The Lebanese Union for Persons with Motor Disabilities and the Arab Forum for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities organized a dialogue meeting with the representative of the Palestinian Disability Coalition, Shatha Abu Srour, a human rights activist, at the “Safir” forum in Beirut, with the participation of representatives of human rights and civil organizations, media professionals and interested parties, in addition to a delegation from the Arab Forum from Palestine, Iraq, Tunisia and Mauritania.

After a welcoming speech by the president of the Lebanese Federation for Persons with Motor Disabilities, Silvana Al-Laqis, and an introductory tour of the dialogue participants, Abu Srour spoke about the current reality of the Palestinian people, the fact that this current war is an extension of the policies of settler colonialism that have been practiced on Palestine for more than a century, and the renewed colonization of the region.

Abu Srour highlighted the compounded challenges faced by persons with disabilities in environments that lack the minimum elements of safety and accessibility, in addition to the death of a number of persons with disabilities in detention and captivity. She also presented the occupation forces’ prevention of humanitarian aid in general and the prohibition of the entry of prosthetic devices and medical aids needed by persons with disabilities, who, like other Palestinians, are subjected to killing, displacement, starvation, fear, arbitrary detention and abuse.

Abu Srour emphasized the inevitability of continuing resistance in the face of the Zionist occupation, saying that living safely with humiliation is more painful for Palestinians than death, and that martyrdom is one of the options in the march of national liberation of peoples.

The participants discussed what is required of society in Lebanon and the Arab region to support the Palestinian people in their battle for liberation, as the liberation of Palestine from the Zionist occupation means the security of neighboring Arab countries, stressing that the liberation of Palestine is an Arab responsibility.