Palestine House Shows ‘Forget Me Not’ on South Lebanon
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- Palestine House hosted the exhibition “Forget Me Not: South Lebanon in Memory and Motion” earlier this month.
- Forget Me Not displays 2000 archival footage of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon and contemporary newspaper clippings, juxtaposing past and present conflict.
- Rasha Kotaiche, a co‑curator, says the project, originally planned for 2020, finally launched six years later with added depth, using 30 years of footage to explore her family’s migration.
- Ali Abou Khalil, co‑curator, emphasizes southern Lebanon’s history of foreign intervention, neglect, and the resulting culture of self‑reliance and mistrust of external authority.
- Nor Nsralla contributed the video testimonial “What Remains,” featuring residents who lived through Israel’s October 2024 invasion and describing deep attachment to the land.
- UN peacekeepers reported multiple ceasefire violations after the November 2024 Israel‑Lebanon ceasefire, mostly by Israeli forces, leaving southern Lebanon exposed and shifting local mood from tension to alarm.
Why it matters: The exhibition gives southern Lebanese residents and the diaspora a platform to reshape their history, while exposing the continued vulnerability caused by Israeli incursions and ceasefire breaches, which keep the region exposed and heighten local alarm and underscore the need for stronger state protection.
