DEARBORN — Community members gathered at the Islamic Center of America (ICA) on Sunday, April 21 to commemorate the anniversary of the Qana Massacres in Lebanon.

Hassan Bazzi, President of the Dearborn Heights Community Organization, served as the Master of Ceremonies during the commemoration. Bazzi welcomed guests to an early breakfast, donated by eight committee members of Qana Jalil, a local organization that has hosted the annual commemoration for the last 12 years.

Above: A photo of Hadi and Abdulmohsen Bitar with their grandmother. The young boys were killed after taking shelter in a clearly marked UN compound.

The southern village of Qana was a primary Israeli target during two separate aggressive attacks that were launched on Lebanon in 1996 and again in 2006.  The attacks led to international outrage when the bombings resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians, including mostly women and children.

The attacks drew heavy scrutiny towards Israel from countries in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and South America. However, despite this, the U.S. continued to overlook the country’s war crimes. During the initial bombing in 1996, a UN resolution was drafted to condemn Israel’s attack in Qana, but the U.S. voted against it.

Speakers at the event included the Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani, Lebanese Heritage Club President Suehaila Amen and religious leader Sayed Mahde Ameen, who also took the podium to recite prayers for the victims of the tragedies. 

The initial attack on Qana in 1996 garnered massive U.S attention when two young siblings, Hadi and Abdulmohsen Bitar, U.S. citizens from Dearborn, Michigan, who had been visiting their grandmother in the village, were killed when the bombing raid commenced. According to UN reports and a conclusive investigation, they had taken shelter in a clearly marked UN compound along with many others. However, ignoring UN protocol, the shelter was bombed, killing a total of 106 civilians and injuring 116 others.

Above: Publisher Osama Siblani spoke to attendees.

The village was again the target of an Israeli attack ten years later in 2006, during the Israeli-Hizballah conflict when 56 lives were lost, including 32 children, according to the Lebanese Red Cross.  At the time, Israel was condemned by the Human Rights Watch organization because of its “consistent failure to distinguish combatants from civilians,” thus deeming the act a “war crime.”

Siblani, who was the main speaker at the event, spoke about the community’s understanding of the horror and pain of all acts of terrorism that have occurred in recent years throughout the world.  He shared feelings of grief resulting from such acts, including the recent attack at the Boston Marathon. He criticized the mainstream media for drawing parallels between the attacks and suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s appearance to become increasingly religious in the months leading up to the events at the Marathon on April 15.

Siblani expressed the community’s feelings of grief and pain for the victim’s families in Boston and all those present during the attack.  He went on to explain that, while we share in this loss, the community should not have to apologize for the actions of two individuals.

“Every day we watch with shock and sadness the terror that takes the lives of countless people, and sometimes entire families, in Iraq, Syria and other countries in the Middle East.” Siblani added that “America should feel with those countries as well, who have suffered at the hands of extremists like those accused in the Boston bombing.  Some of these extremists are regrettably trained and financed by US tax dollars.”

Siblani also criticized the rush by Arab and Muslim American organizations to issue an “apologetic condemnation” of actions that have “nothing to do with our community.” “We cannot and should not be held responsible for the actions of other people,” he stated.

In her address, Suehaila Amen encouraged attendees to fight for justice on a larger scale. She went on to express the importance of getting involved in local organizations, so as to further unify the community under one umbrella.

“My plea today is to get involved and be more active in the community. I ask that you pay attention to the things that occur around you, not just overseas,” stated Amen. “There are so many people fighting injustice on a daily basis in our community, and we need to be aware of the things that are occurring on a government level, a city level and on a state level.”

The events in Qana still hit close to home, even 12 years after the initial attacks in Lebanon. The community continues to remember the victims of these tragedies, in an effort to raise awareness of what they consider crimes of war. The Bitar Family, whose children were killed in 1996 and who remain residents of Dearborn, continues to participate in the yearly commemorations as well.