A Child of the Israeli Invasion The Making of Issa

RANA EL-KHATIB

In 1982, Issa was five years-old. That year, Israel invaded Lebanon killing over 19,000 Lebanese civilians and more than 9,000 Palestinians in Lebanon.

It was then that Israel watered the seeds of resistance in Lebanon--the seeds that led to Hezbollah's formation, the seeds from which Issa would grow and from which 14 years later he would die resisting another Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

I knew Issa for 12 years and I will always remember him smiling shyly as he spoke of his new bride when he married two years ago, and how he would eagerly share pictures of his new daughter Fatimah, with pride radiating from every pore in his body.

Issa was from southern Lebanon. He lived most of his life under Israeli occupation. He witnessed every day its reckless cruelty against his family, his people, his Lebanon. Like most southern Lebanese, he lost family members and homes to Israeli bombs...

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