tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113604952024-03-13T12:52:45.308+02:00LEBANESE DAYSArticles and observations about life and politics in Lebanon written since January 2005Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-9328996219346996852022-07-09T14:08:00.001+03:002022-07-09T14:08:37.243+03:00Lebanon: An Uncertain FutureTranslated into French for Tel Quel Magazine - an excellent Moroccan current events weekly magazine -This is the original text translated by Daria Van Vacas.
Beirut – Irina Prentice
"Why are we killing each other?" exclaims Samia Ahmed attending the wake of Mohamed Shamea, a 20 year-old man killed in the recent violence which has erupted throughout Lebanon. "They should not be killing the family of Lebanon... We don't want any more zaims, we don't want anymore politicians" continued Samia. Mohamed's wife, all of 17 and five months pregnant sat with damp cheeks in a large circle of mourning woman. Her mother sitting next to her said crying: "Mohamed would have never met his young son."
Such is the reality for those families losing their sons to the violent clashes, which have erupted between the Sunni and Druze factions loyal to the government and the opposition led by the Shiite resistance movement Hezbollah. Each day the death toll mounts, and Lebanese families once again attend the funerals of their young killed in what a resident of Beirut labels a new civil war.
Mustapha Kassem a veteran cameraman who lived through Lebanon's 15 years civil war ignited in 1975 said: "Yes, I think it is fair to say that the country is at war, it's a civil war". Although the fighting is contained to stronghold areas of the Sunni and Druze factions backing the present government, each day the battle moves to a new place, and there is a growing list of villages involved in armed conflict which is making the headlines.
So far, the sectarian face of the battle seems to be limited to the Sunni, Shia and Druze communities. For the time being, the divided Christian community seems to be standing on the sidelines, it has too much to lose if it too were to turn its arms on itself. Already a minority in the region, further killing would reduce the Arab Christian number to a count of fingers on both hands. It would also put into question its claim to power in Lebanon.
Tracking the battles, it appears that the Hezbollah led opposition supported by its non-Christian factions is slowly closing in on the Sunni leader Saad Hariri and the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt strongholds in Lebanon.
The battle for both leaders already lost in Beirut last week, is likely to be in its final phases in the provinces, depending on the outcome of diplomatic negotiations taking place regionally and internationally.
Although Lebanon is a small country, only a 5 hours drive north south, and 2 and a half hours east west, the diverse population and freedom of thought attracts a wide variety regional and international players each attempting to influence the different local groups to support their political agenda and international battles.
And yet it is because this country is small that quite often competing ideologies finds themselves in direct confrontation. There is no spare room in Lebanon to absorb and diffuse tensions. What makes the story here complicated is that national battles take on international dimensions, which in return forces international opponents to face each other in real time when they land on Lebanese soil.
Such was the scenario that led to last week's outbreak of violence, now become an outright war. The West and Israel are pitted against the Iranian and Syrian foes.
The Western and Saudi backed government attempted to dismantle Hezbollah's surveillance apparatus in the airport. The apparatus was made up of two components: one, General Wafic Shukeir, head of airport security and ally of Hezbollah (he was asked to resign); two, the dissembling of Hezbollah's surveillance cameras.
The response to the government decision was severe. Al-Sayyed Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah in a videoconference statement last Thursday revealed a very firm and offensive stance, all the while the leader appeared relaxed and confident. Nasrallah demanded the government to revoke its decision to dismantle Hezbollah's airport security apparatus and come to the table to engage in dialogues over a national unity government or else watch out! As he declared: "The government's decisions are tantamount to a declaration of war and the start of a war...The hand that touches the weapons of the resistance will be cut off." Anyone toying with its raison d'etre: resistance against Israel would suffer grave consequences.
And so history, at least for a short time, would have it, Nasrallah means business. Before the loyalist factions could officially respond, the sound of gunfire, bombs, and pistols resounded through several neighborhoods of Beirut. With distance of a few days on the events, it no longer matters who started it. Both loyalist and opposition are to be blamed for the confrontations and escalations of a conflict, which is taking on a worryingly sectarian dimension echoing Iraq.
Within a half an hour of Nasrallah's statement, the battles raged into the night, until a violent thunderstorm, which announced itself as unexpectedly as the battles sent everyone to bed. But sadly the bad weather was not strong enough to dissuade men from fighting. The street battles resumed around 5 in the morning, and the inhabitants of Beirut woke up to a city much under-siege with many key pro-government neighborhoods overtaken by opposition forces.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to say that the current events upset many Lebanese. Of course, most feel a great sadness for the violence and deaths resulting from the power struggle, however for many, the events give about half the residents of the city a sense of relief and renewal.
The armed conflicts, which have erupted throughout Lebanon, will force Lebanese politicians to the negotiation table to help break the17 months deadlock bringing the country to a political standstill.
As Maroun explained, "It is time for change. The leaders in power have been robbing the country blind, and me how do I benefit from the aid money that comes into the country? Look around you, we see nothing of that money".
Certainly the gap in wealth distribution is impressive, and there is little attention paid to social security and increasing salaries and health benefits.
Yet despite its reputation of being clean, the opposition is made up of factions equally corrupt as those that make up the government loyalists. Also, Hezbollah's lack of financial transparency may lead its supporters to equal amount of disillusionment down the road.
But for the time being, the story of Lebanon is still in the making. As President Bush travels to the Middle East this coming Wednesday for probably the last time before leaving office, it will be interesting to follow what will be the impact of his journey in Lebanon.
Already the signs are ominous with the battleship USS Cole having crossed the Suez Canal for the eastern Mediterranean. The question remains for analysts, how will this new power play taking place in Lebanon impact both regional and international policies toward, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and the West? The movements taking place here is
As Samia Ahmed hopelessly said at Mohamed Shamea's wake: "Where is this country going? We just don't know." No matter what her political position, her words are a realistic description about the situation on the ground.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-45998048575903572802022-07-09T14:08:00.000+03:002022-07-09T14:08:27.323+03:00Guns and ThunderAnother Angle of events Written for German Press May 9:
Der Spiegel
http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/resultset.html;iso?suchbegriff=irina+prentice&site=SPIEGEL
THIS WAS THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION WHICH I SENT IN. It became translated and is available on the link above
Beirut - Irina Prentice
The situation on the ground today is tense. The articulation between neighborhoods has mostly fallen under the control of the opposition forces laying a siege to the city. Movement between neighborhoods is difficult.
Although there are some Christian neighborhoods in East Beirut, which are going about business as usual, most of the streets throughout the city are quiet, most shops are closed. The sound of television news travels out of inhabitants’ windows tiredly watching updates of the on television.
Continuous automatic machine gun firing, rocket propelled grenades exploding, and pistols shots interrupted the city’s inhabitants sleep. The racket was magnified by an impressive and unexpected thunderstorm, which made most atheists in the city momentarily believe in a greater power reacting to the situation.
This afternoon, around 3 pm, local news reported on 30 cars filled with armed men shooting in the air not far from the government seat. Analysis was mixed, but the consensus attributed the event as a symbolic threat to the government seat.
Since reports of the drive-by, the surrounding area around the government seat has quieted down. Nevertheless, the army is on high alert in the street making access to the downtown virtually impossible. In attempt to reach a news agency downtown, a soldier in civilian clothes machine gun in hand stopped traffic saying there were snipers in the area.
In the meantime, back in East Beirut, Maroun, a Christian opposition supporter, explains while sipping coffee in his living room that it is a matter of time before things calm down. He sees the opposition as agents for necessary change of the political landscape. In his reading of the situation, the present government must be ousted from power in order to permit a new ruling force to clean up the corruption and handover Lebanon for the Lebanese.
“I am support the Hezbollah one hundred percent, and am confident that once they oust the current government everything will come back to normal”, Maroun said. “It is time to get international forces meddling in Lebanese affairs out. They have no business here.” “Lebanon should be for the Lebanese once and for all”.
Maroun’s optimistic resolution may play itself out quite differently on the ground. The consensus among people is that none knows how the situation will end. Many believe that this will be a short-lived event, yet caution to stay in doors for the next few days.
Open shops today were bustling with Beirutis stocking up on provisions of food, water and cigarettes. Reportedly, shelves of produce were emptying by late morning, people getting ready to sit out the present crisis.
In the meantime international agencies and embassies throughout Lebanon have sent out messages to foreign workers and visitors to stay in doors until a resolution is found.
In other parts of Beirut, heavy gunfire resounded near March 14th supporter, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. Eye-witnesses explained that the shooting was little more than celebratory, as no news of damages of casualties emerged from the area.
From the perspective of the street, although the city is locked down, things for the time being are mostly quiet, and the general sentiment is that everyone is on standby until further notice. People are waiting for political decisions and compromises to be reached, and hope for order to be restored fast.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-33608214654063787692008-05-15T17:45:00.000+03:002008-05-15T17:47:46.784+03:00Beirut Brief - May 15BEIRUT Brief – MAY 15, 2008 <br /><br />CITY AND MOST RECENT EVENTS: <br />Calm seems to have returned to the city. More road blocks have been lifted and the highway to Damascus (the border crossing at Masnaa) and airport road have been open. <br /><br />Last night the Minister of Information, explained that the government agreed to rescind the decision, which triggered last week’s violent conflict. After the statement was made around 11 pm, celebratory gunfire erupted throughout Beirut. Supporters of the opposition celebrated a major victory for the opposition. <br /><br />POLITICS: <br />Opposition: Late this morning, the deputy secretary general of Hezbollah, made a televised conference seemed positive that the competing parties would be able to reach a political agreement. He said that the opposition would “return things” to normal once the political leaders of the government and opposition went into talks to negotiate a solution for a 17 month long political stand off. <br /><br /><br />March 14: The government is conceding to the opposition’s demands for the sake of “greater national interest”, explained begrudgingly the Information Minister. The recent events are a serious blow to the government and its political supporters. Humiliated, their speeches are still filled with anger. Statements resound dismay at the way Hezbollah and its supporters used violence and weapons to get its way. <br /><br />ARAB LEAGUE: <br />Arab League Ministers arrived in Beirut to intervene, deescalate and ultimately halt the fighting, which have resulted in scores of dead (AP: 81). Fearful that the situation would spin out of control, the Arab league ministers provided a platform for the competing political factions to go into talks. <br /><br />These could start as early as Monday and will be hosted by the Qatari government in Doha. Essentially, the Lebanese saga will be put on hold until a solution is reached in the Gulf next week. <br /><br />TALKS: <br />The talks would cover the following points, which have been put on hold during the 17 month political stalemate: <br />* How to share power in the cabinet, ie. work out a new formula of sectarian based posts<br />* Details of a new parliamentary law which would give the opposition greater representation<br /> <br />AIRPORT: <br />Opposition has agreed to the open up the airport road, hence airport activity can resume. <br />As of this afternoon/today there will be only incoming flights, nothing outgoing. <br />Tomorrow, regular flight patterns are due to resume.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-19161253656089492832008-05-15T12:23:00.004+03:002008-05-15T12:43:03.981+03:00After the StormTHIS IS A PIECE COMMISSIONED By MSNBC.com: <br /><br />The piece which is slightly edited led to a pretty large response from the public. <br />I was interested in seeing what people were saying in the US. Makes me think that we need more news outlets to let people get a bigger picture of what is happening out here. <br /><br />http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/09/1003826.aspx<br /><br />By Irina Prentice <br /><br />BEIRUT – By Friday afternoon, the street battles which have flared across Beirut over the last three days seemed to have abated somewhat, though sporadic gunfire could still be heard in different areas of the city. <br /><br />During these tense 72 hours, mostly Shiite Hezbollah and Amal gunmen managed to seize nearly all of the Lebanese capital's Sunni Muslim sector from foes loyal to the U.S.-backed government. At least 11 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in the armed conflict between the Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah fighters and gunmen loyal to the government.<br /><br /> <br />SLIDESHOW: Fighting roils Beirut <br /> <br />Beirut, perched between the sparkling Mediterranean and a green mountain range, has been badly shaken by the violence – the worst sectarian clashes the country has seen since the 15-year civil war from 1975-1990. The skirmishes echo off the mountains, amplifying the sound of explosions as they occur.<br /><br />Throughout Thursday night, heavy fighting took place, with machine gun fire, rocket-propelled grenades and pistol shots making sleep almost impossible for most residents. Compounding the magnitude of the sound was a thunderstorm, which unexpectedly erupted in the same way the armed conflict had a few hours earlier. <br /><br />"The thunderstorm… eerie timing" said Hanna Defuria, visiting her sister who just moved to Beirut two weeks ago. "It was hard to tell what was thunder and what were gunshots, but when the storm passed there were no gunshots." <br /><br />Added Laura Defuria, Hanna’s sister: "Amazingly, I don’t feel unsafe. Maybe it is because I am new to the situation, but I feel like it is far away although it is very close." <br /><br />The sisters are indeed close to the action – they are staying in an apartment on the same street where Saad Hariri, one of Lebanon’s top Sunni lawmakers, lives. Head of the Future Movement and deputy in the parliament, Hariri’s residence suffered damage from a rocket-propelled grenade, and the television station and newspaper affiliated with his political party were attacked and ransacked. <br /><br />Waking up to pock-marked streets <br />The Beirut residents who actually managed to sleep during the night woke up to television images displaying empty streets patrolled by armed militiamen. Damage displayed on the news varied from pockmarked storefronts to shot-up cars parked in the street. <br /><br />A U.S. citizen studying at the American University of Beirut said "that bullets whizzed by my place in the night." A little shook up, he commented on the relaxing atmosphere in mostly Christian East Beirut, which had remained mostly free of violence. <br /><br />Meantime, Joe, a supporter of the Hezbollah opposition, expressed his pleasure at the turn of events. (Like most people I spoke to, he asked that his last name not be used because of the volatility of the situation.)