Monday, July 31, 2006

What 48 hrs ceasefire?

This morning we woke up to the news that Israel declared a 48hrs 'ceasefire' to allow for an investigation of the Qana massacre...

The humanitarian associations are currently doing their best to clear as much injured and bodies as humanly possible within this tiny timeframe. By doing so, more massacres are being uncovered: 26 here, 8 there, more elsewhere and even more still buried in the rubbles.

Areas are so completely destroyed that all anyone can see are piles over piles of concrete and holes so deep into the ground that a whole building can be buried within them!

But still, despite this alleged truce more news about further bombing comes in with yet more human casualties: A taxi cab was bomb, more Lebanese army posts, more arial attacks in the South, Qana is bombed again today, big fires caused by the bombs are burning complete areas, warplanes are intensifying their flights, land attacks, canon attacks... and the list goes on.

We also woke up to the news that the UN did not convict Israel for the Qana massacre because the US did not allow it. Although the Human Watch Rights is in fact holding it responsible.

Disappointment, frustration, abandonment, rage, helplessness....
But we thank God every moment for every moment.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...



Qana Massacre: 62 dead amongst them 42 children and many others still buried in the rubbles.

Liban, j'y étais

Liban, j'y étais
Par Djilali Boucif

Fidèle à ses principes humanitaires et ses traditions de solidarité et d'amitié avec les peuples de cette région, l'Algérie répondra avant l'appel de détresse lancé par M. Siniora. Un envoi d'urgence de 60 tonnes de produits alimentaires, 1 tonne de médicaments, 300 tentes, 2.000 couvertures, 5 groupes électrogènes, encadré par une équipe médicale composée de spécialistes en médecine de la catastrophe, chirurgiens, orthopédistes et réanimateurs et une équipe de médias a été décidé. Avaient pris part à l'organisation logistique et technique le CRA, l'UMA et le ministère de la Solidarité et de l'Emploi.

La mission a débuté le 20 juillet et devait prendre fin le 26 du mois. Les objectifs de départ sont l'acheminement de l'aide alimentaire jusqu'au Liban et la couverture médicale à la demande, en fonction des nécessités et des besoins.

Dès notre arrivée à l'aéroport de Damas, nous devions superviser sur le tarmac le déchargement des avions et l'organisation du convoi qui devait se diriger vers le nord du Liban. Parallèlement à cela, il fallait prendre en charge psychologiquement et médicalement les ressortissants algériens évacués de Beyrouth par les autorités algériennes. Ces dernières ont joué un rôle fondamental et exemplaire par une disponibilité, une assistance permanente et une prise en charge logistique totale (transport, alimentation et hébergement aux ambassades de Beyrouth et surtout de Syrie). Le nombre de ressortissants algériens revenus au pays, jusqu'au 26 juillet, était de 300.

Notre seconde tâche était de faire une état des lieux aussi bien en Syrie qu'au Liban. Pour ce qui est du premier pays, le Croissant-Rouge syrien assure en fonction des moyens disponibles et de ses capacités une assistance au niveau de la frontière, à Djedié, qui était notre point d'attache et le point de passage de la majorité des personnes qui venaient du Liban.

A la frontière du côté de Ohms, il n'y avait pas une grande activité, la zone nord étant plus ou moins épargnée. Ce que nous avons constaté sur place, c'est que l'afflux vers la Syrie s'est tellement amplifié que la situation a été saturée. Beaucoup de personnes qui fuyaient ont été installées dans des écoles, chez des familles où dans des centres de transit. La prise en charge de ces réfugiés se fait grâce à des donateurs, des institutions où des sociétés. Vu la charge de travail, la coordination est très difficile. Elément moteur dans ce genre d'opération, l'information circule très mal. Les circuits techniques et administratifs sont déconnectés.

Voyant que le Croissant-Rouge syrien avec lequel nous devions coordonner notre action était dépassé, nous décidons de voir le CICR, qui s'étonne de notre présence et de notre visite à son siège. L'accueil est froid. Le contact sans résultat. Seule recommandation: «N'allez pas au Liban !».

Nous leur exposons le fait que nous avons passé toute une journée au Sud-Liban et tout le travail que nous avons fait pour qu'ils puissent en tirer des décisions et des actions. Malheureusement, aucun des procédés humanitaires de cette institution n'est mis en place. Le «SAFER-Access» technique et procédé pour l'acheminement des dons est gelé. «On attend la notification». De qui ? Pourquoi ? La population est dans le besoin ! Le seul point positif, c'est d'avoir évalué certains besoins avec le président du Croissant-Rouge syrien qui, très difficilement, nous a reçus, et dont la coordination ou l'assistance sur le terrain ne s'est pas fait sentir. Notre ambassadeur s'était occupé personnellement du moindre détail pour que nous menions notre mission à bien.

Ces rescapés de l'horreur du siècle venaient dans leur quasi-totalité des régions sud (Beyrouth, Saïda, Sour...). La plupart avaient laissé leurs attaches familiales et professionnelles, leurs biens. Leur amour pour ce pays se lisait dans leurs yeux rouges fatigués par les nuits blanches et larmoyants au moindre souvenir. Des voix fines, affaiblies par les multiples

cris de détresse, de souffrance et d'appel sont à peine audibles. Faibles, physiquement par manque de nourriture et d'eau, mais avec une grande dignité, de la fierté. Il faut souligner que ceux dont le départ a été organisé par notre ambassade sont essentiellement des femmes, pour la plupart jeunes, et des enfants. Les hommes ne voulant ni quitter le pays ni vider le Liban. Des discussions avec les rescapés, une profonde angoisse se dégage.

Des scènes de destruction, des bruits incessants d'avions, des obus qui éventrent des bâtiments, les sirènes d'alerte, la descente aux abris et l'attente, l'attente de sortir. C'est ce que racontent nos compatriotes vivant au Liban. Lors des rencontres, certaines racontent ce qu'elles ont vécu tranquillement. D'autres ont le récit entrecoupé par des sanglots, alors que d'autres gardent le silence. Ce travail durera plus de 3 heures. Nos ressortissants, «vidés» par ces scènes, expriment plutôt une sensation de sécurité et de bien-être à l'idée de prendre l'avion vers l'Algérie et des retrouvailles familiales.

Mais certains n'ont aucune attache familiale en Algérie, à l'exemple de ces deux femmes. Pour ces cas, ce sera l'Etat qui devra s'en charger par le biais du ministère de la Solidarité.

Il faut souligner que la mobilisation diplomatique et l'assistance apportée à nos ressortissants se sont faites de manière spontanée mais avec une très grande efficacité. Sur le terrain, nous avons eu le privilège de rencontrer des professionnels de l'évacuation dans toutes les situations et nous avons pris connaissance de leurs méthodes, des analyses, des contacts et des personnes ciblées.

Notre passage au Liban a bouleversé aussi bien les Syriens figés à leur frontière, avec des camions chargés de dons sous toutes les formes dans des camions garés dans de grands espaces exposés à la chaleur, que les autorités, ou encore les personnes qui devaient quitter le Liban pour la Syrie.

On avance vers la frontière libanaise. Nous recevons un accueil très chaleureux, amical, convivial. Les formalités administratives d'usage sont faites dans les bureaux du chargé de la sécurité à la frontière. Ceux que nous rencontrons sont stupéfaits de nous voir faire le trajet inverse, car le mouvement se fait plutôt du Liban vers la Syrie et non l'inverse.

