Lebanese in Israel and the plight for return

More than 25 years after Israel’s abrupt withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, the fate of thousands of Lebanese who crossed the border alongside the retreating Israeli forces remains one of the most unresolved and politically charged files in the Lebanese landscape. When the South Lebanon Army (SLA) collapsed overnight, more than 8,500 soldiers and their families faced an impossible choice: stay and risk imprisonment, retaliation, or worse at the hands of a Hezbollah advancing rapidly into former SLA-controlled territory, or flee. Most fled within hours, leaving behind homes, land, and relatives with little more than what they could carry.

A quarter-century later, an estimated 3,500 Lebanese remain in Israel the residue of a displacement that was swift, poorly planned, and never formally resolved. Predominantly Maronite Christian, with smaller communities of Druze and Muslim families, they hold Israeli citizenship under a 2004 law tailored specifically to former SLA members and their dependents, yet remain registered by Israeli authorities under the ethnic designation “Lebanese” a legal category that underscores the ambiguity of their belonging. In Lebanon, they are still classified as collaborators. Many were sentenced in absentia. Any attempt to return carries the risk of arrest.

But the file does not end with those who fled. It extends to an entire generation born and raised in Israel; young men and women who have never set foot in Lebanon, who know their homeland only through their families’ stories, old photographs, and fragments recovered on social media. They carry Lebanese roots in a country that formally considers them enemies.

As Lebanon and Israel sit at the negotiating table for the first time since the failed May 17 Agreement of 1983, and as Beirut’s formal demands include the return of the displaced, the question of these families has quietly re-entered the frame. What remains uncertain is whether a diplomatic process focused on Hezbollah’s disarmament and territorial withdrawal will leave room for the slower, more painful work of reconciliation and whether Lebanon is prepared to reckon with the circumstances that drove its own citizens across the border in the first place.

Legal obstacles continue to delay return of Lebanese exiles in Israel

Lebanese attorney Abdo Ghsoub told The Beiruter that the 2011 law governing the status of Lebanese exiles remains ineffective because the necessary implementation decrees have never been issued. He said the law established different legal mechanisms depending on each individual’s circumstances, but was never enforced in practice.

Ghsoub stressed that the issue is far more complex than a simple amnesty. Many exiles acquired Israeli citizenship, were convicted in absentia by Lebanese courts, or became affiliated with Israeli state institutions, creating significant legal obstacles to their return. He noted that the recently proposed general amnesty law merely revives the issue within the framework of the 2011 legislation without addressing these unresolved challenges.

According to Ghsoub, Lebanese authorities lack accurate data on the number of exiles, their legal status, and how many settled permanently in Israel. He argued that any serious solution must begin with comprehensive documentation and individual legal assessments.

While some exiles who neither obtained Israeli citizenship nor collaborated with Israeli institutions could theoretically return under the 2011 law, those convicted by Lebanese courts or who served in Israeli official bodies would remain subject to prosecution. Ghsoub concluded that

without a clear legal and administrative process, the proposed amnesty is unlikely to facilitate the return of exiles currently living in Israel.

Pierre Diab: “We demand the right to visit our homeland”

25 years after leaving Lebanon, the displaced Lebanese Pierre Diab still believes that the issue of Lebanese people in Israel is approached from a political rather than a humanitarian perspective.

Diab told The Beiruter that many of them are not necessarily demanding permanent return, but rather the right to freely visit Lebanon, arguing that the children of these families should be able to see the land where their parents and grandparents were born. He said: “It is our natural right to visit our land, our country, and our homeland for which we fought and made sacrifices.” He added that

“had it not been for our presence and steadfastness in southern Lebanon during the periods of occupation, it would not have been possible to preserve this land or pave the way for its people to return.”

Diab noted that “our presence was a key factor in confronting the occupation and preventing the consolidation of its control over the south.”

Diab also rejected being described as criminals or treated as people in need of amnesty, questioning the nature of the alleged offense. He said: “The issue of an amnesty law is sometimes raised regarding us, but the fundamental question is: what act or crime is such an amnesty supposed to cover? We demand clarity on what is considered an offense in this context.”

Moreover, he continues to recall his southern village, which remains vivid in his memory despite the long years, noting that his longing for the land has not faded and that hope of visiting it still persists, no matter how much time passes.

Mariam Younes: “We have preserved our Lebanese identity”

For her part, the displaced Lebanese Mariam Younes told The Beiruter that Lebanese people living in Israel have managed to build stable lives and a new future for themselves without abandoning their Lebanese roots.

She said that the children of these families have succeeded in combining two different identities, which, in her view, makes them carriers of a message calling for peace and communication between peoples. At the same time, she highlighted that nostalgia for Lebanon remains a central part of their daily lives. She stressed:

Nostalgia for the homeland remains deeply rooted within us, and we continue to hold on to hope for peace.

She also added that “today, this peace seems closer than ever, in light of developments that push us to look with greater confidence toward a more stable and reassuring future.”

Furthermore, Younes noted that younger generations grew up on their parents’ stories about the homeland, villages, and families they were deprived of seeing. She considered that this longing has not disappeared over the years, but remains deeply embedded in their collective memory.

A human file that resurfaces with every escalation

Whenever confrontations along the Lebanese-Israeli border intensify, the issue of Lebanese residents in Israel returns to the forefront. Wars and security tensions repeatedly reopen questions about their fate and the possibility of finding solutions that address the file from a humanitarian and legal perspective, away from political polarization.

In addition, the issue of a general amnesty has recently contributed to reviving the debate, amid a sharp division between those supporting their safe and dignified return and those opposing it on the grounds that they are “collaborators,” as they put it.

Despite initiatives proposed over the years, the issue remains unresolved between political calculations and security considerations, leaving its future open to multiple possibilities.

Ultimately, between narratives of war, displacement, and longing, their story continues as one of the enduring humanitarian issues tied to questions of identity, belonging, and return; within a country that has yet to fully close the chapters of its past or achieve genuine national reconciliation.