<br /><br />"Look, it is time that there is a change in the government," he said. "They have been robbing the country blind, and this is simply unacceptable." According to him, Hezbollah is only doing what is best for Lebanon, and will pull back once a change in the government takes place.<br /><br />But supporters of the current government are fearful that a forceful change of guard of the government will lead to a Shiite takeover, and lead to an invitation for Syria’s return. "The situation is not good," said Anthony, a supporter of the current government led by Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. "Stay home today if you can."<br /><br />Hunkering down<br />Not knowing what to expect, Beirutis in the Christian neighborhood of Achrafiye piled into a nearby supermarket to stock up on provisions for the next few days. Fresh produce shelves were emptied by mid-day and there were long lines at the checkout counter. <br /><br />Gas stations also experienced increased activity. "Things are calm, but if they get bad again … I will take my family to the mountains," said one driver.<br /><br />Although the atmosphere seemed to have calmed by Friday afternoon, most people seemed to be staying indoors and watching the situation carefully – walking in the quiet streets you can hear the sound of television reports drifting out of open windows. <br /><br />"We are all on standby," said a man named Mustafa who, like many others, had been following the news all day.<br /><br />For more information click here: Q & A: What's happening in Lebanon? NBC News' Richard Engel explains the issues behind the battles in Beirut<br /><br />Irina Prentice is a freelance journalist in Beirut working with NBC News.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-26331899464923945282008-05-09T18:06:00.003+03:002008-05-09T18:13:04.515+03:00Beirut Brief - Ramping UpBeirut- Morning Wrap<br /><br />Yesterday afternoon the political fight came to a head, turning to armed conflict throughout key neighborhoods in Beirut. Loud explosions, automatic machine gun fire, rocket propelled grenade, and pistol shots resounded throughout the night. <br /><br />The fight moved from a vicinity of half a kilometer from my house by Sodeco around 5pm, outwards throughout the city. In the middle of the night, the sound was drowned out by a thunder storm which unexpectedly set in as quickly as the fight which<br />broke out. <br /><br />Although, the sky was clear in the day, and the temperature cool, the unusual storm caught many of the inhabitants off guard. The loud thunder drowned out the explosions, the downpour took over and things seem to quiet down until 5 this morning. <br /><br />"Things were quiet in the neighborhood until about 5 and then it went off", explains an AUB student living in the neighborhood of Hamra. <br /><br />A foreign journalist living in Hamra explained that clashes have been ongoing since this morning, and the streets have reportedly come under control of the members of the opposition forces Hezbollah and Amal militia despite ongoing exchange of gunfire being resounding throughout the neighborhood. <br /><br />Television pictures this morning reveal and predominantly deserted Beirut. Shops are closed, no cars on the street. Damage so far: bullet holes in ars, shattered shop fronts, freshly pockmarked uildings, and some smoke out of Hariri's Moustaqbal<br />Newspaper headquarters. <br /><br />Reports of dead are varying between 7 and 15, but a tally will probably be difficult to track unless the fighting factions announce the numbers. <br /><br />The city yesterday was at 60% blocked, making moving between neighborhoods very difficult. The percentage today is rising although there are no firm numbers.<br />Moving between East and West Beirut has become even more difficult as announcement of the sea road being cut off by opposition Amal forces. <br /><br />At 3pm yesterday, as I left my work day in the Serrail, the political advisor dropping me off to my house received a call in the car announcing the<br />opposition's plan to besiege the government seat in the Serrail. This morning, this unconfirmed rumor seems to be becoming a reality, as reports are saying<br />the Serrail is surrounding by opposition forces.<br />Unconfirmed reports are saying that the security forces of the Serrail have handed over their weapons, who knows. <br /><br />On a wider scale, there are reports of fighting in the northern city of Tripoli as well as fighting in the Bekaa valley. <br /><br />Although the fight which has broken out is predominantly political, it is difficult to separate the sectarian aspect of the conflict whereby so far the greatest clashes are occurring between Sunni and Shia groups. Despite the political wording in both<br />Nasrallah's and Hariri's, the undertone was such that if you are not with us you are against us, and so bring it on... The night clashes echoed the stances. <br /><br />Also, something to track is the wider regional Arab response. Depending on today's local political positions and regional positions may help the picture<br />of what is to come. <br /><br /><br />WHAT LEAD TO THE PRESENT CRISIS: <br /><br />In the beginning of the week, the Lebanese government removed the head of security from the airport, a government employee who was a supporter of the<br />opposition was sacked, and Hezbollah controlled surveillance cameras were removed from the airport. The impact of the decision has been explosive,<br />yesterday Nasrallah explained in his speech that the decision should be revoked and that anyone tampering with their surveillance system was essentially acting<br />for the benefit of Israel. <br /><br />The Hariri well, I don't have it underhand, however it would seem that this morning's results mean that what televised offer he made, it was rejected. <br /><br />SIDE LINE:<br /><br />ONE NON-OFFICIAL REPORT Describing a TACTIC on the ground <br /><br />A pro-opposition source called to explained that the tactic on the ground is to take control of key neighborhoods and news outlets of the various loyalist/ or pro-government factions. From here on, it is a matter of time before government seat will fall.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-73733451133794788382008-02-15T18:41:00.001+02:002008-02-15T18:42:24.401+02:00Uncertainty Prevails Despite Feb. 14 CalmBEIRUT, Feb. 15, 08<br /><br />As Far as Unknowns Go: Welcome to the Capital of Uncertainty<br /><br />Life as usual bustles on this sunny and cool Friday, but do not be duped nothing here is really normal other than uncertainty. <br /><br />"We don't know where the country is going. We want to tell them to stop, but we don't want the Syrian regime here", explain Marie-Louise and Salim, two university students standing under a balcony in a vain attempt to stay dry from the driving rain. <br /><br />The street on which they stood was filled with traffic of people walking in groups to and from Martyr Square in downtown Beirut, a place symbolic for hosting political contestation. <br /><br />The crowd was varied, Muslim, Christian, veiled, bare headed, expensively dressed, poor, in from the country side, other from the city, families, single young men, women under umbrellas, youths carrying party flags, other wearing the flags on their heads for protection, baby strollers adorned by the Lebanese flag. <br /><br />Movement around the square was cramped as security barriers, armed soldiers and armoured vehicles controlled the flow of people heading to the square to watch members of the governing coalition reaffirm<br />their stances on the day commemorating the assassination of Rafic Hariri killed in an explosion three years back. <br /><br />The assassination of the former Prime Minister marked of the political struggle the Lebanese are faced with today. The unfolding Lebanese political saga has led today to a split in the country, which reflects the<br />greater regional political confrontations. <br /><br />The stormy downpour, and increased armed security did not dissuade supporters of the governing coalition to march in the streets determined to fight for a sovereign Lebanon. The amount of people from all walks of life was reminiscent of the spring of 2005, when<br />the country came together in various protest movements. <br /><br />"We will not be scared from anyone until the end", explains 20 year-old Salim, a student at the American University of Beirut. "We are here to prove that Michel Aoun does not have authority. We are here for<br />our Martyr's that have died since the 90's", Salim continues. <br /><br />In the context of his statement, although the February 14 has become a national day to commemorate the death of Rafic Hariri, Salim's words are as politically divisive as is the current state of the country. <br /><br />For some, the former Christian General Michel Aoun a leading member of the opposition siding with Hezbollah is blamed to splitting the Christian community between both anti-and pro-Syrian party supporters. <br /><br />With Aoun siding with the opposition supported by Syria and Iran, his main Christian support finds itself at odds with the present governing coalition backed mostly by the West and Saudi Arabia. <br /><br />Aoun, however, is not the only leader to have divided a sectarian community. It seems that the division cuts across of the sectarian communities, from the Druze, the Sunni, and the Shia. <br /><br />The political battles are not based on religious ideology and differentiation rather the larger underlying theme seems to be competition for power. On a local level, it reflects unfinished business from the Civil War years, on the international front, it reflects the confrontations between the US, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. <br /><br />In Lebanon, international tensions directly impact the local level because political group finds economic and ideological support from external powers. Thus local political victories and losses reflect symbolic ones of international communities. <br /><br />"The solution has to come from outside. It is out of our hands and our leaders, all of them are marionnettes (puppets)," explains the elderly and elegantly clad property agent sitting in his '60s designed office space in East Beirut. <br /><br />"There is nothing for us to do, but to have patience and wait for a greater solution to take place outside. The United States and Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia all have to talk and come to some sort of agreements" says the realtor. <br /><br />"Once they can make a decision, then it will only take Lebanon 24 hours to decide on a government and move on. But until then, we only have patience to work with", continues the tired agent who takes another puff from his local brand Cedar cigarette. <br /><br />Although February 14 went unexpectedly calmly, the show of force on the streets reflected the intensity of the division in the country.<br /><br /> As supporters of the coalition government grouped together in the tens of thousands downtown, simultaneously in the southern suburbs of Beirut, tens of thousands followers in the opposition commemorated<br />the death of one Hezbollah military wing commanders assassinated in Damascus on the night of February 13. <br /><br />Imad Mughniye, long time fugitive and number one on America's most wanted list until Ossama Bin Laden took the lead, found his death to yet another unknown hand.<br /><br />Accused of being involved in a series of deadly plots leading killing American and French servicemen during the 80s, and Argentine Jews in Buenos Aires in the 90s, his list of ills extends, adding kidnappings to<br />his resume. Reportedly, his death is a serious blow to Hezbollah, having just lost a key player in their “military” activities. <br /><br />Additionally, with silence and mystery surrounding each assassination, perfect conspiracy theories and so-called justified fingerpointing will add fuel to the fire. In search for a culprit, each looks outside<br />and draws conclusions based on international reaction.<br /><br />In the case of Mughniye’s death, the United States celebrated the event as a victory in its war on terror. Iran on the other hand decried the event as an act of terror. <br /><br />Hassan Nasrallah leader of Hezbollah and friend of Mughniye called for revenge yesterday in his eulogy of the party member addressing himself to Israel. Whoever the culprit, the silent hand of murder will<br />only be used legitimately or not as another scapegoat further decreasing chances for peace with Israel in the region. <br /><br />"This country was the best in the region", recalls the realtor this morning. "Between 1963 and 1970, you should have seen it, you couldn't find a room in any hotel be it summer or winter. There were people in the streets after midnight, restaurants and cafes were<br />full', he continues. <br /><br />“But with the war, they destroyed everything. My textile business evaporated. Everything went with the wind, ” contemplates with a glazed gaze our realtor. <br /><br />His business destroyed, his savings gone because of the rapid rises of inflation during the civil war, our realtor's story is a foreshadowing of what may be to come if the country becomes engulfed in war. The<br />livelihood of many will go with the wind.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-91699823625988852882008-01-30T16:31:00.000+02:002008-01-30T17:30:14.463+02:00Mud Sligging and Political Tensions EscalateIt has been raining and hailing in Beirut for the past two days. The temperature is cold and this storm appears to be one of the coldest felt in the past couple of years. Ironically, the timing of the chill illustrates the starkness of the political situation. The country is at a standstill, and the impact of the coalition and opposition's face off is taking a fatal turn in the streets. <br /><br />If last Sunday's protest was not a pretty serious expression of the political stalemates and bickering, than today's news, in the French language paper, L'Orient, describing 13 to 15 year old youths attempts to close off one of the main arteries between East and West Beirut last night with burning tires, is a rather depressing escalation. Why are teenagers allowed out of their houses at night during this current situation? Why is there no curfew being set in order to keep civilians away from escalation and danger? <br /><br />Last Sunday's death toll, 9. The numbers for the wounded hover in the 30s. Finger pointing and accusations are rife. News reports: "Why are people dancing along the edge of the precipous?". It is a good question indeed. If the calls for retaliation which have been going out since Sunday evening are heeded, than regardless of the groups involved or responsible for igniting the deadly clashes, the whole of Lebanon will be implicated. <br /><br />As the country functions in a system of political alliances, factions composing the various teams will be called on to support whichever side comes under attack first. It feels like a waiting game, with the patrons getting ready for a showdown. <br /><br />As Samer rolls up his pant legs to show off his shrapnel wounds he explains: "There were about 15 guys who came down the street. Some were huntched behind a dumpster which they rolled down the street as protection. When they got close enough, they lobbed their bomb at us. Out the seven of us sitting on the street corner, 5 of us ended up in the hospital". <br /><br />Atif, Samer's father sitting on one of the couches of his living room hisses between his teeth. He interjects raising his voice saying he had told his son to stay inside. There is only so much Atif can do though: Samer is probably in his mid-thirties. <br /><br />It was around midnight that the explosion occured. Atif in a panick ran downstairs to retrieve his son. By the time he had found Samer, Samer was running as best he could down the street. The back of his left ankle and right knee were injured by shrapnel. <br /><br />At the hospital, Le Mont Liban, by the time Samer was being treated, the youngest of the Gemayel sons appeared on the scene to speak with the injured. The Gemayel family founded the Lebanese Forces, known locally as Kata'ib. An ultra nationalist Christian group, who lost one of its youngest leaders and MPs, Pierre Gemayel, assassinated in December of 2006 at the age of 34. <br /><br />If anything Pierre Gemayel's brother's visit to the hospital late on Sunday night was a courtesy call, but the symbolic way of paying respects is also a symbolic reaffirmation of patronage and protection. <br /><br />The Lebanese client/patron relationship lives on, and is clearly taking the upper-hand during a time when the Lebanese government is at its weakest since the Civil War of 1975. <br /><br />By Monday morning, tension was obvious on the street. Although the Lebanese shop keepers had speedily replaced broken windows, and cleaned up the debris caused by rocks which had been lobbed between opposing factions, the road surface was scared by the heat of the burning tires. Military armed presence was heavy, as was a strong Syrian presence leaning and crouching along the walls along the opposite side of the street. They are day workers supposedly, hanging about for some boss to pick them up. But these seem to also dabble in protesting explains Atif. <br /><br />By Wednesday, the national papers are filled with defensive statements by various groups involved in the violence which broke out during the protests. The only group which seems for a first time to have been executing the dirty work of the coalition is keeping its mouth shut. It has no other option at this point, if the only multi-confessional institution wants to keep itself from splitting apart.