Une société gérée par une Algérienne résidant au Liban, qui s'occupe de transport routier et maritime, a mis gracieusement à notre disposition un véhicule et des manutentionnaires et pris le risque de faire parvenir les dons sans l'accord sécuritaire, risque omniprésent
car des camions transportant des dons avaient été bombardés auparavant.

A 5 km, on retrouve des routes éventrées, des bâtiments touchés. On tombe sur deux bus en feu. Nous pénétrons dans Shtia, une ville fantôme. Personne dans la rue. Une usine vient d'être bombardée. Nous continuons vers Zehla où la vie n'est plus calme. Nous sommes à 30 km de Beyrouth. Nous sommes reçus par la Croix-Rouge libanaise et les autorités locales. Nous visitons l'hôpital où il y a 2 blessés, le centre de transfusion sanguine, où la majeure partie des equipements fait défaut. Les gens nous ont remerciés pour l'apport moral. Nous avons passé toute la journée à leurs côtés. Il faut signaler que dès notre départ, la zone a été bombardée et nous avons pu voir des colonnes de fumée monter.

Quel fut notre sentiment de découvrir la plaine de la Bekaa, terre fertile où l'on sentait encore le passage des paysans, les arbres avec leur fruits, des périmètres irrigués. Malheureusement, les indices de la guerre sont là. Des villages vides, des magasins fermés, des maisons silencieuses. Tout est fermé (portes, volets...). Une sensation de ville abandonnée. A la sortie, un immeuble atteint probablement par les bombardements. On rencontre un militaire en tenue mais sans arme qui nous demande de nous éloigner. On était sur un pont, cible privilégiée pour les bombardements. Un peu plus loin, la route est barrée. Un gros cratère interdit le passage. Nous prenons une voie de contournement. Encore une scène d'horreur: deux bus en feu. Le peu de citoyens sur place tente d'évaluer les dégâts.

Nous nous obstinons à continuer vers le Sud, zone des bombardements. Nous traversons Stourha, ville fantôme. Aucune description ne peut être faite. Nous sommes stupéfaits par la tension et ce silence macabre.

Nous passons à côté d'une usine de lait qui vient d'être touchée. Une dizaine de personnes, venues d'on ne sait où, tentent d'intervenir. Notre prochaine localité est Zallé, splendide ville où l'on rencontre la Croix-Rouge libanaise, dont les membres sont choqués et heureux de recevoir notre équipe. Nous sommes les seuls à venir les voir. Cela a eu un effet de soulagement et de soutien. Nous visitons l'hôpital, le centre de transfusion sanguine, où un don est organisé par la majorité des membres de la mission. Les produits sont réceptionnés à Beyrouth par la haute instance qui nous adresse, le 24 juillet, une lettre de remerciements pour l'Algérie pour l'envoi des aides, avant ceux du CICR et des autres pays pour des population en détresse. Retour le soir vers la frontière syrienne, laissant derrière nous un nouveau raid et des colonnes de fumée.

Il faut noter que notre journée a été marquée par des moments forts d'émotion car, à notre arrivée, un appel est lancé par une vieille femme fixée à sa fenêtre. «Aidez-nous, sortez-nous de cet enfer !».

Des problèmes de santé majeurs se posent à la frontière surtout. Il s'agit des malades chroniques, tels les diabétiques et les insuffisants rénaux qui ne peuvent pas bénéficier de prise en charge, notamment des séances de dialyse. A côté, il faut remarquer le nombre important de séquelles des bombardements, à savoir excitation, nervosité, angoisse. Sans parler des déplacements. Egalement les brûlures suite aux explosions de bombes, les blessures par des bouts de métal, plaies par éclats d'obus, chutes de pierres... Mais le plus grave, ce sont les lésions suite aux émanations de gaz et de produits par les bombes qui donnent des troubles cérébraux, des troubles respiratoires, surtout chez les enfants qui sont les plus exposés, les plus vulnérables.

Devant ce premier bilan, des besoins importants, une léthargie et des défaillances dans l'acheminement, nous avons décidé de mettre tous nos efforts en vue des faciliter l'accès des produits vers le Liban. L'intervention pour l'aide et le soutien doit se faire sur les zones cibles,

les écoles où sont logées les populations déplacées, la frontière syro-libanaise et la population libanaise à l'intérieur du Liban, les plus touchées.

Les besoins sont connus: des produits alimentaires, l'eau, des vêtements, des véhicules et des motos car la distribution ne peut se faire que sur des deux-roues en raison des risques de tir et des espaces réduits pour la circulation, notamment au milieu des décombres. La population ne se hasarde pas à l'extérieur; donc il faut aller vers elle avec de petits colis. Les hôpitaux ont surtout besoin de médicaments et de consommables. Donc, toutes les pharmacies et les laboratoires doivent penser à faire des dons.

L'équipe algérienne connaissant les lieux, ayant les contacts nécessaires, s'implique directement avec des équipes appropriées et un personnel motivé et conscient de sa mission, au moment où le peuple libanais demeure debout dans son ensemble avec son courage et sa dignité exemplaires.

(source : le quotidien d'oran)

Qana Massacre... yet again!

I woke up this morning listening to some talks on the TV about the "Qana massacre". I thought at first that they had pulled out some clips from the archives of the previous massacre of another Sunday in April 18, 1996. As it turned out i was wrong:

This very morning a civilian three story building in the Biblical village of Qana southeast of Tyre, where Christ performed his first miracle by turning water into wine, was targeted and completely distroyed (10 years after the first massacre). It was a shelter allegedly protecting about 50 handicapped children amongst others, unable to be evacuated because of the constant shellings, the dangerous road conditions and the physical/mental state of the children. From inside the destruction 57 corpses where pulled out so far, 37 of them children and the others of women and old people. Rescue has been hampered by some sort of gaseous odors causing people to vomit and faint.

Despite this morning's tragedy, no truce has been declared and the shellings is continuing until this moment on various other targets in Lebanon. A Lebanese army post was targeted and well as the administration of the Hospital at Benet El Jbeil. The Israeli government refused yesterday the UN's request for 72hrs of ceasefire to allow to clear the wounded and the dead from the hit areas. No food, water or medecines has been allowed to reach these parts of the country. Famine and sickness are as critical a threat as the bombings especially with decaying unburied corpses lying about.

As retaliation, an angry mob stormed the UN ESCWA building and destroyed furniture. I hear that there is a demonstration making its way to the US embassy. People are feeling so helpless, so alone and frustrated that they do not even know what to do to express their rage and helplessness. Action is the only way to vent and to keep from going out of their minds no matter how misguided these actions are.

The ironic part is that as this massacre was taking place Rice was in Israel... holding 'talks'. She has been informed by the Lebanese government that proceeding with her plans to visit Lebanon would not be advisable... or welcome. She has decided to remain in Israel for further 'talks'. Israel says that it is in "no hurry" in declaring a ceasefire and needs a further "10 to 15 days" to finish its military operations.

