THE NAKBA AND LEBANON
Lebanon had gained independence in 1943.
Nahr al-Barid
Five years later, following the Nakba and the establishment of Israel, Lebanon’s history became inseparable from that of the Palestinian people. The Nakba – the historic colonial dispossession and ethnic cleansing that accompanied the creation of the state of Israel – forced up to 120,000 Palestinian refugees into Lebanon. They were spread across 15 refugee camps, three of which were later destroyed between 1975-1990. For communities in southern Lebanon, this marked an early and direct encounter with the violence underpinning Zionism and Israel’s statehood. The impact was not confined to Palestinians alone; the entire region was drawn into the consequences of the colonial partition of historic Palestine. The reality of Israel’s military violence was taken to bloody lengths just five months after Israel’s establishment. In October 1948, Israeli forces entered the village of Hula, on the southern side of the Litani river. They expelled the women and children and killed most of the boys and men – some as young as 15. In total, 58 people were killed. The Hula massacre marked Israel’s first invasion of Lebanon, foreshadowing a longer pattern of military violence that would come to define its relationship with the country in the decades that followed.
Beddawi
Dbeyeh
Wavel
Mar Elias
Shatila
Burj Barajneh
Ain al-Helweh
Mieh Mieh
Al-Buss
Burj al-Shamali
Rashidieh
it numbers around half a million people, spread across 12 refugee camps. Palestinian refugees are an integral part of Lebanon’s social and political fabric, shaping – and being shaped, by the country’s modern history. By the 1950s and 1960s, Lebanon was also being reshaped by wider regional transformations. Within the country, political and ideological divisions emerged, falling along two currents. One saw Lebanon as part of wider anti- imperialist and pan-Arab struggles for self- determination and sovereignty, and understood the Palestinian struggle against Zionism as central to that vision. The other emphasised Lebanon’s distinct history, culture and future, often aligning more closely with Western powers. Within this landscape, the Palestinian cause – and the presence of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon – occupied a complex and contested position.
Meanwhile, the refugee population that arrived in 1948 remained. Today,
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