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1169980938075018162007-01-28T12:41:00.000+02:002007-01-31T05:29:55.343+02:00Reflecting on Recent Outbreak of ViolenceThe recent outbreaks of violence reflect a large part of unresolved issues left over from the civil war. <br /><br />The points of contentions and the political posturing reveal tensions which are completely Lebanese and not foreign. One supporter of Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement referred to unresolved issues from the civil war to reinforce his description of deficiencies among various pro-government factions. <br /><br />Based on his line of argument, Lebanon's decision to avoid national reconciliation talks after the civil war appears to have been a mistake. <br /><br />However, as of today, it looks like there will be a lull period of two weeks, during which political heads will meet and attempt compromise. <br /><br />Yet, one should not hold one's breath. <br /><br />After listening to Rice's remarks at the Paris III conference, it seem the US will only back Siniora's government. The US does not seem keen in reaching compromise with the opposition which could empower the Hezbollah. As Rice explained she thought Siniora would best promote American ideals. <br /> <br />Because of this position, it would seem difficult for pro-government and anti-government forces to reach compromise. The inability to reach compromise on a political level could take a negative turn, as tensions are high and need an outlet to release pressure. <br /><br />On the street level, things are very tense. Tuesday and Thursday's protests spiralled into the type of violence leaders could not contain. <br /><br />On Thursday, a mudslinging match between two student at the Beirut Arab Universtiy flared up. "Reinforcements" from different political factions were called in. To stop the escalated situation which turned violent, phone lines were cut on Thursday. <br /><br />But the protective measure occured too late as "reinforcements" arrived outside the university, armed with sticks, knives for the most part. <br /><br />However photographs in the local papers the next day revealed that civilians were carrying handguns and semi-automatic machine guns. <br /><br />As the army shot in the air to keep protesters apart, nerdowells took advantage of the noise to shoot off their weapons.<br /><br />Local press reported that snipers on roof tops were spotted. <br /><br />After six hours of strife, things began to calm on their own as the evening set in. <br /><br />As things cooled, most of Beiurt was in shock. By then Hariri and Nasrallah appealed for calm via phone calls aired on the competing TV channels. A curfew was set in place. <br /><br />During Thursday's violence which broke out at the university, youths in different parts of the city set up unofficial road blocks asking all drivers for ID papers. <br /><br />One driver I spoke to the following day was livid. He felt that his religion was being targeted. He explained that when he was asked for his papers, he told the youth he was Lebanese like the youth. By the time he described what had happened he seemed irate, excitedly exclaiming: "We are all Lebanese!" <br /><br />Unofficial road blocks in general are both provocative and oppressive for those who have lived through the civil war. <br /><br />The taxi driver who lived through the civil war ws furious that boys who do not remember the civil war would do such a thing. <br /><br />A second source of frustration to most people on the street, is that the army and police simply can not stop these road blocks from happening.<br /><br />The army is not equiped to deal with civil disobedience. It neither has rubber bullets, nor water cannons. If they were to use the equipment they had on the streets, it would lead to massive blood shed. <br /><br />And where there is less army such as outside Beirut, squirmishes have taken place as well. But this time, some have been between competing factions within the Christian community. <br /><br />The question in front of us, is not only a rivalry between sunnis and shias, but the tensions are also between pro and anti-government movements.<br /><br />Anti-government movements want a greater share of political representation such as Hezbollah and the popularly led Free Patriotic Movement by Aoun. However, their agenda and approach threatens the status quo. <br /><br />And in the meantime, a source at the Hariri backed Moustaqbal Youth movement (pro-government) alluded to fueling tensions so as to get international attention. The source explained "we want to media to say Hezbollah led protest" because we want the world to focus on Hezbollah. <br /><br />So as usual the situation is complicated, and no one is innocent. But civilians who want peace feel threatened. <br /><br />Because of the recent squirmishes, people in the neighborhood of Tariq Jadideh (pro-government/ Moustaqbal supporter) are complaining about not having weapons, and accusing Hariri of abandoning them by not arming them. <br /><br />When asked how does a gun help the piece, the answer always points to the need for protection from all of those who do have guns. <br /><br />When asked why not rely on the army? The answer is what army? How could they stop anyone, they are also members of the society. <br /><br />Based on the recent events, the general feeling is that the government need to work hard for the next two weeks to decide on compromise which could help de-escalate the crisis and deflect the tension.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1169682113117016352007-01-25T01:41:00.000+02:002007-01-31T03:39:01.813+02:00Beirut Protests Turn ViolentJanuary 23, 2007 - Beirut<br /><br />15:48 - Volleys of gunfire went off downstairs. Men scrambled in the street yelling. The Lebanese army worked hard at holding back rival factions from attacking each other. Soldiers ran back and forth forming cordons in attempt to secure the streets and separate the riotous men. <br /><br />A bullet, then the discharge of a magazine, a second discharge, a single bang, and more gunshots: rioters were not dissuaded from throwing rocks during the gun battle. <br /><br />From the terrace, looking down eight floors to the street, a man was carried by a group of men, wounded. He was lifted into a SUV, which sped off. <br /><br />News sources reported different numbers. One source says 100 men were wounded. The Lebanese paper, An Nahar, published 38 wounded of which 25 caused by bullets. As of this evening, today’s events have claimed three lives. <br /><br />My apartment abuts Hariri's Moustaqbal TV, and is up two buildings from the headquarters of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party, and two blocks away from the Corniche which was then filled with pro-Hezbollah and Amal supporters brought up in mini-vans from the south. <br /><br />On my street corner was the confluence of 3 factions Future Movement (pro-government), Hezbollah/Amal (anti-government), and pro-Syrian nationalist (anti-government), a Sunni/Shia mix. It has been place of tension since early this morning. <br /><br />I was woken up to men yelling in an altercation. Young Lebanese men were setting garbage on fire in tipped over dumpsters, and lighting tires strewn across the width of the street. Arguments ensued broke out as the army moved in to clear the streets and scatter the men. <br /><br />The fighting prompted me to go out on a morning walk though the city. <br /><br />My first stop: the supermarket next door to pick up a phone recharge card. Most of the employees had not made it to work. <br /><br />Zubaida, a cashier, however was triumphant. "I made it through, it took an hour to come to work. We pushed our way through a road block." <br /><br />The store manager however was more downcast. <br /><br />"Do you think half of the staff will make it?" I asked. <br /><br />She puckered her lips and nodded downwards lowering her eyes. The movement of her head is the Lebanese "no". "I don't think so", she added quietly. <br /><br />The night before, the opposition forces called for a general strike enforced by blocking the roads to keep people from going to work. The strike was aimed to step up pressure on Prime Minister Siniora to resign. In turn, a resignation, would lead to an interim PM to appoint a new cabinet, hence pro-Syrian government. <br /><br />Leaving the supermarket, John who accompanied me and I headed out toward the Corniche. We walked toward the towers of black smoke rising from behind the buildings. <br /><br />Hanging just below Beirut’s skyline was a black film of pollution. The air smelled like burning trash and rubber. <br /><br />Along the Corniche, by the Pigeon Rocks, men in makeshift dark outfits wore short beards, wollen caps, and cheap shoes. They stood in bands along the street. <br /><br />There was no traffic. Mini-vans, which had brought the opposition supporters from the countryside, were double-parked in the road. More tires had been set on fire. The army stood by vigilant. <br /><br />Three lads about sixteen explained that had arrived around 630am. They had come up from Nabatiye, a stronghold of Nabil Berri's Amal and Hezbollah. <br /><br />"What were they here for?" I asked. <br /><br />"For Siniora to go out", they answered smiling. <br /><br />"And then what?" I continued. The boys paused, they did not know. <br /><br />Coming up to another few men seated on the sidewalk, I asked one man where he came from this morning. "We are all Lebanese", he responded. <br /><br />"Ok, but where from?" He started up again: "You are from America, we are Lebanese". <br /><br />I told him I was from France, and Paris to be precise, and asked again, "Where was he from? " He went quiet, not knowing what to answer. <br /><br />By this time a Hezbollah security guard approached telling everyone to stop speaking to me. The group, which grew in size became more tense. “No more talking” repeated the security guard, and these men seemed to have nothing to say. <br /><br />The clothes and symbols we wear, the accents we have, our skin color are the inhibiting factors, which led to misunderstanding and silence. <br /><br />Had I worn something different, would have they told me they were miserable about the unfinished construction; the bribes paid to Berri for ”security”; the laws which complicated reconstruction on illegal plots; the still sporatic electricity; the defunct roads and high unemployment? But rather defiant in their groups they had nothing to say. <br /> <br />Peeling away from the coast, Hamra was quiet. Most shops were closed. There was little movement except for the occasional tough looking motorcycle or scooter driving by. Stains of burned tires marked the street, but there was no more sign of protest. <br /><br />The only neighborhood devoid of protesters pointed to Hamra’s effective overseer. Left over from civil war days, the monthly "protection" tax paid to the Mafiosi styled boss was obviously a dollar well spent. <br /><br />Yet Hamra’s calm was misleading. By the time we crossed over to downtown, the tunnel to the airport road was filled with smoke. Youths with covered faced, walking across the littered highway, poked smoldering piles with metal bars. <br /><br />By Sodoco, a yellow bulldozer pushed dirt across the street building a waist high blockade. Blockades were taking place all across the city, including in other regions of Lebanon. <br /><br />Sitting on the sidewalk next to young men some of which were masked, the conversation began. "What are you doing here?" they asked. <br /><br />I am looking at the beige of the dirt, and the black of the smoke. Behind this there is a tall unfinished new building which is beige and black, and behind it is the black poke marks in the beige sandstone war memorial. <br /><br />"What are you doing here? I asked them. <br /><br />"What do you think of the country?" they answered. <br /><br />I think the country is beautiful, "What do you think of the country?" I retorted. “What do think of all this smoke?” <br /><br />“We want to be given a chance, we want a new government who can give us a second chance”, explained Hussein.<br /><br />Abdellah Khalaf standing next to Hussein: “We want real independence. Independence against the present government, which talks about unity, but maintains sectarianism at the root of its survival. It divides us. And they are thieves. At the end of the day we want equality between all the sects within the same country, and we want work.”<br /><br />But the economy is bad and the Lebanese who can afford it are leaving in droves. <br /><br />The men nodded, Hassan answered: “But they have to come back, we want them to come back. A new government will instill a new economic program which will be good for work.”<br /><br />Another problem is "I am from the south”, said Hassan, “and the government did not help us this summer in our fight against Israel”. <br /><br />Another youth joined in: “Now this war is over the government. We only get 2 hours of electricity a day in Dahiye where I live. I feel the government has abandoned us”.<br /><br />Up at place Sassine in the heart of the Maronite neighborhood of Ashrafiye, Emile Moukarzel, a supporter of the extreme right Christian political group, the Lebanese Forces (pro-government) responds to the statements: “We don’t trust their politics.” <br /><br />Sittting at Starbucks’ sunlit terrace, Emile wore black aviators and a midnight blue corduroy suit, over a black turtleneck. He explained: “Why do you think Electricity du Liban don’t to collect the electricity bill in Hezbollah neighborhoods. People there haven’t paid for electricity since the end of the civil war, why? It is because they have weapons. They say their weapons are for the outside, but they are for inside.” <br /><br />“You see, us Maronites, we are Christians and we are Lebanese, we lean to the west. The Hezbollah, they are Muslims, they are Arabs loyal to the East. That is the difference between our national unity and theirs”, continued Emile. <br /><br />Loudspeakers attached to the top of a white car drove by blaring out a military sounding song. Some people at the terrace stirred. “That is for the Lebanese Forces, it says that we are not scared” Emile said with pride. <br /><br />“You know, in terms of demographics, we the Christians are smaller than the shias. They have more numbers, but in Lebanon is not based on politics of numbers, politics of pluralism”, emphasized Emile. “To solve this, Lebanon should be split into a federation”. <br /><br />“But what happens with the split Christian community?” I asked. <br /><br />The man sitting to my left spoke up: “Aoun is a megalomaniac who has his eye only for the presidential seat. Hezbollah is using him as a Christian cover to get more power in politics. The other problem is that Aoun and Hezbollah want to break the status quo but that is not possible”. <br /><br /> “You see Aoun has switched camps too many times, he was with America, France, and then he turned to for support for Syria and Lebanon. He made deals with president Lahoud, which increased the split along the Christians. No, really the man is a phenomena, he can’t be trusted”. <br /><br />As we spoke, mobile phones beeped around the terrace announcing text messages. Skirmishes in the popular neighborhood of Corniche Mazraah had broken out between Hezbollah and the Sunnite dominated Hariri party. The army sandwiched between the rival groups was having trouble calming the tensions. Gunshots were reported. <br /><br />The army was heavily deployed in Corniche Al Mazraah. Most of the crowd had dissipated, by the time we reached the area, however there was still a group of 80 young men, sticks in hand taunting the army. Along the street by the armoured vehicles, hundreds of shell casings littered the ground. <br /><br />This was one of many flare-ups of violence, which had broken out throughout the country. <br /><br />A taxi drove up: “Where are you going?” the old taxi driver asked. “Raouche” we answered. “That will be tough, the roads are closed. Where else do you want to go?” <br /><br />Dropped off near the house, we walked a little more along the Corniche, completing a loop from this morning. <br /><br />Bored youths were busy hitting street signs with their sticks. Others sat by looking blank. A block away from home, a crowd had amassed in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken, rhythmically thumping the exterior façade of the fast food restaurant. <br /><br />As we made our way to the apartment, the streets leading to it were filled with crowds of chanting men and soldiers keeping the groups separate. But as groups filtered through different entrances, rioters rushed throwing stones. Within minutes the gunfire had broken out.