On another lighter note, fuel is really scarce nowdays. The gas stations are closed. Cars are parked on the side of the streets with empty tanks. People are home, no auxiliary electricty generators are operating unless for emergency. The blockade is still ongoing. Nothing can come in and nothing can go out... except for the foreign nationals being evacuated.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Paradise Lost: Robert Fisk's elegy for Beirut

Paradise Lost: Robert Fisk's elegy for Beirut
The Independant, Published: 19 July 2006

Elegant buildings lie in ruins. The heady scent of gardenias gives way to the acrid stench of bombed-out oil installations. And everywhere terrified people are scrambling to get out of a city that seems tragically doomed to chaos and destruction. As Beirut - 'the Paris of the East' - is defiled yet again, Robert Fisk, a resident for 30 years, asks: how much more punishment can it take?

In the year 551, the magnificent, wealthy city of Berytus - headquarters of the imperial East Mediterranean Roman fleet - was struck by a massive earthquake. In its aftermath, the sea withdrew several miles and the survivors - ancestors of the present-day Lebanese - walked out on the sands to loot the long-sunken merchant ships revealed in front of them.

That was when a tidal wall higher than a tsunami returned to swamp the city and kill them all. So savagely was the old Beirut damaged that the Emperor Justinian sent gold from Constantinople as compensation to every family left alive.

Some cities seem forever doomed. When the Crusaders arrived at Beirut on their way to Jerusalem in the 11th century, they slaughtered every man, woman and child in the city. In the First World War, Ottoman Beirut suffered a terrible famine; the Turkish army had commandeered all the grain and the Allied powers blockaded the coast. I still have some ancient postcards I bought here 30 years ago of stick-like children standing in an orphanage, naked and abandoned.

An American woman living in Beirut in 1916 described how she "passed women and children lying by the roadside with closed eyes and ghastly, pale faces. It was a common thing to find people searching the garbage heaps for orange peel, old bones or other refuse, and eating them greedily when found.Everywhere women could be seen seeking eatable weeds among the grass along the roads..."

How does this happen to Beirut? For 30 years, I've watched this place die and then rise from the grave and then die again, its apartment blocks pitted with so many bullets they looked like Irish lace, its people massacring each other.

I lived here through 15 years of civil war that took 150,000 lives, and two Israeli invasions and years of Israeli bombardments that cost the lives of a further 20,000 of its people. I have seen them armless, legless, headless, knifed, bombed and splashed across the walls of houses. Yet they are a fine, educated, moral people whose generosity amazes every foreigner, whose gentleness puts any Westerner to shame, and whose suffering we almost always ignore.

They look like us, the people of Beirut. They have light-coloured skin and speak beautiful English and French. They travel the world. Their women are gorgeous and their food exquisite. But what are we saying of their fate today as the Israelis - in some of their cruellest attacks on this city and the surrounding countryside - tear them from their homes, bomb them on river bridges, cut them off from food and water and electricity? We say that they started this latest war, and we compare their appalling casualties - 240 in all of Lebanon by last night - with Israel's 24 dead, as if the figures are the same.

And then, most disgraceful of all, we leave the Lebanese to their fate like a diseased people and spend our time evacuating our precious foreigners while tut-tutting about Israel's "disproportionate" response to the capture of its soldiers by Hizbollah.

I walked through the deserted city centre of Beirut yesterday and it reminded more than ever of a film lot, a place of dreams too beautiful to last, a phoenix from the ashes of civil war whose plumage was so brightly coloured that it blinded its own people. This part of the city - once a Dresden of ruins - was rebuilt by Rafiq Hariri, the prime minister who was murdered scarcely a mile away on 14 February last year.

The wreckage of that bomb blast, an awful precursor to the present war in which his inheritance is being vandalised by the Israelis, still stands beside the Mediterranean, waiting for the last UN investigator to look for clues to the assassination - an investigator who has long ago abandoned this besieged city for the safety of Cyprus.

At the empty Etoile restaurant - best snails and cappuccino in Beirut, where Hariri once dined Jacques Chirac - I sat on the pavement and watched the parliamentary guard still patrolling the façade of the French-built emporium that houses what is left of Lebanon's democracy. So many of these streets were built by Parisians under the French mandate and they have been exquisitely restored, their mock Arabian doorways bejewelled with marble Roman columns dug from the ancient Via Maxima a few metres away.

Hariri loved this place and, taking Chirac for a beer one day, he caught sight of me sitting at a table. "Ah Robert, come over here," he roared and then turned to Chirac like a cat that was about to eat a canary. "I want to introduce you, Jacques, to the reporter who said I couldn't rebuild Beirut!"

And now it is being un-built. The Martyr Rafiq Hariri International Airport has been attacked three times by the Israelis, its glistening halls and shopping malls vibrating to the missiles that thunder into the runways and fuel depots. Hariri's wonderful transnational highway viaduct has been broken by Israeli bombers. Most of his motorway bridges have been destroyed. The Roman-style lighthouse has been smashed by a missile from an Apache helicopter. Only this small jewel of a restaurant in the centre of Beirut has been spared. So far.

It is the slums of Haret Hreik and Ghobeiri and Shiyah that have been levelled and "rubble-ised" and pounded to dust, sending a quarter of a million Shia Muslims to seek sanctuary in schools and abandoned parks across the city. Here, indeed, was the headquarters of Hizbollah, another of those "centres of world terror" which the West keeps discovering in Muslim lands. Here lived Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Party of God's leader, a ruthless, caustic, calculating man; and Sayad Mohamed Fadlallah, among the wisest and most eloquent of clerics; and many of Hizbollah's top military planners - including, no doubt, the men who planned over many months the capture of the two Israeli soldiers last Wednesday.

But did the tens of thousands of poor who live here deserve this act of mass punishment? For a country that boasts of its pin-point accuracy - a doubtful notion in any case, but that's not the issue - what does this act of destruction tell us about Israel? Or about ourselves?

In a modern building in an undamaged part of Beirut, I come, quite by chance, across a well known and prominent Hizbollah figure, open-neck white shirt, dark suit, clean shoes. "We will go on if we have to for days or weeks or months or..." And he counts these awful statistics off on the fingers of his left hand. "Believe me, we have bigger surprises still to come for the Israelis - much bigger, you will see. Then we will get our prisoners and it will take just a few small concessions."

I walk outside, feeling as if I have been beaten over the head. Over the wall opposite there is purple bougainvillaea and white jasmine and a swamp of gardenias. The Lebanese love flowers, their colour and scent, and Beirut is draped in trees and bushes that smell like paradise.

As for the huddled masses from the powder of the bombed-out southern slums of Haret Hreik, I found hundreds of them yesterday, sitting under trees and lying on the parched grass beside an ancient fountain donated to the city of Beirut by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid. How empires fall.

Far away, across the Mediterranean, two American helicopters from the USS Iwo Jima could be seen, heading through the mist and smoke towards the US embassy bunker complex at Awkar to evacuate more citizens of the American Empire. There was not a word from that same empire to help the people lying in the park, to offer them food or medical aid.

And across them all has spread a dark grey smoke that works its way through the entire city, the fires of oil terminals and burning buildings turning into a cocktail of sulphurous air that moves below our doors and through our windows. I smell it when I wake in the morning. Half the people of Beirut are coughing in this filth, breathing their own destruction as they contemplate their dead.

