heard. An old question making its ways thru the hills of southern Lebanon, are the people of the south part of the republic or they are just living on the edge in the true sense of meaning to the word “living on the edge”. Sadly, instead of making the people feel certain their presence is one of a whole body called the Lebanese republic, more or less giving them the sense of belonging to this newly formed free nation. Instead they are celebrating another independence day under occupation; the worst kind of occupation, to be subjugated by another group of citizen considering themselves above the law and they draw their legitimacy by some government officials!?

*Political activist
*Political Researcher and Analyst
*University Lecturer