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1163080392348072062006-11-09T15:43:00.000+02:002006-12-11T23:54:32.690+02:00Back to LebanonBeirut - October 25, 2006<br /><br />It is Wednesday, the day after the two day holiday, Eid al Fitr which ended the month long fast of Ramadan for the Sunnis. Over the eid holiday, which as important as Christmas or Easter for Christians, I went north with friends to the mountain town of Bcharathe found at the foot of the tallest mountain in Lebanon which rises over 9000 feet. <br /><br />There is still no snow up top, yet fall is here. The leaves of the fruit trees are turning yellow. The smell of the damp soil of the terrace gardens is carried in the chill ascending wind flowing up the valley in cloud mist moving upward toward the<br />descending clouds coming over the peaks and down. By four in the afternoon, the moutains disappear in the fog and cloud. <br /><br />The Palace Hotel, a place run by Edmundo, a Lebanese of Bcharra who returned after 30 years spent working in Venezuela to build his dream hotel for fruitfull times to be reaped in a stable Lebanon is empty. <br /><br />The heat is not on, and will not be on. "It isn't cold" he says, yet after listening to our pleas, he explains he can't afford to turn on the heat at this point. It is expensive and this summer's war broke the bank. Not only the country's, but also each<br />individual's. <br /><br />Most people I have spoken to in their twenties and thirties have plans to leave. From cab drivers, university students, young entrepreneurs having recently come back, NGO workers, young families, businessmen, professors, engineers, teachers, PR<br />workers, all that I have spoken to have applied for jobs outside. <br /><br />This past summer's war seems to have dissipated whatever was left of the hope the Lebanese felt in 2005. Hope has been replaced with suspicion. <br /><br />Rumours have been hard at work again, speedily transfering news from one street to another. Apparently, Nasrallah broke his pledge to Saad Hariri: he said that he would not attack until October once the tourist season was over. <br /><br />"The attack was meant for October" explained a young fiefighter still in disbelief from the summer war, who on his time off sold mobile phones. "This wasn't supposed to happen this summer."<br /><br />At first, the firefighter's comment is off-putting. Once again, my brain goes into over-drive trying to make sense of what I am hearing. Am I privy to a conspiracy? Is this a rumor which has taken on real life dimensions? It is hard to tell. <br /><br />Yet, looking at the rumour and firefighter statement closely, a few things are revealed: the Sunni, Shia trust has suffered from the Hezbollah leader breaking his word to the Sunni Hariri... <br /><br />It is also telling of two other aspects found in Lebanese discourse: 'Yes we support you against Israel as fellow Muslims or Lebanese, but if your attacks happen during the high tourist summer season then you are targetting us and betraying us by hurting our interests'.<br /><br />Betrayal leads to fragmentation; infighting takes place; Lebanon is vulnerable; weak and fragmented is it a matter of time before the Syria "stabilizing" force comes back on the scene? If so, the next question is can the cylce be broken? Can Lebanon<br />overcome its difference enough to reach sovereignty? <br /><br />It is hard to know because so much of what keeps the country split apart is deep seated in the psyche of the individuals that live in this country: fear of the other. It is hard trust anyone beyond your family and your family ties to your community, especially after experienced 15 years of civil war. <br /><br />One feels the lack of trust when walking around Bchara. Three foreigners walking in the street of the village and those down the road get scrutinized. <br /><br />Old ladies sitting outside on their upstair balconies stare down at us without smiling. You guess that questions like: "Who are these people?", "What are they doing here?", "What do they want?" and flash through the villagers mind. <br /><br />The ruggedness of the landscape and harshness of the winter climate appears in the mannerisms of the inhabitants. But maybe so does the memory that 31 years ago, about 40 kilometers west, down the mountain side toward the coast Maronites and Sunnis participated in genocidal behavior. <br /><br />And the village sandwiched between the high peaks and the deep Kadisha valley below - an expectional mountain canyons with precipitious waterfalls, and monastaries and ermitages built in cliff walls- sits on the watch from the invaders, protected by the extraodinary and somewhat impenetrable landscape. <br /><br />The demeanor of Bchara in the region of the Cedars embodies suspicion at times extremely felt between Lebanese communities which have been connected to the land for over 600 to 700 years. <br /><br />The aloofness and fortresslike aspect of the area is what makes me go back. It is foreign to me, which is why I am drawn to the place, but it is also an essential reflection of one apsect of the Lebanese Maronite community. <br /><br />Unable to secede from Lebanon, this isolationist faction within the Maronite community, cannot escape the impact of actions taken by other Lebanese communities such as Edmundo who suffers the loss of revenues at the hand of the Hezbollah fighting the Israelis this summer. <br /><br />But it isn't only Edmundo, it is the Sunni firefighter who thought war might have occured after the summer. These two, beyond confessional differences find themselves in the same boat; these two are paying the price for the individualism which undermines a national Lebanon.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1155708073502956542006-08-16T08:31:00.001+03:002006-12-11T14:20:31.223+02:00Holed Up in the South: A Personal AccountThis is a personal note I sent out to friends about covering the war for the last two weeks in Lebanon. <br /><br />Shorter version published in Taft Bulletin: http://www.taftschool.org/alumni/publications/fall06/fall06.pdf<br /><br /><br />BEIRUT: Friday August 11, 2006<br /><br />I just got back into Beirut around noon today after a fairly tiring experience down south. <br /><br />Backtracking a little, into the second week of the war, I was sent down to South Lebanon to cover the crisis. The first few days were spent, in the town of Saida whose population had doubled in ten days with the incoming refugees escaping the war front. <br /><br />From Saida, my cameraman and I headed down to the town of Tyre. <br /><br />And one morning, I was woken by the belowing voice of cameraman Vladimir: "Irina, massacre in Qana". <br /><br />His news woke the whole house which consisted of team from Norwegian Tv, another from Danish TV and ourselves. Shelling or no shelling, we were determined to go to Qana. <br /><br />Swinging by where the rest of the ABC crew flown in from different offices were staying, we caravaned out through the hills to Qana, the ancient place where Jesus had once turned water into wine. <br /><br />Upon arriving, local residents pointed us in the right direction. We drove through windy streets over broken glass breaking for the pressure of the bombs. As we neared the site of destruction, we went the rest of the way on foot to the flattened house. <br /><br />On the way, Red Cross workers and the army were carrying stretchers with children between the ages of 3 and 12, as well as bodies of women. <br /><br />The site itself was impressive. <br /><br />Floors of the house had collapsed, and emergency workers where crawling below a slanted piece of concrete, digging through rubble made up of heavy dusty concrete blocks and portruding metal wires pulling out bodies. <br /><br />The scene was important not only as a record of a human calamity, but also from the perspective of news it was the first piece of reporting which permitted journalists to confirm the reports we had been hearing from refugees. <br /><br />Regardless of the political lean of the Shaloub family apparently related to high ranking Hezbollah members, the reality is that women and children had been killed in a rocket attack. <br /><br />As one person explained to me that once born into a Hezbollah family, always a Hezbollah; however, politics does not justify killing family members of any group, especially those which are children. <br /><br />Once footage and stand ups shot, we headed back to Tyre to wrap up the news of day. The drive back however was not reassuring as artillery thudding into the hills could be heard closer than for comfort level. <br /><br />The following day with the call of the temporary ceasefire which consisted of brief IDF (Israeli Defense Force) cessation of air strikes, we became more bold and headed to the town of Tibnine, again artillery fire resounding. <br /><br />This time the image of material destruction unquestionably superceded what we had seen in Qana. <br /><br />Walking through the deserted city, the center of the old town was flattened, leaving in the middle of the old part a crater that must have been about 15 feet deep. <br /><br />As the crew marched ahead to film the rubble and shoot some standups with ABC correspondent Wilf Dinnick, I spotted an old lady looking out through a doorway. <br /><br />Speaking with her quietly and gently, Jamila explained to me that she was alone, her family having fled to Beirut and abroad. <br /><br />She had decided to stay in her house, about 40 meters away from the center of the bombing. She explained the<br />noise had been incredibly loud, and sure she was scared but at the end of the day she wasn't leaving. <br /><br />The question was where was she sleeping? "In the hospital near the southern gateway of the city" she answered back. A light went off in my head, 'hospital?, we should go.' <br /><br />I alerted the crew of the presence of the lady and the existence of the hospital. Leaving the eerily quiet deserted city, we headed down to the hospital. <br /><br />The contrast between an empty town to a bustling street was remarkable. And it was bustling but not with the movements of a regular day, but rather busy with refugees who had walked up from Bint Jebel, a town at the heart of the Hezbollah Israeli war. <br /><br />Exhausted, crying, and stressed, were the voices of the people whose stories we listened to. People had been holed up in houses for 20 days, terrified during the battle taking place between Israelis and Hezbollah. <br /><br />But exhausted, some explained, like a 16 year old girl whose name I can't remember but who spoke perfect English: " We simply couldn't take it anymore, so we decided to leave". <br /><br />Most of the people seated around the ledge of two raised gas pumps in the gas station explained that they had made the journey from Bint Jebel over the course of three hours on foot. <br /><br />There was an old lady sitting facing crying women accompanied by their kids and Sri Lankan maids, sitting legs stretched out straight in front of her, with a solid walking stick lying along the length of her right leg. <br /><br />As I looked further afield, taking in the scene, I noticed that the area was filled with old ladies, a bandadged father speaking with his veiled wife who explained that she had lost her American passport under the rubble. <br /><br />Children, women, foreign workers maids, were either wandering around looking for rides up to Beirut, or simply sitting along the street recouping before moving on to refugee centers set up in schools throughout the city. <br /><br />Feeling boulder and encouraged by the lack of air strikes, we decided to continue making our way down south, to Bint Jebel. <br /><br />The city was destroyed and quiet. The odd bit of artillery fire could be heard on in the distance. And just over the ridge south of the city was the Isreali border. <br /><br />While walking through what was once a central market place, you could hear Israeli jets overhead, and the constant buzzing of a mopet like sound of the spy drone, keeping an eye on the media's and any other movement in the region. <br /><br />The summer breeze would also move pieces of metal signs hanging of of torn apart facades, growning and grinding. Otherwise, you could hear footsteps of the press crunching through the rubble. Finally we saw the magnitude of destruction. <br /><br />The central part of town will have to raised, bulldozed. And considering the amount of destruction, it would seem like it would take 10 years before the place would look normal again. <br /><br />By the third day of our travels in the south and east of Tyre, we headed out once more on day two of the arial bombing ceasefire. <br /><br />This time, this time we went to the town to Srifa, which yet again had suffered the consequences of air raids, partly because<br />of it loyal connections to Hezbollah. <br /><br />The rubble having swallowed up other families was crawling with Hezbollah keeping an eye on the press... Once again<br />the story had changed. It felt like it was more connected to a propaganda war, whereby the press was to record the stories of so called innocent victims which may have been nothing more than fighters launching attacks to the neighborhood the demolition had taken place. <br /><br />Yes, the houses were destroyed, but no the characters claiming to have sons under the rubble looked too relaxed, too chummy among themselves, and far from being distressed about losing family members. It was an odd place and the story felt more contrived and controlled that what we had bumped into the two previous days. <br /><br />Without knowing what to make of the atmosphere, noticing its strangeness was also part of the story that makes up the face of war. <br /><br />All in all, for my first week in the south, it turned out to be interesting journalistically as well as being important in visualizing what war looks like first hand. <br /><br />By the time I headed back down for a second time, the story was completly different. <br /><br />Within the first night of being there, at 330 in the morning, I was woken up along as everyone else in our house by the sounds of what we were to learn a day later of a botched IDF commando raid. <br /><br />The raid keeping all of us up for a long time, listening to machine gun fire, helicopters, airstrikes, APC ammunition being hit sounding more like a strange sequence of fireworks than anything else... all of this taking place at about a kilometer and a half away from where we were staying. <br /><br />It was dark in the house, and we made sure to keep in that way. I got dressed pretty quickly as everyone else did, and occasionally you could see the silhouette of us or all of us at different times, straining our ears and necks looking out through a window with the night sky as a backdrop. <br /><br />The raid end around 430/0500, with the sound of Israeli jets schreetching loudly above our heads. <br /><br />At sunrise, I went off with Norwegian TV to film the damage. It was impressive, and being the first cameras on the scene, we were able to capture the nervousness of the Palestinians living in a camp established in 1948 right next to where the raid took place. <br /><br />By the end of the morning, the Norwegians were happy to say that there days work was over. They had caught the piece they wanted early. And as the news slowed by the afternoon, so it would for the rest of the week. <br /><br />It wasn't so much that there was no news to speak off, it was just that the airs raids and explosions in the hills had resumed making the whole southern area off limits to any movements including the UN's and Humanitarian Aid agencies. It was simply too dangerous to go east and south from Tyre which is by the sea. <br /><br />As we were immobilized, it seeemed that at the same time, the international, and more to the point the American appetite for stories greatly slowed. As interest dwindled, the ability to cover stories in the city became harder. <br /><br />IDF leaflets dropped from the sky warned people that any movement of bodies at night would be a likely target, and the same for cars, but these were not to move neither day nor night. <br /><br />The problem of no cars reduced greatly TV networks ability to cover interesting stories, because teams and equipment is bulky, cumbersome and heavy... <br /><br />As people abided by the rules, and city became quiet. And there is nothing to be said for quiet during time of war. Strangely enough, it always feels more comfortable when you hear bombs in the distance because at least you know something is going on. But when it is quiet, your imagination kicks in, and that is worse than reality. <br /><br />Then news came that the roads were cut off. No way out of the city. So now the scene is made up on hyper journalists, pinnned down, covering every story possible doable in walking distance, and silence. <br /><br />Silence bizarely enough is the worst part of war. It leaves you with a feeling of unknown, hence unease. Thoughts turn over repeatedly making you tense. And the tension is increased by the ongoing dismall reports depicting destruction on Al Jazeera, constantly on in the house I was staying in. <br /><br />Psychological warfare begins and then it becomes a game of keeping yourself calm and busy. And yet being calm is difficult as your body and mind are actually in a constant state of alert even if when it is time to sleep. <br /><br />After a few days, the decision came from ABC that they wanted to pull me out. But this is not a simple decision, as when working with a network, there are different layers you have to move through before you get a full green light. Then once one plan is installed, everything changes as another decision is made. And lastly, there is the question of saftety.