In the last two wars on southern Lebanon, Israel destroyed dozens of heritage monuments, and affected homes and palaces whose architecture, libraries, and architectural style documented eras of political and social history in the past two centuries.
In the city of Nabatieh alone, the Israeli bombing destroyed 147 houses ranging in age from 80 to 150 years, some of which were houses and “diwaniyas” built 200 years ago and belonging to local leaders and ancient families in southern Lebanon.
The destruction of these houses, which were built in a special style, did not come as collateral damage to the war and because they were adjacent to military sites, but rather was part of a plan to eliminate the urban, urban and political heritage of the region, such as destroying and burning a market dating back to the Mamluk era in the city of Nabatiyeh.
Cultural and social activities in the south agree that what is happening is a process of “systematic destruction of memory without any actual justification.” The concentrated bombing of ancient homes that historically stand in political contrast to Hezbollah denies what the Israeli army claims that the bombing only targets the party’s facilities and headquarters.
Palestinian factions are racing against time to complete their internal and external consultations with other factions to form electoral lists to participate in the legislative elections scheduled to be held on the twenty-eighth of next November, amid intense communications taking place to set a date for holding a “comprehensive national dialogue” in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, during the coming period.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine presented its electoral list, while the Palestinian National Initiative movement presented a list that included independents, while the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front announced the submission of a list representing it, at a time when none of the major Palestinian factions, whether Fatah or Hamas, presented their lists.
The Fatah movement holds intensive internal meetings in which it consults on many issues related to the elections. It holds meetings at the level of the leadership and its popular and mass bases in preparation for the competition, stressing that it will participate in it on one list, amid attempts by it to unify its ranks after it held a series of meetings, including communicating and meeting with leaders from the “Reformist Movement” (dissident from Fatah) led by Muhammad Dahlan, and with those close to the prisoner Marwan Barghouti.
The Hamas movement is also conducting internal and external consultations with other factions to form a unified national list. Some factions are still hesitant to participate in it, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, while the Democratic Front and the National Initiative movement refused to join it after they were studying it.
The Islamic Jihad movement supports the national list proposal submitted by Hamas, along with the “Resistance Committees” and other small factions.
A source familiar with the details of the consultations told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Gaza factions’ talks are continuing with the “Dahlan Movement,” which the source said “is seeking, for its part, to form a list mainly of independents supported by national figures without any of the Hamas leaders being present in it for reasons that appear to be related to an American veto under pressure from Israel.” However, two sources from the “Jihad” movement denied this trend in a separate statement.
According to the two sources from “Jihad,” communications are still continuing, and names have been chosen to form the national list, and the participation of several factions “has become largely decided,” according to one of the sources. While the second source indicated that he was waiting for a decision on the position of the “Popular Front” to join it after attempts to run in the elections with a unified list with the “Democratic Front” and other leftist factions failed.
As of Monday afternoon, 7 lists had registered themselves in the Central Election Commission’s registry, while 6 lists had been registered on Saturday, which was the first day of receiving registration requests.
This comes in light of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issuing a decision to extend the period for submitting electoral lists for a period of 18 days instead of 12 days, which was set from last Saturday until the seventh of next October, but it was extended to be until October 13.
National dialogue
Many factions sought to postpone the legislative elections and move towards holding a comprehensive national dialogue aimed at putting the Palestinian house in order completely. However, the Fatah movement’s insistence on holding elections, at least in its public positions, sparked a state of confusion among some factions, at a time when Hamas asserts its complete readiness for them.
Khalil Al-Hayya, head of the Hamas political bureau, said in a televised interview two days ago that his movement proposed to all factions, including Fatah, to join a unified list, but he rejected its proposal. Therefore, it is working to form the broadest national coalition to participate in the elections. He stressed that his movement is ready for any comprehensive national dialogue, and that he is ready to meet President Abbas, put an end to the division, and work together to put the Palestinian house in order.
In his recent speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Abbas stressed that the elections would be held on time, calling for a comprehensive national dialogue. In this regard, the Fatah movement took a decision that observers considered surprising to form a committee to hold dialogues with the various Palestinian factions to hold a comprehensive national dialogue, something that the movement had rejected until recently. During meetings it held with factional delegations in Cairo recently, it canceled a meeting with Hamas, as sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat at the time.
The Fatah Committee is formed under the chairmanship of the Secretary of the Movement's Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub, and the membership of Muhammad Shtayyeh and Majid Faraj. The former began making contacts with several Palestinian factions to hold bilateral meetings in preparation for a comprehensive national dialogue. Among those factions that he communicated directly with was the Hamas movement, with whom he had recently communicated several times before assuming the position of Secretary of the Committee, as two Fatah sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat.
At the beginning of this month, several factional sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that there are positive signs of the possibility of successfully holding a comprehensive national meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and that the Fatah movement has become more open to this option, as this effort came after persistent attempts by Egyptian officials to push for this dialogue during recent months to get the Palestinians out of the political impasse they have been experiencing since the start of the Gaza war.
