ELECTRONIC LEBANON
Diaries: Live from Lebanon
The Diaries: Live from Lebanon section of Electronic Lebanon, a project from the Electronic Intifada, offering commentary, analysis, human rights and development information, and diaries from on the ground. Quality submissions are welcomed, preferably from contributors with an organisational affiliation.
The time zones of Lebanon
Rami Zurayk writing from Beirut, Electronic Lebanon, 11 May 2008
This is what I have to say about the latest series of political speeches in Lebanon: Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks as if there is no future, but March 14 government coalition leaders Walid Jumblat, Saad Hariri and Fouad Siniora speak as if there is no past. For Nasrallah, the past performance and actions of the Loyalists is the only reference point. Rami Zurayk writes from Beirut. [MORE]
Uncertainty in Beirut
Maureen Clare Murphy writing from Hamra, Beirut, Live from Lebanon, 9 May 2008
Beirut is exploding all around me. After Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah made his speech this evening, during which he accused the governing coalition of declaring war on the resistance, opposition and March 14 supporters started fighting each other and making their armed presence felt all over West Beirut, including my neighborhood of Hamra. EI editor Maureen Clare Murphy writes from Beirut. [MORE]
Nahr al-Bared and the right of return
Hannah Mermelstein writing from Ramallah, occupied West Bank, Live from Lebanon, 20 February 2008
I left Lebanon more than a week ago and am only now starting to find words. I have never before been in a place that has seen so much war. Occupation, yes. Injustice, yes. Death and destruction and uncertainty, perhaps. But something felt different about Lebanon. I have not wrapped my mind around it enough to feel confident that what I write will accurately represent my own thoughts, let alone the actual situation. But I do want to tell you about Nahr al-Bared. Hannah Mermelstein writes. [MORE]
Living with the certainty of war
Rania Masri writing from Beirut, Lebanon, Live from Lebanon, 18 February 2008
For a while now, we've been talking about it. For a while now, I've been talking about it. Yes, there will be another war. I have said so during radio interviews, during dinner conversations, during phone calls with my family in the US. Yes, there will be another war of Israeli aggression on Lebanon. It is just a question of time, this summer or next summer, this year or next year, but, yes, there will be another war. Rania Masri writes from Beirut. [MORE]
A new struggle for life after war
Rebecca Murray writing from Tyre, Lebanon, Live from Lebanon, 13 February 2008
Tyre enjoys a reputation as a laid back summer resort with a "liberal" lifestyle in the heart of south Lebanon -- with its striking Roman ruins, ancient Christian fishing harbor, and bustling beachfront. But during the off-season -- and compounded by the negative impact of the summer 2006 conflict with Israel, the ongoing political crises in Beirut and skyrocketing prices nationwide -- the town's family-owned retail shops and businesses, farmers and fishermen barely make a living. Rebecca Murray writes from the southern Lebanon city. [MORE]
"It felt like a kind of resistance to celebrate"
IRIN writing from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, Live from Lebanon, 15 January 2008
Ahmed and Liliane Hassan, who are 25 and 17, were supposed to marry in August, but instead were driven from their homes in Nahr al-Bared camp, along with up to 40,000 other people, by 106 days of fighting between the Lebanese army and militant group Fatah al-Islam. They were among several thousand Palestinians allowed to return from 10 October, and soon after tied the knot. Ahmed explained: "When we celebrated our engagement during the 2006 July War, the Israelis bombed Abdeh, on the edge of Nahr al-Bared and we ended up in the shelters. Then the fighting delayed our wedding." [MORE]
When is it the Palestinians' turn?
Christopher Brown writing from Shatila refugee camp, Lebanon, Live from Lebanon, 2 January 2008
The four of us sat in the tight confines of a shop nestled in the curving alleyways of Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp established to house those whose families fled historical Palestine in 1948. Twenty-five years ago this then little-known camp -- along with a nearby area called Sabra -- was also the site of a bloody massacre that left more than 2,000 Palestinians dead at the hands of Phalangist militias backed by the Israeli army. EI contributor Christopher Brown writes from the Shatila refugee camp.
[MORE]
Open letter to PM Siniora
Tamara Keblaoui writing from Beirut, Live from Lebanon, 30 October 2007
Dear Mr. Siniora: I write to you as a Lebanese citizen with pressing concerns. Today, on the 27th of October 2007, I, along with a group of ten American University of Beirut students, made the journey north to Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. We went there with the purpose of carrying out a clean-up campaign for the homes of returning refugees. What we found in the homes made our heads spin. Tamara Keblaoui writes to her Prime Minister about what she saw at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. [MORE]
"Everything they couldn't take they destroyed"
Maureen Clare Murphy writing from Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, Live from Lebanon, 26 October 2007
"Don't ask what they stole, ask what they left," dryly jokes Khaled, a Palestinian refugee from Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon. It was evident from what remained of the crown molding along the ceiling that his three-story house was once grand. Now, only one year after the seven-year process of building the house was completed, the structure is largely destroyed and its contents looted. Maureen Clare Murphy reports from the devastated Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. [MORE]
The legacy of Sabra and Shatila: Amnesia and impunity
Maryam Monalisa Gharavi writing from Cambridge, US, Live from Lebanon, 2 October 2007
On 17 September 1982, journalist Robert Fisk registered the unfiltered rawness of witnessing the murdered victims of Sabra and Shatila up close: "Massacres are difficult to forget when you've seen the corpses." On the final morning of the mass execution, stumbling upon the bodies of unarmed civilians, the French poet, playwright and novelist Jean Genet wrote: "A photograph has two dimensions, so does a television screen; neither can be walked through." Maryam Monalisa Gharavi recalls her attempt to "walk through" Shatila camp and Sabra 25 years later. [MORE]
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