<br /><br />Any American network has to be extra safe, not only because they value the employees life, but maybe also because it could cost them a lot if something where to happen while not security measures had been taken.. <br /><br />Over the course of 48 hours and indecisions taking place at different levels, being on standby and then relaxing back into<br />the war zone, to going back on standby was actually pretty exhausting. Probably the most exhausting excercise I have experienced since the begining of the conflict. <br /><br />Why did we have to wait? Beyond the painful changing of minds taking place at senior levels, we were waiting for the embassy to get the green light from the IDF to clear an hour for safepassage up to the Litani river up 9 kilometers from Tyre. <br /><br />Mentally those nine kilometers become part of the game of chances or dying versus not. By the end of the 48 hours, I was so ready to leave the place, I would have walked it. I was fed up to be honest especially after dealing with all the mind changes, than the Embassy orders, news of more cars making our drive out into a convoy, and then the contrarian and over virile views<br />of my local camera crew. Khalas as we say over here, I had had enough, and only had one thing on my mind: Getting to the Litani at any cost!<br /><br />Finally, on the second day of waiting, speaking with the embassy, we told them we were leaving, and they passed on the information up the line. At the Litani crossing, going over one car at a time over a make shift bridge made up of scrap metal joining up humps of sand in the river, we were in touch with embassy staff explaining they could see our position. Could<br />they see us through borrowing the eyes of the IDF drone buzzing around over our heads? I don't know, but I would not have been surprised if that was the case. <br /><br />They could see us, so they could have probably seen us arrive to the make shift bridge to realize that we would be stuck for some time as a old mercedez sadam often used here as communal taxis, was well dug in on one of the sand humps, wheels a spinning around and around. <br /><br />Looking at the car in front of us, and the efforts made to get it out of its unfortunate position made me laugh. The great escape foiled by red local Merc messing it up for the rest of the gang. But the car got pulled out, the make shift bridge was fixed with the help of about 8 or 9 men working with their pants rolled up wading through water to find ways of stabilizing the metal. <br /><br />And regardless of my feelings of local engineering, I knew we would make it through, and so we did.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1155705279570363162006-08-16T08:07:00.000+03:002007-01-26T19:36:40.646+02:00Covering a CrisisArticle Published in Asharq Al Awsat<br />http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=5&id=5734<br /><br />July 19, 2006<br /><br />Beirut - Reporting from Beirut these days does not seem to be the easiest task these days. The recent Israeli reprisals for the Hezbolla’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers have rendered an already complicated place to navigate even more difficult. <br /><br />Before the recent events getting around in Beirut was challenging enough. With few referring to streets by their names, and no apparent numbers on the buildings, reaching your final destination was a drive filled with stops and questions. <br /><br />Today, this process has been made even more complicated for foreign journalists new to this town. <br /><br />With bilingual drivers scarce, and the fear of more attacks rising, getting around gets progressively more difficult each day. <br /><br />Having lived in Beirut for the past two years, foreign press is calling me with questions. From print to TV, my contact details have spread out, and I get calls asking for fixers, bilingual drivers and prices. <br /><br />Prices are on the rise. The price of communal taxis have double. Yesterday, hiring one to drive with me and stay put for an hour cost me 15$ something that would have cost a negotiated 7$ two weeks ago. <br /><br />In certain place near the southern neighborhood, Dahia, shelled everyday by the Israelis, sugar once costing 0.60$ a kilo is now going for 3.35$. Cigarettes and bread are a third more expensive, and meat and chicken is hard to find. <br /><br />As I rushed off with my crew to shoot evacuees, in a brief pit stop for food falafels were the only things available. <br /><br />But not only are shortages affecting prices and availability, what is more complicated for foreign journalist is access to dollars. <br /><br />The ATM outside HSBC bank in Hamra has paper signs taped next to them: “No $ available” reads the sign. There are still dollars when walking into banks but Bank of Beirut, but these are being dispensed in small sums. <br /><br />Communications is another problem area. None resident cannot get monthly lines, they can only use sim cards which cost about 100$ each usually rising during the summer season. Additionally, one needs to by unit cards. <br /><br />I am have been producing for an American network, I am often calling internationally. Each day, I go through the most unit Alpha offers which as of 2 weeks cost 53$, and today units are being sold in shops and hotels for 61$ each. <br /><br />With the amount of calls I make per day, I am going through about 2 cards, spending about 120$ per day. <br /><br />But the price rise in mobile phone cards does not only pose a problem for journalist who need to remember to stack up on cards, but also for local residents already impoverished by the situation. <br /><br />Despite the logistics problem, there is another important factor to keep in mind: one of understanding the story in a country, which has a very complicated geo-political and cultural history. <br /><br />So how does one start to explain this place to newcomers? <br /><br />Lebanon is not only physically a complicated place to navigate, but also its political map is even more complicated. And without understanding the subtleties of the system, the risk of running black and white statements can lead to erroneous reporting. <br /><br />Lebanon is like a nerve for the Middle East. Not only does the diversity of the sectarian communities, including these inter-marrying reflect a complex system of allegiances, so does the international backing of the various communities. Who supports who affects Lebanon. <br /><br />On the ground, not every shia supports Hezbollah, not every muslim adheres to war with Israel. On the street there is a multitude of opinions. <br /><br />At the end of the day civilians are being affected by the events, and their livelihood and their country are at stake. But as shortages rise, as one refugee in Beirut explained, “I wouldn’t mind fighting and becoming a jihadist in the fight against Israel”. <br /><br />But opinions vary which makes it hard for journalists to assess the editorial make up of their pieces. The best advice is to talk to as many as possible to grasp the level of difference in opinion. <br /><br />So all in all, the situation out here is complex and quickly changing. The blockades and Israeli habit of blowing up trucks coming in from Syria with supplies will only make life for both the civilians and logistics personnel of news teams more difficult.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1155704822543330642006-08-16T07:47:00.000+03:002006-12-11T14:24:08.613+02:00Classrooms Become The New Homes For Displaced LebaneseArticle Published in Asharq Al Awsat<br />http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=5667<br /><br />July 15, 2006<br /><br />Beirut - Colonel Chidiac head of the Fire Department and in charge of coordinating the emergency units for Beirut explained in his office: “There are about 5000 people relocating, but the number is increasing everyday”.<br /><br />“We are distributing water, medical supplies, and bedding” for the public schools he continues. <br /><br />Sitting in the colonel’s office, Gaby Khalil, from the High Relief Committee set up by the consul of ministers adds: “But things are complicated, we are concerned about what the quantities especially as the city gets closed off”. <br /><br />“Of the refugees there are adults of course but also many babies under the age of 6 months, which means milk and diapers” Khalil continues. <br /><br />Across Beirut and throughout the country, public and private schools are have opened to absorb and shelter fleeing Lebanese. <br /><br />In Beirut, many have been making their way up from the south of the country and from the southern neighborhood of Dahia of Beirut.<br /><br />A pregnant woman, in her last month sits on a plastic chair at the front of the school: “I have just gotten her this morning”, she says. “But only God knows how long we will be here. I am concerned and scared about my baby” she continues her hands joined at her lap craddling her stomach.<br /><br />Mariam Hoss, also newly arrived explains that over the past few days: “it has been raining bombs over the house”. <br /><br />It took her a day of searching, and a night of sleeping in the streets before she could find where her family was. Now all 34 members comprising of her brothers and sisters and their children have regrouped. <br /><br />Climbing up to the different floors, classrooms are now home to large families. Housing between 17 and 22 people are camping out on the floor. <br /><br />Hassan Kawar a former restaurant employee says: “No we don’t have anything with us, none of our belongings”. <br /><br />The 71 year old, Hussein Awada, resting on a blanket spread over the floor under a blackboard describes the present situation as being much different from the civil war: “The difference between then and now is that the bombs are more dangerous because of technology. After looking at the bridge destroyed by my house, the way it was blown out makes me not even feel safe in the shelter”. <br /><br />Yet in remembering the war, he becomes upset: “Before we went through a lot, and now we have to go through this again?” the tone of his voice ending with a question. <br /><br />When asked what types of provisions he has with him, and whether he has any money to sustain his situation: “We brought food, but don’t have any money. I don’t know what we will do”. <br /><br />Considering his destitute situation Awada lays the blame on both sides of the conflict. <br /><br />The fire brigade sirens resound, the firemen who had been distributed mattresses to the school get their warning call to move on to the next place. <br /><br />As the fire worker, Ali climbs into the car, he begins describing who the pace of their schedules has changed. <br /><br />“Usually we work for 24 hours and rest for 48 hours, but now we work for 48 hours and sleep for 24” he explains. <br /><br />When asked how he was keeping up: “I am not like a normal person anyway, I just keep on going, and we take rest when we can.” <br /><br />But the fire brigade is busy and these are just the first few days of the state of war Lebanon is in. <br /><br />Yet their burden of emergency relief is not carried by fire department alone. Back at the headquarters of the Fire Department, Colonal Chidiac explained that agencies across the country were working together. The Red Cross, the Civil Defense, volunteer organizations, youth groups and political parties were banding together to deal with the humanitarian disaster.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1155703581075342842006-08-16T07:45:00.000+03:002006-12-11T14:25:17.103+02:00Getting Braced for WarEnglish version of article published for Newsweek (Russia) <br />No onlink available - Hardcopy in Russian only<br /><br />July 14, 2006<br /><br />Beirut - “We are getting nervous”, says James, a Lebanese man in his 30s, manager of a computer store in East Beirut. “They are not only hitting terrorist targets. The strategic attacks are getting closer to the civilian area”, James continues. “No I couldn’t sleep last night”. <br /><br />Maurice, the general manager of a restaurant further up the road explained: “I stayed up smoking and drinking while monitoring the news. It is just that we cannot make sense of life here in Lebanon. And what upsets me the most is the thought of children being terrified by the assaults”. <br /><br />Having already endured a difficult night with strikes becoming full assaults in southern Beirut by 4 am this morning, the Lebanese are increasingly concerned. <br /><br />As the news accumulates throughout the day, the further naval blockades and repeated shelling of the airport and Hezbollah stronghold in the suburbs of southern Beirut, there is little hope for the Israelis relenting the attack. <br /><br />Zeina standing outside a super market in East Beirut is furious: “I don’t think it is okay that one single party should be making decisions alone, and put national security at risk.”<br /><br />“I am against Hezbollah”, Zeina continues, “but I am also against Israel’s reaction. There are millions of civilians in Lebanon... And once again, as usual, all our infrastructure is being taken out first. It is as if it is in Israel’s interest to harm all the Lebanese. No really I am furious! It is just what is happening in the country is simply wrong.” <br /><br />At 3:55 am this morning, neighborhoods of southern Beirut awoke to the thundering sound of Israeli fighter jets flying overhead. One bomb, then another, followed by retaliatory tracer fire and anti-aircraft shelling were the sounds of which the Lebanese awoke to. <br /><br />Finally around 515am, as the sunrise lightens the sky, calm seems to have returned, birds beginning to chirp in the trees. Moustaqbal TV crews are spotted climbing into trucks headed toward Dahie. The calm however is only temporary as Israeli offensive resumes in the morning. <br /><br />These were heading to the southern neighborhoods to get the first daylight pictures of the damage caused by the attacks. <br /><br />A little south of Dahie, the Hezbollah stronghold, the flyover bridge over Sfeir Street, was gutted by a shell, leaving a hole 25 feet in diameter. <br /><br />All the windows of the surrounding buildings were blown out, shards of glass covering the streets. The metal security doors on shops bent and rip out of their frames. The usually bustling cross street was deserted, not a person in sight. <br /><br />A gas station worker, Ali, working up the street said that seeing the damage in the neighborhood left him with a strange feeling this morning, even if he had lived through the civil war. <br /><br />A supporter of Hezbollah, Ali explained when asked what he thought about the Israeli tactics that all of the unfolding events were because of the Israelis. When asked whether it seems okay for all the people of Lebanon to suffer for the actions of the Hezbollah, he became agitated saying that: “Everyone who is not with Hezbollah is with Israel”. <br /><br />James back at the computer store when hearing Ali’s remarks repearted to him: “Sure we are with Israel” he sneared cynically. “We just want this to be finished. We don’t like the Hezbollah and them as a militia to be disarmed. We cannot live with militias, we need one government just like other countries”. <br /><br />In the meantime, the Lebanese are stoking up at the supermarkets. Bracing themselves for a longer assault then expected, they are buying up provisions. <br /><br />Simon, the store manager of a supermarket chain explains that already this morning: “Before the opening of the shop, there were 40 people cued up waiting to get in”. <br /><br />People are starting to stock up on: “milk, oil, water, sugar, coffee, meat, canned food... the usual”, continues Simon. <br /><br />One woman who wanted to remain unnamed explained: “Hopefully this will end quickly, but I have a bad feeling. We are walking straight into the past”.<br /><br />As the country is becoming further isolated from the outside world, with no possibility of exiting except for maybe the northern frontier with Syria, people are beginning to hunker down. With no exit for the time being, and rumors of the phone lines going down, and internet access becoming more sporatic, it is a matter of waiting. <br /><br />“It is so difficult for families” cried out Zeina. “My children are away in Europe but I have friends who children are in Lebanon, and their parents abroad... And there is also all those people who work and live here who don’t have the chance to leave. How do you think they must be feeling!” <br /><br />There is a sense of hopelessness for the time being, as Lebanese forces appears to be overpowered by the Israeli might, and warfare being waged by the Hezbollah which for the time being seem hard to reign in. <br /><br />All in all, the atmosphere is tense. A source from the American diplomatic core stated that people should brace themselves for the next 72 hours, which will prove to be difficult.