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<h1>Lebanese see hope and beauty ahead in fragile ceasefire</h1><div class="gmail-responsive-image"><img src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/AP24331656953524-1732706201.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80" alt="Ivana Skakye, 2, a Lebanese child who is suffering from third-degree burns over 40 percent of her body following an Israeli airstrike last September near their home in Deir Qanoun al Nahr," width="468" height="312" style="margin-right: 25px;"></div>Ivana
Skakye, a two-year-old with third-degree burns over 40 percent of her
body, receives treatment on October 29, 2024, at Beirut's Geitaoui
Hospital after an Israeli air strike hit near her home in southern
Lebanon [Hussein Malla/AP Photo]<div class="gmail-article-info-block"><div class="gmail-article-b-l"><div class="gmail-article-author-name"><span class="gmail-article-by">By </span><span class="gmail-article-author-name-item"><a class="gmail-author-link" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/author/justin_salhani_150211052541586">Justin Salhani</a></span></div><div class="gmail-article-dates"><div class="gmail-date-simple gmail-css-1yjq2zp"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Published On 28 Nov 2024</span><span aria-hidden="true"> -<font size="1"> </font></span><font size="1"><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/28/lebanese-see-hope-and-beauty-ahead-in-fragile-ceasefire">https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/28/lebanese-see-hope-and-beauty-ahead-in-fragile-ceasefire</a></font></div></div></div><div class="gmail-social-share-buttons"><div class="gmail-update-reading-list"></div></div></div><div class="gmail-update-reading-list"><span class="gmail-update-reading-list__tooltip" role="tooltip"></span></div><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Facebook" href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2F92zkvw"></a><a class="gmail-social-share-button" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Share on Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Lebanese%20see%20hope%20and%20beauty%20ahead%20in%20fragile%20ceasefire&source=sharethiscom&related=sharethis&via=AJEnglish&url=https%3A%2F%2Faje.io%2F92zkvw"></a><a class="gmail-social-share-button gmail-copylink" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="Copy link" href="https://aje.io/92zkvw"></a><p><strong>Beirut, Lebanon</strong>
– For the past two months, St Francis Church in Hamra has taken in
displaced families from southern Lebanon and Dahiyeh, a constellation of
Beirut suburbs.</p>
<p>It’s been a difficult time for many of the families who fled Israeli
bombing and a ground offensive in the south, but since early Wednesday
when a ceasefire came into effect, there has been a different energy in
the air.</p>
<p>Standing by the door to the church’s car park, where the displaced
have pitched tents, Ibrahim Termos, 25, radiated joy when asked about
the ceasefire on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Around him, people were packing up their tents and belongings as they prepared for the journey back home.</p>
<p>“It’s not about just a ceasefire but that we won a ceasefire,” Termos
said, smiling. He lost his home in this war, but the fact the nightmare
of the past two months is over has him focusing on the positive.</p>
<p>“Our apartment was destroyed, but the building is still standing,” Termos said.</p><div style="display:block;min-width:0px;max-width:770px"><div class="gmail-video-player-facade-container"><div class="gmail-aj-video-player gmail-in-article-bc-video-player gmail-aj-parsed-component"><span class="gmail-video-js gmail-vjs-paused gmail-vjs-controls-enabled gmail-vjs-touch-enabled gmail-vjs-workinghover gmail-vjs-v8 gmail-vjs-user-active gmail-vjs-layout-medium gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default-index-0 gmail-vjs-ad-controls gmail-vjs-ima3-html5 gmail-vjs-plugins-ready gmail-pause-controller gmail-vjs-player-info gmail-vjs-contextmenu-ui gmail-vjs-viewability gmail-vjs-errors gmail-vjs-quality-menu" id="gmail-vjs_video_3" tabindex="-1" lang="en" role="region" aria-label="Video Player"><div class="gmail-vjs-poster" aria-disabled="false"><span class="gmail-vjs-poster" tabindex="-1"><img alt="" src="https://cf-images.eu-west-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/665003303001/5cb080c4-ad15-48a3-9887-d919e1ac70d1/da99c08f-edf8-47b7-a713-c12df5d2f5b3/1920x1080/match/image.jpg" width="468" height="263" style="margin-right: 0px;"></span></div><div class="gmail-vjs-text-track-display"><div style="margin:1.5%"></div></div></span></div></div></div><div class="gmail-aj-video-player