The Palestinians living in Sidon have an ancient historical relationship with the Lebanese, and the city of Sidon is the first Lebanese city to receive Palestinian refugees after the Nakba, in Ain al-Hilweh and the Miya and Miya camp. With the renewed Israeli aggression on Gaza, angry demonstrations took place all over Lebanon, denouncing the Israeli violations. How does the journalist and writer Dr. Abdel Maarouf see the role of these mass rallies in their support for the Palestinian cause?

Maarouf said to “Sawt Beirut International” correspondent, Sarah Shehadeh: “I think that this show, if it is not part of an integrated Arab national project, does not have much value. Is it sufficient compared to the Israeli arrogance in Gaza, Jerusalem, the West Bank and the 48th to demonstrate at the borders? Definitely not, because this enemy can only be defeated by organizing the ranks of the Arab peoples, raising their level of awareness and returning the Palestinian cause to Arab consciousness as a central cause for Arabs”.

Dr. Maarouf asserts that what is happening in Palestine is a challenge for the entire Arab nation. “Glorifying the heroism of the Palestinians and exaggerating them and talking about that the Palestinian people are capable of resilience, survival and victory aims for two basic issues. First, it aims to load the Palestinian people with what they have no power with in front of this arrogant enemy who possesses lethal weapons and weapons of mass destruction, terror and destruction. Secondly, whoever says that the Palestinian people is capable of winning on their own, wants to evade from their responsibilities”.

Regarding Hezbollah’s readiness to go to war with Israel, Dr. Abdel Maarouf considers that both sides do not want a war. Neither the political situation nor the economic situation in Lebanon allow that, considering that whoever is unable to form a government will not be able to fight the enemy. “Hezbollah is the Lebanese authority now, and vice versa, especially in the south. Is it in the party’s interest today to clash with this enemy? I do not think so. If Hezbollah went with massive aggression against the Israeli enemy, who will build what will be destroyed? Who will support Lebanon? And where will the people of the south go in light of this division and severe economic collapse?”, Maarouf ‎asked.

In Sidon, the people expressed their support for the Palestinian people in their own way, and one of the citizens said, “The Palestinian people are like the Lebanese, they are Arab”.

Dr. Maarouf said, “Sidon was one of the first cities to embrace the Palestinian refugee population. Its residents protected the Palestinian people and defended them desperately, and fought on the land of Palestine as volunteers.”

From the Lebanese people, support for the Palestinian people has not stopped, and Jerusalem will remain a model for every free person and every believer in the world.