An Cosantóir

tibnine mayor | 15 AT TITANIC COMMEMORATION tIBNINe MayoR O BY WESLEY BOURKE PHOTOS BY ARMN NEVILLE COUGHLAN & A/SEA DAVID JONES Cllr Jim Quinlan, and FOCNS Commodore Mark Mellett DSM. After the commemoration the president carried out a fleet n April 11th Cobh held a major commemoration of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The event was attended by President Michael D Higgins, the Lord Mayor of Cobh, mentaries or read any of the many books or articles about the disaster will be very familiar with Capt Smith and many of his crew and more illustrious passengers. Being Irish we would also be aware of the large number of Irish passengers travel- ling in steerage. Of course there were many other nationalities represented among the ill-fated ship's crew and passengers; people from as far away as Uruguay and South Africa, and as near as Germany and Belgium. However, many people may be surprised to know that there were 154 Arabs onboard, of whom 97 were Lebanese. We were given this information from Mr Nabil Fawaz, the review of NS ships, which also included the Royal Navy's HMS Mersey, before visiting the Naval Base in Haulbowline, his first visit as president to a Defence Forces post. Anyone who has seen one of the many movies or docu- Lord Mayor of Tibnine, who was in Cobh for the commemora- tions. "I am here to represent the 97 Lebanese that we know were on the Titanic," the Lord Mayor told us. "Thirteen were from Tibnine, and six of these were among the 29 Lebanese survivors. For me it is particularly satisfying to come to Ireland to remember these people from my village and country, given the great relationship that has been built between the people of the Defence Forces, IUNVA and ONET who had served with UNIFIL. Tibnine with the Crusader Castle in the foreground peacekeepers in Tibnine. "The Irish commitment and contribu- tion to Tibnine and South Lebanon has been very important for the security of the people in the area," he said. "All the way from 1978 through the various Israeli invasions up to 2006 the Irish have helped to protect Tibnine. The relationship has evolved both on a human and economic level. The Irish have a great way of developing relationships with the local people. Such is our feeling towards the Irish that when they came back to Lebanon a year and a half ago I insisted that Tibnine would be part of their AOR." As part of his visit the Lord Mayor also met with members that served in Lebanon, Tibnine has been the focal point for Irish interest in South Lebanon. On President Mary McAleese's first visit to Lebanon she stayed in Camp Shamrock and visited Tibnine Orphanage, and on her last visit 14 years later in 2011 she also travelled to Tibnine. The Lord Mayor was effusive on the contribution of the Irish two countries, I recently met an Irish peacekeeper in Tibnine whose grandfather served with UNIFIL in 1978 and whose father served with the mission in 1985: three generations of the same family who have seen service in South Lebanon." As the location of the headquarters of the Irish battalions of Tibnine and the Irish since 1978 when Irish peacekeepers first came to my country. "To give an indication of the depth of this link between our President Michael D Higgins takes his salute Lord Mayor of Tibnine, Nabil Fawaz, and his wife Carmen with Guy Jones (Irish Lebanese Cultural Foundation) and his wife Christine. http://irishlebanese.com L.É. Aoife P 22 on display www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE

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