Despite state neglect and the bureaucratic blockades being enforced by the Lebanese military, residents in villages like Mayfadoun and the surrounding areas view their land not just as property to be reclaimed, but as an intergenerational archive of survival against successive Israeli invasions. By stubbornly holding on to their right to return, the people of the South continue to expose the profound fragility of a domestic client state attempting to enforce submission from above.
“Until the last Israeli leaves our land, we will remain here,” a man from the town of Braiqa told me. “Everything destroyed can be rebuilt, and the people of the south will be the ones to rebuild it with our own hands.”
As Israel maintains a firm grip on parts of south Lebanon, and the Lebanese Government pursues Western approval, the native population of south Lebanon finds itself more committed to the pursuit of liberation. This hardened and organic resolve is forged directly in the fire of daily survival, where the dual assault of Israeli occupation and institutional betrayal has stripped away any lingering illusions regarding the legitimacy of the current political order.
Cover image: The entrance to Burj Rahhal, southern Lebanon. Photo: Roqayah Chamseddine