July 2006 War on Lebanon

Lebanon's brain drain alarm

2007-02-03T13:28:00.000Z

By Kim Ghattas
BBC News, Beirut

Two years ago, Ossama Kabbani was the poster boy for the newly rebuilt downtown Beirut.

In a slick television promotion put out by the ministry of tourism, over breathtaking pictures of the Lebanese capital and Lebanon, the architect and urban planner talked about how he put his soul into the glitzy project.

He had returned from the US in 1991, after the devastating, 15-year long civil war ended, and embarked on his dream: to help put Lebanon and Beirut back on the map with what he described in the advertisement as "the single largest renovation project on earth".

"Ten years ago, we had a dream, and now we're seeing the dream come true," he also said in the television spot, explaining that everything had been rebuilt and tourists were flocking back.

But the dream came crashing down last summer, on 12 July, when two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and eight others killed by Hezbollah, Lebanon's guerrilla movement and political party.

Read full article

Proxy war in Lebanon

2007-01-29T09:51:00.000Z

From Financial Times, 29.01.2007

Proxy war in Lebanon

A national entente and new elections may be only answer

For the umpteenth time in its history, Lebanon is becoming a preferred arena for proxy war in the Middle East. Lebanese fought on both sides of the Crusades and hedged their bets even when the Mamluks defeated the Mongols in the 13th century. They have provided almost the only Arab allies (Maronite Christians) Israel has had in the region, as well as the only force (Hizbollah) to match the Israelis at war. Still unable wholly to shake off the 1975-90 civil war in which the main of many faultlines was between Muslim and Christian, the Lebanese are in danger of sinking into a new sectarian cesspool, this time between Sunni and Shia. It must not happen.
Lebanon came out of the civil war with its politics (and some very remunerative rackets) in Syrian hands and its south under Israeli occupation. The Shia Islamist Hizbollah saw off the Israelis in 2000, while a civic uprising triggered by the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister and architect of postwar reconstruction, forced Syria to withdraw its forces.
Relief though all this was, it did not stop Israel trying again and again to destroy Hizbollah, especially as a way of bloodying the group’s Iranian sponsors, or stop Syria dreaming of its Anschluss in the Levant. Neither Hariri nor the inept Sunni leadership that succeeded him, moreover, ever really tried to forge the country’s 18 sects into a nation or – a linked problem – promote economic and social equity.
But last summer’s war, in which Israel, with Anglo-American support and the acquiescence of Sunni Arab leaders across the region, tried and failed to crush Hizbollah, has opened another front in the Sunni-Shia conflict haemorrhaging out of Iraq.
This is in part the fault of Hizbollah. Celebrated as heroes after resisting Israel’s onslaught, their fighters could again put off deciding whether they are a national party or the regional spearhead of Shia Islam. They instead chose to withdraw from and then confront the democratically elected government led by Fouad Siniora. The problem is that many Shia believe Mr Siniora and his allies were complicit in the attempt to destroy Hizbollah. They point out that he did not even visit southern Shia areas destroyed by Israel.
With such bad blood it is hardly surprising last week’s Hizbollah-led strike slid into violent confrontation. Saudi and Iranian diplomats helped calm the situation, acting for their Sunni and Shia proxies. As a stopgap, that is fine.
But it is the Lebanese who need to seize control of their future – unless they want their country again to become the address through which Syrians and Saudis, Iraqis and Libyans, Israelis and Iranians communicate with each other by car-bomb. A national dialogue leading to new elections and a new entente may be the only answer – with external support for this national process rather than sectarian surrogates or political clients.

DEMON-strations

2007-01-23T11:09:00.000Z

Hezbollah-led opposition with Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and other pro-Syria political groups have taken the streets of Beirut demanding change of Fuad Siniora government. Clashes were reported between opposition demonstrators trying to block roads and pro-government supporters attempting to stop them.

Pictures from today's demonstration and of smoke of burning tyres in Central Beirut, 23.01.2006

Reflections on Today's Demonstration

2006-12-01T14:56:00.000Z

AP -BEIRUT: Thousands of protesters from Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian opposition allies descended on downtown Beirut Friday to force the resignation of Lebanon's Western-backed prime minister, who was holed up in his office ringed by hundreds of police and combat troops.

READ FULL ARTICLE ON IHT.

Our blog reflects:

- This is indeed a massive demonstration but mobilising the crowds is double-edged. The more one group mobilises its crowd, the success of the other group in mobilising theirs is higher.

- Taking the streets - if it does not reach the tipping point of toppling the ruling government which might lead to uncontrolled instability- won't add much in the negotiation cards.

- Hezbollah showed formidable acts of resistance and militancy against Israel but the internal complex politics of Lebanon and its power-sharing mechanism needs a complete change in their modus oparandi.

- Whatever the speeches of the leaders Hezbollah and its allies say about their objectives of this demonstration, (and to use statistics language) there is high correlation between their acts and demonstrations, and ratifying the Hariri International Tribunal.

- No one of the various quarrelling political groups has ever thought of the extra millions of dollars being spent on policing and securing the streets of Beirut at these times of high tension. No one has ever took any consideration of Lebanon's average men and women who as taxpayers see their money (millions of it) being inadequately spent.

Ends (for now).

Black Widows

2006-11-30T18:20:00.000Z

Widows, mothers, daughters, relatives and friends of assassinated politicians of 14th March Coalition send a strong message today from Bkerki, the Maronite Church HQ, against destabilizing Lebanon and against the demonstrations of Hezbollah and its allies.

8th, 14th or the Airport

2006-11-30T11:05:00.000Z

Cartoonist Armand Houmsi in today's An-Nahar:

'Exits for the Citizen'
- 8th of March Stree
- 14th of March Street
.....or
- the Airport

Seeking a Political Career in Lebanon? ..think again!

2006-11-23T17:06:00.000Z

A picture taken today (23.11.2006) in Beirut during the funeral of assassinated Minister and MP, Pierre Gemayel [click on picture to enlarge]

Thousands attend Beirut funeral

2006-11-23T11:22:00.000Z

Thousands of mourners gathered on Thursday in the centre of Beirut for the funeral of the assassinated industry minister, Pierre Gemayel.

When a Sign of Power becomes a Sign of Weakness

2006-11-22T18:25:00.000Z

"The authority team [Lebanon’s 14^th of March coalition and ruling majority] today is in a state of weakness.” Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, in a speech aired on 19.11.2006

A prophecy that Nasrallah has been telling in a way or another for the last few weeks; and he appears to be right.

So the news that Prime Minister Siniora ordering ministers to move to the Prime Minister’s headquarter did not come as a surprise. The Grand Serial, an impressive Ottoman building used as the PM’s residence and office, is under transformation to host cabinet members as a living and working place. It is a bid by the PM to ensure the safety of his cabinet members and ensure that the cabinet can meet safely to approve the Hariri Tribunal.

There could do not be a better sign of the security anxiety that ministers and politicians of the 14^th March Coalition are currently facing in Lebanon. Moving them all together to a fortified building is just a manifestation of the current crisis in Lebanon. It is an irony when the sign of power – politically and spatially – becomes a sign of weakness.

The 14^th of March Coalition looks indeed very feeble; the group has –so far- lost a number of its prominent members since the attacks started on Marwan Hemadeh in December 2004. Politicians, Ministers and MPs are under continuous stress of an attack or an assassination. And they are quite right to fear their lives with the list of fallen colleagues growing.

If the ruling majority succeeds in passing the Hariri Tribunal peacefully, Lebanon would be spared from dire consequences.

Hands off The Lebanon

2006-11-22T10:10:00.000Z

Steve Bell in today's The Guardian - 22.11.2006

Political Violence; Again

2006-11-21T18:02:00.000Z

Breaking News

Again, Lebanon is facing a new act of political violence. Today (Tuesday 21.11.2006) Pierre Gemayel, Minister of Trade and Industry and MP for the Maronite seat in Metn District, was assassinated by gunmen in an eastern suburb of Beirut.

The 34 years old Gemayel, a son of former president Amin Gemayel, comes from a traditional Maronite Christian family. He was a prominent member of the 14th March coalition and a vocal critic of Syrian role in Lebanon.

Lebanon is indeed in the midst of political crisis.

Blog team will be posting regularly from Lebanon with critical analysis of the current affairs.

Israel Says the P Word: Does Geneva Listen?

2006-10-22T22:21:00.000+01:00

After agonising denial and media spinning, Israeli Officials admits to using phosphorous bombs in the infamous July war. Confessing in the ABC of legal logic is self-incriminating. So in the mind of any sensible human being following the disgusting attacks, Israel is guilty as confessed. Consequently, Israel should be punished as by international law.

Unfortunately Geneva and its conventions will not take action. No sanctions will be called. No premptive, punitive, or proactive measures will be even contemplated. The international community will turn a blind eye and a deaf ear and will allow Israel to place itself above all international law. And no finger will be raised. This will go on as long as the BBC still calls them 'controversial' instead of illegal phosphoric bombs, and as long as Israel is allowed to justify their use in 'open ground' on its pages.

All this is not new, it is just additional evidence to throw in the face of any pro-Israeli self-rightous blinded paranoids who claim that the Israeli army is a 'moral' one, and that Israel is a 'civilised country'. Until Geneva wakes up from the coma, the international community shouldn't wonder why phosphorically affected generations are still saying: Bring it On!

BBC Top Story: Israel admits phosphorous bombing
Israel fought Hezbollah in Lebanon in July and AugustIsrael has for the first time admitted it used controversial phosphorous bombs during fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon in July and August.....

Lebanon businesses try to bounce back

2006-10-17T14:38:00.000+01:00

'In normal times, business on Beirut's busy seafront would be brisk. But, in the aftermath of the recent conflict, the Beirut Cafe on the Corniche is struggling to get back on its feet.'

Read Alex Klaushofer's story on BBC

the thin line between commenting & spin-doctoring: Joseph Samaha and Al-Akhbar

2006-10-16T10:25:00.000+01:00

Joseph Samaha is a gifted columnist. His arguments are well-put and are always analytical of the current affairs. His latest argument, however, is somehow flawed. In today’s column in Al-Akhbar, he sounded like a typical ‘regime propagandist’ - not different from writers in neighbouring Damascus or in Cairo or those in party-owned media. He constructed a one-sided argument in defence of former army general Michel Aoun.

Samaha was commenting on Aoun’s undelivered but broadcasted speech in yesterday’s Free Patriotic Movement rally that was cancelled due to weather conditions. He rightly described the speech as ‘typical of the middle class Christians’. The speech, as analysed by Samaha, raised issues of interest to the ‘middle class’ such as the values of ‘democracy, sovereignty, human rights, gender equality, citizenship, human and just society, solidarity with unprivileged groups, rule of law, good governance, …. economic development, fighting monopoly, privatisation, and taxation’; values that the columnist described as typical of ‘modern’ and ‘modernising’ classes.

Then Samaha starts mixing-up.

When posing the obvious rhetoric question of ‘where is the originality of the issues that Aoun has raised?’, Samaha gives his rubber stamp without a blink of eye that Aoun is genuine about what he says while others are not. Although Aoun has merely touched on how he envisages the ways to achieve these raised issues.

The obvious example was in the area of economic development, where Aoun was simplistic and general when said that:

‘The main criterion for establishing economic justice is equality and balance between obligations and opportunities among all of our people. We can achieve this by re-writing our tax laws, by austerity in public spending, and by revisiting the meaning of balanced development throughout all areas of the country.’
.....
‘This economy’s main priority should be the support of institutions which promote social solidarity, especially those which deal with health, retirement, and the protection of the Lebanese peoples’ assets from any kind of threat or abuse’.

Then Samaha continues and justifies the ‘sectarianism’ of Aoun and his movement as not ‘bad as the word implies’. His sectarianism, according to the secular Samaha, is justified as a reaction of the foul-play of others.

In 968 words, Samaha made several mistakes. His major failing was in his moral judgement on three main issues:

The neo-liberal economic model of Aoun is a sign of modernity but that of 14 March coalition is harmful.
The democracy of a former army general is definitely good but that of others including those in a coalition of political movements is flawed
The sectarianism of Michel Aoun is benign but that of Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblat and Samir Jaejae is carcinogenic.