gmail-in-article-bc-video-player gmail-aj-parsed-component"><span class="gmail-video-js gmail-vjs-paused gmail-vjs-controls-enabled gmail-vjs-touch-enabled gmail-vjs-workinghover gmail-vjs-v8 gmail-vjs-user-active gmail-vjs-layout-medium gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default-index-0 gmail-vjs-ad-controls gmail-vjs-ima3-html5 gmail-vjs-plugins-ready gmail-pause-controller gmail-vjs-player-info gmail-vjs-contextmenu-ui gmail-vjs-viewability gmail-vjs-errors gmail-vjs-quality-menu" id="gmail-vjs_video_3" tabindex="-1" lang="en" role="region" aria-label="Video Player"></span></div><div class="gmail-video-duration__brand-bar"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Video Duration 2 minutes 24 seconds </span><span aria-hidden="true" class="gmail-video-duration__duration">2:24</span></div><ul class="gmail-playlist-horizontal-container gmail-in-article-brightcove-playlist" id="gmail-playlist-container"><li tabindex="0"> <div class="gmail-playlist-item-image-container"><span class="gmail-playlist-item-showing-now" title="Now Playing">Now Playing</span><div class="gmail-video-item-duration-container gmail-playlist-item-duration-container"></div></div></li></ul><div style="display:block;min-width:0px;max-width:770px"><div class="gmail-video-player-facade-container"><ul class="gmail-playlist-horizontal-container gmail-in-article-brightcove-playlist" id="gmail-playlist-container"><li tabindex="4"><div class="gmail-playlist-item-image-container"><div class="gmail-video-item-duration-container gmail-playlist-item-duration-container"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Video Duration 06 minutes 03 seconds </span><span aria-hidden="true" class="gmail-video-duration__duration">06:03</span></div><div class="gmail-responsive-image"><img class="gmail-playlist-item-image" src="https://cf-images.eu-west-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/665003303001/688dd3ef-1ff5-42d8-9f75-5f4671cd8073/7857bbda-eaad-4825-8976-503cbb1dd7c6/426x240/match/image.jpg?resize=730%2C410&quality=80" alt="Devastation in Gaza: Airstrikes and Humanitarian Crisis Intensify" width="360" height="240" style="margin-right: 0px;"></div></div><h3 class="gmail-playlist-item-title" title="Devastation in Gaza: Airstrikes and Humanitarian Crisis Intensify"> Devastation in Gaza: Airstrikes and Humanitarian Crisis Intensify</h3></li></ul></div>
<p></p></div>
<p> </p>
<h2 id="gmail-a-celebratory-mood">A celebratory mood</h2>
<p>After nearly 14 months of fighting, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel agreed to a ceasefire.</p>
<p>It stipulates that Israel must withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah
is to retreat north of the Litani River. The Lebanese military is to
deploy to fill that space along the border with Israel within 60 days.</p>
<p>While some people were sceptical that Israel would commit fully to
the ceasefire – doubts that resurfaced on Thursday as Israel fired on a
number of locations in Lebanon – the general mood was euphoric.</p>
<p>A quarter of Lebanon’s population has been displaced in the war, and
videos and photos of packed roads circulated on social media as people
headed home before the day even broke on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Beirut was in a celebratory mood that morning as cars piled high with
mattresses and other belongings departed from hotels and shelters.</p>
<p>Posters of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah adorned many cars, and some waved Hezbollah flags from their windows.</p>
<p>Some images also featured the late Hachem Safieddine, who was thought
to be Nasrallah’s likely successor before his assassination a few days
after Nasrallah’s.</p>
<img class="gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-3354399" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/RC2IDBAWXN76-1732803354.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80" alt="FILE PHOTO: Israel, Hezbollah agree to ceasefire brokered by U.S. and France" width="468" height="312" style="margin-right: 25px;">Women wave Hezbollah flags as they drive past a damaged building at the entrance of Dahiyeh [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]
<p>In Zkak el-Blat, a convoy of motorcycles waving the red and green
flags of Harakat Amal, the party of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who
negotiated the ceasefire on behalf of Hezbollah, sped down a street,
honking in celebration.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-i-hope">‘I hope …’</h2>
<p>At St Francis Church, many of the displaced who had homes to return to left early in the morning.</p>
<p>Some whose houses are in the deep south in places like Khiam where
