We had the feeling that the Zionist arrest campaigns did not end after the first campaign and the individual arrests here and there. The question is political and moral, which I was asking myself.
Does a person stay in the place if he thinks he will get arrested?
I remember discussing this question with a friend who said that it would be wise for a person to leave if he knew that he would be arrested. As for me, it was challenging to make such a decision because I knew I would feel guilty about leaving my people at this challenging time.
I was a moralist rather than a Marxist, as I used to think about myself. I need a solid moral justification for my deeds, and this is usually easy when things are black and white but more problematic when things are clumsy.
I did not belong to any party, even though I had sympathy with the Marxist factions in the PLO. Most of my generation did not escape the attraction of Marxism. It was the most fitting ideology, so to speak. It fits us coz we were dispossessed by Zionists and turned into poor refugees outside our home country. It fits us coz the US and the capitalist world, which back Israel, and the soviet socialists back Palestine’s struggle for freedom.
I was active in cultural activities, which gave me some influence, and I maintained good relationships with the people of the camp. However, this made me feel responsible without any accountable position apart from my conscious.
Nevertheless, the arrests were random, including everyone without exception.
A teacher whom I know (He died two weeks ago) was neutral about participating in any activity.
I understood his situation because his father was blind. In addition, he was the only man in the family with four sisters to take care of.
I sometimes joked with him, telling him that he is an important Marxist leader. And he would explode laughing. This teacher was arrested by Israel for one and a half years. And later, he was arrested by the Amal Shia militia for about two years.
So the truth is that every Palestinian, whether active or not, is subject to arrest and killing at the hands of the Pro Zionist puppet groups led by the Lebanese General Luhud. Several young men from the camp were killed, disappeared, and never returned.
Israel used these groups to kill, arrest and torture because it could claim before the world that it was not responsible, even though it was Israel who led, trained, and arm them.
The well-known Khiam prison, built by Israel in South Lebanon and handed over to its client groups, was a detainee not subject to international monitoring by the International Red Cross.
This prison was notorious for torture and murder. Israel used to plead before international public opinion that it had nothing to do with this infamous prison.
After the Sabra and Shatila massacre, in which thousands of Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli Lebanese agents, Menachem Begin, the Zionist prime minister, said that Arabs are killing Arabs, so the Jews have nothing to do with it?????
I must talk about the Norwegian solidarity medical team in the camp due to their medical role in helping the people of the camp.
On my last visit to the Norwegian medical team, the Israeli tanks had arrived about a kilometer from the clinic of the Norwegian medical team. But I insisted on going to thank them on behalf of the camp residents.
Over the years, they provided medical services to the residents. More importantly, they were getting to know the Palestinian cause. During those years, I got to know dozens of them and became friends with whom I still keep in touch.
And I think they helped much in building a strong solidarity movement in Norway, .which undoubtedly helped in changing the attitudes of the Norwegian people towards supporting Palestine.
I went to them, and they were in the clinic shelter.
It was a touching farewell, especially with Dr. Berit, with whom I had a friendship. She was a brilliant woman eager to learn much about the history of Palestine and the region. I left them, convinced that I would face my destiny, whatever it was.
I do not know how to explain it. I’m not religious, but I believe that every person has a particular destiny no matter what he does. This does not mean we do not have choices in life, and I think we do, but I do not know how much space we have to choose.
I later learned that one of them, Dr. Steiner, was detained for some time by the Zionists and then released.
Indeed, the Norwegian medical team served in the camp and made a great effort to enlighten the Norwegian people about the Palestinian cause. Especially as they lived through the war and saw the destruction caused by Zionists?
They held a great activity in which they spoke to the newspapers about their experience in the war in Lebanon. They arranged a Hearing in Oslo in which some who experienced the Israeli invasion testified. It was indeed an excellent job to expose the lies of the Zionists.
Before the Israeli invasion, I got an invitation from the Norwegian solidarity to visit Norway the following summer. I did not know that I would come to Norway later to settle down.
Ps. This is a continuation of my memoirs about the Zionist invasion to Lebanon in 1982, the comprehensive destruction of Palestinian camps, and the massacres it committed against the Palestinian civilians.
Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian Norwegian researcher, lecturer playwright and poet, wrote more than 17 books such as Perspectives on thought, culture and political sociology, in thought, culture and ideology, the road to Baghdad. Palestine in heart.