While commentators should not be apolitical; there is a thin line between sound arguments and spin-doctoring. Samaha is moving towards the latter.

Logic Lost?

2006-10-09T13:30:00.000+01:00

Just after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was brokered last August, some of the ‘celebrators’ of the ‘divine victory’ (never mind if they are staunch secular or hardcore leftists) presented a new thesis. “Lebanon of ‘post July 2006’ has become a way different from Lebanon of ‘pre July 2006’; and politics has to change in accordance with the new victory”, they claimed.

Their argument stresses that the discourse and narrative have to change to reflect this victory (never mind its ‘divine’ and ‘holy’ nature). But most importantly, a change in power has to occur. The pre 'July 2006' power-sharing mechanism where 14th of March coalition controls the majority in cabinet was rendered out-of-date with the new geopolitical developments – (never mind if the first to mention this was Bashar Assad of Syria). And a new cabinet has to be formed to include the victors (Hezbollah) and its allies (Michel Aoun, Suleiman Franjieh, Wiam Wahab etc.. to name a few).

But it seems that these ‘celebrators’ have either lost their ‘calendars’, lost their ‘binoculars’, lost their ‘logic’ …or lost them all.

They lost their ‘calendars’ forgetting that Lebanon of ‘post 14 February 2005’ is different from Lebanon of ‘pre 14 February 2005’. They forgot that what followed after killing Rafik Hariri including the UN resolutions, the Syrian withdrawal, the mass uprising, and the mobilisation of the Sunni community were not incidents to undermine or ridicule but events that have changed Lebanon’s politics.

They lost their ‘binoculars’ for not seeing beyond Lebanon’s coasts. Since the ceasefire last August, navies from European states have been monitoring the Lebanese seashore. Not only they cannot see the size of warships that are sailing few kilometres from the Lebanese shoreline but they fail to notice the international decision behind these ships; and that destabilisation of Lebanon would not be accepted.

Indeed, these ‘celebrators’ have lost some ‘logic’ or got a unique one. Their ‘logic’ does not see that developments in Lebanon are related to those in the region; their ‘logic’ believes that ‘Syrian’ interference was over the moment Syrian soldiers left Lebanon; their ‘logic’ still believes that ‘shouting’ and ‘ridiculing’ others brings popularity; their 'logic' thinks that it is easy to go back to pre 14 February 2005 situation...

A clash of logics is not necessarily bad; but it becomes risky when logics are asserted by force. And this is the logic of violence in civil wars.

Inside Hezbollah, Big Miscalculations

2006-10-08T19:16:00.000+01:00

...
"They don't attempt adventures. They're not adventurous types," Goksel said. In every operation, they would project "what it means for Shiites, what it means for the party, what it means for Lebanon, what it means for Syria."

He paused. "One wonders if that process collapsed somehow," he said...

Read Anthony Shadid's article in the Washingtonpost

A Bouquet of Generals

2006-10-02T11:48:00.000+01:00

General Michel Aoun (above right), is a man of ambitions; at 75 he is still full of energy to nominate himself for Lebanon’s presidency. A retired army aommander, he seeks to win the presidency from the current incumbent, General Emile Lahoud (above left)- also a retired army commander.

The tale of these two generals has always been melodramatic. Lahoud took over the Army command from Aoun in 1990 after Aoun was forced into exile in France for 15 years. When Lahoud became president in 1998, Aoun was a fierce critic of him as a pro-Syrian and corrupt president. But upon his return from exile in spring 2005 and in the wake of Hariri Assassination and Syrian withdrawal, Aoun shifted into protecting and defending Lahoud against critics from the anti-Syrian control group of 14 March Alliance who were demanding his resignation.

It appeared that the two generals have struck some kind of a formula: if Lahoud has to go, then Aoun is to replace him. The General has left, long live the General formula. But expectedly the 14 March Alliance rejected this proposal fearing that Aoun is a continuity to the authoritarian rule of Lahoud; two generals of the same coin.

Ironically, the choice beyond the two generals looks to be ……a general; not retired though. Slowly but surely, the current Army commander General Michel Suleiman is raising his profile as a strong contender in the Presidential race. So far, he has played it right. He did not clamp down the anti-Syria demonstrators during the Beirut Spring 2005 but ensured that Lahoud is protected if demonstrators move to the presidential palace. He sends troops to South Lebanon as a result of the 1701 UN resolution but makes it clear that his army is not disarming Hezbollah; and that the Army along with Hezbollah will be protecting the ‘land and the people’. In so far, he has succeeded in playing a win-win formula.

Today, General Suleiman scored more points. Amid the political bickering and while General Aoun has not stopped giving populist but content-less speeches and while General Lahoud has been waging a ‘Idi Amin – style’ war on the French President, General Suleiman chose the right moment and the right place. In a victory celebration and with news that Israel finalised its withdrawal from South Lebanon, he raised the Lebanese flag on the last point of the Israeli-Lebanese borders.

A third General is rising. More sensible than other generals? yes indeed. But more democratic? time will tell.

Army commander, Michel Suleiman (Middle) at the borders at Laboune today celebrating Israeli withdrawl

'the Marwahin 23'

2006-10-01T16:05:00.000+01:00

..."The problem," she [woman at Marwahin cemetry] said, "is that these poor people belonged to a country called Lebanon and our lives are worth nothing to anyone else. If this had happened in Israel - if all these children were Israeli and the Hizbollah had killed them all with a helicopter - the US president would travel to the cemetery each year for a memorial service and there would be war crimes trials and the world would denounce this crime. But no president is going to come to Marwahin. There will be no trials." ....

Read Robert Fisk's full article: Marwahin 15 July 2006: The anatomy of a massacre in The Independent

Hassan Nasrallah Superstar

2006-09-28T12:17:00.001+01:00

The battle to win sore hearts and minds has gone beyond conventional and confrontational bashing. The latest PR trend tends to sex-up profiles in a Superstar - Groupie type of relationship. Some while ago, the Young Nasrallah photo has been widely circulated echoing a not so subtle 'Che'-ian revolutionary glamour pose. Arab newspapers boasted the politicisation of the 'brands labelling' in the Cairo dates market wich is the equivalent of an Arab 'Top Ten Popularity Charts'. Nasrallah has surely been pleased to know that his name has been given to this year's top date brand, making him the second Lebanese title holder after pop singer Nancy Ajram few years ago.

The 'Abaya appeal' surely contributed in nationalistic fantasies. A widely circulated video clip featured a funky young lebanese woman wishing that she would get hold of Nasrallah's abaya and rub herself with its sweat, and then distribute its pieces to people for some dignity. A serious newspaper article later confirmed that Nasrallah's abaya has been effectively sent this woman. She decided to keep it to herself though but welcomed any viewings by the public.

An improvised attempt to get into the PR race has quickly set in the other camp. An abaya counter-attack was launched by Saad hariri's sympathisers, as they ceremoniously wrapped him in one after his speech. One wonders if he received any fantasizing requests yet. but not to worry, newspapers will surely have updates on similarly vital news!

'Million bomblets'

2006-09-26T17:12:00.000+01:00

Up to a million cluster bomblets discharged by Israel in its conflict with Hezbollah remain unexploded in southern Lebanon, the UN has said.

Read story on BBC

My 'martyr' is better than yours!

2006-09-25T15:33:00.000+01:00

"We don't hide our martyrs. Throughout history, we have not done so."
Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Chief of Hezbollah in an interview to al-Jazzera TV Channel in 20 July 2006

Yesterday Christian Lebanese Forces celebrated its ‘martyrs’ day, a rally that the Christian militia-turned political movement used to organise during its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s until early 1990s while it controlled East Beirut and other Christian regions in Lebanon.

The practice of celebration of martyrdom and martyrs is not unique to one group in Lebanon. Throughout the period of civil war (1975-1990), all militias and political groups had their ‘martyrs’ and had some kind of celebration for them. A major reason was to use the memory of those fallen to show the groups role in the war (or struggle) and to mobilise support. Hezbollah is one of the leading parties to use the concept of martyrdom. Squares, streets and communal places where named after the party’s ‘martyrs’. It is rare not to find a street in South Beirut or in South Lebanon without a mural for Hezbollah’s martyrs. The celebration of martyrs is not only among religion-influenced groups but also a practice among secular political groups. The secular Syrian Social National Party (SSNP) has a long tradition in commemorating its ‘martyrs’ with its unique posters on the walls of Beirut; so is the case with the Communist Party.

But whose ‘martyr’ is better? It goes without saying that one person’s ‘martyr’ is another person’s ‘criminal’. And this is the essence of the problem.

Let’s take yesterday’s ‘martyrs’. Some supporters of the Aounists National Patriotic Movement see them as a bunch of thugs that were killed during their militia control in East Beirut. For Hezbollah and other pro-Syria and anti-Israel camp of Islamist, Arab Nationalist and secular parties, ‘martyrs’ of the Lebanese Forces were members of ‘isolationist gangs’ and Israel collaborators who deserved being killed. Reverse the formula, and you get similar answers for Hezbollah or SSNP ‘martyrs’.

The issue was unresolved in the post-war settlement process with the shy and ineffective efforts of reconciliation. The ideological roots of the schism were never tackled and the war of ‘martyrs’ is only its manifestation. Without a state-run initiative to commemorate all fallen victims during the war (militants and civilians) regardless of their religion or political affiliation, the schism will continue.

Picture of a Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) 'martyr' fallen in 1985 during civil war in Lebanon

Beirut's two DIVINE rallies

2006-09-22T10:30:00.000+01:00

Two rallies are under way in Beirut. Two rallies that vividly reflect the current political schism in Lebanon.

Today will be the big day in South Beirut. The Shiite Party Hezbollah is organising a huge rally to celebrate the party's 'divine victory' over the Israeli Army. The rally will take place in a huge square that has been prepared for the occasion not far from the destroyed quarters of South Beirut. It is not known if Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, will appear in person or if he will deliver a pre-recorded speech. There are fears that Isareli Army may seize the oppurtunity to assassinate Nasrallah if he makes an appearance. Today's 'Divine rally' will be a show of force by Hezbollah and its pro-Syria allies in addition to Michael Aoun's Movement.

On Sunday, Christian Maronite Lebanese Forces will organise its 'Martyrs Day' in the church of Harissa to the North of Beirut. It will be the first time that the Lebanese Forces organsie a public event of this size after being banned for more than 10 years. Lebanese Forces with its anti-Syria allies are expected to rally for this event to show their popularity.

Two rallies organised under religous banners; Though the two rallies are attracting support from across the sectarian communities, they reflect the role of religion in shaping Lebanon's politics. Whatever comes out of these two rallies will contribute to the polarization of Lebanon's political factions. The political tug-of-war shall continue.

