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Lebanon: Hostilities between IDF and Hezbollah

17 July 2006


There is a pressing need for UNIFIL to secure supplies of diesel fuel, water, and food to its positions throughout the area. Despite repeated requests addressed to the Israeli Defense Forces Command by the UNIFIL Force Commander, General Pellegrini, we have received no response to ensure the safe passage of logistic convoys to re-supply UNIFIL positions. UNIFIL was able to dispatch two supply convoys on 15 July, but the situation at the UN positions remains critical. UNIFIL notified the IDF today that we will dispatch a logistics convoy to re-supply our positions in order to ensure the continuation of UNIFIL’s vital functions on the ground. 

A Beiruti's drawn diaries: "How can I show sound in a drawing?"

Mazen Kerbaj Beirut 18 July 2006


The following drawings are by Mazen Kerbaj, a Beiruti comic author, painter, and musician who was prompted to start his “Kerblog” after “two years of laziness” when Israel began to bomb his country and city. With the dark humor characteristic of his blog entries, he writes, “I’ll begin then by thanking Israel, who burned in one night two years of efforts to avoid getting myself trapped in this adventure. Good job guys! Especially the airport party. And the bridges. No way to leave the country. Nothing else to do than this blog.” His entries onto Kerblog are a heady mix of despair, wit, and the determination to persevere. 

Another day of devastation and destruction

Zeina Zaatari Saida 17 July 2006


As I write this message, the southern suburbs of Beirut are still under attack with air raids from Israeli warplanes and villages in the south on the border are all under heavy artillery. Tens of buildings of eight and ten story height are all leveled to the floor. The aim is to empty the area of any inhabitants and supposedly be able to isolate the resistance fighters. In Beirut, they bombed the port once again targeting the wheat containers also killing on individual. In the Beqaa they bombed a plant of dairy products called Liban Lait, a gas station, and a school. 

Not a spontaneous response

Zeina Zaatari Saida 16 July 2006


Yesterday was focused on killing civilians in South Lebanon, Baalbek and the southern suburbs of Beirut. Israel continuously bombed homes and buildings. One set of bombings killed over 20 people when Israel targeted a twelve story building in Tyre (Sour) and leveled its top four stories. Another near Jibsheet village targeted people’s homes. Reports of bombs with ugly gas smell were confirmed by the Lebanese army, indicating that the IDF may be using phosphorous and other types of bombs outlawed internationally. At the Jieh power plant that Israel bombed on July 16, fuel tanks are on fire. 

Notes from northern Israel: In the line of media fire

Jonathan Cook 18 July 2006


Nazareth hit the international headlines for the first time in this vicious war being waged by Israel mostly on Lebanese civilians. Reporter Matthew Price, corsetted in a blue flak jacket in Haifa, told BBC viewers that for the first time Hizbullah had targetted Nazareth late on Sunday. “Nazareth is a mostly Christian town”, he added. Before the strike close to Nazareth late on Sunday night, several Arab villages in the north had been hit by Hizbullah rockets trying to reach these factories. The BBC saw the need to mention these attacks nor the fact that “mostly Muslim” villages had been hit. So why did the strike against Nazareth — and its mistaken Christian status — became part of the story for the BBC? 

Tax dollars sent to Israel buy enemies for US

Ahmed Rehab 18 July 2006


In much of the Western media, the Palestinians are written-off as a gang of unruly terrorists. However, the numbers give a different account. Since September of 2000, six out of every seven children killed in this decades-long conflict have been Palestinian. Terrorism constitutes acts of violence against civilians in furtherance of political objectives. Terrorism is a Palestinian suicide-bomber attacking a bus or a pizza parlor in Tel Aviv. Terrorism is also an Israeli warplane deliberately targeting the civilian infrastructure in Gaza and Lebanon. We lose all credibility when we rightfully condemn acts of terror carried out by individuals or groups, but offer support to a state that also targets the innocent. 

On blogging and citizen reporting from warzones

18 July 2006


Electronic Lebanon has finally been incorporated as a special section of the Electronic Intifada website. Our diary section, “Live from Lebanon”, has been extremely popular, offering accounts from Beirut and other cities under bombardment in Lebanon. There has been a lot of media interest in these diaries, and many U.S. news networks are offering reports about voices from the ground and blogs to varying degrees in their reporting. Some networks have been reporting that the phenomenon of blogging from warzones is “new”. This is not the case. Members of the Electronic Intifada team have been pioneering alternative media reporting from Middle Eastern warzones for over 10 years. 

Middle East: Bloggers Divide over Hezbollah

18 July 2006


Arab bloggers - as well as Arab states - are divided over their support or censure of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah. Chat rooms and forums show mixed reactions on the current fighting in Lebanon and Israel. The ‘Electronic Lebanon’ website - created by the bloggers behind ‘Electronic Intifada, a site on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - [has been visited by 270,000 people since June 27th] and posts reports from the Lebanese. “My entire life has changed only because someone decided that it could change: Who gave them the right to do that?” complains Zena el-Khalil. Bilal, another web surfer, supports the cause of Hezbollah while a Lebanese blogger nicknamed Miss Levantine said she had initially thought the conflict would only last a couple of days. 

European citizens must raise their voice

Adri Nieuwhof and Jeff Handmaker 18 July 2006


During the course of the G8 Summit meeting in the European city of St. Petersburg, world leaders have been forced to address the crisis in the Middle East caused principally by Israel’s military aggression, both in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in Lebanon. While the response of the United States has been predictably devoid of criticism against Israel, messages coming from the European Union appear to be taking a different turn. Time will tell whether Israel’s current atrocities will generate more than just strong words. But history can be shaped as well. Just as what happened in the 1980’s concerning apartheid South Africa, Europe, its leaders and its citizens must take the opportunity to raise their voices against injustice and oppression. 

Lebanon: The pride of my heart

Zeinab Saab Beirut 16 July 2006


To all of you who sent messages and emails of concern and support, and who called my family in the US to make sure I am safe. I am so, so touched. What can I say - I am living a nightmare. Just last week, Lebanon was expecting 1.6 million tourists, a record number since before the civil war. We were expecting $4.4 billion to be injected into our economy. Now it’s in shambles. Imagine a militia in the US that acts on its own and kidnaps two Candian soldiers, imagine Canada in response bombing our ports, roads, bridges, residences, neighborhoods - killing US citizens, destroying lives, creating refugees … stopping life. Lebanese did not want this war … we are fed up; we have no voice.