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Our last battle

Rania Masri Koura 16 July 2006


It feels quite different here than in my home town of El Mreijat, “Bawabet el Beqaa” (The Door to El Beqaa). We heard the bombs quite powerfully there. And several times, we felt them. At the sound of the first bomb that hit quite close to our home (a few kilometers away), my cousin’s youngest son, in mere seconds, went from his strong boyish bravado-demeanor to that of a frightened little boy. He threw his ice cream cone away, and got strong stomach pains. At the sounds of the next bomb, he ran and hid under a table. I wondered how the children in the south and in the southern district of Beirut and in Ba’albeck and in Gaza were withstanding the constant noise and terror. 

Secretary-General's team on the Middle East arrives in Cairo for first leg of peace talks

14 July 2006


United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s high-level team to the Middle East, which includes his Special Political Adviser, arrived in Cairo today on the first leg of a diplomatic mission aimed at stemming the increasing violence between Israel, Lebanon and the Palestinians. The mission’s first meeting is scheduled with Egyptian Foreign Minister Abu Ghait after which the three-person team is expected to hold discussions with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, a UN spokesperson said in New York. Annan decided to send the mission following the numerous phone calls he had made with officials around the world about the escalating violence in the region, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters. 

UN team holds talks in Cairo on need to defuse crisis

15 July 2006


Aiming to help defuse the current crisis in the Middle East, a three-person team dispatched by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the region held talks today with key Arab countries in Cairo. The Secretary-General’s Special Political Adviser, Vijay Nambiar, who leads the team, and UN senior officials Alvaro de Soto and Terje Roed-Larsen, had meetings on the fringes of the Arab League meeting in Cairo with Oman, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and a representative of the Office of the Palestinian President. The discussions focused on the escalating hostilities in the Middle East – specifically Lebanon, Gaza and Israel, according to UN sources. 

Hundreds displaced by Israeli attacks, say aid workers

16 July 2006


Aid workers say that hundreds of people have been displaced from the south of the country and from the suburbs of the capital, all areas which have come under heavy Israeli attack in recent days. While accurate statistics are not yet available, ICRC officials say they have received reports from local sources that an estimated 3,400 people have been displaced from southern villages on the border with Israel, with many residents reportedly fleeing to the nearby city of Tyre. Additionally, some 2,600 internally displaced people – mostly from the outskirts of Beirut and from the south – remain in and around the capital. 

Personal Thoughts From A Besieged Country

Efstratios Sourlagas Rejmeh 16 July 2006


Throughout Friday we had only about two hours of electricity in the evening and listening to my girlfriends’ pleas to leave Beirut and come up to the mountain I made it to Rejmeh on Saturday morning. As I mentioned, the day seemed peaceful up there and the mood during lunchtime, when the whole family was gathered, was cheerful and playful. “Don’t worry”, my hosts said, “here in the mountain we are safe from any trouble”. Not for long, though! As my girlfriend and I were visiting in the afternoon the garden of her uncles’ house and playing with the five puppies of their dogs we heard in the distance the sound of planes and bombing once again. 

Waiting is our struggle

Mayssoun Sukarieh Beirut 16 July 2006


Waiting, one might assume, has a negative connotation, i.e., passivity. But this is not true under siege, where waiting embodies resistance. It is resistance despite all the forms of violence we are facing, resistance to all forms of war we are subjected to, not only from the Israelis but also from the deafening silence of the international community. This is a battle of wills, and whoever’s will breaks first will lose. Waiting under siege is steadfastness, and steadfastness is what is needed now. 

How many people will die while I sleep?

Bassam Haddad Beirut 15 July 2006


I kept going back and forth from the balcony to the TV, about 20 times, filming outside and filming the TV screen repetitively. It was real. It was happening. They announced that Israeli jet fighters are approaching Beirut, then I heard them, I saw them, and I filmed them launch missiles to destroy bridges, buildings, roads, and churches, killing four and injuring dozens. The roads were like a ghost town. I captured those too. What I remember most is the unbelievably close sound of the explosions, then the smoke that I could see directly in front of me. 

Syria: Damascus eases border crossing

16 July 2006


DAMASCUS - The government has facilitated the entry into Syria of thousands of Arab and foreign tourists who, for the last four days, have been fleeing Israeli aggression in Lebanon. This has led some to hope that Syria’s attitude could help in mending the frosty relations between the Lebanese and the Syrian governments. Lebanese parliamentarian George Jabbour said that Syria’s assistance “would contribute in getting the two countries’ relations to normal.” He added that Syria “feels now that it is its duty to support Lebanon at this delicate time.” 

Good morning Beirut

Bilal El-Amine Beirut 16 July 2006


Since 1993 and the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Arab leaders, the US and the UN have been saying that negotiations and normalization with Israel are the only way to peace. But we have yet to see Israel make the smallest concession, taking the opportunity to swallow up yet more land, butcher the Palestinian people and continue to imprison thousands. Hamas’ election was but one indicator that ordinary Arabs have understood that successive peace accords have brought them nothing but further misery - only resistance, with all the suffering that comes with it, bears fruit. 

Ghost World, Palestine

Zachary Wales 16 July 2006


They say that when one loses an appendage, the sensation never leaves. One is visited by a “referred pain”. Since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza, approximately one third of all Palestinians have, at one time or another, languished in Israeli prisons, contributing to a vacuum in family life. Today, as Israel and the United States use the capture of three Israeli soldiers to justify civilian massacres in Gaza and Lebanon, nearly 9,000 Palestinians are held in Israel’s detention facilities.