In most countries of the world, the south is the most deprived. In Lebanon, the system managed to make the north the most deprived, poor and destitute place. We will present a brief history of Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood, one of the most prominent and perhaps most famous neighborhoods of the city. For years, the media focused on Bab al-Tabbaneh’s armed manifestations, while nurturing a sectarian discourse instead of delving into the neighborhood’s urban, residential and environmental crises, or highlighting the presence of the army within the neighborhood itself instead of its outskirts. In this article we will try to uncover the neighborhood’s history and the reasons behind its development into one of Tripoli’s poorest neighborhoods.
Read the Arabic article here.