9th July 1967

This is my mother’s date of birth.

She was born in Beirut, in Lebanon, between Syria and Israel, in the Middle East.

Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 due to the presence of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). During that time my mother was twenty five and because of the bombing she lost her maternal grandparents who had been hiding in their village.

Israel withdrew, occupying part of the South of Lebanon where the paternal grandparents’ was and her relatives lived. To see them they had to get an Israel free pass and, when in the South of Lebanon, they had to leave the car several miles from a checkpoint: they usually walked, not caring about the weather conditions, to the checkpoint to be later searched. All this could take some hours, and it could sometimes even happen that they could send you back.

Once inside the “safety” zone, there were many restrictions. For example, it was forbidden to drive alone. In fact, if the Israel army saw someone driving alone they fired at them, and, many times, a tank passed over (it was forbidden even to go out after sunset).

This situation lasted until 2000, when Israel decided to withdraw, still keeping control of a strip of Lebanon.

In 2006 Israel bombed Lebanon for several months destroying airports, infrastructures and facilities, power plants and hydroelectric ones, major roads and bridges, houses and bilduings.

At that time, my grandmother was in America because of my birth and got stuck there for several months, not being allowed to go back home to her relatives where the war had spread out.

Even today the Israel army violates the borders of Lebanon with air and land raids. Indeed last year, during summer holidays, at midnight, we heard the noise of military jets flying low over the town and we heard and saw bombs exploding in the distance.

Alice Avaro

2nd May 2022