We’ve added yet another holiday to the plethora of national holidays. Today was Resistance and Liberation Day, to commemorate Israel’s withdrawal from the south on May 24, 2000. We’ve got 18 public holidays now, against 9 in Holland. I am not complaining.
Fatimah's Gate, in Kfar Kila; Two Lebanese soldiers and a Spanish Unifil member walk along the fence with Israel.
I went down south to check out this newly opened ‘Resistance Tourist Landmark’, as the sign post announced. It was quite entertaining, I must say. I’m a bit of a WWI buff, and can really appreciate this type of military display of trenches, sandbags and battlefield equipment. After all, southern Belgium and northern France are teeming with these types of museums, so why not have one in Lebanon as well?
You’ve got to have a strong tolerance for symbolic overkill though, but then again, Hezbollah is quite evolved in this department. There’s an element of ‘kitsch’ in it all as well, but that did not seem to bother any of the visitors I spoke to.
Fatimah's Gate, in Kfar Kila; Israel's on the other side. Very close, yet it might as well be Uzbekistan or something. It's probably easier to get to Uzbekhistan than to Israel.
Nevertheless, an entertaining day, and I learned all kinds of new things, which I will share later this week, as I am dead tired now after a long drive all the way over the south, along the Israeli border, and back again, in the mean time slugging my way through trenches, caves, artillery posts and tunnels.
Fatimah's Gate, in Kfar Kila; the houses in the picture are in Metullah, an Israeli village.
So I will leave you with a picture of Israel, and Fatimah Gate, where the atmosphere was jovial, to say the least. We tried to look for this thing, but couldn’t find it.
sounds like a long day! cant wait to hear the rest
ReplyDeleteVIVA Hezbollah, VIVA LEBANON
ReplyDeleteGod bless our hero's
lastly just to correct our friend
it is Palestine not Israel
it is the land of Palestinian that Israel occupied that is in our Map in Lebanon and Arabic world and history map
ayri b'hezbollah! bes eh, VIVA Liban!
ReplyDeletetenchrunch...why do you insist on living in the past? it is the unfortunate reality that it is now Israel, but nevertheless, it is Israel, so no need to be stubborn and live in "your own little world." this attitude will never resolve the Arab/Israeli conflict. it is this same attitude of deep routed resentments and hatred (because you are "told" to do so, and which has been past from generation to generation) that will prolong the issues.
we must attempt to live as neighbors, and not as enemies...or we will never see the end of the unrest in our region of the world.