Standing next to a Lebanese flag hurriedly stuck between a dismantled fence and a utility pole, with the demolished houses of the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in the background, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam gave an improvised speech. The speech was somewhat halting, devoted to the “inauguration” of “a national moment carrying great political and morale-linked implications, since it represents the beginning of Israel’s withdrawal from our land.”