the devastation was brutal and Israeli soldiers may still be present
said they would stay another day.</p>
<p>The people in the shelter have lived through some hard moments, but
many are optimistic that this fragile peace will hold and the country
will prosper once more.</p>
<p>“I hope we have a beautiful future with no violence,” Mohsen Sleiman,
48, said. “And that in our kids’ futures, they don’t see war and
destruction.”</p>
<p>Despite losing his home in Dahiyeh and his home in his village of
al-Bayyaada in southern Lebanon, Sleiman is defiant, stressing that the
most important thing is his family’s safety.</p>
<p>“We’re used to this,” he said. “It’s a victory for all of Lebanon, not just a single sect.”</p><div style="display:block;min-width:0px;max-width:770px"><div class="gmail-video-player-facade-container"><div class="gmail-aj-video-player gmail-in-article-bc-video-player gmail-aj-parsed-component"><span class="gmail-video-js gmail-vjs-paused gmail-vjs-controls-enabled gmail-vjs-touch-enabled gmail-vjs-workinghover gmail-vjs-v8 gmail-vjs-user-active gmail-vjs-layout-medium gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default-index-1 gmail-vjs-ad-controls gmail-vjs-ima3-html5 gmail-vjs-plugins-ready gmail-pause-controller gmail-vjs-player-info gmail-vjs-contextmenu-ui gmail-vjs-viewability gmail-vjs-errors gmail-vjs-quality-menu gmail-vjs-hide-controls" id="gmail-vjs_video_1453" tabindex="-1" lang="en" role="region" aria-label="Video Player"><div class="gmail-vjs-poster" aria-disabled="false"><span class="gmail-vjs-poster" tabindex="-1"><img alt="" src="https://cf-images.eu-west-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/665003303001/ac09f97f-57b4-4964-8a2d-224bc2d87fb0/f3d88b3a-aeae-4eeb-bce0-a83c8062183e/1920x1080/match/image.jpg" width="468" height="259" style="margin-right: 0px;"></span></div><div class="gmail-vjs-text-track-display"><div style="margin:1.5%"></div></div></span></div></div></div><div style="display:block;min-width:0px;max-width:770px"><div class="gmail-video-player-facade-container"><div class="gmail-aj-video-player gmail-in-article-bc-video-player gmail-aj-parsed-component"><span class="gmail-video-js gmail-vjs-paused gmail-vjs-controls-enabled gmail-vjs-touch-enabled gmail-vjs-workinghover gmail-vjs-v8 gmail-vjs-user-active gmail-vjs-layout-medium gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default-index-1 gmail-vjs-ad-controls gmail-vjs-ima3-html5 gmail-vjs-plugins-ready gmail-pause-controller gmail-vjs-player-info gmail-vjs-contextmenu-ui gmail-vjs-viewability gmail-vjs-errors gmail-vjs-quality-menu gmail-vjs-hide-controls" id="gmail-vjs_video_1453" tabindex="-1" lang="en" role="region" aria-label="Video Player"></span></div><div class="gmail-video-duration__brand-bar"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Video Duration 2 minutes 45 seconds </span><span aria-hidden="true" class="gmail-video-duration__duration">2:45</span></div></div>
<p></p></div>
<p> </p>
<p>Hussein Ismail, 38, was standing nearby, watching his young son bounce a football in his hands.</p>
<p>Born during the Lebanese Civil War, he has been through the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel as well.</p>
<p>Throwing his hands up, he exclaimed: “We’ve lived in this kind of environment since our childhood.</p>
<p>“Now, we want to live independently.”</p>
<p>“I’ll go home, God willing,” he said. “I don’t know if my home in
Choueifat [a neighbourhood in Dahiyeh] is still standing, but everything
will be OK.”</p>
<h2 id="gmail-there-s-beauty-in-what-s-ahead">‘There’s beauty in what’s ahead’</h2>
<p>Father Abdallah, wearing a brown robe and glasses, is speaking with
displaced people who are packing up and preparing to go home.</p>
<p>“I’m happy people get to go home,” he said.</p>
<p>“There’s joy and feelings of victory. They’re all happy. They see that there’s beauty in what’s ahead.”</p>
<p>His Roman Catholic church, Abdallah said, opened its doors to everyone in need, regardless of sect or religion.