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The struggle for balance

Leila Buck Amman, Jordan 12 August 2006


It has been much harder to write from here than from Lebanon or Syria. And I realize now that this is what I need to tell you all today. Especially today - because the reasons I haven’t been writing are I think an example of the obstacles we face as loving, caring people in this violent, angry world. I cried all day when I arrived in Jordan - for many reasons - but mainly because it felt so removed, so distant not just geographically, but mentally and emotionally, from the devastation being wreaked on Lebanon. Every day since, I have struggled here with the balance that plagues so many of us: How to participate in both our own daily lives and the world that often seems so distant from them. 

A short-lived celebration

Hanady Salman Beirut 11 August 2006


Everybody was clapping in the street half an hour ago. I looked from my window to find out the reason — the electricity was back. I was sitting in my office, sweating, trying to meet my deadline and to keep the mosquitoes away at the same time. The clapping in the street meant I was able to turn the AC on. But then my neighbors were clapping again. What now? Did Brazil win the world cup? No. It was Al Jazeera. It reported that Israel accepted an emergency cease fire. Well, so we’ll have a break tomorrow? This was what I wrote yesterday night, but I didn’t send it because my colleagues and I were waiting for the UN Security Council resolution to be voted on and we stayed in the office till about 3 a.m. The answer to yesterday’s question came today. 

Time to Reopen the Palestine File at the UN? Not Yet!

Omar Barghouti 12 August 2006


Several Arab officials intimated after the unanimous UN Security Council vote for resolution 1701, intended to stop Israel’s unjust war on Lebanon, that it was time to build on this rare Arab “diplomatic triumph” by reopening the file of the root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the question of Palestine. This logic is faulty and imprudent, despite all its luring appearance. Not every old man with a white beard is wise, after all. Most Arabs, Palestinians included, have vied for years to snatch the Palestine question away from U.S.-Israeli clenching claws and return it to where it formally started: the United Nations. 

What will Israel do?

Adam Shapiro 12 August 2006


This week, Lebanese, Palestinian and international activists here in Beirut have been meeting and planning a response to Israel’s aggression against Lebanon. Not that we have military technology, or a huge force field to repel the missiles, at our disposal. What we who are unarmed, who believe in strategic nonviolence as a strategy to overcome brute military force, have at our disposal is determination, moral ground to stand on, and a fundamental belief that our human and political rights must be claimed and asserted. This is particularly so in the face of an aggressive force that destroys life and limb and shows no mercy for human rights, human dignity and the ability of people to live on their land. 

Lebanese speak out on the Web

Adoree Kim 11 August 2006


Web logs, or “blogs,” have become popular with computer-savvy Lebanese looking to express their anger and grief over the monthlong war between Hezbollah and Israel. The blogs range from furious rants against Israel and the United States to sentimental pessimism for their war-battered nation, which only recently held elections that were hailed as a model for emerging democracies in the Arab world. One Web site, “Electronic Lebanon,” features a blog entry titled: “War is becoming a way of life,” written by artist Zena el-Khalil from Beirut. “Blogging is a means of survival,” Mrs. el-Khalil, 30, told The Washington Times by telephone yesterday. 

Security Council votes unanimously for an end to hostilities in the Middle East

10 August 2006


The Security Council voted tonight to halt the deadly conflict that has engulfed Lebanon and northern Israel for the past month, passing a resolution that calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities followed by the deployment of Lebanese troops and a significantly expanded United Nations peacekeeping presence across southern Lebanon as well as the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the same area. In a unanimous vote, conducted after weeks of intensive diplomacy with Secretary-General Kofi Annan pushing for action, the 15-member Council called for Hizbollah to stop all attacks immediately and for Israel to cease “all offensive military operations.” 

It's raining bombs; only two hours of electricity

Zena El-Khalil Beirut 11 August 2006


Last night, I counted at least 12 explosions. It was a difficult night. They just wouldn’t stop. I only heard 12; others say there were at least 18. They just kept going. The Israeli army announced yesterday that they were expanding their attacks into Beirut. And indeed they did, hitting areas in central Beirut! Today has been difficult getting online. Electricity is less and less. We are down to about two hours a day. Because there is a fuel and diesel shortage, it has become difficult to keep the generators going. You know in Beirut, everyone lives in apartment buildings; with the electricity shortage, it has become hard for the elderly to move in and out of their homes. 

Urgent need for inquiry into attacks on civilians in Lebanon and Israel - UN rights chief

11 August 2006


There is a “clear and urgent need” to investigate attacks against civilians in Lebanon and northern Israel, the top United Nations rights official stressed at a special session of the Human Rights Council today, emphasizing that the crisis demands a meaningful response from the UN body and repeating the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities. “Civilians must never be the object of a direct intentional attack…And yet, almost on a daily basis, information from the field indicates an alarming pattern in the scale and choice of targets by all sides in the conflict,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour told the 47-member Council meeting in Geneva. 

Annan hopeful Security Council can pass resolution on Israel-Lebanon conflict today

10 August 2006


Observing that every day Security Council discussions go on, “the death, the killings and the destruction continues” in the Middle East, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said this morning that he was hopeful the Council can vote on a resolution to halt the conflict in the region before the end of the day. Annan, speaking to reporters as he arrived at UN Headquarters in New York, said: “I hope we should be able to do it [adopt a resolution] today. The will is there. We are close.” The Council has scheduled a meeting for later today to discuss the violence that has engulfed Lebanon and northern Israel for the past month. 

How I found myself standing with the Islamic fascists

Jonathan Cook 11 August 2006


It occurred to me as I watched the story unfolding on my TV, of a suspected plot by a group of at least 20 British Muslims to blow up planes between the UK and America, that the course of my life and that of the alleged “terrorists” may have run in parallel in more ways than one. Like a number of them, I am originally from High Wycombe, one of the non-descript commuter towns that ring London. As the TV showed aerial shots wheeling above the tiled roof of a semi-detached house there, I briefly thought I was looking at my mother’s home. But, doubtless, my and their lives have diverged in numerous ways. So, even though we may have been neighbours of a sort in High Wycombe, my life and theirs probably had few points of contact.