Palestinians and Lebanese – overcoming the past, united in response to Lebanon’s tragedy

Lebanon is home to twelve Palestinian refugee camps and numerous informal irregular settlements or gatherings. Historically, the Palestinian presence in Lebanon has been controversial, with this refugee population seen as upsetting Lebanon’s delicate confessional balance and as playing a catalytic role in Lebanon’s civil war. This is what makes this photograph and the accompanying rescue that has been broadcast worldwide so extraordinary, for it shows a Lebanese victim of Monday’s explosion being pulled from the rubble by Lebanese first responders, the military, as well as a helmeted team from Palestinian Civil Defence.  These Palestinian refugee volunteers are unpaid, inadequately equipped and usually reside in the Palestinian refugee camps, providing essential services to refugee communities devoid of governmental support in emergency response.  The teams first came to prominence in Lebanon last October when working with their Lebanese colleagues they deployed outside the camps to help fight devastating wildfires.  That Palestinians would return in solidarity with and support to Lebanese communities spoke to a shared humanity and a new paradigm of refugee/host community relations, where refugees, if not citizens, nevertheless are compassionate cohabitants of a country that is the only home these Lebanon-born Palestinians have ever known. 

The response to this week’s tragedy has led to a popular outcry to reconfigure Lebanon’s social and political contract and demand public accountability and a break from the past.  As Palestinian and Lebanese civil defence teams work together, putting the past behind them to secure a better future, there is hope even the deepest wounds and seemingly intractable divisions can be healed.  For the sake of all the people living in Lebanon, whatever their confession or their country of origin, let us pray this is the case.