The anger that any human soul should feel at such suffering and loss was expressed so well by Lebanon's greatest poet, the mystic Khalil Gibran, when he wrote of the half million Lebanese who died in the 1916 famine, most of them residents of Beirut:

My people died of hunger, and he who
Did not perish from starvation was
Butchered with the sword;
They perished from hunger
In a land rich with milk and honey.
They died because the vipers and
Sons of vipers spat out poison into
The space where the Holy Cedars and
The roses and the jasmine breathe
Their fragrance.

And the sword continues to cut its way through Beirut. When part of an aircraft - perhaps the wing-tip of an F-16 hit by a missile, although the Israelis deny this - came streaking out of the sky over the eastern suburbs at the weekend, I raced to the scene to find a partly decapitated driver in his car and three Lebanese soldiers from the army's logistics unit. These are the tough, brave non-combat soldiers of Kfar Chim, who have been mending power and water lines these past six days to keep Beirut alive.

I knew one of them. "Hello Robert, be quick because I think the Israelis will bomb again but we'll show you everything we can." And they took me through the fires to show me what they could of the wreckage, standing around me to protect me.

And a few hours later, the Israelis did come back, as the men of the small logistics unit were going to bed, and they bombed the barracks and killed 10 soldiers, including those three kind men who looked after me amid the fires of Kfar Chim.

And why? Be sure - the Israelis know what they are hitting. That's why they killed nine soldiers near Tripoli when they bombed the military radio antennas. But a logistics unit? Men whose sole job was to mend electricity lines? And then it dawns on me. Beirut is to die. It is to be starved of electricity now that the power station in Jiyeh is on fire. No one is to be allowed to keep Beirut alive. So those poor men had to be liquidated.

Beirutis are tough people and are not easily moved. But at the end of last week, many of them were overcome by a photograph in their daily papers of a small girl, discarded like a broken flower in a field near Ter Harfa, her feet curled up, her hand resting on her torn blue pyjamas, her eyes - beneath long, soft hair - closed, turned away from the camera. She had been another "terrorist" target of Israel and several people, myself among them, saw a frightening similarity between this picture and the photograph of a Polish girl lying dead in a field beside her weeping sister in 1939.

I go home and flick through my files, old pictures of the Israeli invasion of 1982. There are more photographs of dead children, of broken bridges. "Israelis Threaten to Storm Beirut", says one headline. "Israelis Retaliate". "Lebanon At War". "Beirut Under Siege". "Massacre at Sabra and Chatila".

Yes, how easily we forget these earlier slaughters. Up to 1,700 Palestinians were butchered at Sabra and Chatila by Israel's proxy Christian militia allies in September of 1982 while Israeli troops - as they later testified to Israel's own court of inquiry - watched the killings. I was there. I stopped counting the corpses when I reached 100. Many of the women had been raped before being knifed or shot.

Yet when I was fleeing the bombing of Ghobeiri with my driver Abed last week, we swept right past the entrance of the camp, the very spot where I saw the first murdered Palestinians. And we did not think of them. We did not remember them. They were dead in Beirut and we were trying to stay alive in Beirut, as I have been trying to stay alive here for 30 years.

I am back on the sea coast when my mobile phone rings. It is an Israeli woman calling me from the United States, the author of a fine novel about the Palestinians. "Robert, please take care," she says. "I am so, so sorry about what is being done to the Lebanese. It is unforgivable. I pray for the Lebanese people, and the Palestinians, and the Israelis." I thank her for her thoughtfulness and the graceful, generous way she condemned this slaughter.

Then, on my balcony - a glance to check the location of the Israeli gunboat far out in the sea-smog - I find older clippings. This is from an English paper in 1840, when Beirut was a great Ottoman city. "Beyrouth" was the dateline. "Anarchy is now the order of the day, our properties and personal safety are endangered, no satisfaction can be obtained, and crimes are committed with impunity. Several Europeans have quitted their houses and suspended their affairs, in order to find protection in more peaceable countries."

On my dining-room wall, I remember, there is a hand-painted lithograph of French troops arriving in Beirut in 1842 to protect the Christian Maronites from the Druze. They are camping in the Jardin des Pins, which will later become the site of the French embassy where, only a few hours ago, I saw French men and women registering for their evacuation. And outside the window, I hear again the whisper of Israeli jets, hidden behind the smoke that now drifts 20 miles out to sea.

Fairouz, the most popular of Lebanese singers, was to have performed at this year's Baalbek festival, cancelled now like all Lebanon's festivals of music, dance, theatre and painting. One of her most popular songs is dedicated to her native city:

To Beirut - peace to Beirut with all my heart
And kisses - to the sea and clouds,
To the rock of a city that looks like an old sailor's face.
From the soul of her people she makes wine,
From their sweat, she makes bread and jasmine.

So how did it come to taste of smoke and fire?
'Disgracefully, we evacuate our precious foreigners and just leave the Lebanese to their fate'.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Warning: this website contains shocking images

Warning

The following website contains shocking images not suitable for children and the weak hearted. Caution is highly suggested. This site provides a naked, uncensored documentation of the human cost of Israel's "measured and appropriate" response, as described by the Canadian prime minister in the first days of the crisis.

http://www.abouyounes.com/Lebanon18-07-2006.htm

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The Shame of Being an American

The Shame of Being an American
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

http://www.counterpunch.com/Roberts07222006.html

Do you know that Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing in southern Lebanon?
Israel has ordered all the villagers to clear out. Israel then destroys their homes and murders the fleeing villagers. That way there is no one to come back and nothing to which to return, making it easier for Israel to grab the territory, just as Israel has been stealing Palestine from the Palestinians.

Do you know that one-third of the Lebanese civilians murdered by Israel's attacks on civilian residential districts are children? That is the report from Jan Egeland, the emergency relief coordinator for the UN. He says it is impossible for help to reach the wounded and those buried in rubble, because Israeli air strikes have blown up all the bridges and roads. Considering how often (almost always) Israel misses Hizbollah targets and hits civilian ones, one might think that Israeli fire is being guided by US satellites and US military GPS. Don't be surprised at US complicity. Why would the puppet be any less evil than the puppet master?

Of course, you don't know these things, because the US print and TV media do not report them.

Because Bush is so proud of himself, you do know that he has blocked every effort to stop the Israeli slaughter of Lebanese civilians. Bush has told the UN "NO." Bush has told the European Community "NO." Bush has told the pro-American Lebanese prime minister "NO." Twice. Bush is very proud of his firmness. He is enjoying Israel's rampage and wishes he could do the same thing in Iraq.

Does it make you a Proud American that "your" president gave Israel the green light to drop bombs on convoys of villagers fleeing from Israeli shelling, on residential neighborhoods in the capital of Beirut and throughout Lebanon, on hospitals, on power plants, on food production and storage, on ports, on civilian airports, on bridges, on roads, on every piece of infrastructure on which civilized life depends? Are you a Proud American? Or are you an Israeli puppet?

On July 20, "your" House of Representatives voted 410-8 in favor of Israel's massive war crimes in Lebanon. Not content with making every American complicit in war crimes, "your" House of Representatives, according to the Associated Press, also "condemns enemies of the Jewish state."

Who are the "enemies of the Jewish state"?