Moral Superiority, Sectarianism and Conspiracy theory: Al-Akhbar newspaper

2006-09-19T11:29:00.000+01:00

Al-Akhbar newspaper brings the worst of Lebanese politics to the fore, as illustrated in the transformation of leftist politics into the cheapest form of sectarianism. In other words, it combines the defects of leftist analysis (conspiracy theory, bitterness, moral superiority) with the worst form of sectarianism.
A glance at today edition illustrates this point. The front-page article, by the editor-in-chief, exemplifies the bitter Marxist use of sociological analysis, attempting to portray all its enemies as opportunistic politicians whose political discourses can be mapped directly on their cheap attempts to survive politically. This trick, widely used in leftist circles, avoids having to engage with their discourse or to consider these politicians as having a different perspective. The moral superiority of the author, combined with the sociological analysis of his targets, transform these latter in the condensation of evil. The editor-in-chief would definitely not want us to apply this mode of reasoning on himself; this trick works in one direction. It is too bad because an as-credible narrative can be made, starting from the early career of this author to finish with his glorious following of Gebran Bassil. The narrative could be weaved around the attempts of the author to find a political role to himself, attempts continuously failing until the divine alliance gave him a role as the mouthpiece of this understanding. Of course, the conclusion of such narrative is that we do not really have to engage with his writings, since he is only in it for his personal political gains.
Moving to the inside pages, we find the illustration of this divine understanding when a very cheap form of sectarianism meets the resistance discourse. The specialist in Christian affairs in this newspaper has been following very closely, almost religiously, the trend of sectarian employment in the government and is shocked to discover that there are more Muslims than Christians. Of course, forgetting his alliance with the Hezbollah, whose latest war is one of the main drives of the renewal of Christian emigration, and the demographic change for the last 50 years, the author, in charge of the section ‘Christian sectarianism’, find the fault in the Sunni community, and the continuation of the Hariri policies, which as we all know and any decent conspiracy theorists would approve, was just aiming at controlling the lands in Kesrewan and Jbeil.
Continuing our trip, we bump into the transformation of leftism into a blind form of respect of tradition. The author, happy of his religious baggage, comments on the latest statement by the Pope. His secularism is conveniently brushed aside when he wholeheartedly supports the calls for apology, after his reading of the pope text. Where did all the secularism go and why do we have to cater for the ugliest part of religion is a question left unanswered. Leftists in Lebanon have always had a binary understanding of religion: either a lie or an unbridgeable gap. Everything in between is usually discarded. There is no place for nuances when one starts from this height of moral superiority.
As for the front page, the main story according to the newspaper is how PM Siniora is trying to block the help to the inhabitants of the south. According to their conspiracy theory, PM Siniora is currently punishing the inhabitants of the south by blocking the billions of aid, which are supposed to get to them, continuing the policy of collective punishment started by the Israelis. One would ask how did his policy of giving 30,000$ per house fits into this story? But these are just details. He is evil, and if he is not he is incompetent, and if he is not, he is a traitor, and if he is not, he is a sectarian bastard, and if he is not… In other words, he just needs to go.
Looking at this newspaper, one wonders how can these various perspectives coalesce into a political project. Actually, there is no political project. The only aim of this paper is to topple the government, and to realize this divine goal, all the tactics are permitted starting with the most potent, sectarianism. The main message of today’s edition is simple: the Sunnis dominate the Christians and starve the Shiites. Christianity, on the other hand, hates Islam as the Pope indicated. There is no possibility of sectarian understanding. Conveniently for the authors, the parliamentary majority is the quintessence of this sectarian evil. As for the non-sectarian components of this majority, well according to the conspiracy-theorist-in-chief, they are only in it for the money, and they are incompetent at it on top. In other words, the only credible policy of this newspaper is to ignite a sectarian civil war to topple the government, the only conjuncture that could give them a role to play.

Absolut Determination

2006-09-19T11:03:00.000+01:00

Lebanon's heritage in danger

2006-09-19T09:49:00.000+01:00

The Guardian, September 17

Monuments in two of the world's most important heritage sites are in need of 'urgent repair' as a result of the recent conflict in Lebanon, a United Nations mission to the region has discovered.
A Roman tomb in Tyre and a medieval tower in Byblos have been significantly damaged by the war, the official leading a survey of Lebanese archaeological sites told The Observer late last week.

At Tyre some of 'the finest examples of imperial Roman architecture in the world' had suffered direct damage, including the collapse of a fresco on a tomb only a few metres from the site's core. The official said that he intended to propose the commencement of urgent repair work in the area.

At Byblos the effects of an oil spill - which occurred after the Israeli government bombed a depot in Jiyeh, 15 miles south of Beirut - are more obvious. Bouchenaki said some of the archaeological remains from the Venetian period near the city's harbour were dramatically stained and would be difficult to clean. He said that a 'medieval tower' from the time of the Crusades had also been affected.

Read article

Watch video

The 5 preposterous things in Lebanese politics today

2006-09-18T10:14:00.000+01:00

1: Al-Akhbar Newspaper keeping their irritating nagging on the ‘Marja’youn Barracks Incident’ where a police general surrendered to the Israeli forces and evacuated the place for them after offering them tea. The police force had only primitive rifles.

2: General Michel Aoun, head of Lebanese Patriotic Movement, lecturing on state building while distributing money, probably from Hezbollah, to Christians affected by the last war.

3: The fear and shame to name Hezbollah as a militia, whereas in its actions and organisation, Hezbollah embodies a militia that operates beyond state control.

4: Aoun’s Lebanese Patriotic Movement claiming to be a secular movement but at time and time again reminding the Lebanese that the movement got 70% of Christian votes in the last election thus representing Maronites.

5: Leftist, seculars and communists rallying after Hezbollah, a religious movement to the bone that is headed by a cleric and is built on a religious belief system.

..to be continued

Hezbollah: strategy of containment or disguised coup d'etat?

2006-09-15T14:29:00.000+01:00

To say that Lebanon is divided in two camps is a truism today. A cursory look at the Lebanese medias illustrates this unprecedented level of political polarization and sectarian tension. But the post-July war is not simply a continuation of the pre-war tensions, and could augur a more serious stage in the political division of the country.
In the period ranging from the assassination of PM Hariri to the beginning of the July war, the main division in the country was between the March 14 Movement and the ‘others’. What is meant by this distinction is that the division was between a well-defined political narrative on the one hand, and various opposing forces to it, coming from different perspectives, without a narrative uniting them or legitimizing them, on the other. The original event of the March 14 Movement was the assassination of PM Hariri around which a nationalist narrative of independence and sovereignty was weaved, structuring the domestic political field and the international relations into two camps. The effective culmination of this narrative was the international investigation, which was expected to consolidate the gains of the March 14 Movement by (probably) implicating Syria and (possibly) some of its local allies.
Faced with such a narrative, the opposition to the March 14 Movement, coming from different quarters, not the least being the Hezbollah, attempted during last year to slow down the rise of the movement. The critiques flowed from different corners, un-coordinated, contradictory sometimes, the goal being to mitigate the effects, rather than to eliminate this movement. The strategy of the Hezbollah, for example, was a series of contradicting positions aiming at disturbing the March 14 Movement without facing it upfront: understanding on the electoral law but only partial alliance, participation to the government but opposition to it, media attack on the government but meetings with MP Hariri, etc.
The July war offered these critiques a draft of a political narrative, around which they could unite and that could be opposed to the March 14 narrative. On an international level, the war offered a criterion for defining friends and foes, reversing the March 14 evaluation. Domestically, the war divided the political forces into two camps, the allies and the traitors. These two criteria were weaved around a narrative of resistance and honour, offering a fully formed counterpart to the narrative of independence and sovereignty presented by the March 14 Movement.
The new stage of division of Lebanon is reaching a dangerous turning point for two reasons. The first is the failure of the strategy of containment followed by Hezbollah and its allies in the pre-July war period. With all their critiques and weakening of the parliamentary majority and the government, the Hezbollah was unable to reverse the course of action: the international tribunal is expected to be ratified soon, the military infrastructure of the party is gradually being contained and rendered useless, the international investigation continued unabated, the internationalization of the country reached new heights, etc. Faced with this outcome, the Hezbollah could continue its earlier strategy of containment, which would practically amount to accepting these outcomes. Or the Hezbollah could offer his ‘resistance’ narrative as a national project, and with his allies, try to topple the current government.
Even though, the Hezbollah emerged victorious from the war, it is in a very tight spot, seeing its victory only accelerating the processes it attempted to oppose in the first place. The latest attacks by Hezbollah officials could be a simple exercise in rhetoric aiming at mobilizing their constituencies and disturbing, without toppling, the government. Or, they could illustrate the decision of the party to move from a strategy of containment to a strategy of coup d'etat. And in this case, we are heading for more troubles.

The Politician, the Traitor and the Troublemaker

2006-09-14T11:22:00.000+01:00

Nearly one month after the cease fire, Lebanese politics are back to business as usual. Lebanese leaders and citizens are engaging more than ever in their verbal sparring to mark political territories. As they engage in this risky exercise, they redefine conceptions of citizenship and democratic representation into alarming hate-brewing reservoirs.

One can tell how politicians perceive their constituencies from their communication with them-and there has usually been hardly any, apart from the usual populist rallies. It took the July war with all its victories and defeats for politicians to address some unfortunate commons who happen to be caught under fire. Nasrallah primarily appealed to the support of the ‘Lebanese people’’, an imagined cohesive mass with no room for divergent opinion. Other politicians called on the solidarity of ‘the Lebanese’ and its variant ‘all the Lebanese’, probably referring to the various Lebanese sectarian groups rather than individuals. The media referred to them at times as ‘civilians’, only when they fell victims of the frequent Israeli attacks. More interestingly, they were hardly never consulted or even addressed as ‘citizens’. Once the war was over, got back to their self-centred paranoid bickering, after money-talking citizens into hundreds of thousands of splashed US dollars (ironically enough) handouts and promises of mass local and Arab donations.
The Lebanese version of citizenship works on a pre-packed basis. Under the multiple patriotic banners of Lebanon’s best interests, politicians make decisions for citizens, require their cooperation, and promise rewards or punishment accordingly. In this way citizens are stripped from their basic citizenship status, and loyalty overpowers accountability. Thus, politicians and citizens hang on to their patrio-meters and take to discrediting others as either traitors or troublemakers-depending which side they are on.

The labeling craze has taken its toll when anyone can be called a traitor for deploring physical damages, regretting human losses, or object to being thrown into war. Similarly troublemakers are accused of exhibiting excessive nationalist pride, expressing anger at an impotent international community, and believing in popular resistance.

This partisanship hell has been so much taken by scoring points and blindly justifying stands, at the risk of hindering self-reflection and silencing any questioning voices. Apart from the fanatic supporters of either camps, many people seem to agree with bits of both sides of the arguments. It is time move beyond the traitor/troublemaker dichotomy and debate priorities of public and citizens interests. Otherwise, such a vicious cycle would only lead to a situation of continuous political and social standstill, if not to the very recent troubled climate of assassinations and repetitive conflict.

IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon

2006-09-13T08:49:00.000+01:00

Haaretz, 12/09/2006

"What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs," the head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during the war.

Quoting his battalion commander, the rocket unit head stated that the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster bombs, containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets.

In addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international law. According to their claims, the vast majority of said explosive ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war.

Read article

hubble rubble

2006-09-12T13:01:00.000+01:00

Three men smoking shisha or hubble bubble in a destroyed neigbourhood in Beirut .
- courtesy of http://vosje.wordpress.com/ -

we are the children.... we are the victims...

2006-09-12T09:10:00.000+01:00

"children should never be the victims of armed conflict... "

An estimated number of 1400 children were killed during the 38 days conflict.
Children children children.... 'You go a bit crazy when you see little body after little body coming up out of the ground'

"children should never be the victims of armed conflict... and for those children who become victims of armed conflict, their security and access to quality health, education and recreational facilities and services should still be a right..." www.warchild.org.uk

"The children of southern Lebanon are trying to return to normal life. But the challenges are enormous..."
They might need their dreams to survive...

Lebanon fails to cure Blair's homesickness

2006-09-11T12:43:00.000+01:00

The heated debate surrounding Blair's visit is probably down to a hospitality clash.

It is indeed rude not to welcome Tony if he feels a sudden urge to pass by, on his way to the area, after a long errrr -surely justifiable- oblivion.

However, protestors should have been allowed to escort him closely in the same excitement that he has been lately used to with every public appearance in the UK.

The Alchemist Ibrahim Al-Amin

2006-09-11T12:42:00.000+01:00

The Alchemist Ibrahim Al-Amin has found the philosopher’s stone of Lebanese politics. In his column in today’s daily Al-Akhbar, Al-Amin has discovered the plot the 14^th of March Coalition and holder of Parliamentary majority are engineering to maintain their control of Lebanon’s political scene. And the main plotter is Walid Jumblat, the charlatan of Lebanon’s politics.

According to Al-Amin, Jumblat is drawing vicious plans and giving orders left and right to strengthen his grip of the post-Syrian political scene. The plot goes like this:

Jumblat maintains his alliance with Saad Hariri, head of the Sunni Future Movement and majority leader and together they pave the way for the ‘international community’ and the UN in peacekeeping South Lebanon. The 14^th of March Coalition keeps their discussion with the head of the Maronite Church, Cardinal Sfeir, to support the Coalition’s policy against Hizbollah and its Christian allies, namely Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement. The 14^th of March Coalition will also support Aoun’s rival, Samir Jaejae to maintain a power base among the Maronite community. The Coalition will also back Nabih Berri, Speaker of Parliament and head of Shiite Amal Movement, in gaining some ground among the Shiite community vis-à-vis Hezbollah.

