Israel, Lebanon, Palestine phone calling

In the Gaza strip Hamas is banning anything interfering with his grip on the local media. But Lebanon is now lifting a ban on phone calls from Lebanon to Palestine.

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 …”There is a famous Lebanese song by the singer Sabah that goes: “Hello, hello, hello, Beirut? Please, dear, get me Beirut, and hurry up please!”

[today]…many Palestinians in Lebanon have been putting new words to the old tune in the past few days: “Hello, hello, hello, Palestine? Please dear, get me Palestine, and hurry up please!”…

Qlick here to hear the song

 

The reason is that the Lebanese government has officially lifted the ban on calls to the 970 country code this week, making it possible for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to call their relatives in historic Palestine for the first time in decades.

‘I am thrilled with the news, but I cannot help feeling bad about all the years I spent in Beirut without being able to contact my family and relatives who are still in Palestine,’ Imad said.’Still, better late than never.’

 

The 970 country code was established in 1993 and was issued to the Palestinian Authority which at the time was in control of both the West Bank and Gaza.

Since then, the Islamic Hamas party has taken control of the Gaza Strip, while President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party controls the West Bank. But the Hamas-Fatah split has apparently not affected the phone network.

 

Now that Lebanon has lifted the ban, Syria is the only remaining country that doesn’t allow phone calls to the 970 country-code.”…see here.

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And where is the Israeli connection?

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 …”Debsy, [Hisham Debsy, media adviser for the PLO embassy in Lebanon], bristled when asked about the possibility of security breaches in the telecommunications network now that the lines are reopened. “You have to refer to the Lebanese government for this answer. Israel did not wait for the lines to reopen in order to hack into Lebanese land lines and mobile phones,” he said. Indeed, even if it was impossible to call Israel/Palestine from Lebanon, it has always been possible to call Lebanon from Israel/Palestine.”  see here.

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Now, perhaps in the near future, we will hear a new song by the singer Sabah, from Syria to Israel… “Hello, hello, hello, Israel? Please dear, get me Israel, and hurry up please!”…