They are the Palestinians whose land has been stolen by the Jewish state, whose homes and olive groves have been destroyed by the Jewish state, whose children have been shot down in the streets by the Jewish state, whose women have been abused by the Jewish state. They are Palestinians who have been walled off into ghettos, who cannot reach their farm lands or medical care or schools, who cannot drive on roads through Palestine that have been constructed for Israelis only. They are palestinians whose ancient towns have been invaded by militant Zionist "settlers" under the protection of the Israeli army who beat and persecute the Palestinians and drive them out of their towns. They are Palestinians who cannot allow their children outside their homes because they will be murdered by Israeli "settlers."

The Palestinians who confront Israeli evil are called "terrorists." When Bush forced free elections on Palestine, the people voted for Hamas. Hamas is the organization that has stood up to the Jewish state. This means, of course, that Hamas is evil, anti-semitic, un-American and terrorist. The US and Israel responded by cutting off all funds to the new government. Democracy is permitted only if it produces the results Bush and Israel want.

Israelis never practice terror. Only those who are in Israel's way are terrorists.

Another enemy of the Jewish state is Hizbollah. Hizbollah is a militia of Shia Muslims created in 1982 when Israel first invaded Lebanon. During this invasion the great moral Jewish state arranged for the murder of refugees in refugee camps. The result of Israel's atrocities was Hizbollah, which fought the Israeli army, defeated it, and drove it, with its tail between its legs, out of Lebanon. Today Hizbollah not only defends southern Lebanon but also provides social services such as phanages and medical care.

To cut to the chase, the enemies of the Jewish state are any Muslim country not ruled by an American puppet friendly to Israel. Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the oil emirates have sided with Israel against their own kind, because they are dependent either on American money or on American protection from their own people. Sooner or later these totally corrupt governments that do not represent the people they rule will be overthrown. It is only a matter of time.

Indeed Bush and Israel may be hastening the process in their frantic effort to overthrow the governments of Syria and Iran. Both governments have more popular support than Bush has, but the White House Moron doesn't know this. The Moron thinks Syria and Iran will be "cakewalks" like Iraq, where ten proud divisions of the US military are tied down by a few lightly armed insurgents.

If you are still a Proud American, consider that your pride is doing nothing good for Israel or for America.

On July 20 when "your" House of Representatives, following "your" US Senate, passed the resolution in support of Israel's war crimes, the most powerful lobby in Washington, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), quickly got out a press release proclaiming "The American people overwhelming support Israel's war on terrorism and understand that we must stand by our closest ally in this time of crisis."

The truth is that Israel created the crisis by invading a country with a pro-American government. The truth is that the American people do not support Israel's war crimes, as the CNN quick poll results make clear and as was made clear by callers into C-Span.

Despite the Israeli spin on news provided by US "reporting," a majority of Americans do not approve of Israeli atrocities against Lebanese civilians. Hizbollah is located in southern Lebanon. If Israel is targeting Hizbollah, why are Israeli bombs falling on northern Lebanon? Why are they falling on Beirut? Why are they falling on civilian airports? On schools and hospitals?

Now we arrive at the main point. When the US Senate and House of Representatives pass resolutions in support of Israeli war crimes and condemn those who resist Israeli aggression, the Senate and House confirm Osama bin Laden's propaganda that America stands with Israel against the Arab and Muslim world.

Indeed, Israel, which has one of the world's largest per capita incomes, is the largest recipient of US foreign aid. Many believe that much of this "aid" comes back to AIPAC, which uses it to elect "our" representatives in Congress.

This perception is no favor to Israel, whose population is declining, as the smart ones have seen the writing on the wall and have been leaving. Israel is surrounded by hundreds of millions of Muslims who are being turned into enemies of Israel by Israel's actions and inhumane policies.

The hope in the Muslim world has always been that the United States would intervene in behalf of compromise and make Israel realize that Israel cannot steal Palestine and turn every Palestinian into a refugee.

This has been the hope of the Arab world. This is the reason our puppets have not been overthrown. This hope is the reason America still had some prestige in the Arab world.

The House of Representatives resolution, bought and paid for by AIPAC money, is the final nail in the coffin of American prestige in the Middle East. It shows that America is, indeed, Israel's puppet, just as Osama bin Laden says, and as a majority of Muslims believe.

With hope and diplomacy dead, henceforth America and Israel have only tooth and claw. The vaunted Israeli army could not defeat a rag tag militia in southern Lebanon. The vaunted US military cannot defeat a rag tag, lightly armed, insurgency drawn from a minority of the population in Iraq, insurgents, moreover, who are mainly engaged in civil war against the Shia majority.

What will the US and its puppet master do? Both are too full of hubris and paranoia to admit their terrible mistakes. Israel and the US will either destroy from the air the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Iran so that civilized life becomes impossible for Muslims, or the US and Israel will use nuclear weapons to intimidate Muslims into acquiescence to Israel's desires.

Muslim genocide in one form or another is the professed goal of the neoconservatives who have total control over the Bush administration. Neocon godfather Norman Podhoretz has called for World War IV (in neocon thinking WW III was the cold war) to overthrow Islam in the Middle East, deracinate the Islamic religion and turn it into a formalized, secular ritual.

Rumsfeld's neocon Pentagon has drafted new US war doctrine that permits pre-emptive nuclear attack on non-nuclear states.

Neocon David Horowitz says that by slaughtering Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, "Israel is doing the work of the rest of the civilized world," thus equating war criminals with civilized men.

Neocon Larry Kudlow says that "Israel is doing the Lord's work" by murdering Lebanese, a claim that should give pause to Israel's Christian evangelical supporters. Where does the Lord Jesus say, "go forth and murder your neighbors so that you may steal their lands"?

The complicity of the American public in these heinous crimes will damn America for all time in history.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com

A call for prayers...

In the name of love
For the sake of humanity

By Youmna Zod

I am writing this down today because I am still alive.

At this very moment, while you’re reading this, my country is being destroyed, devastated for a crime it did not commit. Stone by stone, brick by brick, Lebanon is being reduced to nothingness. Heart by heart they are killing us. What exists today, the Lebanon we love, won’t be the same tomorrow.

It’s with full awareness that I cry in despair, neither for the media to show the truth, nor for the politicians to get to their senses, and neither for the international community to exert pressure. I admit having signed every petition, participating in every poll, or forum that debated our situation for the sake of Lebanon.

I admit loving my country. I love it even more today, while it silently turns to ruins without raising an arm. I love Lebanon because the only thing it ever fought with was words and prayers. I love my country for it has survived without resorting to violence, despite the permanent aggressions.

I am aware that our plea is falling into deaf ears. I know that no one will listen, no one will believe, for no one wants to believe.

I call for a miracle.

I call upon you people of the world to pray, for there is no harm in praying. Pray for our dear Lebanon. No one knows the truth but the All-seeing, our God. If you are reluctant to believe the news, pray for the innocents, and He’d know who they are; pray for justice, and He’d know how to apply it.

I call for a miracle. I call for prayer for peace in Lebanon.

I call for a miracle and I ask you to have faith.

Let’s do our duties and may His will be done.

May His will be done.

Youmna Zod

War on Lebanon - Pix

Please click on the link below to see some of the atrocities committed against this beautiful Mediterranean country :(

War on Lebanon pictures

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Online Mobilisation Calendar

Some people are trying to organise and centralise the informations about demonstrations and will try to contact all parties and ask them to add their mobilisations and demonstrations on their calendar, so that the average neutral Lebanese might get the information about all the demonstrations that are happening.