Am I impressed by Al-Amin’s unearthing of this 'plot'? Not at all.

Al-Amin has probably missed the basics of political processes and power-sharing in democracies or quasi-democracies. The tenets of political practices in democratic or quasi-democratic polities are ‘decision-making’, ‘agenda-setting’, ‘preference-shaping’. And this is politics 101.

Al-Amin is probably used to other types of political processes. The ones that involve a coalition between the One-Party, the Dictator’s family and the Intelligence Apparatus. Until Al-Amin becomes critical of the one-party, one-family, one-general rule; and until he gets used to the democratic process his philosopher’s stone is cracked.

Meantime Harry Potter looks more readable.

The problem of the Cluster Bombs

2006-09-07T09:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday 2 Lebanese Army soldiers were killed in Bint Jbeil while removing an unexploded cluster bomb. Civilians are also among victims...
The total number of killed and wounded since the ceasefire on the 14th of August reached 63.

Read more about cluster bombs, and whether their use conforms to international standards, as the Israelis claim, or not:

The Washington Post, by William M. Arkin
"... The problem then is that the cluster bombs themselves, to be militarily effective, have to be used in large quantities. When they are used in large quantities, they leave behind unacceptable levels of unexploded bomblets. These bomblets are also highly volatile -- that is the way so many can be affordably packed into larger containers -- which is why they are particularly a menace to civilians.
A military spokesman in Israel says: "All the weapons and munitions used by the Israel Defense Forces are legal under international law, and their use conforms with international standards."
If there is a country that has developed those standards, it is the United States...."

Lebanon, etc.

2006-09-06T12:17:00.000+01:00

civil war, assassinations, death, destruction, tension, reconstruction – constant tension, one assassination, demonstrations, many assasinations, demonstrations, tension. Another war, death, destruction, tension, reconstruction again and again, today an assassination attempt...

2006-09-05T20:43:00.000+01:00

"From under the lebanese ground, more than 1500 people are wondering... Why?"

By Mazen Kerbaj at www.kerblog.com

e-caravan, before and after

2006-09-05T09:14:00.000+01:00

Another casuality of the July 2006 War:

'The E-Caravan, a fully equipped mobile computer school that began only last January to roam clusters of villages introducing information technology to rural communities in South Lebanon' was another casualty of the latest war. The private sector-funded and the United Nations-operated 'mobile computer school was struck down by two Israeli missiles in the village of Ayta Al-Shaab.'

Bad neighborhood

2006-09-04T08:59:00.000+01:00

Walid Jumblat is best known for his quick reception of geopolitical changes. This time he was slow. In a recent interview, he declared that the situation in Lebanon is strongly related to that of the region. Jumblat argued that whatever the settlement for Iran’s nuclear question, Lebanon would be affected.

But Lebanon’s organic relationship to the region’s troubles is not new. Lebanon has been in a 'bad neighbourhood’ since its inception in 1920. In 1920s, it was the conflict of Arabism vs. Lebanism; in 1950s, it was the Nassersit Arab Nationalism vs the US-backed Baghdad Pact; in 1960s it was the pro-Palestinian struggle vs. 'isolationism'; in 1982-85 it was Israeli supremacy vs Syrian dominance; in the 1989, it was Iraqi vs Syrian role in the region; in 1990s, it was pro or against Pax Syriana. Now it is about the role of Iran as a regional power.

What a bad neighbourhood!

It would be simplistic to only endorse the ‘Guerre des autres’ thesis of the conflict in Lebanon and to discredit the many internal causes to Lebanon’s conflict(s). But the ‘neighbourhood effect’ is central to Lebanon’s current predicament. From Qandahar to Rafah, the whole region is in mess. To a large extent, this is because of failed American policies in the region. Failure in Afghanistan, mess in Iraq, death of Middle East roadmap, lip service to democratic movements and support to Arab dictatorship, to name a few.

While a regional settlement is afar, Lebanon has to consolidate its peace. It is most likely that Lebanon will be back to the never-ending and non-productive national dialogue sessions in Parliament.

Until Qandahar gets its bazaar back and Rafah gets its schools running, Lebanon has to wait.

Media Excerpts

2006-09-02T10:51:00.000+01:00

The Oxford Business Group investigates the reconstruction of Lebanon and the role of the government, while the Financial Time is worried that Hezbollah might be “rearing an uncivil society”. The Guardian warned from a ‘brain drain’, in Lebanon it is called success. Naomi Klein on the privatization of the relief and the state-in-the-state … in the US. So for US leftist, it is ok in Lebanon but not in the US.
Joseph Bahout asks whose Lebanon will it be now, in bitterlemons’ special issue on Lebanon. Paul Rodgers ponders on the fragility of the cease-fire. As for Slavoj Zizek, the solution to the whole Middle East problem is easier than we think.

Stencil Graffiti in warzone Beirut

2006-09-01T16:32:00.000+01:00

Arofish stencil artist has added to Beirut's most bombed neighbourhoods some joy with the images of kids flying kites on the ruins of buildings.

He writes:

"Dahyeh, August 25, 2006. one of the most bombed out areas in Beirut. I was asked by local people to paint something happy, to reflect the spirit of the community. Before starting I banged up a piece of explanatory text on the wall, for which thanks go to Ghassan for the translation into Arabic. It reads: "When Ramallah, in Palestine, is put under curfew by the Israeli Army, nobody goes outside for days. The streets look completely deserted. But from a tall building, if you look out over the city, you can sometimes see hundreds of many-coloured kites, flown from the roof-terraces by the children of Ramallah.
The children you can see here are flying kites to celebrate the spirit of the people of Dahyeh. Some kites you can see are flying away. These are for the children who are no longer here; they are no longer held down to the Earth."

More pictures here

It is a bad day to be a Shiite: Sectarianism in post-war Lebanon

2006-09-01T12:11:00.000+01:00

The reconstruction process is turning into a competition for the hearts (and houses) of the Shiite population. After Hezbollah’s 12,000 US$ grant for each house destroyed, the government announced this week that it will pay 33,000 US$ for these same houses. Yet, the battle for the hearts is also a battle for the minds of this population. Two choices are being fashioned for the Shiites, each trying to impose a unique definition of what is to be a Shiite in the post-Iraq Middle East and post-war Lebanon.
The first presents the Shiite Lebanese identity as being incompatible with its regional dimension. Favouring a logic of space to a logic of community, this perspective builds on the Shiite Lebanese authors to draw a wedge between the Lebanese experience and specificities of the Shiite community and its regional political allegiance. This spatial reconfiguration is usually grafted upon a modern/traditional opposition presenting the Lebanese Shiite identity as a tolerant, open and liberal belonging. The political conclusion of this refashioning is that the Lebanese liberal Shiite identity will not support the regional plan of Iran and its war, and will, instead, focus on purely domestic matters.
Opposed to this view, an alternative identity is being fashioned, one that reduces the Shiite identity to its role as a resistance group. Negating any specificity associated with their Lebanese identity, this view locates the Shiite in an Arab masse perspective, being the Lebanese instantiation of the resistance against Israel. The raison d’être of this community, according to this view, is their resistance to Israel, as represented by their support of the Hezbollah. Threaten by any divergence of this community from the Hezbollah, this approach portrays war and resistance as part of this community identity.
These two competing views of what it is to be Shiite are being hammered on the Shiite population, in a series of opposition: security vs. resistance, prosperity vs. honour, Lebanon vs. Iran, daily concerns vs. half a century of conflicts, Khatami vs. Ahmadinejad, Shamseddine vs. Nasrallah, modernity vs. nationalism, democracy vs. occupation, 33,000 US$ vs. 12,000 US$. By presenting the Shiite identity as being torn between two irreconcilable poles, the current competition for the minds of the Shiite is obliterating all the nuances of sectarian belonging in Lebanon, nuances that serve as the security valves of the Lebanese system.
Any redefinition of a sect’s political identity is a painful process, forcing the sect to redefine itself, redraw its boundary, shed some of its tradition and adopt new positions. With each redefinition, some members find themselves outside of their sects, other become traitors. With each redefinition, a sect’s relation with its environment and other sects is altered, with new geographies being redrawn and new enemies emerging. Propelled into this process after the war, the Shiite population is being subjected to competing demands: on one hand, continuously proving their Lebanese identity without a say in it while on the other, proving their commitment to the resistance without a say in it.

Stockholm Conference: Siniora's Impassioned Plea for $500m

2006-08-31T16:27:00.000+01:00

Lebanon's Prime minister has made an 'impassioned plea' for help today - 31.08.06. Fuad Siniora told delegates at an international donors' conference in Sweden that 'Lebanon's recovery from its civil war had been "wiped out in days".'

Jihad Azour, the finance minister, told the Financial Times that 'Lebanon needed between $400m (€314m, £212m) and $500m in short-term assistance for the quick rehabilitation of infrastructure and schools, social projects for vulnerable groups, and assistance in de-mining border areas where Israeli-fired cluster bombs are preventing farmers from returning to their land'.

According to the Government of Lebanon report (see in pdf) to the conference. 'The main objective of the national early recovery process is to establish the critical elements for Lebanon to resume its progress towards sustainable growth and development. In particular, the national early recovery process seeks to:
(a) Provide the conditions for the return of the displaced, including temporary shelter and safety from the immediate threat of unexploded ordnances; and
(b) Restore minimum capacity in terms of infrastructure, access to basic social services and income generating activities, pending full reconstruction.

NO... the siege will not be lifted!

2006-08-31T09:21:00.000+01:00

Israel will not lift its sea and air blockade of Lebanon unless Lebanese and international forces deploy at all border crossings, including those on the Lebanese-Syrian frontier to enforce an arms embargo on Hezbollah militants.

Syria objects to UN troups on it's borders with Lebanon and threatens to close it if UN peacekeepers are deployed along the frontier.

UN humanitarian chief expresses shock at the "completely immoral" use of cluster bombs in Lebanon

2006-08-31T09:11:00.000+01:00

"Israel faced a stinging rebuke from the UN yesterday when the world body's humanitarian chief expressed shock at the "completely immoral" use of cluster bombs in Lebanon ...
"What's shocking - and I would say to me completely immoral - is that 90% of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," Mr Egeland said.

Read article

Suggestions for UNIFIL Menu. Recipe 1: Spaghetti with Tahini

2006-08-30T13:30:00.000+01:00

Does anyone notice how slow the UN and EU are in their actions? I mean it took them 33 days to reach a cease-fire that could have been reached in 1 week. And now it is taking ages to deploy peacekeepers.
A friend of mine reflected that ‘it is the food stupid!’. Europeans want to make sure their soldiers are well-fed. So, I decided to start a series of menu suggestions that mix local and European recipes. Sahtein!

1/2 cup Tahini
3/4 Cups Lemon Juice
1/3 cup water
2 Cloves garlic
Salt to Taste
Olive oil
Wild Thyme (abundant in South Lebanon)
Pasta

Mince garlic.
Add Tahini, Garlic, Lemon Juice and water. Mix well

Cook pasta.

Add tahini sauce to pasta and garnish with wild thyme and olive oil.

Serves: 6. Preparation time: 10-15mins

Best eaten on the ruins of Bint Jbeil.

At last different pictures of the war

2006-08-30T09:48:00.000+01:00

Produced by Magnum photos, "War in Lebanon" exposes a series of poignant black and white pictures taken by photographer Christopher Anderson.

click here to view the slideshow.

