BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, once an arch foe of Palestinian groups in the country, offered condolences Thursday over the death of a West Bank minister who died after being choked and beaten by Israeli police Wednesday.
“It is with deep sadness that I have received the news about the death of Minister Ziad Abu Ein,” Geagea said in a statement addressed to the Palestinian Authority and people. “I [offer] the most earnest feelings of condolence and sympathy over this ordeal.”
Geagea’s condolence letter appears to be in line with recent conciliatory efforts between his party, which was seen as being allied with Israel during the 1975-1990 civil war, and Palestinians.
Enmity between the Lebanese Forces and Palestinian armed factions dates back to the early days of the war.
It reached its peak after the 1982 Sabra-Shatila massacre carried out by Israeli-backed Christian militiamen who killed around 2,000 mostly civilians inside the Palestinian camps.
Lebanese Christian parties have never acknowledged their involvement in the massacre.
But Geagea and other Christian leaders have denounced in recent years the Israel's wars on Gaza.
In Thursday’s condolence letter, Geagea expressed his support to the “Palestinian cause,” saying the struggle for a Palestinian state will carry on as long as people like Abu Ein sacrifice their blood for its sake.
“Condemnations are not enough anymore, because the Palestinians’ bleeding wound cannot be healed without the announcement of an independent Palestinian state,” he said.
The Amal Movement, which also led fierce clashes against Palestinian factions during the civil war, also offered its condolences over the minister's death in a statement Wednesday.
Abu Ein was stopped by Israeli police who grabbed him by the neck and shook him and as he led a peaceful protest to plant olive trees in an occupied West Bank village. Witnesses also said one of the Israeli soldiers hit Abu Ein on the chest with the butt of his rifle.
Abu Ein died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. He was the head of the Committee of Resistance Against the Wall and Settlements, and a member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council.
An official medical report by the Palestinian Health Ministry stated that Abu Ein’s death resulted from the physical attack by the occupation forces, and was not a natural death as Israeli authorities are claiming.
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