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1155675683236617362006-08-15T23:52:00.000+03:002006-12-11T14:26:16.043+02:00Pessimism Sets In Over Escalation of WarEnglish version of article published in Der Spiegel<br />http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,426693,00.html) <br /><br />July 13, 2006<br /><br />Beirut - On the hot and humid day in Beirut, the normally bustling Hamra Street in West Beirut, is uncharacteristically calm by the afternoon. Shops have been progressively closing during the day; traffic has lightened.<br /><br />Off of Hamra Street, Zakaria, a flower shop keeper, on Jeanne d’Arc Street explains: “I am used to the Israeli actions. I don’t know about tonight but certainly something will happen”. <br /><br />And when it comes to where he might go if the situation gets worse, Zakaria continues: “I was here during the Israeli invasion in 1982, I did not leave then, I will not leave now.” <br /><br />Nadia standing further up the road is a little less stoic about the ensuing events. Frustrated she burst out: “ I don’t like politics... What are we going to do? There is no agreement in parliament and we just want to live.” In response to what her contingency plan may be: “If I were to leave? Where would I go? There is no one to take us in.” <br /><br />With little faith in a positive political outcome, the Lebanese people are left to their own devices. <br /><br />In the southern neighborhood of Dahia, a Hezbollah stronghold, eyewitnesses described the area emptying. Cars packed with people and furniture attached to the roof have been leaving. Hussein born in Dahia has gone off to stay with relatives in another neighborhood. <br /><br />In the downtown area, many coffee shops are closed. For the few that are open, there were not many clients. <br /><br />Tariq and Salah from Kuwait describe their vacation taking a strange turn: “We had a lot of fun the first few days here but things have turned 180 degrees from fun to fear... we have poor timing” they finished lightheartedly. <br /><br />Not far from the downtown, at the five star Intercontinental Hotel, Phoenicia, guests are sitting with the bags packed in the lobby. <br /><br />Speaking to a group of women on vacation from the Gulf visiting relatives, they are not sure what is going to happen. The events overnight and throughout the day have led them to cut their vacation short by a week. “We are packed, yes, but we do not know how we are going to leave the country... There is Syria of course, but we have to wait and see”. <br /><br />Farah a receptionist working at the hotel describes his morning as being hectic: “ A lot of people left this morning. Embassies sent buses down to the hotel, to take the guests to border with Syria”.<br /><br />In the meantime, Atif, a driver taking people out to the frontier explains that the border is jammed with cars cueing between 5 and 6 hours for exit visas. <br /><br />Yet fleeing through the border is not cheap. Taxis on the other side are reportedly charging 250$ to get to Damascus, a ride which usually costs around 10 to 20 dollars.<br /><br />Back at the Intercontinental Phonecia, lady meeting a friend at the hotel for lunch describes her morning: “I woke up early this morning to the sounds of the bombing of the airport, and my mother yelling in the house. The recent events have really upset my her”, explains Lina who is in Lebanon holiday visiting her parents. “It is not the same as in the war” she continues referring back to the 15 year Civil War she grew up in, “but the feeling of instability is hard no less.” <br /><br />No one knows what the next move will be. Rather, the general feeling is one of sitting tight and waiting. <br /><br />With the airport incapacitated from this morning’s bombing, and the naval blockade stopping boat traffic, the reality that there is nothing else to do but to wait and see for the time being. <br /><br />Driving through town, the traffic is light, although there are still workers and people walking along the street. For those standing by and sitting on public benches their immobility is indicative of the general atmosphere. <br /><br />In the meantime, cars began this morning and throughout the day to cue at the gas station. <br /><br />On Tabariz, next to downtown, the station manager of Medco, Shukri, explained that so far they have served about three times as many customers than on a usual day: “We were really busy, we serviced about 1000 cars in eleven hours. At this rate can last for another 3 days and then we won’t have any more gas.<br /><br />When asking him about how to get gas now the traffic at the port is blocked, he says optimistically: “This crisis won’t last more than one week, we will be getting gas again.” <br /><br />As the day cool off with the incoming evening breeze off the sea, the city is bracing itself for the possibility of it being a long night. <br /><br />Elias, a 22 year youth thinks over the tracer fire of last night followed by the sound of anti-aircraft fire, and the news of this morning bombings raids in the south of Lebanon: “Maybe war is a good thing, it might help us to finally come up with one solution. It is always the same problem, no one agrees, each community for its own skin, and there is no national solution.” He continues: “We need reform and reconciliation. With a single hand, Lebanon could make good decisions”. <br /><br />A difficult future to face, Elias believes in the importance of national unity and cohesion. <br /><br />As difficult as it is to say what will come of the recent events, the thought of war is on people's mind's whether in memory or pessimistic anticipation.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1140999526643538432006-02-27T02:05:00.000+02:002007-01-26T19:29:01.050+02:00Celebrating Ashoura: Hizbullah vs Amal1. COMMEMORATION IN DAHIYE WITH HIZBULLAH: <br /><br />Early on the very wet morning of Thursday 9, Marcia, Katherine and I headed to the most densely populated Shia neighborhood in southern Beirut. We aimed to attend the Hizbullah Ashoura commemoration in Dahieh. <br /><br />Ashoura is the 10th (Ashra 10 in arabic) day which celebrates the martyrdom of the grandson of Mohamed, Imam Hussein in 680 AD. This event is (correct me if I am wrong) marks the begining of the schism between sunnism and shiism. <br /><br />In a modern day context, the narration of the event is recited, told in poetry and reinacted in passion plays, and public rituals. <br /><br />By the time we got to Dahieh, around 815 am, hords of people were walking in the street heading to watch and ultimately follow the procession. At one of the mosques, an Iman voice was broadcast throughout the street reading scriptures. In response to the recitation, you could hear group wailing and moaning over the death of Hussein. <br /><br />As we kept on walking toward the main artery were the protest was to take place, we went through a check point. <br /><br />Our Druze driver, Atif, going through the male side was clearly uncomfortable looking tense and taking deep breaths. This, in his 58 years of living in Lebanon, was his first time attending Ashoura, and probably the first time in the midst of the Shia community led by Hizbullah. <br /><br />Observing his discomfort, the girls and I agreed with him that he would wait for us at a street corner, while we headed in to one of the veins feeding into the procession. Reports said 1 million people attended the event. <br /><br />It was the first time I ended up in a male/female segregated procession. <br /><br />Women all had their hair covered, some of their headdress looking similar to what is worn in Iran. No make up, not tall, and mostly wearing black to mourn the death of Hussein, ladies marched in unison some pushing carriages, or weaving young children through the crowd. On our street alone the may have been up to 20,000 women if not more. <br /><br />At different times, the ladies would start chanting: "Oh Hussein! Oh Prophet of God!", while thumping their right fists over their hearts. <br /><br />Different from the male protest, the energy of the chant initially sounded soft, yet the chanting became more vigorous as we neared the male procession passing by perpendicular to our street. <br /><br />Then repeating a recitation of an iman, the ladies sang different verses to end up throughout their right fist up above their heads yelling out: "We follow you Nassrallah! Death to Israel! Death to America!"<br /><br />Walking with the crowd for about an hour, the three of us decided to head back, having gotten a pretty good sense of what to expect considering the shere mass of women inhibiting our ability to move in order to get a better view. <br /><br />As we pushed our way throught the counter-current of female bodies, one lady surprised to see westerners asked whether I was muslim. Considering the numbers, and the mood of the event, I answered yes, and spoke a few words of Arabic to appease her. <br /><br />With Katherine and Marcia, we agreed that we would watch the rest of procession on TV in a cafe so as to get better perspective of the procession. It turned out that it was lead by men carrying large photographic potraits of Khomeni, Nasrallah, and possibly Musa Al-Sadr. No matter Hizbullah being Lebanese, the opening photos of the procession clearly showed the movement strong allegiance to Iran. <br /><br />By the time we reached Atif, he had not moved from the street corner. The poor thing stood hands dug deep in his pockets, baring the rain, and looking dour. His face lit up when he saw us, presumably relieved as it meant he was to be released from his position. <br /><br /><br />2. COMMEMORATION IN NABATIYEH WITH AMAL:<br /><br />Driving to the southern part of the country, we arrived in the town of Nabatiyeh where Amal were commemorating Ashoura. <br /><br />Differently from Hizbullah which seemed more militaristic in organization, the procession in Nabatyieh attended by die-hard followers was less socially intense but visually gruesome and bordering on surreal. <br /><br />Men participating in the procession wore a white tunic over their clothers, and cut themselves right above their forehead with a knife so as the constant splatter of blood turned their white tunics red.<br /><br />Moving along the street, slapping the tops of their foreheads with their right hands, and chanting rythmically the name of one of Hussein servant's who died in battle, the men in the procession seem to go into a strange form of ritualistic trance. <br /><br />Along the edge of the street, onlookers held their noses to block the stench of the blood. Occasionally, a young man covered in blood, would leave his group, and come over to chat with some of the onlookers, while taking a sip of water, or passing on a message over a cell phone, before returning to the bleeding repenters. <br /><br />As the day was soggy, foot stands offered melting Arab bread sandwiches, garbage accumulated on the street, and the tarmac glistened with rain water streaming red into gutters. A stand below drumming and recitations added to the noise of the rythmic chanting. I felt like I was at a strange type of religious fair. Maybe something as intense looking as the ritual of reinacting the crucifixion of Christ in the Philippines. <br /><br />Despite the apparent gore of the scene, there was an incredible difference in the atmosphere between the Hizbullah commemoration and the Amal one. <br /><br />The Amal procession looked terrifying, but the onlookers were wearing regular clothes, and people were chatting as if out on a Sunday walk. The event seemed more an expression of a male rites to passage, reinacting in a visceral yet folkloric way the death of Hussein. <br /><br />By contrast, the Hizbullah procession which forbids its followers of any cutting ( a decree set forth by Khomeni when he came to power in Iran) was terrifying for its militaristic appearance, and diehard followers. The control Nasrallah, leader of Hizbullah, has over his followers is a site in itself. <br /><br />If anything, Hezbollah comes across as a political force held together through a strong religious and militaristic over tone. Amal on the other hand, seemed more secular in appearance, and less organized on the ground. Granted, Amal retelling of Hussein martyrdom contextualized in the present day, was equally anti-Israeli, but somehow the crowd seemed less<br />threatening. <br /><br />The contrast of the day is what made the whole experience so pertinent. I think it was a good insight on the Shia political forces, which I think will be a the center of Lebanese politics this spring.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1140998723856128862006-02-27T01:50:00.000+02:002006-02-27T02:05:23.870+02:00February 13: Reacting to CartoonsOn the day that I came back, a protest against the Danish cartoons published in French papers picked up steam, spinning out of control leading to a riotous mass to destroy property, damage cars, attack western journalist mistaken for Danes, set the Danish Embassy on fire, desacrate a church in the Christian neighborhood of Achrafyie. <br /><br />This would seem to be the first protest that we have experienced in the past year to have turned so violent as quickly as it did. <br /><br />As usual different conspiracy theories spread like wildfire throughout the city. Just under 200 hundred were arrested. <br /><br />National press ran the banner that Syrian and Palestinian elements had instigated the upheaval. As the week went on, this was contested. <br /><br />Different articles appeared, one of which was excellent written by commentator to the Daily Star, Michael Young. Young skeptical of the accusation, put forth the argument that in fact the protests were supported by Sunni Lebanese political parties attempting to galvanize the more religious popular base, by backing a protest against the cartoons. <br /><br />The purpose of Young's article is to unveil that hardlline Sunni factions exist in Lebanon, adding yet another layer to the already complex make up of Lebanese society. <br /><br />While living in central Beirut, it is rare to cross paths with hardline Sunnis but certainly their presence is felt stronger when moving through poor neighborhoods, and up to the northern city of Tripoli, which can sometimes seem to have an oppresive atmosphere for travelers. <br /><br />In the meantime, on February 10, the Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights in Beirut issued a statement expressing that the reported arrests were not only of rioters. At the press conference, the organization Haya Bina, explained that other arrests took place during the riots and throughout the country. <br /><br />The non-for-profit questioned the use of Syrians and "outsiders" as scapegoats for a clearly backed Lebanese protest<br />spinning out of control and becoming violent. <br /><br />Both Young and Haya Bina point to a face of Lebanon which is not often discussed in the media: an Islamist presence in the country which may take advantage of public events as political opportunities to be heard. <br /><br />The problem however, is that an outbreak of violence, which draws negative international attention to Beirut, unnerves and increases levels of resentment felt in other communities which make up Lebanon. The country's government holds together with what seems to an outside observer a string. <br /><br />News reports changed ton over the week so as to make sure that the opposition block made up of Christians, Sunnis and Druze stays together. A classical and harmonious line to keep the peace: blame the outsiders. It makes things easier. <br /><br />If anything, the country feels fragile, tense. We will have to see what happens tomorrow during the 1 year<br />commemoration of Hariri's death.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1140997803829331622006-02-27T01:22:00.000+02:002007-02-04T13:55:44.234+02:00October Thoughts: A Walk in BeirutI have been focusing my energy differently for the past few month. This time my creative energy has been channelled into the plastic arts rather than in essay or article writing. <br /><br />I have been busy producing a series of drawings, collages and Cornell like boxes. The three different ways of constructing images often have a common theme. In each approach, there is an attempt to reach order through framing the juxtaposition of colors and shapes with linear structures. The superimposed structure lies atop of the imagery which sets the tone/mood of the piece. <br /><br />The process described above mirrors my experience in Beirut. When I first arrived, I signed onto a new life: one as a student of the Middle East in the Middle East. Howevery, before I could think of the implications of the experience, I was thrown into a whirlwind of local and regional affairs messily intertwined with international foreign policy struggles over the Middle East. The further immersed I became in the events, I understood the mood, but lost track of the framework. <br /><br />Arriving around what seemed a pinnacle time in Lebanon's history, I like many others stood witness and lived through a Lebanese's pulse pumping hope, distress and betrayal through the nation's veins. There was joy, anger, and tension. <br /><br />Despite the optimism felt during the rallies, it was impossible to ignore the unnerving and mostly successful assasinations attempts against anti-Syrian voices, with in the backdrop a persistant bombing campaign blowing Lebanese christian businesses.