khaled a
Dear Friends,
Many of you have contacted me, expressing your concern for my safety and that of my family. I have been very touched by your empathy. We are fortunately in a relatively quiet part of Lebanon. Still, I cannot remain a silent witness to the horrors unfolding every day. Hence the following.
I arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday July 11th, looking forward to spending a few weeks at my family's Summer home in the mountains, visiting with my mother and stocking up on delicious Lebanese delicacies. Wednesday morning at 6:15 am, Israeli planes bombed the three runways of the newly finished Lebanese airport. Ever since the country has been up in flames.
Yes, a full-fledged war is being waged in Lebanon and you probably are seeing on TV or hearing about it on the radio. But the main aim is not to free two captured soldiers; it is not even to remove Hezbullah; it is purely and simply to bring Lebanon down on its knees and bring about its disintegration. Apparently, this is a condition sine qua non for the "Rebirth of the Middle East".
The attacks are vicious and systematic. Most of the road network has been bombed making it very difficult to move from one region to another. Wherever there is a bridge it has been destroyed. All the ports have been shelled and all the radar stations have been put out of function. Power plants, TV and cell phone relays, gas stations and gas reservoirs, trucks and containers, have been systematically targeted. And if all these targets, by a stretch, may be construed as part of a support network for Hezbullah, what of the small industries that went up in flames? Paper factories, plastic factories, furniture factories, marble and ceramics factories. Let us for example talk about LibanLait, a dairy factory that was completed a couple of years ago: It cost $40 million to build, and it was supplied with milk from all corners of the Bekaa. Today, it lies in ruins, and the dairy farmers have to throw away most of the milk they collect every day. What a waste!
Today is day 14th of the war. Yesterday, Condie Rice graced us with a two-hour visit during which she read the Lebanese the riot's act and never took a moment to listen to Lebanese grievances. She then went to Israel and told the government there that she will not put any time constraints on their mission. Is this really the American position: that Israel has to destroy Lebanon? No matter how long it will take? Arrogance coupled with ignorance can be dismayingly destructive. As we stand now, a cease-fire would bring about much needed calm so that the Lebanese population can lick its wounds, bury its 400 dead and treat the thousands of wounded, attend to the half million displaced (our little village is hosting 600 hundred of them), and start rebuilding. The cease-fire would also be advantageous to Israel as every day that passes is another demonstration that its army is unable to squash the Hezbullah fighters. Yes, the Israeli army is almighty (after all it receives several billion dollars every year in military assistance from the US-your and my tax dollars at work.) but have you ever tried to smash a colony of ants with a hammer?
It is also interesting that the US administration supports unconditionally Israel's demand that the two captured soldiers be freed but is totally silent about the tens of Lebanese that are rotting in Israeli jails since 1978 and who, in most cases did not benefit of any due process and do not know to this day what are the charges against them.. Israel had promised to free them in 2000 but then changed its mind.
And let us talk about Hezbullah and its place in the Lebanese society. As you well know, Lebanon is a mosaic of religious communities (17 different communities, each having its own legal code regarding personal matters such as birth, marriage, inheritance). The Shiite Muslim community is today the largest in Lebanon and comprises 30 to 40 percent of the Lebanese population of about 4 million people. During my youth, the Lebanese Shiite community had a very feudal social structure with a few families literally owning whole villages. But already in the seventies there were some changes happening, in particular a "movement of the disenfranchised" headed by a Shiite cleric and supported by Christian clerics and intellectuals.
Then Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and occupied the southern half of the country. The Lebanese State was very weak and its army even weaker. (It still is, with barely any equipment, no training, and no ammunitions). It befell to the Shiite community, the most numerous in the South, to organize the population and resist the Israeli occupation. Thus grew Hezbullah ("The Party of God"). By the year 2000, the Israeli army had lost 600 soldiers and, pressured by its own internal politics the Israeli government unilaterally decided to withdraw from Lebanon after 18 fruitless years of occupation.
You see then why Hezbullah is referred to as a "resistance movement". There is not one Lebanese, no matter his confessional denomination, who would deny that it is Hezbullah that freed Lebanon of the Israeli occupier. (It is also a well-known fact in Israel. Many a young Israeli soldier questioned the wisdom of occupying Lebanon. And many today are worried of a repeat performance. Actually, from what I have gleaned from radio programs, some of them are even protesting against what they see as "doing the dirty work" for the American administration.)
Hezbullah is a very tightly organized movement and a very exhaustive one, addressing every facet of life. You must have heard of their clinics and schools (essentials in what was a very neglected region) but they also have health prevention programs, agricultural research institutions, media and communications institutions, etc. All in all they have encouraged every member of the community, mostly illiterate in the seventies, to seek knowledge and to develop themselves. It is a stunning example of development of the whole community as opposed to the development of only a few families. There is not one Lebanese Shiite who will disown the Hezbullah. Even after the apocalyptic destruction of their stronghold in the southern suburb of Beirut, they defiantly proclaim their steadfast loyalty to the Party of God.