Your help is apreciate by adding any missing info to the calendar and help spread the word about this calendar:

the Link to the calendar / organiser is

http://mobilisation.byethost2.com/

Cleaning Out Saddam’s Arsenal in Lebanon?...

A friend forwarded this link to me:

The human conspiracy blog

Please note that I do not give such conspirancy theories any credence, however I have no problem sharing information, leaving the belief or disbelief of it up to you.

Other types of donations...

Many individual activits as well as social, business and political organizations have taken the initiative to gather toys, clothes, food, hygene items, blankets, milk, diapers etc... to help the 750,000+ displaced Lebanese taking shelters in schools, hospitals and even public parks.

I will therefore try to post any information that comes my way in this regard. If anyone has such information please send them to me to post here. Any help would be highly appreciated.
Thanks!
J.

How to donate money...

Further to my previous post, you can also make monetary donations on:

Ministère des Finances - LIBAN :
--------------------------------
Compte de solidarité aux sinistrés Libanais
Banque du Liban
Compte USD: 02 700 362 123
Compte LB: 01 700 362 123

International Committee of the Red Cross
UNICEF
Mercy Corps

Society Saint Vincent de Paul - LIBAN:
--------------------------------------
Banque Audi - Beirut - SWIFT BABELBBE
Compte USD: 088587/461/002/009/39
Compte LB: 088587/461/001/009/25

Ambassade du Liban - France :
-----------------------------
Solidarité LIBAN - 42 rue Copernic 75116 PARIS
Banque AUDI SARADAR France - Swift : AUDIFRPP
Compte Euros : 00208240004 Cle RIB 22

Samir Kassir Foundation - LIBAN:
---------------------------------
Byblos Bank - Tabaris Branch -Swift: BYBALBBX
Compte USD: 380.3652902.001
Compte LB: 380.3652902.002

Our sea shores!

I have just received this picture from my sister who lives on the sea shore in a beautiful village in the north of Lebanon called Batroun... It seems that the many boats (ennemies or otherwise) are dumping their trash and waste on our shores, killed all fauna and flora.

I think this speaks for itself....






More photos about the coastal pollution in this link.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Hear Our Cry! Enough Is Enough!

Subject: Hear Our Cry! Enough Is Enough!
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:16:54 +0000


Hear Our Cry! Enough Is Enough!
by Sarine Khatchikian

I am a citizen of Lebanon living in this biblical land. Currently being one of those who is living and witnessing the ongoing horror in my beautiful country, I am enraged, angered, sad, distressed and confused as to what to do.

I am sick and tired of people taking advantage of my country, carrying out their own wars on my land, cleaning up their dirty laundry at the cost of my fellow citizens. I am not a supporter of any political party; I am with the land of "Milk and Honey" as the Bible states. My rage is against Israel, Hezbollah, Bush’s USA, Iran, Syria and the previous Lebanese government.

How dare they, under selfish pretexts, which I do not even wish to discern, exploit our country to settle their horrendous accounts. Hezbollah claims to be defending its land. I used to admire that group during the years when Israel had occupied the South, being the only ones to defend the land. After the occupation, they should have joined the Lebanese Army if they really intended to defend this land. They have no right to compel the people of Lebanon to pay the price for their selfish moves!

Bush (yes, Bush, not even Mr. Bush!) has declared himself as nothing short of the next Messiah who has taken under his ‘wings’ the duty of bringing justice to the world, stopping terror from the globe!!! What a noble and kindred spirit! Shame on him! What right does he have to violate the privacies of other countries? Before meddling internationally, one should clean up the national disorder. What about the homeless in the USA? What about the educational standards in a number of public schools? What about the crime rates in the states? What about substance abuse rates? What about tempered rights of children? What about the youth landing home in coffins from Iraq?

Israel! Shame on you for using "God’s Chosen People" as a slogan for every inhumane action in the world! God’s chosen people should be setting examples for the rest of the world, not violating every single humanitarian decree! What will you tell God about the innocent children whose lifeless bodies are hanging out from their parents’ cars as they are fleeing your bombs? What will you tell the children whose parents are lying dead in front of them with their intestines bulging out of their bodies in front of their tiny innocent eyes? What will you tell students when they find their schools completely destroyed and leveled to the ground? How can you justify bombing ambulances and humanitarian workers when they are selflessly and nobly trying to fulfill their missions of evacuating people and caring for the wounded? How can you hit homes and not allow people to remove their
dead from under the rubble? THEIR DEAD! You took their lives, at least leave their dead bodies to their families!

Syria and Iran! It pains my heart to see those two beautiful countries who have throughout the history of mankind been pioneers in almost every aspect of existence (long before the Western world had even woken up) now taking a back seat in the vehicle of modernizing the world. There exist noble people in those countries who have now been classified as terrorists because of the dark leadership ruling them. If that is the way they want their countries governed, they have every right to do so! But keep Lebanon out of it!

We are not savages, we are not beasts! We are a civilized nation. We do not accept to have others recklessly run our country. It is time that we have a strong governing body that prioritizes the needs of its nation above others.

What we are facing today is Hurricane Katrina and the last Tsunami combined and then multiplied! Yes modern world, that is what we have! There are around half a million refugees all around Lebanon having taken shelter in schools, and yes, even on so-called safe "streets" sleeping on sidewalks. Do we really understand what that means? 500,000 people sleeping on the icy ground, with no blankets, no mattresses, nothing to eat but a bite of bread once a day! Do we really know what it means to have 200 people use 4 toilets and not have a single drop of water to flush it? Do we? Let’s just face the bare facts for a moment. We read and hear the media say "war" and "refugees". Now, picture one of our local schools with your entire family in it, with your newborn baby crying for milk, with your young son shaking from fear not grasping why he is sitting on the floor while his
father or mother is bleeding to death in front of him and the ambulance is not coming! What would you do? Wouldn’t you spit at the face of this unjust world?

Enough is enough! The Lebanese are a proud and noble nation, who after 30 years of destructive war caught up with the rest of the world and proved to everybody that they can be the best in any professional domain.

Let us be, let us help the world with our potentials, allow us to our basic human rights so we can live and be able to welcome you on our biblical land and share with you the "Milk and Honey" that God has bestowed upon us.

Sarine Khatchikian
School Principal

Friday, July 21, 2006

A call for action from the Red Cross

From: lebanonusa@cox.net [mailto:lebanonusa@cox.net]
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 9:20 AM
Subject: Please forward to all your friends and family in the DC area


The President of the Lebanese Red Cross, Sami Dahdah, has recently sent an urgent cry for help for the need to respect the Geneva Convention and allow the entry of humanitarian relief efforts into Lebanon. He emphasized the need to respect the rules of the International Red Cross, the Red Cresent Movement and the recently admitted Magen David Adom that prohibit targeting any vehicles carrying the emblems of the Red Cross or Red Crescent. Due to the blockade imposed on Lebanon and due to the recent targeting of relief efforts that tried entering the country by land, no relief efforts are able to enter Lebanon at this time. Dahdah urged the world community for the need to find a solution to this problem soon due to the mounting need for humanitarian relief efforts in his country.

This is a call for action!