Nasrallah: From the new leader Maximo to Aoun’s new PR manager

2006-08-28T09:39:00.000+01:00

Sayyed Nasrallah’s speech, last night, shifted the crux of the problem from the external dimension to the domestic one. After freezing Hezbollah’s military activities against Israel, Nasrallah turned to the domestic situation and ‘declared’ war on the government and parliamentary majority.
Regarding the causes of the war, Nasrallah’s contradicting statements point to the fact that he is trying to exonerate himself from this war. On one hand, he did not expect the Israeli’s retaliation and attempted to justify himself by portraying Hezbollah’s abduction of the two Israelis soldiers as ‘business as usual’. On the other hand, he had information that the Israelis were planning a major attack in September. So, he had information of a major attack in September, yet he did not anticipate such a retaliation in July.
Regarding the results of the war, Nasrallah distributed good and bad points to everyone in Lebanon, the Arab world and the world in general. The result boils down to the ‘8th of March’ alliance, Syria and Iran as the winner with the rest being not only traitors but also losers. Being a Lebanese citizen does not qualify one automatically to the status of winner: Nasrallah keeps to himself the right to decide and has a set of criteria according to which he can discriminate between winners and traitors. As expected, it fits perfectly his previous allies and none of its previous opponents.
But the most important point is the domestic implication of Nasrallah’s new speech. Since the end of the war, we have been bombarded last week by the ‘new apologists’ of the Hezbollah that this historical victory will have tremendous political implications. For days, propagandists allied to the Hezbollah have been warning that the political translation of this victory is going to be far-reaching. Today, Nasrallah just unveiled what these implications are going to be: a ministerial post to General Aoun. The political translation of our historical victory, our 1000 martyrs and our destroyed country boils down to a change in a couple of ministerial posts.
Nasrallah played tonight a very dangerous game. In his speech, he attempted to instigate a Christian sectarian tension by claiming that 75% of the Christian are not represented politically due to the dictatorial majority, i.e. the Sunnis. His attempt to instigate this sectarian tension is twofold. First, if it succeeds, it will take some of the pressure of his back, and weapons, by creating a source of tension between the Christians and the Sunnis and by altering the political priority from the disarmament of the Hezbollah to the representation of the Christians. Second, if Nasrallah succeeds in changing the government, he will have with his allies more than a third of the government, thus allowing him to block completely its functioning. This will allow him to block any Lebanese cooperation with the U.N. be it on the front of the UNSCR 1701 or 1559, thus returning us to pre-14 of February 2005.

State-in-the-state

2006-08-25T10:43:00.000+01:00

Two recurrent motifs structure the debate on the future of Lebanon. The first is the series of opposition used to characterize the situation: Hong Kong or Hanoi, Paris or Mogadishu, Riviera or Citadel, International Community or Iran, etc. This series of opposition is grafted on the problem of the state-in-the-state, used to describe Hezbollah’s apparatus and monopoly on vital functions of the state.
The main argument is based on a classic reading of state’s prerogatives. After the ‘discovery’ of Hezbollah’s apparatus, it has been argued that the Lebanese state cannot coexist with a non-state actor competing with it and monopolizing the decision of war and peace while regulating the access of the state to a large part of the population. This situation of state-in-the-state cannot last; the notion of the duality of the state and the resistance, used by the Hezbollah to justify its position, has reached its limits.
The problem with this reading relates to the identity of the state: which state is in which? Which state is tolerating the other? Who should be integrated in the other? The latest developments shed some doubts on the usual reading. Increasingly, it seems that the Hezbollah is the one tolerating the Lebanese state, while delegating, willingly or not, part of its sovereign functions to the government.
On a number of accounts, Hezbollah is emerging as the main player in the Lebanese polity, while the state is recessing. One of the attributes of a state is its international recognition; the international system’s exclusive recognition of state actors was one of the main impetuses behind the survival of weak states. Today, two principles of international recognition are competing in Lebanon. The international legitimacy of Hezbollah is supported by the Arab masses and a number of countries while the Lebanese state is relying on the Arab regimes and international community. These two loci of recognition are competing today, with the latest development improving the, still minor, position of the former.
On the level of institutions and popular mobilization, Hezbollah has proven to be more efficient, being able to mobilize in short time impressive resources, both human and financial. The Lebanese state, torn between its historical weakness and the haplessness of its backers, resembles a provincial local government. Moreover, it has consistently failed to mobilize its constituency. Hezbollah managed to harness the power of a modern state while the official state looks like a remnant of feudal power.
Lastly, regarding the legitimation discourse, the competition between two worldviews is reaching its apex. The Lebanese state has adopted a ‘reform-and-democracy’ discourse, as opposed to Hezbollah’s ‘Arab-Israeli conflict’ discourse. The failure of the former discourse, both on a regional and domestic level, with the recognition of the potency of the Israeli-Arab conflicts tipped the balance toward Hezbollah’s vision.
The current developments illustrate the idea that the Hezbollah has turned into the main source of authority while the state is trying to eat away from its prerogatives. Yet, the Hezbollah is still not the sole source of authority. The state is still needed in Lebanon. As with the latest wave of privatization of the state, the state will survive but in an even more diminished form. It will become the sectarian and social safety net for a non-state economic and political project. In the same way that the Neo-Liberal project of the 1990s needed the state to ensure a modicum of social and political stability, Hezbollah will need the state to deal with the rest of the political actors and to ensure the social and economic requirements of the country.

Interactive map

2006-08-25T08:56:00.000+01:00

The New York Times published an interactive map based on the number of strikes and the number of killed in each village.

click here and scroll down to see the map

Amnesty Report: Deliberate destruction or 'collateral damage'? Israeli attacks against civilian infrastructure

2006-08-24T23:50:00.000+01:00

“The evidence strongly suggests that the extensive destruction of public works, power systems, civilian homes and industry was deliberate and an integral part of the military strategy, rather than "collateral damage" – incidental damage to civilians or civilian property resulting from targeting military objectives.”
…
“The widespread destruction of apartments, houses, electricity and water services, roads, bridges, factories and ports, in addition to several statements by Israeli officials, suggests a policy of punishing both the Lebanese government and the civilian population in an effort to get them to turn against Hizbullah. Israeli attacks did not diminish, nor did their pattern appear to change, even when it became clear that the victims of the bombardment were predominantly civilians, which was the case from the first days of the conflict.”

For the report, click here
For the press release, click here

Media Excerpts

2006-08-24T09:47:00.000+01:00

Reconstruction has turned into a contest for the loyalty of the Lebanese. The first round has been won by Hezbollah with its impressive, systematic and efficient handing of cash, according to Robert Fisk.
U.S. aid is coming under political pressures by Hezbollah, notes the Financial Times.
As for the Lebanese government, a controversy was sparked with the resignation of the head of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, the main body responsible for the reconstruction.

Media Excerpts

2006-08-23T10:42:00.000+01:00

The law of unintended consequences or just bad policymaking? “Iran's influence in Iraq has superseded that of the US, and it is increasingly rivalling the US as the main actor at the crossroads between the Middle East and Asia”, writes a new report from the Chatham House.
For the press release, click here
For the full report in pdf format, click here

How will this affect Lebanon? In a revival of Jumblat famous quote “Hanoi vs. Hong Kong”, Nadim Shehadi investigates the future of Lebanon torn between the Riviera and the Citadel.

Fragile truce, strong blockade

2006-08-23T09:11:00.000+01:00

Lebanon continues to be subject to a sea and air blockade imposed by Israel, with the exception of a limited number of flights, including aid and diplomatic missions.
Even Middle East Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier, which resumed some of it's commercial flights to and from Beirut, has to stop in Amman for a security check, imposed by the Israelis.

Israel confirmed that the war on Lebanon has not ended .

USD 46.3 million needed for urgent recovery by UNDP

2006-08-22T16:37:00.000+01:00

The United Nations Development Programme is appealing for USD 46.3 million for urgent recovery projects in Lebanon. Projects for the post ceasefire period labeled 'The Quick Delivery – High Impact Initiative' are 'designed to jump start Lebanon’s recovery pending the completion of all assessments and the formulation of a comprehensive recovery programme. These projects will help restore the development trajectory immediately after the ceasefire and to arrest any further deterioration of environmental and human resources.'

Read report with maps (pdf)

Media Excerpts

2006-08-22T12:23:00.000+01:00

Fred Halliday, on the regional implication of the war in Lebanon.

New York Time, on how the West should compete with Hezbollah regarding aid.

New York Time again and Alain Gresh, on the rise of Islamism.

A very interesting analysis of Hezbollah, for those still interested (in French).

Lastly, the coup against the Lebanese state as seen by Hazem Saghyeh (in Arabic).

tough days ahead

2006-08-21T09:23:00.000+01:00

A tough week is ahead for the Lebanese Government to sustain the ceasefire. The Israeli raid in Baalbeck area in Eastern Lebanon last Saturday proved that the ceasefire was indeed very fragile. Fearing escalations and with blurred objectives of its mission, the Lebanese Army halted its deployment in the South. The Army will probably continue to deploy in accord with a gentleman’s agreement with Hezbollah to go underground for the time-being until further dialogue is initiated to achieve Siniora’s objective of ‘one government one gun’.

The French withdrawal from participating and leading the peacekeeping force in South Lebanon has also added to the fragility of the situation. France will only participate in 600 soldiers - mostly engineers - a symbolic gesture compared to Chirac’s earlier pledge of sending thousands of troops. It is apparent that not agreeing on clear ‘rules of engagement’ for this peacekeeping force halted the French participation as well as other European states. This could definitely risk the implementation of 1701 resolution and could lead to renewed violence. Among the European states, only

Italy

is sending a large number of troops and will most probably lead the force.

The next few days are decisive to show if the ceasefire will go in effect or it was only a recess to prepare for ths second round.

Meantime, people of South Lebanon, get used to pronouncing tagliatelle.

Enter Syria

2006-08-21T09:19:00.000+01:00

Some developments might appear in the Syria-Israel front. Israel’s Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said that returning Golan Heights to Syria could be a price Israel is ready to pay “in return for a true peace with Syria or with Lebanon”.

Hezbollah and the privatization of the state

2006-08-19T13:31:00.000+01:00

Hezbollah’s handing in cash in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the South was hailed by its new apologists as a sign of its efficiency, as opposed to the long delays, inefficient bureaucracies, endless queues and widespread corruption characterizing the Lebanese state. If such a position can be warranted both in terms of its accurate description of the Lebanese state and the exceptional urgency of the situation, it contains a dangerous twist in the argument, a twist that relinquish the rights of these ‘supporters’ to make any criticisms of the political system.

The argument of efficiency used to justify Hezbollah’s practices mirrors the Neo-Liberal demonizing of the state in developing countries. Using corruption and inefficiency as the main deconstructive argument, the state has been dismantled, reformed and reduced in a way that fits the right-wing discourse. Hezbollah’s apologists used the same argument to justify their rejection of the state. It is curious to note that they seemed to have been influenced by the right-wing radical proposal to replace the welfare state by direct cash transfer.

Adopting such a discourse leads these new apologists to relinquish the right to criticize the reconstruction plan with all its shady deals and the past economic practices. The corruption, shady deals and redistribution that accompanied the reconstruction plan, in its public or private forms, were all justified by the need to speed things up and avoid the inefficiencies involved in state procedures. The state and the law were stepped upon by the need to reconstruct in the 1990’s and are being stepped upon again in 2006. Those who accept the latest wave of privatization of the state cannot ethically criticize the earlier wave.

Moreover, these apologists just relinquished their right to criticize clientelism, political redistribution and the accompanying corruption. There are no differences between money spent during elections or routinely spent by politicians and the handing in of cash by Hezbollah. Both aim at securing a political base, both transcend the state and both replace the political process by a process of buying votes. Those who find themselves today supporting such practices must also accept the justification of the whole Lebanese political system.

As for those who justify such practices by the needs of the population or the fact that this money is being distributed to the poor, think again. The whole Neo-Liberal discourse, as the voice of the silent majority squeezed by the state, and the whole clientelist framework are justified by the need to redistribute to the poor. As for those who would like to portray the Hezbollah as a grassroots movement distributing to the poor while the rest of the politicians distribute to themselves, just take a step back and look at where these blocks of dollars comes from. Deepening the financial openness of Lebanon, the country has become an open market for recycling petrodollars for political gains.