<br /><br />It was impossible to ignore the increasingly alienated and defiant presidency; the hot and humid month of August; and by October a depressed population let down by the re-emergence of political squabbles, and the slump of a retarded economy. <br /><br />DEPARTURE<br /><br />After five straight months in Lebanon I was eager to take a break from new experience. However, as soon as I set foot on the plane on my way to Morocco, my chest tightened with worry and regret. I felt that I should not be leaving even if for a few days: "What if something happens?" I thought to myself, "What about Beirut and its people?" I began missing Lebanon and we had not even taken off. <br /><br />It was an inexplicable sensation which when described to a Lebanese would be received with a nod of recognition, followed by: "Ah, you too you feel it. It is strange though because you are foreigners, and we never understand why foreigners get so attached to this place." <br /><br />To be honest, I do not have the slightest idea as to why we become attached to this place, and yet at the same time, I could make you a list that stretched the length of the Mediterranean, starting from its fartherst eastern shore all the way down to its narrow neck, the Straits of Gibraltar. <br /><br />A WALK<br /><br />What is appealing about Lebanon and its overbuilt and polluted Beirut? <br /><br />Each time I walk in the street, I am struck by the densely packed urban landscape with endless layers of facades rising one above another. <br /><br />"Oh! There to your right, through the dark passageway. Can't you see the framed shot of the facade with the honeyed afternoon light poured all over it? It's just there at the end of this covered short cut to that street... Oh what is the name of that street again... it has been nine months, and I can't believe I still don't know the name of that street there just paralell to Hamra." <br /><br />Then in the densely layered cityscape, each building and neighborhood is connected through the unruly mass of wires traveling at all heights and depths high above your head, crossing the street or simply moving in the same direction you are walking. Pirated electricity flows over you and connects each building like grey and dirty-white jungle vines.<br /><br />RETURN <br /><br />By the time I returned from Morocco Beirut had changed. Beirut could no longer be defined as a first experience which I shared with the outside world. <br /><br />As soon as I got off the plane, the familiarity of the airport made me realize I was coming home. Lebanon and Beirut had reached the realm of the personal. <br /><br />Beirut turned out to be an inspiring place, transforming the frustratition, anger, fear, and joy and happiness into a creative process.<br /><br />"How can people survive in such a messy place." I thought to myself as I tore another piece of magazine glueing it to a sheet of paper setting up the tone of the collage. <br /><br />The maddeness and maddening aspect of this city offers an inexhaustible source of inspiration because it is the center for all paradoxes riding simultaneoulsly the second hand of a watch. <br /><br />Like the electrical wires making everyone's buildings, the business of everyone else's. The density of humanity, and importance of family and friend alliance are fundamental and inescapable in a country which can be driven from its northern frontier to its southern one in four hours, west to east in two. <br /><br />Like in any other middle eastern city, in Beirut everyone knows everybody in the neighborhood. There is talk everywhere and about everything, and yet the important things remain unspoken. The past, the divisions, the hatred, the suspicion, the religious difference, the fear, the corruption, these themes pertain to the realm of silence. <br /><br />PARADOX<br /><br />Beirut is like an eye for the Middle East as it is where all the nerve endings of the Arab world end up. It strives for modernity and democracy, and yet it is machista and paternalistic. Elements of Middle Eastern and Gulfy culture are reinacted in segments of the mosaic society. <br /><br />The most intriguing aspect of this place is the god Paradox, living like a Roman God- alive and well- right here in our midst. <br />Paradox appears at all levels of life out here, from the landscape, to the architecture, and community and individual behaviors. <br /><br />It teases us, sticks it tongue out, tickles us, provokes and makes us laugh and scream all at the same time. <br />Paradox agitates entropy, with few agreeing cohesively on issues. There are many under-currents, counter-currents, and nefarious presences, which organize this place but make predicting the future impossible. <br /><br />Lebanon functions, but with a limp. It's curved structures are unsound. Yet, like each great city in the world which may come to be described by its energy , Beirut unquestionably ranks amongst them as it too has a pulse. <br /><br />It is hard to know why it does until you feel the pang when you get on the plane ready to leave. You didn't even know it happened, but you were bitten by something invisible. Chances are you will be back. <br /><br />I won't be surprised if I bump into you around Hamra street, or walking up from the American University of Beirut's beautiful grounds along Jeanne D'Arc, right by the corner where the pink building is.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1129453816425969512005-10-16T12:05:00.000+03:002005-10-16T12:10:16.436+03:00Search Common Ground: Arab Grassroots Initiatives For PeaceBeirut, Lebanon<br />July 14, 2005<br /><br />“The London bombs were a terrible crime killing innocent people: this is not Islam, they were anti-Islamic acts” explained director, Dr. Salah Eddin Kuftaro, of Islamic Studies Center, The Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro Foundation, to an international youth group participating in a two week long interfaith dialogue workshop. <br /><br />The London bombings taking place the day before increased the relevance and poignancy of the workshop.<br /><br />Made up of Muslim and Christian Arabs, and Christian European and American youths between the ages of 20 and 30, the group of 28 people came together for two weeks to participate in study and community building work sessions and panel discussions organized by the non-governmental organization, Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue (FDCD), based in Lebanon. <br /><br />The purpose of the workshop: for individuals to feel comfortable to undo the negative stereotypes steeped in fear and ignorance of the other. To find tools to build bridges for harmony and respect between the different communities, which make up the mosaic of the world.<br /><br />According to Kuftaro the attacks in London were the work of extremists defined as: “those who don’t recognize the other”, and who paint in a broader context a negative and erroneous picture of Islam. <br /><br />It is precisely this attitude of negating the existence of the other that Kuftaro and the founder of the FDCD, Sam Rizk, are actively trying to combat through promoting interfaith dialogue. As Kuftaro explained to the youth group: “We need to complete each other through dialogue”. <br /><br />Kuftaro used what happened in London to emphasize the importance of dialogue both on the local and international levels. “We should deal with extremists not in the American way of setting up Guantanamo, but in dialogue. In dialogue, extremist would not stand”. Kuftaro’s words expressed on the last day of the conference sealed the purpose of the workshop in real<br />life terms.<br /><br />Back in Beirut, the young and energetic Sam Rizk explains in the headquarters of the year and a half old NGO that interfaith dialogue is an important element to conflict resolution: “We are a civil society organization with the aims of promoting<br />empowerment and solidarity, justice with peace, and dialogue between communities.” <br /><br />Although a secular organization advocating humanrights and dignity, Sam is clear to explain that all tools are important to use when it comes to empowering communities. Interfaith awareness and dialogue are fundamental elements to community building and survival: “You cannot untie religion from society as it is an integral to all communities in the region. Since one of our goals is to reduce community tensions and conflict through dialogue and diapraxis, religious institutions can have positive influence”. Sam continued: “Communities don't open on their own”. <br /><br />So in a move to open communities, Sam wanted the youth group to get as much exposure to various communities as possible. <br /><br />Sitting in on seminars in Lebanon focused on Christian and Islamic texts; doing community work; participating in social activities; and attending Sunday mass and Friday Prayers in Syria, Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Danish, French, American, and Canadian youths came together to explore and find tools in search of common ground. <br /> <br />In light of the London bombings, Sam’s conviction of reaching harmony, justice and peace within communities has gotten even stronger: “We plan to organize the conference again next year, and if possible make it more than an annual event.” <br /><br />And a true believer in the positive impact of grass roots initiatives Sam explained: “We hope for everything we do to have a multiplying effect by increasing awareness on the grassroots level”. Building trust between communities starts with one<br />person at a time reaching out to the other: “it is important for individuals and communities to be counted for.”Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1117807041378598652005-06-03T16:54:00.000+03:002005-06-03T16:57:21.383+03:00Samir Kasir's Assassination: Puzzling TimingBeirut -"It was 1045. I was getting ready for university, and I have never head an explosion before, but I knew a bomb went off when the glass in my room shattered. I ran out to tell my stepfather, but the maid explained that he had already gone out." explains the stepson of Samir Kasir assassinated yesterday morning outside his house in Achraffyie. <br /><br />Marouane Khoury standing next to the cordoned off area in the late afternoon continued: "Investigators said it was the same material used for Hariri, just in smaller quantities, but I don't know. They don't really know at this point." <br /><br />And no one really knows. No one really understands why and why now. Those are the questions many fellow Arab journalists and friends expressed when asked about Al Nahar journalist, Samir Kasir's, assassination yesterday morning. <br /><br />Palestinian of origin, Samir Kasir: journalist, writer, professor, and political activist was famous for his strident commentaries and critiques of the Lebano-Syrian security apparatus set up in Lebanon. <br /><br />Over the course of spring described in the French language paper, l'Orient du Jour, as the Intifada of Independence, Kasir became bolder and more vocal in the critiques of the apparatus and the Syrian regime. <br /><br />In a radio broadcast of a press conference led by opposition leaders yesterday evening, fingers pointed to Damascus, and to the residues of the Lebano-Syrian regimes. MP Marouane Hamade explained that the murder is a clear indication the Lebano-Syrian security apparatus in still operational throughout the country.<br /><br />At this stage of the investigation however, there are no sure culprits. Speculations and accusations are founded on deductive reasoning and political mud-sligging, during this complicated time of Lebanese politics defining its sovereignty. <br /><br />Maybe it is only when people come clean about the Lebanese politics as a whole that one can really sort out the perpatrators of the crime. <br /><br />In the meantime, friends and family are to mourn and wonder why now. As one journalist from another Arab newspaper said: "It isn't like Samir's stance was unknown. If they weren't happy with it before, why didn't they do it then. But now that the Syrians are out.? It isn't like his work will take down a government". <br /><br />So a day later, on a beautiful spring day in Beirut, people are puzzled. And as a store keeper explained: "It is a great shame."Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1115112290387598312005-05-03T12:18:00.000+03:002005-05-03T12:24:50.390+03:00Breath of Relief as Syrians DepartAnjar- The last convoy of the Syrian military and secret service cleared out around 8 PM on Tuesday evening explains one of the villagers in Anjar.<br /><br />A blacksmith, Karim, who works in the town says there were maybe 15 or 20 vehicles, which left: “There are still some Syrian workers about, but the army and the mukhbarat are gone”, Karim continues with a smile.<br /><br />Now the small Lebanese Armenian town, home to the Ummayyad Ruins, is overrun with Lebanese army, guarding entrances of former intelligence and army offices once under Syrian control. No one is allowed in to any of the sensitive sites. Still a very recent take over, some of the areas are sealed off by the army barbwire strewn across the streets, guarded by soldiers carrying machine guns. They smile, but are firm in keeping onlookers out. <br /><br />Around mid-day on Wednesday, in this usually quiet town, the furtive villagers start for a first time in twenty seven years pulling out Lebanese flags, hanging them in the store fronts and off of the balconies: an unimaginable sight just the day before. Merces Narsasian, an old man walking with a cane, whose balcony is now decorated with three flags explains: “My grandson brought the flags over two days ago, and today we put them up, and the boys played football downstairs.”<br /><br />In area once heavily guarded by the Syrians whose trucks and cars were parked outside the castle wall of the ruins, Narsasian’s neighbors congregate for a chat over a cup of coffee at the Kadi family’s home: “They were very nice the soldiers. They never made any problems for us.” But their tone begins to change when stories of imprisonment and torture are brought to their attention. “We never saw anything. We didn’t ask, we didn’t talk. But rumors and stories of what was happening surrounding the town ran like water.”<br /><br />According to the Kadi family, there were no prisons in town, simply offices, and Syrian housing and villas for the officers. And Syrian’s apparently moved into what may have looked like empty houses. Narsasian explains that the house across the street was owned by a man who left for Beirut, and who discovered upon his return that his house was being used as an intelligence service office. He was not paid any rent. <br /><br />Now the house is locked up, chairs knocked over, mattresses stripped as seen through the broken window on the ground floor. Taped to the front door, there is an A4 sheet of paper: notice from the Lebanese army forbidding the entrance to the premises. <br /><br />“Of course we were scared, a forest without a fox is not a forest” explains the mechanic David Seferian. And as one of the members of the Kadi family describes: “It is hard to talk about their departure, it is still too new. Maybe in two or three months from now, people will talk out loud.” <br /><br />But as Seferian says: “The families here did not make any problems with the Syrians, and no one disturbed us. But the stories were terrible”. <br /><br />Seferian explains that right outside of town there was an onion factory owned by a Palestinian man. The place was converted by the mukhbarat to a prison and processing plant for information. <br /><br />About a kilometer and a half out of town, near some fields is a disaffected onion factory, now empty. Seferian remembers going there, hired to fix some cars: “You could hear people yelling as if they were being beaten.” <br /><br />Posted along the main gate is another of the Lebanese army notices taped to the front gate. Down the main dirt road leading to the center of the building, there are Lebanese soldiers walking about the premises. To the left of the gate are two adjacent buildings, one with a big metal door now warped and metal cables hanging. The other one-story building is missing windows, which look into to small square division resembling a long line of storage units covered by slanted roof. <br /><br />“I know the onion factory” explains Nasser back in Beirut. “I was taken there in the 9th month of 1987 when I was sixteen. I remember two building to the left of the entrance, one with a metal door. I get really upset thinking about it”. <br /><br />During the war, the Syrian forces arrested him in connection to his clandestine activities with the Fatah Movement. “I was placed in the boot of the car. There were mini vans and small cars, which contained about 20 men, all picked up for questioning. I arrived in the factory around 1630/1700, and I was cold. When I complained to the guard, he said don’t worry we will warm you up soon. And did I ever get warm.” Nasser laughs uncomfortably and then as if a shadow was cast over his face: “It was the beginning of a nightmare, I spent a week there before being shipped off to the prison of Mazeh in Syria where I spent 8 years. It took my family a year and half to figure out where I was”<br /><br />“At first I stood in a room with twenty men, we were blind-folded, and our hands were tied behind our back, and then one by one we taken in for questioning.” During Nasser’s descriptions of endless beatings, and torture, he was being accused of murders, which he claims to not have been involved with. He explained that because he was so young, he played the role of a messenger between factions. “I had long hair then, and didn’t look suspicious. But they figured it out and went after me”. <br /><br />Whether rightfully accused or not, the story of Nasser’s brutal treatment is one of many which kept the current of rumors running like water through Anjar and becoming rivers by the time they got to Beirut. <br /><br />But as for today: “I am happy the Syrians have left, we are all happy they have left. It is like a new independence. My mother remembers the independence in 1943, this is our second independence in 2005” explains one of the Kadi family.