We urge all Americans and Lebanese-Americans to gather in front the building of the American Red Cross in D.C. to carry this Lebanese country for help, and urge this organization to do its part to help in this humanitarian crisis.


Friday, July 21th 2006
Time: 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

*****Washington, D.C. USA*****

American Red Cross
National Headquarters
430 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006

Take Metro to Farragut West and exit the 17th and I SE exit and walk 5 blocks south

For More Info please contact:

Joelle Jackson

(202) 220-3039

Pictures, articles and more...

Dear friends,

I have received this link which contains pictures, stories, articles, misc. information, requests for help and donations, polls and other.
Please note that some pictures and stories are gruesome and not for the faint of heart.

Lebanon Under Attack

Kindly forward and spread the word for the world to see the truth!!

Thursday, July 20, 2006

NE LAISSEZ PAS LE LIBAN PÉRIR!!!

This article was prepared by the wife of my cousin who is a French national, living in Lebanon with her husband. I will try to translate it at a later date, apologies to those who cannot read French.

NE LAISSEZ PAS LE LIBAN PÉRIR!!!

Cela fait plus d'une semaine d'attaque israélienne contre le Liban. Le Liban, mon pays de cour. Je suis française, je suis venue m'installer au Liban, après avoir rencontre l'homme de ma vie, un libanais. Je suis arrive en 1999 et suis tombée follement amoureuse de ce pays, de sa population. Ils m'ont accueillie, acceptée comme l'une des leurs. A ce jour je suis maman de deux petits garcons ages de 3 ans et ma place est definitivement au Liban. Je n'ai jamais regrette mon choix, même encore aujourd'hui. La plupart de mes amis sont libanais et ma belle-famille est merveilleuse.

Mais depuis Mercredi 12 Juillet, je suis horrifiee. Chaque jour et chaque nuit, Israel nous fait vivre une veritable guerre psychologique.

Quand je vois les avions jeter le feu de leur haine sur l'aéroport de Beyrouth, sur Baalbek sur la Bekaa, sur Tripoli et sur des petits ports de pêche comme Byblos. Quand je vois les images a la télé de ce Liban que j'ai vu renaître petit a petit durant 7 années et qui maintenant n'est que tas de cendres, que tout est a refaire... Je pleure. Ils sont en train de détruire une fois de plus ce magnifique pays qui se relève à peine d'une longue et traumatisante guerre.

L'occasion est simplement trop belle de re-essayer encore une fois de faire
exploser le Liban. Le prétexte a été fourni. Il y a eu effectivement provocation.

Je ne supporte en aucun cas le Hezbollah, mais la riposte d'Israël est démesurée, d'autant plus qu'ils ont attaque le Liban en violant plusieurs lois internationales et qu'ils continuent en jetant au dessus de nos têtes des bombes au phosphore,(elles aussi interdites par les lois internationales). Israël n'a absolument aucune chance de les éliminer de cette manière. C'est une évidence pour quiconque connait un tant soit peu le Liban et la manière dont le Hezbollah est implanté. Le problème se situe à Damas et à Téhéran. Je trouve injuste de mettre le Liban en otage juste pour leurs propres intérêts.

La situation au Liban est très préoccupante et encore une fois, les États-Unis soutiennent le gouvernement israélien, malgré l'ampleur des dégâts et de la force utilisée. Les portes paroles américains affirment que le Liban a eu un an et demi pour implanter la résolution 1559 de l'ONU mais ne l'a pas fait. Ils pensent que les frappes d'Israël sont un cadeau du ciel pour la population Libanaise prise en otage par les armes du Hezbollah. Mais se sont-ils poser la question a savoir POURQUOI ? savent-ils que le Hezbollah au Liban est plus fort et plus riche que le gouvernement. Les membres du Hezbollah « le Parti de Dieu » comme ils se nomment eux même, ont joué la carte politique de l'Iran sans aucun souci des enjeux sur le Liban.

Donc, l'état d'Israël, bombarde des centrales électriques, des routes, des installations portuaires (bombardement du port de Jounieh en pleine 'zone chrétienne' ou il n'y a aucune sympathie pour le Hezbollah), les bombardements , des ponts, des aéroports (l'aéroport de Beyrouth sous prétexte que les armes du Hezbollah y transitent alors que le monde entier sait qu'elles transitent par la frontière poreuse entre le Liban et la Syrie depuis des années), et tue des civils. Plus de 600 personnes a la date d'aujourd'hui. La population libanaise ne doit pas payer pour les agissements de ces terroristes.

Le président J.Chirac a dit: «On pourrait croire qu'Israël n'a qu'un seul but en tête, qui est de détruire le Liban». Bien triste situation que celle du Liban. Un si beau pays, meurtri, torturé depuis des années..

Myriam Boyeldieu-Nader
Beyrouth - Liban

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Clearly revealing who's behind our misery...

I also received this link this morning...:

In a chat with Prime Minister Tony Blair at the G8 summit, President Bush uses colorful language. (July 17)
CNN Link

some horrific scenes ...

I received this link today which shows 'some' of the atrocities committed against the Lebanese people within the past week only - please note that the content are graphic, do not click if you think you cannot handle these scenes:

> Subject: FW: Thank you !!!!!
> Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:08:42 -0400
>
>
> To teach children to have no mercy and to wish the violent death of
> others is beyond imagination.
>
> Check out this site <http://www.fromisraeltolebanon.org>

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

update: 7th day of the Israeli attacks

From the begining of the attacks we have had about 220 dead and over 800 injured, thousands of displaced and Billions of dollars of destruction including the airport.

All roads leading to Syria (our only land getaway) have been bombed, and of course the air and sea blockades are still on-going.

Fuel tanks, reserves and gas station have been targeted and have burned as all as some electricity companies.

Bridges and roads linking villages/areas to the rest of the country have been destroyed so people are unable to flee despite warnings received from Israel to do so. (If they cut of all roads and take away fuel how in heaven's name do they expect innocent people to leave the area they are warning to bomb??!!)

Although the government has issued a statement that medicine and food are still available until this time, it should be noted that logistics is a huge problem as they are unable to distribute them to the affected areas. Also, no workers (who are mostly arab nationals: syrian, egyptians, etc...) are showing up for work, flour and fuel for the ovens are starting to become a problem and auxiliary generators are now unavailable.

The UN is not helping the displaced and its has issued a statement that they will evacuate all 'unecessary' personnel and all the families.

The Lebanese army itself is being targeted and many army posts have been bombed martyring over 50 soldiers.

Not to mention the massacres of many families fleeing in vans and buses and being intentionally targeted by the Israeli bombs under the pretense that Hizballah uses civilians to transport weapons!!!

We had received about 20 ambulance cars as donation from the UAE but the fleet was bombed and prevented from reaching its destination. Also, shipments of medicines and flour were bombed and destroyed.

All French, Canadian, Colombian, Arabs, Italian, Brits... etc are evacuating by means provided by their embassies.

As a small note, today a sea ship carrying US nationals is scheduled to leave Beirut towards Cyprus, so as you can image the Beirut area was mostly spared today. However the Bekaa area was not and according to Israeli statements, they have bombed over 52 targets in Lebanon only on this day.

The UNICEF had declared that the Humanitarian situation in Lebanon is catastrophic.

For any donations...