And why stop here? Since we privatized most of the state’s sovereign, economic and social functions, let’s continue this process. The legal system is noteworthy for its delays, corruption and inefficiency, let’s take the matters in our own hand. Next time anyone has a legal problem, go solve it yourself.

As for the argument that this was always the case in Lebanon, this is true. But this does not justify the practice. The recourse to this argument has been used regarding any reforms of the Lebanese system, be it regarding sectarianism, the privatization of the economy or of defence. The subtle difference, one that might sound hypocritical, yet that contains a crux of truth relates to the shamefulness with which it has been done. The state, as Beydoun writes, has its theoretical basis in the prudishness felt by the confessional communities toward the regime of political confessionalism. The way Hezbollah just handed in money was a direct affront to the state, an affront which is not unique in the last 15 years, yet which cannot be justified based on such a claim.

Neo-Liberalism in developing countries comes under the guise of clientelist network connected to international economic networks. The late Hariri and its reconstruction project embodied this alliance. Hezbollah today revived it in a more radical form. All those who constructed their political position and career on attacking the former, mourning the loss of the state, the notion of the public, the rise of sectarianism, etc. today joined the trend of the privatization of the state.

In (the Party of) God We Trust

2006-08-19T12:42:00.000+01:00

Photo of a Lebanese resident of South Beirut counts crisp U.S. dollar bills that he received from Hezbollah (literally Party of God in Arabic) on Friday 18.08.2006 as a compensation for losing his house during the Israeli bombing of South Beirut. Hezbollah began distributing US$12,000 (Euros 9,300) in crisp cash bills on Friday 18.08.2006 to those who lost their homes in the one-month war between Israel and Hezbollah (Courtesy of AP Photo/Hussein Malla).

School?

2006-08-18T11:45:00.000+01:00

AFP

After housing questions, the next issue is education... What will be the fate of the children in the destructed villages in the coming academic year?

Housing Crisis

2006-08-18T09:41:00.000+01:00

Resolving Lebanon's post-war housing crisis
Nasser Yassin, Electronic Lebanon, 16 August 2006
..
"Whatever options the Lebanese government adopt, it has to come out with exceptional policies and sound practices and to employ an exceptionally rapid response to this crisis. Foremost need is the formulation of the right governance structure that would framework the post-conflict reconstruction process. From the beginning the government should set-up a mechanism to ensure transparency and accountability. Information-sharing and openness to the public should be paramount. In each reconstruction step, it is vital to involve local authorities such as municipalities, community representatives and civil society organisations as well as the private sector. The activities of international organisations, whether in lending or in implementing, should be properly channelled through one central body to avoid duplication and poor practices. "

Read full aticle on Electronic Lebanon

South Beirut, AP

Change in Blog

2006-08-17T13:02:00.000+01:00

The end of the July 2006 war on Lebanon would have normally brought an end to this blog. The initial aim of the blog was to run a modest campaign to voice the realities of Lebanon's destruction, oppose media biases and participate in the international campaign pressing for a cease-fire. Throughout this period, blog contributors pulled together their various amateur and professional writing, design and research skills to achieve this purpose. Our special thanks go to our unsung dispatcher, Zeina h., who is returning to the U.S. and to her international fans whose encouragements kept her going until the end. Also big thanks to Zahra, Zainab, Fouad and their families who have by now returned to their homes, or what’s left of them.

But the end of the July 2006 war on Lebanon brings with it Lebanon’s second post-war period in less than two decades. Yet, this time, the hopeful mood that accompanied the early part of the first post-war period has given place to feelings of apprehensions about the future. The tensions, sectarian and political, left by the recent war, are signs of the troubled times ahead.

The blog will continue albeit it will be transformed to address some of the post-war challenges. The focus will shift from the over-mediatized Israeli-Lebanese aspect of the current period to the less covered, more complex, domestic situation and its coming developments. From a media and awareness tool to a more analytical sphere, this blog hopes to become a space for debate.

This shift in focus implies a shift in the political message of this blog. With the end of the Israeli aggressions on Lebanon came the end of the Lebanese consensus: if we all agree that Israel is the enemy, we disagree, as Lebanese, on where to go from here. And as any piece of writings, this blog will represent our political positions on where we would like our country to head.

2006-08-15T09:15:00.000+01:00

going home

2006-08-14T22:27:00.000+01:00

"Fouad and Miss Gyps"

The last shot was at 7:55 AM. The night before was intense with both parties wanting to say their last word and there was a full conversation falling on our heads. But this morning was different.

I went to the school and looked for Zainab but she and her family had left early this morning back to Tyre. They have lost their house in Maroun Ras but they're going farthest south they can drive and will wait for the Israelis to leave their town so they can go back and rebuild their home. Among all school residents, only Zainab's family lost their house in the South. All the others have places to go back to.

People were getting ready to leave. The mood was like the end of a summer camp, children and adults were exchanging phone numbers. But some of them don't have telephone lines so they were giving the number of their next door neighbor or the neighborhood's grocer. Some families were settling month-old feuds before they leave. Teenage boys and girls seemed a bit anxious as they may not have the same opportunity to spend time together under the same roof.

The other good news is that Miss Gyps' is now gypless. She had been taking a shower early this morning and suddenly the gyps slid from her arm as if the gyps wanted to leave her alone.

Fouad looked angelic today. He told me that he went back home to their house in the Suburbs and swiped the broken glass from his room. His parents thought they'd wait another night until the remains of the cluster bombs are removed from their neighborhood. He told me that five kids died this morning in the South after playing with remains of cluster bombs that looked like toys. Fouad was wearing new bright orange outfit and was very shy. He made the whole school look different.

back home

2006-08-14T16:45:00.000+01:00

Thousands of displaced families are driving back to their towns and villages in South Lebanon after the ceasefire became effective today at 8:00 AM Beirut-time. Destroyed bridges and broken roads are hampering people's journeys. The Lebanese Army warned that many unused bombs and left landmines may be very dangerous.

something falling from the sky

2006-08-13T20:18:00.000+01:00

Israeli planes have been dropping leaflets from Apache helicopters on the southern suburbs of Beirut telling residents to leave ahead of new military operations against Hezbollah. The last leaflets warned residents of seven neighborhoods of the Southern suburbs to evacuate them. The last attack was almost ten minutes ago.

Ceasefire Monday 6:00 GMT

2006-08-13T14:12:00.000+01:00

doves, hawks and owls

2006-08-13T09:06:00.000+01:00

'Israel's belligerent doves should pause to ponder one small question: if they – the famous peace lovers – have become doves of prey after the death of 100 Israelis, then what do they suppose is going through the minds of those doves and hawks alike who have suffered 1,000 deaths, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, and scores of villages almost wiped off the face of the earth.'
'But how dare I compare? We are the chosen people, and they are just Arabs.'

Some tough questions that B. Michael poses to the Israeli society

Read article from Israel's Ynet News.

miracles

2006-08-12T21:41:00.000+01:00

The news about a possible ceasefire on Monday gave some people perspective about the length of their stay at the school. The ceasefire came as good news to the volunteers who are worn out as well, especially the younger ones.

Today's national hero is Fouad (6). For the past month his routine can be summarized as the following: waking up at dawn, waking the entire school up, waiting at the entrance for the volunteers to come, jumping on them, and asking them to throw him in the air, running after the ladies, pulling them from their ponytails, falling on the ground, bleeding, not caring, and repeating until he falls asleep.

Today was the test though: there is a new family from South Lebanon who has rented a small apartment in the neighborhood, they came looking for some prescription medicine that is available in the school. But the new family's kids didn’t have toys and we ran out of all toys that were donated to the school. I went to Fouad and asked him slowly and calmy whether he can share some of his toys with the new kids. With the usual sparkle in his eyes, he runs off to his room and gets a whole bag of toys and gives it to the new kid.

I hold him and take him around the school telling everybody what a great deed he had done. Adults applaude him, volunteers kiss him. Not wanting to waste any bit of attention he's receiving, Fouad looks at me and says: "I have more where the toys came from".

on needing and wanting

2006-08-11T23:18:00.000+01:00

Diana, the sister of the Rabbit Killer, is renowned for her claws. She has left scars on the back of an older boy and has left him with swollen eyes: "he got on my nerves", she justifies. Her mom overlooks the entire scene from the school windows and has given specific instructions to the Rabbit Killer, the Cat and their brothers to hit back at anyone who pisses them off. And they're following instructions.

The mood around the school is a bit tense. With some families leaving and others settling in, there is constant tension between adults over space and resources. The kids feel the tension between the adults and manage to take advantage of it sometimes. Little 4 year-old Mohammad who spends his time biting off other kids and crying for being hit back, complained to his mom that his friend got a bigger toy than he did. The mother, in all confidence, takes the friend's toy and breaks it to pieces: "Now, honey, yours is bigger".

Miss Gyps is still hanging on to the gyps. Her mom thinks that her arm has not yet healed because the four year old is so thin that she still needs more time with the gyps. I wasn't sure of the medical justification, but looking at Miss Gyps, it made perfect sense.

But it's official: I have succeeded at spoiling the kids as much I wanted and as much as the other volunteers warned me not to. As soon as the kids see me, they hold my hand and lead me out to the ice cream shop. They twist, they crawl, and with their –not so credible – big tearful eyes, they cry: "I need some ice cream", the difference between needing and wanting being a bit unclear.

Israel asks U.S. to ship rockets with wide blast

2006-08-11T15:18:00.000+01:00

By David S. Cloud, The New York Times, August 11, 2006

"Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, two American officials said Thursday.
The request for M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, is likely to be approved shortly, along with other arms, a senior official said.

... The rockets, while they would be very effective against hidden missile launchers, officials say, are fired by the dozen and could be expected to cause civilian casualties if used against targets in populated areas.

... The United States had approved the sale of M-26’s to Israel some time ago, but the weapons had not yet been delivered when the crisis in Lebanon erupted. If the shipment is approved, Israel may be told that it must be especially careful about firing the rockets into populated areas, the senior official said.

... While Bush administration officials have criticized Israeli strikes that have caused civilian casualties, they have also backed the offensive against Hezbollah by rushing arms shipments to the region. Last month the administration approved a shipment of precision-guided munitions, which one senior official said this week included at least 25 of the 5,000-pound “bunker-buster” bombs.
Israel has recently asked for another shipment of precision-guided munitions, which is likely to be approved, the senior official said.

... The M-26 “is a particularly deadly weapon,” Bonnie Docherty, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, who helped write a study of the United States’ use of the weapons in the 2003 Iraq invasion. “They were used widely by U.S. forces in Iraq and caused hundreds of civilian casualties.”

Read article

Maps of locations bombed: a comparison

2006-08-11T13:47:00.000+01:00

The blue circles represent yesterday's hits (August 10) ONLY.

Developed by Samidoun media team.
Daily updates are available on: maps.samidoun.org

2006-08-10T13:17:00.000+01:00

No dispatches today, I couldn't leave the house. But I leave you with Zahra.

Israeli helicopter rockets old radio tower in Beirut

2006-08-10T12:30:00.000+01:00

BEIRUT, Aug 10 (Reuters) - An Israeli helicopter fired at least two rockets at a disused radio broadcast tower in the heart of Beirut on Thursday, lightly wounding two people and damaging a number of cars, Lebanese security sources said.
Minutes later, Israeli helicopters rocketed old antennas belonging to Lebanon's official radio station in the coastal village of Amsheet, north of Beirut. The attack on the tower in Ras Beirut is the deepest Israeli strike into the Lebanese capital in a month-old campaign against Hizbollah guerrillas. The tower, next to the Lebanese American University, had not been in use for many years.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

The world is watching tonight:

2006-08-09T23:17:00.000+01:00

Robin Hood and the 40 kids

2006-08-09T19:57:00.000+01:00

Miss Gypsum will be gypless in two days. But the truth is that she developed feelings for her hard and bulky gyps as it defends her against the constant attacks of the Rabbit Killer and her crew. Miss Gypsum is so thin and so tender that she can't stand up to the bullies who run around calling her tomboy and make fun of her shaven hair and worn out clothes.

