{"id":425,"date":"2019-10-11T13:41:45","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T13:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thanassiscambanis.com\/sipa\/?p=425"},"modified":"2019-10-11T13:41:45","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T13:41:45","slug":"2006-didnt-defeat-lebanese-patriotism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thanassiscambanis.com\/sipa\/2019\/10\/2006-didnt-defeat-lebanese-patriotism\/","title":{"rendered":"2006 Didn\u2019t Defeat Lebanese Patriotism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Picture1\"BY JUANA LEE<\/span><\/p>\n

According to an IDB study conducted by the Herzliya Conference, Israeli Jews were just as patriotic following the 2006 Israel and Lebanon War. But, what about Lebanese survivors?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an interview, Nadine, now 23, recalled the strengthening of her loyalty and allegiance to her country after the war. \u201c[The conflict] taught me the meaning of patriotism, and it opened my eyes to the realities of the world today.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

War always has its consequences. But thirteen years after the end of the war, Nadine finally shares her story on how the 2006 Israel and Lebanon war didn\u2019t rattle – rather strengthened – her patriotism towards her homeland.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the start of the 2006 Israel and Lebanon war, also known as the July war or the 34-day war, Nadine didn\u2019t want to leave home. She felt a sense of loyalty that was instilled in her since birth. She had close friends, a supportive family and a happy childhood, all tightly knit in the suburbs of Beirut.<\/span><\/p>\n

Living beside the American University in Beirut, Nadine felt safe. Yet outside of her bubble, starting on July 12 2006, Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israel Defense Forces began a conflict that attacked Lebanon from the the land, sea and air, instilling massive civilian casualties and destroying highways, airports and homes<\/span><\/p>\n

But, she knew she wanted to grow old in Lebanon, and the 34-day war did not scare her because Lebanon was, and still is, her home.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so long as she was in Lebanon, Nadine still felt at home \u2013 at peace \u2013 while airstrikes and missiles targeted neighbouring infrastructure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet even though Nadine was loyal to Lebanon, she was just a child and she did not understand the gravity of the war.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was in the summer, we were kids. I was about 8 or 9 and I wasn\u2019t expecting this to happen\u2026 Although I was living beside the University, they hit a place next to my house, and we could hear the airplanes\u2026 we could hear everything,\u201d Nadine said.<\/span><\/p>\n

After that incident, her parents decided to move the family to a safer place, in the mountains outside Beirut, in order to shield her from the most gruesome and traumatizing aspects of the conflict. Her parents made the collective decision to protect her and her brother, Tarif, prioritizing their safety and wellbeing. But she said that she still witnessed bombs and explosions. And according to a <\/span>United Nations General Assembly report<\/span><\/a>, children her age accounted for approximately one-third of the civilian casualties during the 34-day war.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although Nadine\u2019s mother, Mirna, played a crucial role in protecting the livelihood of Nadine, she almost died doing so.<\/span><\/p>\n

In case they wanted to flee the country, Mirna headed to the Passport Renewal Agency to renew her passport – which was twenty minutes from our home in the mountains – she said in an interview. But, the day she went, they bombed the building next to the office. Although Mirna survived the attack, Nadine recalls her mother\u2019s near-death experience as the first time she was genuinely scared.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very scary because I didn\u2019t know if my mom was alive. I didn\u2019t know if anything happened to her. I didn\u2019t know when she was coming home,\u201d Nadine said.<\/p>\n


\n<\/span>Nadine\u2019s recollection of her mother\u2019s passport experience was foggy, but she said that after that incident, for the first time she felt that wanted to leave Lebanon.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Nadine may not remember details of her mother\u2019s near-fatal incident, Mirna did. During the war, she felt as sense of hopelessness in Lebanon and she saw no future for her children. To protect Nadine and Tarif, she first forced Tarif to leave the country, in the first days of the war, she said in an interview. She believed Lebanon had no future, so she insisted that he move across the world – to Canada – where she thought he would be free to pursue a future on his own terms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had to sent Tarif away from Lebanon – there was no hope,\u201d Mirna said in an interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nadine summarized Tarif\u2019s journey. She said that Tarif endured a dangerous crossover to Damascus because the runways of the Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport were destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. After arriving in Syria, he flew 8800 kilometers to Montreal, where he continued his education and developed a second home in the French speaking city.<\/span><\/p>\n

And similar to Tarif, thousands of civilians fled Lebanon due to the dangers of the war. After the conflict ended, Nadine said many of her friends never returned.\u00a0 \u201cI went to school and a lot of students weren\u2019t there anymore. Even my closest friends weren\u2019t there. They moved out of the country and that wasn\u2019t easy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But, as a \u201cloyal and naive\u201d Lebanese citizen, Nadine stayed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPatriotism gives meaning to my existence in my homeland.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After the war, even surviving the near-death experience of her mother, nine-year-old Nadine expressed a greater sense of loyalty to Lebanon, with goal to protect and help the development on her country. She saw potential.<\/span><\/p>\n

To support her Lebanese neighbours, her first task was to organize a book and cake sale in the compound she stayed in, with the aim to raise money and give it to the \u201cmost vulnerable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The petty cash she made from her book and cake sale illustrated her hope to one day unite and reconcile her home country by helping others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And unlike her mother, she still has hope in Lebanon. Thirteen years after the war, Nadine hopes to better her country for the next generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that it is my, as well as every Lebanese citizen\u2019s, responsibility to fight for our land and for the stability of our country,\u201d Nadine said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In doing so, Nadine decided to pursue human rights in hopes that her wartime experience and education can somehow translate and influence Lebanon\u2019s agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

To pursue her education, Nadine temporarily left home to the hub of human rights – New York City. Although she is not in Lebanon, the Beirut-native says that \u201cLebanon will always be my one and only home – no matter what. I\u2019m doing this for my country.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 34-day war had severe impacts on Lebanon\u2019s economic, political and social spheres, but loyal citizens, like Nadine, will continue to keep afloat this war-flawed country. <\/span>