And this brings me to the much-touted qualifier of "terrorist". I can understand that politicians and demagogues will brandish this term indiscriminately. But what of an academic professor such as Condie Rice who must be familiar with the importance of categories and classifications, who must know the need for a tight definition?
As far as I am concerned, a terrorist is the closest there is to an anarchist: a person who does not hesitate to use violence to bring about chaos and the destruction of any existing system. A terrorist movement destroys haphazardly, without any rationale. A terrorist movement is not interested in building anything. Hezbullah is not a terrorist movement. On the contrary is has rebuilt southern Lebanon. It has provided its inhabitants with an environment propitious to development and self-improvement. The Lebanese Shiite middle-aged lady sitting next to me on the plane carrying me to Lebanon was first generation literate, yet she is now responsible for the marketing of Hermes and Louis Vuitton for the whole Gulf States and her son is holding a summer job at the "haut-de-gamme" Cristofle in Paris.
It is too tempting to brand any opponent as a "terrorist", in other word as a "sub-human", in order to treat him with total disregard to his humanity. The ceaseless pounding of whole villages, the systematic obliteration of whole streets (some people talk of being unable to point out where their home used to be.), the use of phosphorous missiles and cluster bombs, the targeting of cars loaded with fleeing families (so many families found burnt in the charred carcass of their vehicle.), the relentless attacks on relief convoys, the isolation of hospitals (the head of the Jabal Amel Hospital of Tyre was saying two days ago: "never mind that we don't have water, food or medicine, just please send us body bags so that we can attend to the corpses."), all this can only be explained by the refusal to acknowledge the humanity of the victims.
I am not quite sure what the armchair strategists of the American administration mean by the "Rebirth of the Middle East" that is supposed to be achieved by delaying the cease-fire. How can generating so much misery, creating so many personal tragedies, destroying so many hopes, be conducive to bringing about positive change?
A friend of mine, who is in the habit of mailing jokes and witty statements, recently sent me an essay/obituary on the death of "Common Sense". The essay/obit concluded: "Three stepbrothers survive Common Sense: I Know my Rights, Someone Else Is to Blame, and I Am a Victim." I have the strong suspicion that the "three stepbrothers" are in charge of the PR campaign of the Israeli government and its neocon supporters in the American administration.
khaled a
Lebanon, July 25, 2006
Many of you have contacted me, expressing your concern for my safety and that of my family. I have been very touched by your empathy. We are fortunately in a relatively quiet part of Lebanon. Still, I cannot remain a silent witness to the horrors unfolding every day. Hence the following.
I arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday July 11th, looking forward to spending a few weeks at my family's Summer home in the mountains, visiting with my mother and stocking up on delicious Lebanese delicacies. Wednesday morning at 6:15 am, Israeli planes bombed the three runways of the newly finished Lebanese airport. Ever since the country has been up in flames.
Yes, a full-fledged war is being waged in Lebanon and you probably are seeing on TV or hearing about it on the radio. But the main aim is not to free two captured soldiers; it is not even to remove Hezbullah; it is purely and simply to bring Lebanon down on its knees and bring about its disintegration. Apparently, this is a condition sine qua non for the "Rebirth of the Middle East".
The attacks are vicious and systematic. Most of the road network has been bombed making it very difficult to move from one region to another. Wherever there is a bridge it has been destroyed. All the ports have been shelled and all the radar stations have been put out of function. Power plants, TV and cell phone relays, gas stations and gas reservoirs, trucks and containers, have been systematically targeted. And if all these targets, by a stretch, may be construed as part of a support network for Hezbullah, what of the small industries that went up in flames? Paper factories, plastic factories, furniture factories, marble and ceramics factories. Let us for example talk about LibanLait, a dairy factory that was completed a couple of years ago: It cost $40 million to build, and it was supplied with milk from all corners of the Bekaa. Today, it lies in ruins, and the dairy farmers have to throw away most of the milk they collect every day. What a waste!
Today is day 14th of the war. Yesterday, Condie Rice graced us with a two-hour visit during which she read the Lebanese the riot's act and never took a moment to listen to Lebanese grievances. She then went to Israel and told the government there that she will not put any time constraints on their mission. Is this really the American position: that Israel has to destroy Lebanon? No matter how long it will take? Arrogance coupled with ignorance can be dismayingly destructive. As we stand now, a cease-fire would bring about much needed calm so that the Lebanese population can lick its wounds, bury its 400 dead and treat the thousands of wounded, attend to the half million displaced (our little village is hosting 600 hundred of them), and start rebuilding. The cease-fire would also be advantageous to Israel as every day that passes is another demonstration that its army is unable to squash the Hezbullah fighters. Yes, the Israeli army is almighty (after all it receives several billion dollars every year in military assistance from the US-your and my tax dollars at work.) but have you ever tried to smash a colony of ants with a hammer?