The older teenage girls are agitated. With the news about the raid on Chiah, Samar (16) saw on TV that the building where her grandparents live has been destroyed. Samar fainted. Her closest friend saw her and fainted. Their third friend saw both of them and fainted. Samar had a nervous breakdown and was taken to the hospital and couldn't stop crying until she saw her grandparents next to her. The couple was visiting relatives around the time of the attack but now they lost their house and moved in to the school with Samar and her family.

"Once upon a time, there was a rich king who had everything: he had land, boats, castles, a lots of money and he didn’t know what to do with them…". But Robin Hood came in right on time: Sarah (3), the Rabbit Killer, stands up and shouts at the puppet: "Hey you! Give us some!"

Sarah and Miss Gyps

The Rmeitis, the American Technology, and the Israeli Pilot

2006-08-09T08:31:00.000+01:00

Three generations of the Rmeiti family were wiped out in the late hours of Monday 7.8.06 when an Israeli airfighter bombed 2 residential buildings in what was supposed to be a relatively safe Chiyah neighbourhood in South Beirut. 56 were killed among them the Rmeitis:

Jamil Rmeiti (M), Sabah Rmeiti (F), Mariam Rmeiti (F), Malak Rmeiti (F), Maya Rmeiti (F: pregnant), Saadiya Rmeiti (F), Mohamad Rmeiti (M), Naim Rmeiti (M), Fatima Rmeiti (F), Ibtissam Rmeiti (F), Im Jamil Rmeiti (F), Mustafa Rmeiti (M), Naim Rmeiti (M), Sakna Rmeiti (F), Ali Rmeiti (M), Kawthar Rmeiti (F: 20 yrs), Riham Rmeiti (F), Mohamad Rmeiti (M)

Read more:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1217826.ece

Photo-doctoring and Israeli Spinning

2006-08-08T08:45:00.000+01:00

So, some fellow bloggers are quite active these days. While few discovered that one photo of smoke over South Beirut taken by Reuters Lebanese photographer Adnan Hajj was doctored to show the smoke darker, others are running full stories of the conspiracy behind Qana massacre. In the ‘South Beirut Smoke Photo’ Reuters accepted the claims of manipulation and sacked the photographer. The photographer, however, argued in an interview with BBC that he was only clearing it from dust. As for the story of ‘Qana Massacre Conspiracy Theory’, most journalists rejected the claims that it was a staged incident and so did the Israeli Army when admitted hitting the shelter.

Anyway, does it make any difference if one photo was doctored?

It is merely a technicality that the Israeli spin-doctoring machine wanted to show as a breakthrough to overshadow the PR fiasco that the Israeli government and its army have been facing in the last 29 days of war on Lebanon. The realities are harsh and discovering a doctored photo will never undermine the destructive nature of this mad war on Lebanon and the suffering of its civilian population. For those sitting days and nights scrutinising photos, and fabricating conspiracy theories, check these 'fresh' photos taken after yesterday's attacks on South Beirut and towns in South Lebanon:

As-Safir

Al-Balad

An-Nahar

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent (Isaac Asimov)

2006-08-07T00:08:00.000+01:00

Opinion polls in Israel have shown a record high support for the war, starting at 90% , averaging 80% for the last two weeks and with no significant effect of the Qana massacre on Israelis' opinion. The Israeli invasion of 1982 sparked the largest anti-war demonstration in Israel. Yet, the current onslaught does not seem to generate the same reaction. The portrayal of the conflict as one of survival of the state of Israel renders the analogy with 1982 not applicable. Furthermore, the Israeli military failures further deepen the existential dimension of this conflict. All the destruction “cannot cover the Israel Defense Forces’ failure to put an end to, or at least reduce, the intense fire on Israel”, as one commentator writes in Haaretz. This helplessness and failure accentuated the existential character of this war as it puts at risk the history of military superiority of the IDF: “We cannot afford a situation of strategic parity between Israel and Hezbollah. If Hezbollah does not experience defeat in this war, this will spell the end of Israeli deterrence against its enemies”.
The twin feeling of threat and weakness explain to some extent the high level of support to the war and the absence of any reactions against the violence and massacre in Lebanon. The ‘disproportionality’ of the military response is justified because Israel “must respond not only to the current provocation but to the much larger looming threat that Hizbullah and Iran pose to Israel’s very existence”. In such a context, Israel’s moral limits are drastically reduced, as “moral blackmail” becomes only a cover for “stupidity and immorality” as one editorialist wrote. “So don’t cry to me about civilians casualties” writes another commentator, “terrorists and their supporters have lost the right to complain about civilian casualties”. Peace activists are welcomed by slogans such as “a good Arab is a dead Arab”. “ [Israel Minister of Justice] Haim Ramon "doesn't understand" why there is still electricity in Baalbek; [Israel Minister of Industry, Commerce and Employment] Eli Yishai proposes turning south Lebanon into a “sandbox”; Yoav Limor, a Channel 1 military correspondent, proposes an exhibition of Hezbollah corpses and the next day to conduct a parade of prisoners in their underwear, “to strengthen the home front's morale.”” A father whose son was killed by Hezbollah fires artillery shell into Lebanon for the reporters while Israeli children are made to sign the shells that fall into Lebanon.
Gideon Levy stands alone today facing this nationalist and revengeful mood of the Israelis. “Israel is sinking into a strident, nationalistic atmosphere and darkness is beginning to cover everything. The brakes we still had are eroding, the insensitivity and blindness that characterized Israeli society in recent years is intensifying”. For those who hoped that the peace movement or the consciousness of some might put some break on the current onslaught, think again. The combination of fear and incompetence leads to the ugliest nationalism, one that is not deterred by the amount of death it is sowing.

when in doubt...

2006-08-06T18:52:00.000+01:00

When in doubt, lie.

Today I decided to adopt a new strategy and that is to lie to kids about the explosions they keep hearing. The previous strategy of explaining to them that the bombs are far away from their school and will never reach them failed miserably after Qana. What they learned from Qana was bombs can reach them and that they're not really safe. So the new strategy is to say that the explosions they hear are in fact fireworks that people fire in weddings. So every time we hear one, the kids begin crying until I remind them that this is a wedding so they all stop and say: "MABROUK!" ("Congratulations!").

Some volunteers from the neighboring schools staged a play. It was about small birds that are chased from their homes by other big and nasty birds. When all the small birds get together, they manage to chase the bad birds away. The kids enjoyed it a lot. They also learned new songs for children that we hadn’t sung since 1986.

J. was doing well today. She looked particularly pretty and very active. I didn’t know what to tell her so I didn’t say anything. I just took nice photos of her and showed them to her and then told her to help me out with the small kids. I think it gave her a nice sense of duty and confidence which made her smile.

But today there were five weddings.

one colorless day

2006-08-05T22:04:00.000+01:00

Like everything else that is big, new and destroyed, the sliding board and the swing got their share. The kids, it seems, began fighting over the swing, soon parents were involved and hours later there were fights all over the school around the swing and the sliding board. The swing was broken and the volunteers dismounted the sliding board. Some children were sad but I was devastated. The sliding board and the swing were the most colorful things around the school and now they're broken.

Today the school was colorless. We tried to draw but children were not in the mood. They were fighting over crayons, paper, space. They were irritable and aggressive. I think I was tired too. But it's the quality of violence that was unbearable today. J's mom was mad because J. (10) had asked a stranger for a Barbie doll. The mother was so offended by J's request because J. "made her family look poor and needy". The mother took her 10 year old to one of the rooms and beat her so violently that the whole school turned silent. We heard hard material slamming. The policemen that were guarding the school were standing still and couldn’t do anything: in Lebanon, beating children is legal.

One of the volunteers couldn’t hear the little girl screaming anymore so she begged the mother to stop and began crying. I cried too. And when the kids saw both of us crying they cried. It was a sad evening at the school. But the good news is that we heard from China and the papers for the children's passports are on the way. At least some of them are getting out of here.

15,000 Tons of Fuel lay siege on the Lebanese coast

2006-08-05T10:31:00.000+01:00

Asharq Al Awsat (pan-Arab newspaper), August 4
translated by MideastWire

"Israel committed a new massacre in Lebanon to add to its impressive record in this area. The victim this time is the marine environment....
...The initial result of damage after a survey conducted by the Ministry of Environment shows that the contamination extends to 140 kilometers along the coast and no less than 15 meters width on land. The amounts deposited in the deep sea cannot be estimated at present due to the security situation, as reflected in the statement of the ministry.

Wael Hmeidan responsible for a group of activists and member of environmental Lebanese association 'Green Line' said to Asharq Al-Awsat that 'if crying cures, I would have directed a global call for the Mediterranean and if not for the daily massacres committed by Israel against Lebanese civilians and the continued shelling, the maritime disaster would have been a worldwide issue'... "

Read Article

2006-08-04T23:09:00.000+01:00

"... The survey's findings suggest that the Bush administration has to seriously rethink its pitiful attempt to frame the US's unbridled support for the Israeli onslaught against Lebanon as part of both its democracy and "war on terror" agendas, as exemplified by Bush's recent contention that, "Hizbullah ... are willing to kill and to use violence to stop the spread of peace and democracy," and his framing of the conflict as "part of a larger struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of terror in the Middle East". Such crude casuistry falls far out of step with Arab mainstream opinion, as revealed in poll statistics, which shows that Hizbullah's resistance has unprecedented popular support in Lebanon while the US has lost all credibility as a peacemaker amongst the Lebanese. ..."

Full Text

Israel's respect of international law

2006-08-04T12:29:00.000+01:00

sliding the day away

2006-08-03T21:28:00.000+01:00

L. and I couldn’t wait to see the reaction on the kids' faces when we walked in with the huge sliding board and the small swing. A Lebanese friend of Y.'s who works in the Emirates wanted to donate money that would go directly to the kids and not to be spent on food and medicine which seem to be quite available. So we thought that the kids would want to invest in a swing and a sliding board. The kids couldn't believe their eyes: "Can we keep them for the night?"

But the school seemed empty. Most of the kids weren’t there as they were taken to a nearby basketball court and restaurant. Zahra, AKA "Miss Gypsum", was alone today with her broken arm and shaven head. Her parents sent her sister Fatme (8) and brother Ibrahim (9) to Maqassed which is a full board institution for underprivileged children. "I feel devastated every time I send them away, but I'm exhausted and don’t feel I can take care of them anymore".

Hadi's face (3) was scratched and he was bleeding. His twin sister's Sarah, the rabbit killer, attacked him this morning. He doesn't speak much and he didn’t seem mad at her when I saw him. "I think I need to see a doctor" he says, "but no one wants to take me". Miss Gypsum looks at her mother crying as she slides on the board. "She looks fine" her mother says "but I know she misses them so much".

the third mass grave in Tyre

2006-08-03T21:07:00.000+01:00

But this time the burial didn't take place. Lebanese authorities were ready to bury almost 90 people today in Tyre's third mass funeral, but called off the unceremonious rite because of heavy bombing in the area. Civil defence troops spent the morning placing bodies in simple wooden coffins, on which they wrote the deceased's name and town where they died with a black marker. The coffins of those who could not be identified were marked with an "X".

Fatal Strikes: Israel’s Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon

2006-08-03T14:01:00.001+01:00

Human Right Watch Report Aug. 2006, Vol. 18, No. 3(E)

“This report documents serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war) by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Lebanon between July 12 and July 27, 2006, as well as the July 30 attack in Qana … The Israeli government claims it is taking all possible measures to minimize civilian harm, but the cases documented here reveal a systematic failure by the IDF to distinguish between combatants and civilians.
…
… Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack.
…
By consistently failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, Israel has violated one of the most fundamental tenets of the laws of war: the duty to carry out attacks on only military targets. The pattern of attacks during the Israeli offensive in Lebanon suggests that the failures cannot be explained or dismissed as mere accidents; the extent of the pattern and the seriousness of the consequences indicate the commission of war crimes.
…
Statements from Israeli government officials and military leaders suggest that, at the very least, the IDF has blurred the distinction between civilian and combatant, and is willing to strike at targets it considers even vaguely connected to the latter. At worst, it considers all people in the area of hostilities open to attack.”

News Update 03/08/06: Syria, Iran, or none?