Source: www.lfpm.org/forum

Al Tayyar:
نداء الى جميع اللبنانيين في العالم اهلكم صامدون في وجه الاعتداءات الاسرائيلية ولكن صمودهم لا يكتمل الا بمساعدتكم لذلك خصص رقم حساب للتبرعات التي تساهم في صمود اهلكم ومساعدة النازحين منهم
Societe Generale de Banque au Liban
Sin El Fil
001-004-361-236446-01-3
SWIFT SGBLILBBX
Account Holders: Pierre Raffoul, Maurice Jreij et Elie Hanna

رقم الحساب المصرفي لهيئة الاغاثة العليا: 411150067 مصرف لبنان
Lebanese High relief Effort Committee: Bank of Lebanon, Acc no. 411150067

Initiative taken by the Lebanese Embassy and The Red Crescent Society in Abu Dhabi:
All branches of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank - Account # 20000488

If anyone is interested in helping out....

يستقبل "التيار الوطني الحر" كل أنواع المساعدات في مركزه الرئيس في كوينز بلازا -جديدة المتن لإرسالها فيما بعد الى من يحتاجها. للمزيد من المعلومات الإتصال على الأرقام التالية: 03101619 - 01247676 - 01247677

أنشأ تكتل النغيير والاصلاح والتيار الوطني الحر مكاتب مراجعات لمساعدة أهلنا النازحين من كل المناطق.
يرجى الإتصال بالمكاتب على الارقام الآتية :
كسروان- جبيل : 03122858 - 09838329
المتن الشمالي : 03962222
عين الرمانة -التحويطة : 03484013
الأشرفية : 01336337
البترون : 06741559 - 03318908
طرابلس : 03-732318 - 03-177696
بعبدا : 03/530282 - 03/351529

The lebanese Red Cross URGENTLY needs Blood of ANY type. Injured people need your help, this is really serious !!
Please donate Blood in any red cross center... just call your red cross center in your area and you'll get all the instructions. The whole donation process would only take about 20 minutes!

For all the immigrants, please call your friends and relatives in Lebanon and urge them to donate blood as soon as possible..

Red Cross Phone Numbers:
General number: 140 and 112
Beirut: 01-372 802/3/4/5
Tripoli: 06-602510, 06-520748
Antelias: 04524164 and 03202683
Tyr (Sour): 07-740070
Jounieh: 09-832260, 09-930642, 09- 930342, 09-931750
Zahleh: 08-824892, 08-820735
Saida: 07-722131, 07-720091, 07-722532

Date: Jul 15, 2006 1:20 PM

Date: Jul 15, 2006 1:20 PM
Subject: update

Dear All,

I would like to thank everyone who expressed concern about me and my family... i just wanted to let you know that neither me or my loved ones are in any physical danger at this point in time... but ask me again in a couple of days and my answer might change as the situtation is progressing at an accelerated rate.

I dont know really how the western media are presenting the issue, i am more concentrating on watching local news for once to get a more comprehensive and accurate position, but from the little i have seen on BBC and CNN it seems that they are portraying the war to be only between Hizballah and Israel while the situation is actually quite different.

Lebanon is a very small country of only about 10,500 Km2 bordered by the Mediterranian sea, Israel and Syria. So really we cannot pretend that what happens in the south is only limited to the south... the noise, smells and sights are carried all over the nation.
The airport which has been under heavy Israeli fire for the last 2-3 days is in the capital Beirut (and about 15 mns away from my offices and home) and is actually the only international airport we have therefore we are all under air siege, so really it is not only Hizballah in the south being bombarded.
The whole of Lebanon is under sea blockade with warships stationed along all the Lebanese shores from south to north all the way to tripoli and syria. They have bombarded all the roads leading to syria in the north of Lebanon (again not only the south is targeted) so now all of Lebanon is under land blockade as well since syria is only other bordering country we have (other than Israel). So we are besieged on all sides with no one going out or getting in.

They have targeted all Lebanese infrastructure, including the airport, electricity plants (so the country is currently in the dark), fuel tanks and gas stations (so no fuel for auxiliary electricity generators), no food can be brought into the country and they are bombarding the Bekaa valley where all agricultural produce are grown and all existing bridges linking villages to the rest of the country. The bombs have not stopped since July 13th and more than 100 Lebanese civilians are died and several hundreds are injured many of them children. People are dying while running away from their homes, on the roads and in makeshift shelters. The economy which relies mostly on tourism is of course heavily hit, tourists in the hundreds of thousands are attempting to leave through syria some with success others who waited until this time are stuck with the rest of us until further notice. Telephone lines are crappy and soon i am predicting that the internet backbone which comes from Cyprus through the sea will be targeted... Also, they have bombarded the GSM sites (mostly in the south and central Lebanon for now) and soon we will be without any means for communications. Israel is threatening to bomb Syria and Iran is threatening a military intervention if it happens... and i will give you one guess on where this confrontation will take place!! The international community is standing on the side lines watching and giving stupid meaningless speeches without consequences or any attempts on exerting any pressure the stop the hostilities from either side. The Lebanese government has no effect on hizballah which is wildly known as a 'resistance' movement. Hizballah (which means "party of God") has an army made up of thousands of militants who believe in their cause, highly trained and educated men, a lot of weapons, leadership and money. The Lebanese government has nothing of the sort: no money, no weapon and no army. And the Lebanese government has no clout whatsoever and cannot exert any sort of pressure on the Hizballah while the Israeli government is refusing any sort of negotiations with the officials of my country even through the UN or a third party.

Some local news are posted almost minute by minute on this forum: http://www.lfpm.org/forum some postings are in arabic but most are in english so you can get a more accurate idea on the situation if you are interested.

I apologize for the mass mailing. Please let me know if anyone would rather not receive such emails.
Love to all... I will try to stay in touch.

Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 2:13 PM

Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 2:13 PM
Subject: situation in lebanon!

Well dears, just like every year when i invite you to visit Lebanon something bad happens! :(

We woke up this morning with the country under siege, believe it or not, in this day and age!

The Israeli have bombarded the airport (about 15 mns away from my home and office) forcing thousands of tourists to leave the country by land towards Syria... they have also imposed a sea siege ... and soon a land siege... no one can get out or get in:
My cousin and his family are in Prague and they cannot come back.
My cousin's wife was supposed to leave to KSA to join her husband today but because of the airport being closed she is attempting the trip by land to Jordan where she hopes she will be able to catch a plane from Amman to Jeddah.

Israel is right at this moment still bombarding the south of Lebanon, is destroying infrastructure including about 20 land bridges (which in war terms means they are preparing for an invasion), flying over the whole country and slowly making its way towards Beirut...
People are raiding supermarkets and petrol stations ....
Need i go on?

Everyone take care!
Love and kisses...

Introduction

Dear All,

I have created this blog upon the advice of a friend who encouraged me to share the events taking place in my beloved country with the rest of the world as well as create a platform for everyone to share their thoughts, ideas and feelings.

I have never done this before so my apologies in advance for any mistakes or views which might differ from yours or anything that might affect your sensibilities.

Welcome to my blog: http://mybelovedlebanon.blogspot.com/
Feel free to comment with information, thoughts, feelings, ideas... etc but please keep in mind that rudeness, personal attacks or insensitivity to the plight of the Lebanese people will not be tolerated.

I will try to maintain this blog as often as I can.

With love to all,
J.