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1113612244471969972005-04-16T03:39:00.000+03:002005-04-29T11:24:02.300+03:00Politics Aside: Spend Please“We have lowered our room prices by 50%”, explains the young owner of the Beryte Hotel just opened in the new year. By the end of the month of January, the new venture seemed worthwhile with an 80% occupancy for its first month’s opening. But the promise of plentiful times took an 180 degree turn with the assassination on February 14, 2005, of former Prime<br />Minister Rafiq Hariri, killed about 400 meters away. <br /><br />Across the road, along Beirut’s Corniche, Rana El Khoury, Operation’s Manager of the Palm Beach Hotel explains the shock waves caused by the bomb were disastrous. Sitting in what will be the restaurant on the ground floor, bellboys turned painters, resurface the walls while others adjust the new windows. “We had about 1.5 million dollars worth of damages in the<br />windows alone. We had to redo everything in the rooms: the curtains, the furnishings, the carpeting, everything.” <br /><br />Next door, at the InterContinental Le Vendome also facing the sea, Director of Sales, Laurent Gabard describes a similar experience in damages and expands: “It is not only about the immediate cost of damages which hurt us, but also that the impact of Hariri’s death reduced business and tourism confidence in the country…We have seen a 70% drop in business in<br />comparison to the same time last year.” The number rising up to about an 80% decrease of revenues for other hotels is echoed in most of the empty lobbies throughout the city and country. <br /><br />“Why?” Jihad Shoughari, Operations Manager of the Beryte Hotel prepares to answer: “Well, you know economy and politics are like siamese twins, you can’t separate the two.” The two go hand in hand. And as Hariri’s death plunged Lebanon in political turmoil, with an opposition engaged in a serious tug of war with the present Syrian backed government, businessmen and tourists have cold feet. <br /><br />The already tense situation has not been made any easier by five more bombs exploding in commercial areas up to about two weeks ago. But as the explosions claimed few casualties, a regional director for a multi-national explained: “The bombs? Well, it looks more like economic terrorism rather than anything else.” The targeted victims were commercial centers,<br />clothes shops, and factories among other things. <br /><br />“We don’t know how we are going bounce back” expressed Shoughari: “we need to see what will come of the elections.” And as Gabard says: “At this point we have to rely on the local market, but they don’t come to hotels”. <br /><br />And locals have been rallied for economic revival. In comparison to a deserted downtown, as witnessed in the past few weeks, the trend has recently been reversed. Bahia Hariri, sister of the late prime minister, and Nora Jumblatt, wife of the opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, set up a campaign coinciding with the date of the start of the Lebanese civil war April 13th. The message: the war is over, let’s focus on our country and spend. Although the stage that was set up for free concerts has been taken down, the cafes seem to be reaping the benefits of the momentum with people coming through. The downtown is filling with Lebanese making a show of force for revival, and maybe even enjoying a stroll licking an ice cream. <br /><br />In the meantime, hotels tighten their belts, reducing staff, saving on paper and electricity, waiting for a turn in the tide. Gabard explains that: “at least, in the past few days people have been calling to make some reservations for the summer, which is something compared to last month”. <br /><br />And as Rana El Khoury of the Palm Beach Hotel says: “If we can get over this crisis, then we will spend a very beautiful summer... We hope to make an impact at the Dubai tourism fair in the beginning of May”. <br /><br />A few doors down, Mr. Shihab, owner of the Bayview Hotel, sleeves rolled up, glasses on top of his head, speaks to a crew of men up on the top floor as they are preparing the open air restaurant for its opening next month. “What do you want, we have to go on, we are not stopping.” And as his wife put it: “The sea is still here, the sun is hot, come to Lebanon.”Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1112692685259614732005-04-05T12:17:00.000+03:002005-04-05T12:18:05.263+03:00Breaking the SilenceVisually the mounting pressure for the Syrian pull out has been in effect with over the past month television reports showing military trucks filled with soldiers moving out, abandoning barracks and even crossing the border. But what of the secret services and the dismantling of their headquarters in Beirut and in the town an Anjar, in the Bekka valley, 58 km east of Beirut along the road to the Damascus?<br /><br />Abdellah's eyes grew in size at the mention of the name of the town. "It is a very bad place": a processing plant for information gathered under duress. A place symbolic of intimidation and cruelty, another man who wished to remain unnamed explained: "It was to make us fearful, to put the fear inside our body, inside our mind." <br /><br />The town of Anjar today is sleepy, with very little activity in comparison to the neighboring ones, which are bustling with busy market places, cafes and shops. The Syrian military however is omni-present in Anjar’s surrounding area where Syrian guard posts keep an eye on daily activities. <br /><br />In the heart of Anjar, Syrian army barracks can be seen with soldiers manning its entrance. Trucks come in an out, and that makes up most of the activity in the town. <br /><br />"I have been there twice" explains one man wishing to remain unidentified. As he lifted his pants, to show off his ankles, the skin around his legs was strangely scarred, bubbled-up white along the surface. "Electricity" he says. It has been ten years since he has been there last, and he still heads to the doctor for check-ups resulting from the abuse he received. When he came back to me: "his back was the color of the chest", his wife points to a mahogany cupboard. His account is not unique. <br /><br />His first run in with the mukhabarat took place in the 80s: “there were 30 men, some in uniforms and some in civilian clothes. They came to my house after midnight. I was brutally treated in front of my family, my loved ones.” <br /><br />But the worst was to come, blindfolded he was thrown into the boot of a small car and taken away the first time to the Hotel, Beau Rivage, an infamous place in Beirut, the Syrian mukhbarat headquarters in Beirut. <br /><br />In his description of his beatings, electro-shock treatment, and starvation, he explained that during the 25 days he was detained he lost 40 kilos, half his weight. “It is not only pain, it is agony. It is something no words can ever explain.” <br /><br />“At the end of my first visit to the mukhabarat headquarters, I was told that it was a mistake. They said they got the wrong man, but would not name who he was.”<br /><br />Another man who had been spent time in Beau Rivage is unable to speak of his experience. In his home, his wife explained: “it is too difficult for him to speak, because speaking makes him relive it and he cannot [go there.]” <br /><br />And there are others who underwent similar treatment, the scarred man described when in Anjar: “At one point, I was standing in a room infested with rats with forty other men,” and from all different sectarian lines, which make up the plural complexity of the society. “They will talk, but not today…they cannot speak up now, it is too soon.” It is still too dangerous for them to speak during Lebanon’s fragile political transition. <br /><br />When asked whether he felt hopeful about the present day pull out: "What can I say, it is not enough. I hate them... What do you want when a man goes through what we did? What else can you feel?" <br />A person listening to our conversation explained: "It is not that we hate the Syrian people, but we hate the Syrian law.” The scarred man said: “I do not hate the Syrian people, in fact I am speaking for the first time to share with all victims of torture, and for those detained in Syrian prisons:”<br /><br />And that will be a difficult task to arrange. Inherent is the string of words secret service, is the word secret. As a university professor put it: "What do you think, do you think the names of agents are on a roster. They are everywhere, they are the fruit sellers, the neighborhood shop keepers…" But more importantly those who run the country are still present.<br /><br />"Here, I want to show you something". The scarred man took me for a walk around the block: "You see these fruit sellers, they are mukhbarat, this bakery, the same, this sandwich shop also". In all, he counted up 11 people working for the Syrians on the small residential block in West Beirut. "They are all over this neighborhood, and they keep watch." The shops had been recently opened within the past five years. "Now they are scared." As he walked around the block, he became more emotional, his lips quivering as he remembered more of what he went through: “You know, when we were offered food, we were beating, when we refused food we were beaten, and the same happened when they came around with water. We could do nothing.” <br /><br />But with so many working under civilian guise, informants, the problem will be filtering out those who are less obvious, and those who are Lebanese nationals. A proper dismantling of the secret services top down is what is needed to guarantee a change in operations, and security for the population. And the battle is just beginning. For Lebanon to achieve the sovereignty it is fighting for, political deal making and effective compromises need to be set in motion to get rid of the Syrian secret services. But this will not be easy task after 30 years of presence, integration into Lebanese life and quite and a lot of money being made in the process.Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1111879316275722602005-03-27T02:21:00.000+03:002006-12-11T14:29:55.810+02:00A Third Car Bomb in Ten DaysPublished on internet site: The Belgravia Dispatch<br />www.belgraviadispatch.com/archives/004452.html - 46k<br /><br />March 27, 2005<br /><br />2125 and a heavy boom resounds in the city, another car bomb has gone off in the Christian area of Bouchrieh. <br /><br />In a rudimentary apartment housing ten Indian workers from Madras, the back windows looking onto the burning buildings have been shattered. <br /><br />One of the men, a cleaner by profession, has been in the neighborhood for eight years, apparently living in poor conditions. He knows most of the workers around, and to his knowledge he doesn't think there was anyone working in the burning buildings on this Saturday evening in the industrial neighborhood. All the rest of the men in the room are grouped around listening in with alert eyes. <br /><br />On the street, tension is riding high, there is a scuffle between a civilian youth and the military. After a few punches, the frazzled and angered young man is released. Soldiers are voiciferously telling people to clear the area. <br /><br />A wide eyed Asian fifty year old man is holding his head lying back in an ambulance while first aid workers wrap his legs with band aids. He is clearly shell shocked. <br /><br />The worst is over for tonight with but with the count of three Indian workers killed and five other people wounded. <br /><br />A middle aged man, Carlos Edde, the General Secretary of the National Party, who was on the scene, explains in French in a press gaggle that the Syrians had warned Hariri before his death that daily life would become unstable if opposition to the Syrian presence was pursued. The culprits he had in mind were clear. He reinforced his accusation by explaining that it was no surprise that the bomb took place in an area strongly run by Christians strongly against the Syrians involvement with Lebanon. <br /><br />This would be a third bomb exploding in the past ten days in another anti-Syrian area. The attack is both an act of intimidation and provocation. Regardless of who is behind the bombing campaign, it is clear it is paving the way to destabilize the country, and have impact on the economic well being of the Christian community. Hopefully the Lebanese will be able to keep there heads down, and take the brunt of the bullying without picking up weapons. <br /><br />There are plenty of people who have had enough with war. One young teacher, who will remain unnamed, explained that although the had a good job, she was leaving at the end of her contract. When asked why, she said: "I have lived through one war, and I can not go through a second. I don't want to do that to my daughter, so we are leaving." And her family: "I am torn, I have to leave, but my family will be here, and that feels terrible". But what will happen to those who are not able to leave the country? Where will they turn when the attacks begin to take Lebanese lives?Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11360495.post-1111227648603449142005-03-19T12:10:00.000+02:002005-04-29T11:22:49.066+03:00Thank God for Bingo: Lives spared from Beirut Car BombFriday night in Beirut, and a little after midnight, a car bomb goes off in the residential neighborhood, Jadeide, east of Beirut. Roland Bashi shop owner of Bashi pret-a-porter women's wear, suffered the greatest brunt of the blast. His shop was decimated: mangled wires, windows blown out, and a conical shaped crater right on the outisde the doorstep. When asked<br />what he thinks: "I don't know, I've never seen this before, what do you want me to say?" His son who speaks better English explains that the neighborhood is quiet, "my father doesn't know what to feel, maybe he feels angry, but seems more shell shocked." There's a parking lot next to the shop. <br /><br />Abrahim, a 24 year old living two buildings over says he heard the blast. The windows in his flat, unlike others did not shatter, because as he explains the windows were open. He said: "I heard the blast, saw people at home bend over, and looked out the window. There was a smoky hole". When asked what he thought took place, he said he lived in a neighorbood where nothing takes place, it was newly rebuilt since after the war. <br /><br />A police talking to reporters explains in Arabic that so far that have been no dead, some six injured. Reports on the ground become messy. Some explain that there were four armed men who showed up, and apparently took someone away. Another description is that the car bomb exploded in a stolen car, which apparently had been spotted in the neighborhood for<br />the past two days. Abrahim said that they wanted to park in front of the bingo parlor, but had been turned away. Then in a contemplative way, he said: "It is good that the bingo tonight over-ran as if it hadn't, many people would have died." <br /><br />He continued to explain that the neighborhood was made up of the Lebanese Forces, a hardcore militant christian faction. When asked if things got worse, whether he would take arms: "I would take arms, but to fight my enemy." And who's his enemy? "I don't know, but I would fight." Could the retaliation be in connection to the beating pro-Syrian civilians were given by Lebanese Forces youths the other day? If so, the escalation of tension has already gotten out of hand, and there will be some very difficult strides to take to keep vigilanteeism off the streets. <br /><br />Deeb, another on the sight, seemed disheartened. What did it mean to him, he explained in Arabic: "It's the Syrians, they want to make conflict so they can come back." Deeb, of Armenian origins, fought for two separate factions during the war starting at the age of 15. He explained he had been shot in the chest and the right leg. "Haram, shame for Lebanon. This is not a good country." Although he does not want his two children to experience the war he had grown up and fought in, he explained if it came down to it, he would pick up arms against as much as he hated it. And his target is anyone connected to what he thought were connected to the Syrian instigation methods. <br /> <br />The events over the night, will certainly not help ease the way to democracy. The downturned heads of people in the street may not be a mellow dramatic expression, rather a reflection of what is going on in the heart of the country. A middle eastern acceptance of fatalism which lead Abraham to say: "Thank God for Bingo!."Irina Prenticehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06812422035706977286noreply@blogger.com1