Fashion and Wardrobe
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Blog: Calling Beirut From New York City
nothing and everything. We started exchanging opinions about the situation in Lebanon. We were thinking of a peaceful way to get rid of the Lebanese politicians who always fight for their own interests. We agreed that culture is the true way for real change and not politics. We also spoke about the importance of the environment. Nature allows the human being to appreciate more the place she lives in and to have a healthier life. Then, we discussed the situation in the Middle East, the nuclear capacity of Iran, the tragedy of Iraq, the Baath regime in Syria and the nonstop catastrophe in the Palestinian territories. We were talking while sitting and walking on the sands. We were talking most of the time in English because he wanted to practice. He was scheduled to participate in an international colloquium in France a few days later about media and globalization. I remember that the sea was so furious, with abnormally high waves. I joked: "I will never eat salt. I have had enough." We also did the world tour in our imaginations. We would like to visit India, Japan, China and Iran. We discussed philosophical topics too. He told me, "I really like this beach. It reminds me of my childhood. When I was little, my mom used to bring us here with my sister and brothers. We used spend the whole day playing on the sands and swimming with the children of the town." Then, we went to have lunch. In the restaurant, all the workers were young students in high school or in college. Before, most of the workers would be Syrians. I was so proud to see my country so young, active and energetic. It was an unforgettable day enjoying the Lebanese beach with a very dear friend who is always an optimist for Lebanon. He always kept faith in it even through the bad times. Now, the spilled fuel turned the sandy beach into a black ooze that will take 10 years to remove. But the blackness can"t erase the memories of a great day. August 10, 2006: Try, As Soon As Possible Two days ago, I saw that the bombs had killed nearly 20 children in Sheyah, only 10 minutes away from the home of my good friend and classmate, the one who worked as a receptionist in a hotel until the airport was bombed. I called her on my cell phone and reached her. "Don"t worry," she said. "I am in the mountains." Yet, I worry. Together, we would rush to her home between classes and check our e-mails because it was so close to our university. It is hard to think of a place where I once laughed with a friend that is now the scene of such destruction. During the last few days, in other cell phone conversations with my friends or in e-mails from them, they all report being very depressed. "This war is making us suffer deep inside of us." I am suffering deep inside too. News media show new pictures every day of the injured and the killed, mostly women and children. Every day, bombs are dropped, killing dozens of people. The most depressing photos for me are those of the fathers holding the dead bodies of their young children. Each photo reminds me of my own father and his love for me. Transportation is getting harder and highways are very dangerous. A friend of mine living in Tripoli wrote me today in his e-mail: "Some Syrians are selling secretly fuel through Lebanese agents in Lebanon." He said many suspected that the Syrian fuels were causing damage to the cars, making the inoperable. "The food"s prices are increasing so much because food is getting less," he added. Now, he writes, the streets and highways are filled not with cars but with people walking. Many friends told me they are trying to flee to safety. One, a childhood friend living in my home town, wrote in an e-mail: "I am trying all the possible ways to flee the country to Canada." Another friend living in the center of Beirut told me: "I am trying to flee the country to Saudi Arabia." A third living in surrounding mountains of Beirut told me: "I am trying to flee the country to France." As I read these e-mails, I worry. I know that the bridges and highways have been bombed; that it is nearly impossible to reach an embassy to get a visa or to reach an airport in Syria. I write back: "Try, as soon as possible." August 7, 2006: CNN Footage Sends Sadness to Brazil Yesterday, I got an e-mail from a friend from University of Lebanon who had lived 20 minutes away from my family"s house in the north of Lebanon but has been living in Brazil since February. She told me how she discovered the death of her friend by an Israeli missile. "On Friday morning, I was watching CNN to see what the latest news in Lebanon was. A bridge linking the north of Lebanon to the Mount of Lebanon province was bombarded by Israeli missiles. I was looking at the photos of the burned cars. I noticed that one of the car"s license plates was familiar to me, but I couldn"t tell who was the owner. I called my sister who is stuck in Lebanon to assure me that