</p><div style="display:block;min-width:0px;max-width:770px"><div class="gmail-video-player-facade-container"><div class="gmail-aj-video-player gmail-in-article-bc-video-player gmail-aj-parsed-component"><span class="gmail-video-js gmail-vjs-paused gmail-vjs-controls-enabled gmail-vjs-touch-enabled gmail-vjs-workinghover gmail-vjs-v8 gmail-vjs-user-active gmail-vjs-layout-medium gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default-index-2 gmail-vjs-ad-controls gmail-vjs-ima3-html5 gmail-vjs-plugins-ready gmail-pause-controller gmail-vjs-player-info gmail-vjs-contextmenu-ui gmail-vjs-viewability gmail-vjs-errors gmail-vjs-quality-menu gmail-vjs-hide-controls" id="gmail-vjs_video_2865" tabindex="-1" lang="en" role="region" aria-label="Video Player"><div class="gmail-vjs-poster" aria-disabled="false"><span class="gmail-vjs-poster" tabindex="-1"><img alt="" src="https://cf-images.eu-west-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/665003303001/da7efd75-0b03-4ee3-97b5-2a3dae70810a/00e29acb-5381-4f33-a72e-b6a294384568/1920x1080/match/image.jpg" width="468" height="263" style="margin-right: 0px;"></span></div><div class="gmail-vjs-text-track-display"><div style="margin:1.5%"></div></div></span></div></div></div><div style="display:block;min-width:0px;max-width:770px"><div class="gmail-video-player-facade-container"><div class="gmail-aj-video-player gmail-in-article-bc-video-player gmail-aj-parsed-component"><span class="gmail-video-js gmail-vjs-paused gmail-vjs-controls-enabled gmail-vjs-touch-enabled gmail-vjs-workinghover gmail-vjs-v8 gmail-vjs-user-active gmail-vjs-layout-medium gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default gmail-bc-player-6tKQRAx7lu_default-index-2 gmail-vjs-ad-controls gmail-vjs-ima3-html5 gmail-vjs-plugins-ready gmail-pause-controller gmail-vjs-player-info gmail-vjs-contextmenu-ui gmail-vjs-viewability gmail-vjs-errors gmail-vjs-quality-menu gmail-vjs-hide-controls" id="gmail-vjs_video_2865" tabindex="-1" lang="en" role="region" aria-label="Video Player"></span></div><div class="gmail-video-duration__brand-bar"><span class="gmail-screen-reader-text">Video Duration 2 minutes 34 seconds </span><span aria-hidden="true" class="gmail-video-duration__duration">2:34</span></div></div>
<p></p></div>
<p> </p>
<p>“We welcomed them. In the end, the important thing is the dignity of life. Dignity is a minimum.”</p>
<p>Many in Lebanon doubted a ceasefire would ever work, but once it took effect, the outpouring of joy was ubiquitous.</p>
<p>For his part, Abdallah spoke with cautious optimism.</p>
<p>“Personally, I say, God willing, it holds,” he said. “It depends, but the hope is it holds 100 percent.”</p>
<h2 id="gmail-a-fragile-peace-but-likely-to-persist">A fragile peace but likely to persist</h2>
<p>As the day wore on, reports came in of Israeli violence as its
soldiers wounded two journalists in Khiam and fired at cars. But the
ceasefire nonetheless appeared to hold.</p>
<p>For now, breaking the ceasefire would be highly unfavourable for
either side as the political and military consequences would outweigh
any potential gains.</p>
<p>At a bookshop in Hamra, grey-haired intellectuals sat among piles of books, discussing the latest developments.</p>
<img class="gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-3354387" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/RMW06582-1732803131.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80" alt="Sleiman Bakhti read the ceasefire's conditions closely." width="468" height="312" style="margin-right: 25px;">Sleiman Bakhti read the ceasefire’s conditions closely [Raghed Waked/Al Jazeera]
<p>“The whole issue was never about Lebanon,” said Sleiman Bakhti, the
shop’s owner. “The negotiations [with Israel] should have been directly
with [Hezbollah’s main backers] Iran.”</p>
<p>Bakhti believes a new chapter is emerging for Lebanon, one that is
less defined by Iran and more by Israel and its allies – and the
ceasefire may be the first paragraph in that new chapter.</p>
<p>Also sitting in the bookshop is longtime radio correspondent Bassem
Elmoualem, an expert on the United States and Central America.</p>
<p>While many were looking at the short-term implications of the
ceasefire, Elmoualem’s decades as a political observer have taught him
to look at the bigger picture.</p>
<p>Israel’s actions, he said, led to the collapse of its global image.</p>
<p>“October 7 [2003] was the beginning of the end,” he said. “[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is dead.”</p>
<img class="gmail-size-arc-image-770 gmail-wp-image-3351662" src="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2024-11-27T080927Z_816816269_RC2JDBAWAP2L_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-LEBANON-1732697641.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80" alt="Cars drive past rubble from damaged buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs, after a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah took effect at 0200 GMT on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden said both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France, in Lebanon, November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir" width="468" height="312" style="margin-right: 25px;">Cars drive past the rubble of damaged buildings in Dahiyeh [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]<li tabindex="0"><br></li></div>