It is also interesting that the US administration supports unconditionally Israel's demand that the two captured soldiers be freed but is totally silent about the tens of Lebanese that are rotting in Israeli jails since 1978 and who, in most cases did not benefit of any due process and do not know to this day what are the charges against them.. Israel had promised to free them in 2000 but then changed its mind.
And let us talk about Hezbullah and its place in the Lebanese society. As you well know, Lebanon is a mosaic of religious communities (17 different communities, each having its own legal code regarding personal matters such as birth, marriage, inheritance). The Shiite Muslim community is today the largest in Lebanon and comprises 30 to 40 percent of the Lebanese population of about 4 million people. During my youth, the Lebanese Shiite community had a very feudal social structure with a few families literally owning whole villages. But already in the seventies there were some changes happening, in particular a "movement of the disenfranchised" headed by a Shiite cleric and supported by Christian clerics and intellectuals.
Then Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and occupied the southern half of the country. The Lebanese State was very weak and its army even weaker. (It still is, with barely any equipment, no training, and no ammunitions). It befell to the Shiite community, the most numerous in the South, to organize the population and resist the Israeli occupation. Thus grew Hezbullah ("The Party of God"). By the year 2000, the Israeli army had lost 600 soldiers and, pressured by its own internal politics the Israeli government unilaterally decided to withdraw from Lebanon after 18 fruitless years of occupation.
You see then why Hezbullah is referred to as a "resistance movement". There is not one Lebanese, no matter his confessional denomination, who would deny that it is Hezbullah that freed Lebanon of the Israeli occupier. (It is also a well-known fact in Israel. Many a young Israeli soldier questioned the wisdom of occupying Lebanon. And many today are worried of a repeat performance. Actually, from what I have gleaned from radio programs, some of them are even protesting against what they see as "doing the dirty work" for the American administration.)
Hezbullah is a very tightly organized movement and a very exhaustive one, addressing every facet of life. You must have heard of their clinics and schools (essentials in what was a very neglected region) but they also have health prevention programs, agricultural research institutions, media and communications institutions, etc. All in all they have encouraged every member of the community, mostly illiterate in the seventies, to seek knowledge and to develop themselves. It is a stunning example of development of the whole community as opposed to the development of only a few families. There is not one Lebanese Shiite who will disown the Hezbullah. Even after the apocalyptic destruction of their stronghold in the southern suburb of Beirut, they defiantly proclaim their steadfast loyalty to the Party of God.
And this brings me to the much-touted qualifier of "terrorist". I can understand that politicians and demagogues will brandish this term indiscriminately. But what of an academic professor such as Condie Rice who must be familiar with the importance of categories and classifications, who must know the need for a tight definition?
As far as I am concerned, a terrorist is the closest there is to an anarchist: a person who does not hesitate to use violence to bring about chaos and the destruction of any existing system. A terrorist movement destroys haphazardly, without any rationale. A terrorist movement is not interested in building anything. Hezbullah is not a terrorist movement. On the contrary is has rebuilt southern Lebanon. It has provided its inhabitants with an environment propitious to development and self-improvement. The Lebanese Shiite middle-aged lady sitting next to me on the plane carrying me to Lebanon was first generation literate, yet she is now responsible for the marketing of Hermes and Louis Vuitton for the whole Gulf States and her son is holding a summer job at the "haut-de-gamme" Cristofle in Paris.
It is too tempting to brand any opponent as a "terrorist", in other word as a "sub-human", in order to treat him with total disregard to his humanity. The ceaseless pounding of whole villages, the systematic obliteration of whole streets (some people talk of being unable to point out where their home used to be.), the use of phosphorous missiles and cluster bombs, the targeting of cars loaded with fleeing families (so many families found burnt in the charred carcass of their vehicle.), the relentless attacks on relief convoys, the isolation of hospitals (the head of the Jabal Amel Hospital of Tyre was saying two days ago: "never mind that we don't have water, food or medicine, just please send us body bags so that we can attend to the corpses."), all this can only be explained by the refusal to acknowledge the humanity of the victims.
I am not quite sure what the armchair strategists of the American administration mean by the "Rebirth of the Middle East" that is supposed to be achieved by delaying the cease-fire. How can generating so much misery, creating so many personal tragedies, destroying so many hopes, be conducive to bringing about positive change?
A friend of mine, who is in the habit of mailing jokes and witty statements, recently sent me an essay/obituary on the death of "Common Sense". The essay/obit concluded: "Three stepbrothers survive Common Sense: I Know my Rights, Someone Else Is to Blame, and I Am a Victim." I have the strong suspicion that the "three stepbrothers" are in charge of the PR campaign of the Israeli government and its neocon supporters in the American administration.
khaled a
Lebanon, July 25, 2006
posted by Reem at 8:34 AM
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