2006-08-03T10:48:00.000+01:00

The medias have been speculating on who will be included in the final negotiations regarding the current conflict. The US-Israeli insistence that the Hezbollah is but one of the elements of the unified “axis of terror”, combined with the inability to destroy militarily the Hezbollah lead to the conclusion that the final negotiations will have to engage other members of this axis: “There can be no peace without engagement by Israel and her allies with the states that antagonise them: Syria and Iran” writes the Guardian.
Earlier during the crisis, Syria seemed to be the most likely partner for negotiations. A report in the New-York Times quoted US officials recognizing Syria’s central role in any plan. The pre-requisite for such a role was “to peel Syria away from its alliance of convenience with Iran”, a task left to the Saudi and Egyptian regimes. This perspective was adopted by Haaretz newspaper, which called upon President Asad to take advantage of this window of opportunity and to become “an active partner in peace in the Middle East”.
But as the crisis deepened, attention shifted to Iran as the main powerbroker and the more likely negotiation partner. France’s foreign minister’s recognition of Iran’s “stabilizing role in the region” and the subsequent meeting with its Iranian homologue pointed to a possible inclusion of Iran in the final negotiation. This change in direction was backed by Henry Kissinger, in the Washington Post, for whom a diplomatic overture toward Iran is necessary. Similarly, calls for inclusion of Iran were voiced in the Israeli press.
But the inclusion of Iran in these negotiations cannot be separated from the issue of Iran nuclear program and its emerging role as regional superpower. As both of these dossiers are problematic in themselves, Iran might prove to be a costly choice for a negotiation partner. This leaves the option of restricting the negotiation to the Lebanese partners, an option that lacks any credibility as the modern history of Lebanon illustrates.

2006-08-02T13:13:00.000+01:00

An Israeli attack on the city of Baalbak in north-eastern Lebanon in the early hours of Wednesday morning has left a number of civilians dead and a hospital destroyed. IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said 'the [IDF] commandos captured five Hezbollah militants and killed at least 10 others before completing the operation and safely returning to Israel'.

Picture of a 'Hezbollah militant' father holding his killed 'Hezbollah militant' child:

No news from China

2006-08-02T00:05:00.000+01:00

Still no news from China. Imm H. is still waiting for news from her husband in China. She's called him a couple of times now and told him that she is still with their four kids in a school waiting for the paperwork he needs to do so the children can get passports. In Lebanon, only the father is entitled to apply for passports for his children. But her children have constant diarrhea, her 16 year old daughter can't stop crying and avoiding cameras: "It's true we are refugees, but I don’t want the world to know about it". So until we hear from China, Imm H. and her four children will still be waiting at the school.

"Condi" is the new nickname that one of little girls has proudly acquired. Her parents call her Condi and burst into laughs whenever they see her scheming against other kids. But she grew somehow proud of this nickname. Condi, Gihane and Lina invited me to spend the night with them tonight. I told them that I couldn’t and that I had to stay with my mother. "What about your dad? He can keep her company". I told them that my father had died. "How old were you?" they wondered. When they learned that I was their age, their faces changed immediately and there was a immediate role shift. Suddenly, they were sweeter and more attentive. They asked me if I wanted chocolate and if I needed a Coke. But as one of the boys began drawing on my shirt, Condi whispers to him: "shhhhhhhht! Zeina's father has died. And she was our age so cut it out!".

It was the first time the girls felt sorry for me. For the first time in two weeks they had more than I did and they knew it. For the first time in two weeks, I had less than they did and I was happy.

"Lina and Gihane"

Israeli Voices

2006-08-01T18:52:00.000+01:00

BBC News Website ran today - 1.08.2006 - a photo essay with Israelis reflecting their views on the 'Lebanon Offensive'. Among the taxi-driver, secretary, student etc.. not a single person questioned the strategy of the Israeli government and its Army and the killing of more than 800 civilians. This is very alarming as the Israeli society has been brain-washed with the rhetoric of terrorism to justify the destruction of a nation and the killing of its people.

During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Dr Shlomo Shmelzman, a survivor of the Holocaust told the press in Israel announcing his hunger strike at the height of the bombing of West Beirut: 'I hear too many familiar sounds today, sounds which are being amplified by the war. I hear “dirty Arabs” and I remember “dirty Jews”. I hear about “closed areas” and I remember ghettos and camps. I hear “two-legged beasts” and I remember "Untermenschen” (subhumans). I hear about tightening the siege, clearing the area, pounding the city into submission and I remember suffering, destruction, death, blood and murder ... Too many things in Israel remind me of too many things from my childhood.'

In 2006, no one dares to speak-up. Anyone there?

Moshe, religious student
"I don’t care about the Lebanese because they don’t care about us."
Photo and quote copied from: bbc.co.uk

Their bodies were found laying in eachothers arms

2006-08-01T00:03:00.000+01:00

On wolves and icecreams

2006-07-31T23:12:00.000+01:00

Today we had (what I thought was) a brilliant idea of staging a little puppet show. We had all the characters: Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf, the grandma and even the hunter. Some enjoyed the show but others booed at LRRH for being so stupid and cheered the wolf for being funny and smart.

The volunteers are tired and really irritated by all the mess that the kids are doing around the school. They loose their temper and yell at the kids very often. I had another (what I thought was) a brilliant idea of discussing this issue with the volunteers. By the end of the "talk" my fellow volunteers were sure I came from lala land as the kids are too impolite to be treated differently. I'm all alone in this battle and I think I'm loosing.

But the star of today was Zainab (4) who thinks she's growing up. Zainab is from Maroun Ras and two days after the start of the attacks, he father woke up to her pacing her room and repeating: "I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die". A couple of hours later they fled to Beirut and settled at the school.

But today Zainab had a little "interview" with me: "Hello Zeina, what's your name? Now tell me, have you seen the news yesterday? There was a little boy my age and he lost his head and died. What do you think?". Truth is I froze and didn’t know what to say or do. I told her that I don’t know what she means. But she too thought I came from lala land for not hearing the news from Qana. I took Zainab aside and told her that she's safe here and that her mom, brother and sister are all here and taking care of her. But she looks at me and says: "But my father is still in Maroun Ras".

A little confession: I committed a small act of corruption. I took Zainab and her brother Hussein secretely to an ice cream shop nearby. I made them promise not to tell the other kids who got them ice cream because there would be riots around the school. Back to the school, one of the kids asks her where she got her ice cream from she looks at him with her big eyes and golden locks and says: "You'll never believe what happened! I was walking on the sidewalk; I put my hand in my pocket and guess what? I found an ice cream!"

"Zainab, her friends and the puppets"

New Update 31/07/06: Proposals

2006-07-31T10:47:00.000+01:00

Bypassing the rhetoric on a ‘new Middle East’, ‘moments of opportunity’ or ‘calling of the 21st century’, the U.S.-U.K. position on the current crisis is gradually converging toward the more pragmatic, and comprehensive, French position. With the growing realization of the dead-end faced by an exclusive military approach to this conflict, the U.S.-U.K. have adopted the idea of an international security force to be sent to South Lebanon. Yet, voicing the Israeli position, an ambiguity remains regarding the issues of an immediate cease-fire, the status of the Shebaa Farms and the Hezbollah.
The more detailed French position has the added advantage of being ‘endorsed’ by the Lebanese government, of opening a space for the Hezbollah to negotiate and of giving a priority to the politial process over the military solution. This proposal includes an immediate cease-fire and negotiations regarding the prisoners followed by the establishment of a neutral zone, the deployment of an international force in South Lebanon, the extension of the control of the Lebanese army over its borders, the creation of a committee to oversee the cease-fire and the resolution of the issue of the Shebaa farms.
The Lebanese position follows broadly the French outline. The main points are an immediate cease-fire, a prisoners’ exchange, a UN mandate over Shebaa farms, the deployment of the Lebanese army over all of the territory and the extension of the UNIFIL mandate. After an initial reluctance by the Hezbollah regarding this proposal, preferring to restrict the negotiations to the issues of a cease-fire and exchange of prisoners, sources close to the Party saw no a priori objections to this plan, but expressed their concerns regarding the details of such a plan.

How can we stand by and allow this to go on?

2006-07-31T09:05:00.000+01:00

Robert Fisk, The independent
Published: 31 July 2006

"...You must have a heart of stone not to feel the outrage that those of us watching this experienced yesterday. This slaughter was an obscenity, an atrocity yes, if the Israeli air force truly bombs with the " pinpoint accuracy'' it claims, this was also a war crime. Israel claimed that missiles had been fired by Hizbollah gunmen from the south Lebanese town of Qana as if that justified this massacre. Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, talked about "Muslim terror" threatening " western civilisation" as if the Hizbollah had killed all these poor people..."
Read Article

QANA... a war crime

2006-07-31T08:47:00.000+01:00

"(Beirut, July 30, 2006) – Responsibility for the Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 54 civilians sheltering in a home in the Lebanese village of Qana rests squarely with the Israeli military, Human Rights Watch said today. It is the latest product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have waged in Lebanon over the past 18 days, leaving an estimated 750 people dead, the vast majority of them civilians..."

Read more

another mass grave in Tyre

2006-07-30T22:58:00.000+01:00

The smallest of the 31 simple plywood coffins, center, containing one-day-old girl Sawsan Tajeldin, can be seen as a bulldozer pours soil to bury Lebanese victims in a mass grave at the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Saturday. Tajeldin was killed along with her mother, name not available, when the car in which they were fleeing from the nearby village of Bazouriyeh was hit by an Israeli warplane missile strike.

Source: AP/Lefteris Pitarakis

Qana

2006-07-30T21:27:00.000+01:00

The news from Qana had an unusual impact on the school. The routine went smoothly and people weren’t talking about the massacre but there was a sudden outburst of violence within families. With my arrival, Rayyan told me that Zainab's mother was hit by her husband's uncle in the absence of her husband and in front of her children. Zainab (4) and her brother Hussein (3) were doing well if a bit irritable. Their youngest 8 months old sister Mariam isn't doing very well not only because she has Measles but also because her parents still haven't registred her birth and she is deprived of an official identity.

There was also a little problem with Fatme who was caught begging for money in the school neighborhood and giving it to her mother. She was also accused of stealing some money from another school resident. The volunteers were so confused and didn't know how to deal with both stories. They tried to talk to Fatme's mom who apologized and cried and beat Fatme really hard. Fatme's father sleeps throughout the day in the school hallway.

But today I asked the children to draw their portraits. With her big eyes and golden locks, Zainab looks at me and says: "You know what? I think I've grown up since I came to this school".

"I think I've grown up since I came to this school"

The concert

2006-07-30T14:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday there were rumors that there was going to be a party. Around 4 PM the kids began blowing colored balloons and hanging them around the school. The playground looked so different: with laundry taken off from the wires, it looked like a school playground again. The children were so excited to have a party. They were wondering whether they were going to dance and whether they should change into a party outfit. Some of them did, others didn’t have different clothes. A couple of hours later, some people walked in and began installing microphones, amplifiers etc. It wasn't a party, it appeared, but a concert.

Minutes before the concert started, the audience disappeared as Hassan Nasrallah was giving a live TV message. I was worried that the broadcast will take over the concert, but I was wrong. The band introduced themselves as "Rabi' Beirut" (Beirut Spring) and dedicated their concert to the fallen martyrs, the wounded and the displaced. I didn't think that the kids were going to enjoy it but I was wrong again.

The band sang for Fairouz, Marcel, Julia etc. Today the school felt like a community, maybe for the first time – at least in my perception. There was a feeling of bonding between different families. Some were holding other people's kids, teenage girls were sitting together away from their parents, and adults were happy with the attention the school was getting. There were many cameras around the schoolyard: Future and Kuwait TV were there. Reporters were asking the kids about their lives at the school. Adults and children were relieved that foreigners were still interested in their stories.

By the time I was ready to leave, Zainab and Diana asked me to spend the night with them at the school and promised to find me a mattress and some food. After that cheerful evening, I think I really did want to sleep there. Outside the school, Beirut seemed empty, gloomy and desperate.

2006-07-29T17:40:00.000+01:00