Lebanese students took part in a more unusual field trip this weekend - a Hezbollah-guided tour of southern Lebanon and the chance to examine the political and paramilitary group's array of weaponry. The group of young men and women went as they were, some in strapless tops and others wearing veils, a mixture of Muslims and Christians.
Hezbollah, which is facing calls to disarm, seemed eager to bring in both Christian and Muslim students in an attempt to garner support from all Lebanese parties and introduce young people to "The land of the Islamic Resistance," as Hezbollah leader Mohammed Taleb described the south.
The trip came a few days before May 25, when Lebanon will mark the tenth anniversary of the Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation. Dozens of students had the chance over the weekend to get up- close-and-personal with Hezbollah fighters, who showed them how to handle rocket launchers and anti-aircraft missiles.
Hezbollah men clad in military fatigues were pestered by the students, many of them from the francophone Jesuit Saint Joseph University in Beirut, who were curious to learn about the arms and the guerrilla war against Israel. Speaking in fluent French, Taleb said: "We want our students, whether they are from Hezbollah, supporters, or rivals, to see the land that Israel occupied for 22 years."
"The land was freed by the hands of the thousands of resistance fighters who fought every day to return the land to its people," Taleb said. Grace, a Christian student, looked amazed when she saw the Hezbollah fighters face-to-face for the first time in her life. Many of the students were travelling to the south for the first time and had thus never seen Israel, which borders the region.
"For me this is like a movie, I respect those young men, as they liberated my land. I do not look at them as if they are terrorists like the West describes them," she said with a smile. "For us this is a day to remember all our lives," said George, a Christian student who refused to give his last name for personal reasons.
The arms display was held in a military zone near the village of Rihan, but the students were also taken to the area of Maroun al-Ras, where some of the fiercest fighting occurred during Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon. Students were also allowed to enter a field where Hezbollah had destroyed several Israeli tanks and raised the Lebanese flag under the eyes of an Israeli patrol.
Hezbollah's field trip came at a time when Israel has accused the group of enhancing its military arsenal by obtaining Scud missiles from Syria. Some Lebanese parties and the United Nations have demanded Hezbollah be disarmed, but the Lebanese government wants a negotiated solution.
So far the roundtable talks have yet to make any progress on finding an alternative defence mechanism against the perceived Israeli threat. "We will keep our arms because they are meant to help us confront Israel in case it carries out attacks against Lebanon again," Taleb said.
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