"The right does not die for those who demand it," written in Arabic over an image of the Palms the Legend restaurant in Nahr al-Kalb. Sept. 24, 2023. (Credit: Facebook/TerreLiban)
The dismantling of the Palms the Legend restaurant, which has been the subject of controversy this summer over permits and environmental impact, began this weekend.
Located along Nahr al-Kalb, the venue is located in the heart of a valley where commemorative stelae and other monuments have been erected over the centuries. Since 2019, Lebanon has been asking the UN to include the site on its World Heritage List.
Environmentalists denounced the restaurant's mobile wooden platform which was built over the dry riverbed and used for events. Built without the necessary authorizations, it was criticized for its negative environmental impact.
The venue's dismantling was confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour by both the environmental association Terre Liban, that advocated for months to have the building taken down and the building's operators, albeit for very different reasons.
Terre Liban said the demolition of the building was the result of a decision issued in August by Attorney General at the Court of Appeal of Mount Lebanon, Ghada Aoun, who have Palms the Legend the deadline Sept. 23 to remove its structure.
Menawhile, Nathalie Rahal, one of the consortium partners that owns the restaurant, told another story. "This is the normal end-of-season procedure. Our authorization lasts from June to September, as it does every summer."
Although the wood and scaffolding are gradually being dismantled, the controversy persists.
'There will be consequences'
At 11 p.m. on Sunday, Terre Liban posted the following statement on its Facebook account: "Because truth always wins, here's a live photo showing the implementation of the court ruling calling for the removal of the violation begun last June by Casino Nahr al-Kalb [the company that owns Palms the Legend]."
In the image, empty metal structures tangle in front of what appears to be an ancient bridge, typical of the valley.
'Normal procedure'
"This was our closing party for the summer season, on Sept. 23. We started dismantling on the 24th, as planned," said Rahal, who has been involved in organizing events at the Palms since 2022.
She insisted that the dismantling is not the consequence of any court decision, but a "normal procedure."
Rahal denounced what she called a "media cabal" that is not without effect on this tourist season's takings.
"We had evenings where 500 people had booked and a few less came because of all this. But we were able to finish the season normally," she explained.
She threatened that Terre Liban's story "will have consequences" at the judicial level, without giving further details.
Terre Liban founder Paul Abi Rached claimed the reason behind the venue's dismantling were quite different. "They were forced to do it. The ISF [Internal Security Forces] called me this morning and sent inspectors over there to check that the decision was being implemented. These people are just carrying out Ghada Aoun's order, period," he told L'Orient-Le Jour.
When contacted by L'Orient Le-Jour, the ISF said they had "no information" on the matter and would not confirm the inspection visit mentioned by Abi Rached.
"Their parties were scheduled until Oct. 1, and they had announced it on all their networks. They're laughing at us!" added Abi Rached.
The latest post on the venue's Instagram page indeed announced that parties and concerts would take place until Oct. 1, but it was not immediately clear if these events were set to happen on the controversial Nahr al-Kalb platform.
'Enormous' environmental impact
"This dismantling is a victory, because the environmental impact of another week's activity would have been enormous," said Abi Rached.
From his point of view, the summary of the case is simple. "The Palms project is illegal. They are relying on a decree dating back to 2000 that doesn't even concern them," he said, clarifying that the decree applied to a sister company.
Abi Rached called the decree in quiestion "a mistake" by the Ministry of the Environment, which conducted an impact study on the site. "They shouldn't even have done it. It's illegal, that's all," he said, pointing out that the Nahr al-Kalb site "is sacred" and contains archaeological treasures dating back thousands of years.
