Christmas around the world: Lebanon

For me, this Christmas will be unlike previous ones. In past years, as a Muslim, I celebrated the holiday with my fellow Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, at the birthplace of Christ in Bethlehem. We would gather on the balcony of one of the buildings overlooking Manger Square to watch thousands of Palestinians, of both religions, carrying crucifixes and singing Palestinian carols in defiance of Israeli security. Thanks to my British nationality, I was able to visit the Holy Land legitimately, but for the past two years that status has no longer been valid. Along with thousands of other Palestinians who would like to make the annual pilgrimage back to their homeland, or to the birthplace of their parents, I am denied this right.

This year in the run-up to Christmas, I am visiting my parents in Borj el-Shamali refugee camp, where they have lived since they were evicted from Galilee, in what was Northern Palestine, in 1948. Just a few kilometres from the Roman columns of Tyre, on Lebanon's southern Mediterranean coast, the area was the scene of heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in this summer's war; my mother, father and sisters refused to flee to the relative safety of Sidon. Now, the camp feels like a welcome escape from Beirut, where daily confrontations between government supporters and opposition forces have been threatening to take Lebanon back to the old days, when political divisions were drawn along sectarian lines.

The Lebanese have struggled to rebuild the country in the 15 years since the end of their civil war. The area of downtown Beirut whose reconstruction was financed by Rafiq Hariri, the assassinated former prime minister, became a showpiece. Every visiting foreign dignitary was entertained with pride on the former green line between Muslim and Christian forces. The present-day confrontations - with the prime minister's alliance, known as the 14 March Forces, accusing Hezbollah of being influenced by Iran and Syria, while they in turn are accused of trying to implement US policies - is a looking-glass into what the whole Middle East is experiencing.

From my vantage point at a makeshift coffee shop concealed behind the Roman ruins of Tyre, the Lebanese border with Israel is clearly visible. I watch a flotilla of navy ships belonging to the international peacekeeping force, which has been despatched by the UN to maintain stability following this summer's war. I can also see the convoys of Hezbollah supporters, horns blaring and flags waving, on their way to Beirut to join the massive rally demonstrating against the moderate government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the western support he receives.

This pressure against the government of the day is echoed by the pressures being exerted upon the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, by his rivals in Hamas. The alliance that Hamas has forged with Hezbollah is no different from the one which Hezbollah enjoys with Shia political parties and militias in Iraq sympathetic to Iran.

In the past, it seemed as if nothing could keep Lebanon down. Through 15 years of civil war, its people would just pick up the pieces and carry on as normal. I recently met a new generation of Lebanese singer, one who had picked up a prize at the World Music Awards in London in November. Elissa, a rising musical star in the Middle East, told me over a dinner in Beirut last week that she has no plans to sing in her own country over Christmas, because of the tense situation and the deteriorating security. She sadly explained how she was left with no option but to seek out an audience in Egypt, at Sharm el-Sheikh, the popular tourist resort.

If Elissa is typical of the youth of Lebanon, perhaps its spirit has finally been broken. Many wonder if there will be any hope left for her generation as Lebanon is once again being divided by factionalism - but this time within the same religion, a situation that even the old civil war failed to provoke.

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