everybody is fine there. "Something was wrong. Her voice was sad, as if she was in a funeral. I asked her: "What is wrong? What happened?" She couldn"t tell me because she couldn"t stop crying." Later, I could understand that my friend, who was a 28-year-old man and who was an only child, passed away because of this Israeli rocket when he was going to his work at 7 a.m. as manager of a chicken restaurant in Jouniyeh, near the casino. His body is burned. I can"t imagine that my friend died for no reason! It is unfair!! I can"t believe that when I get back to Lebanon I won"t find him. I can"t imagine our Lebanon having the same tragedy as in Iraq or as in Palestine. It is enough!! August 4, 2006: One Refugee"s Story This morning, I got an e-mail from a very dear friend. He is a hardworking man for intercultural dialogue in Lebanon and in the Middle East. He wrote the story of a young refugee woman in Beirut. She was locked with other 15 family members in her uncle"s house for 18 days and 18 nights without one minute of sleep, without contact with the outside, with little food and under heavy bombardment. Seven rockets directly hit the house where they were staying. "The woman"s story is the story of the injustice that a big part of the south Lebanese society has always faced," he said. "It is injustice from the Lebanese government which abandoned them to Hezbollah which imposed its law there for long time. It is injustice from Hezbollah which took their lands to establish its military basis and to launch rockets into Israel from these people"s houses and roofs. It is injustice from Hezbollah who shoots on the innocent people in order to not let them run away from their bombarded villages. It is injustice from Israel to destroy whole villages. It is injustice from Israel to bomb all innocent people trying to escape. It is injustice from Hezbollah and Israel to open fire on people who are trying to have gas in order to flee South of Lebanon. It is another injustice from the Lebanese government for not reacting to rescue these people." This young woman came with 200 people from the south to Beirut. Two cars were hit and the road took nine hours instead of the usual two hours. She came with her two brothers. Her mother and her other two brothers stayed in their South Lebanon village Rmeich in order to prevent the death of the whole family. She was crying. "We lost everything: the farm, the land, the sheepÓ¢ò‚¬Ò¦ Everything is burned." My friend tried to assure her that this war will end in a couple of weeks and that they will get back to work to fix everything. She said: "I agree with you but for two conditions: if the Hezbollah"s militants won"t never ever get back there and if Israel won"t attack us again." August 1, 2006: An e-mail: We Sleep Tonight in Beirut Late yesterday afternoon, I received an e-mail from my friend who recently graduated from high school and still has panic attacks from living through the civil war. She is living near the south part of Beirut and near the airport. I had not heard from her since our last conversation two weeks ago when she was terrified from the sounds of the bombs exploding near her home. Her Internet still is working in her building, but the service is very slow. Using the more casual means of expression, she used Latin letters to write the Arabic words. It is what we call the "MSN language" in Lebanon. She told me that her family has rented an apartment in the mountains surrounding the Lebanese capital trying to run away from danger. However, she added that they are unwilling to flee; they wish to protect their building from being used by Hezbollah to bomb Israel and thus become a target for Israeli jets."We will sleep tonight in our house in Beirut," she wrote. "The Hezbollah militants go secretly to the top of any building they see. They launch their rockets on the Israeli jets and they run away. Then, the Israeli bomb the building which falls on the innocent people inside. We can"t let them destroy our house!" Turning to her inner turmoil, she wrote: "I wish I can go to the top of a hill and shout: "Stop your game. It is enough!"" She added, "I really miss the life I was having. I even miss the boring days that I had in my house. I miss the calm life in Lebanon. It is unfair that we must support the cruelty of their acts." Today, I called my parents" home in the North. My youngest sister, 17, told me that some gas stations are out of petrol and that every person has the right to buy only 10 liters (or 2.6 gallons) per day for $7 in U.S currency. Over three weeks, 828 people were killed, 3 200 people were injured and about 750,000 persons were displaced, according to reliable press reports. July 31: Wakened by a Text Message Alarm Yesterday, I was awakened by my cell phone"s message tone. I was still sleepy when I read the message from my friend living in the center of Beirut. She studied psychology at my university in Beirut and earned money as a clown for birthday parties. She wrote:Pages: 1 [2] 3 4