The History We Were Taught to Forget

Growing Up in Lebanon: Beyond Sectarian Narratives and the Colonial Legacy

Growing up in Lebanon formed my understanding of the Palestinian experience in ways I only fully appreciated later. I learned that Palestinian civilians in Lebanon were not only victims of Zionist and Jewish supremacist violence, but also of violence carried out by Lebanese militias from both Muslim and Christian backgrounds during the civil war. Lebanese civilians, too, suffered immensely throughout those years.

A Lebanese Christian supremacist celebrating killing people

At the same time, I witnessed and learned that many Lebanese Christians and Muslims alike stood with Palestinians, defended them, sheltered them, and rejected these atrocities.

Growing up in this environment also led me to reflect on how dominant Western narratives have formed public memory. Too often, the focus is placed on the conflicts that followed, while the colonial policies that helped create and sustain them fade into the background.

From my perspective, Britain and other European colonial powers played a central role in reshaping the region through imperial policies whose consequences are still felt today. Yet public talk often encourages us to overlook the historical responsibilities, focusing instead on the region’s internal conflicts while ignoring the colonial decisions that laid much of the basis for the instability we continue to witness.

This history reminds us that responsibility belongs to those who commit crimes, not to entire religions or communities. The suffering of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in Lebanon cannot be understood through simplistic religious or sectarian narratives, nor can it be separated from the wider history of colonial intervention in the region. It is a story of violence inflicted by armed groups and political actors, but also of solidarity shown by people of different faiths who chose humanity over sectarianism. Remembering this history in all its complexity requires admitting both the crimes committed by local actors and the enduring legacy of the colonial powers whose policies helped create the conditions in which these tragedies unfolded.