Tough Times in Lebanon

GAZA

2009-01-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,
I am not going to be diplomatic here; there is no space to mince words.
In Gaza, right now, the israelis have gone beyond apartheid, and are now pursuing genocide. (What irony!)
I think the only reason that America is not on fire with rage over this is that you just don't know the truth.

American news outlets are not telling you what is happening.
Your only chance is to go to Aljazeera, or at least BBC.

http://english.aljazeera.net/ If you doubt Aljazeera's veracity, watch "Control Room," a documentary about the early years of Aljazeera. Note that David Frost is now one of their main commentators.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/ (You can always trust the Beeb.)

You will learn that before Hamas sent their rockets into Israel, the Israelis had turned Gaza into a classic Psych 101 experiment, where subjects are trapped in a confined space with scant resources. You know the outcome.
You will learn about the hundreds of dead Palestinian children and civilians.
You will learn that the Israelis have shelled and set afire, the main UN Relief agency.
You will learn that they shelled the Red Crescent HQ.

How is it that a people who were trapped in the Warsaw ghetto can turn around and do the same thing to another people? And, Americans, YOU HAVE HELPED THE ISRAELIS DO THAT.

It is no longer possible to be quiet; we have to stand up and tell the Israelis that they must STOP! We cannot let them use cluster bombs, DIME, and phosphorus (all supplied by the USA) in our name.

If you have a souvenir Palestinian scarf (keffiyeh), dig it out and wear it. If you want one, donate $20 to the International REd Cross/Crescent, and I will send you one. America needs to know that Palestinians have friends.

I'm sorry to have been such a lazy blogger. I've been more interested in posting photographs to Flickr. You can se the results here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13968680@N07/

More Soon,

R

It looks like the Israelis are trying to gain as much ground as they can before Obama takes office, fearing that they will no longer have carte blanche as they have had for the past eight years.

Snow Day in July

2008-07-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, a Beirut snow day, that is. Most of you know that when it snows a lot in New England, schools close because of the danger of putting students and teachers on the road trying to get to school. When we left Worcester and moved to Istanbul, I remember thinking that I probably wouldn’t see any more snow days. Was I wrong! It was one of the snowiest winters on record for Istanbul, and there were several days off. (On one of them, I spent the afternoon inching up and down the steps of Rumeli Husari, happily photographing a snowy 1400’s Ottoman castle on the edge of the Bosphorus.)

But I digress… When I moved to Beirut, again I assumed that I had left snow days behind me. I’ve often described a snow day as God’s way of saying "Thank you for being a teacher.” Because, after all, it is rare for anyone to get an early morning message on the radio that says they don’t have to go to work. Overlooking the negative aspects of a major snowstorm (shoveling comes to mind) I think many teachers share their student’s delight at an unexpected day off from school. In Beirut, it seems, the snow day has an evil twin.

There are a number of reasons why the Ministry of Education will decide to close schools. Any sort of a major disruption in traffic can do it, tire-burning demonstrations, for example, or flag-waving demonstratons downtown. Scheduled visits of heads of state can do it, if their security apparatus threatens traffic. (We were stopped at an intersection for 30 minutes, until a 15 car motorcade hurtled past; we learned later that Nuri AlMaliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister was in town.) Sadly, assassinations will usually create a day or two of mourning. And I suppose you could include the invasion of one’s neighborhood by armed gunmen as another reason, but that week was so fraught with tension, that I don’t think it counts. Today, we can add prisoner exchange to the odd list of reasons for Beirut snow days.

After long and cautious negotiations, Hizbollah has returned the bodies of the two soldiers whose kidnapping sparked the Summer War of 06. At the same time, the Israelis gave Hizbollah some of the prisoners and remains that they had been holding. One of the prisoners was Samir Khantir, who was serving multiple consecutive life sentences for the brutal murder of Israeli women and children several years ago. He is being hailed as a hero here, and his dead comrades commemorated as martyrs. The government has shut down everything, schools, banks, shops, even Carol’s AmidEast office

I’m sure the Israelis are honoring their soldiers, perhaps more quietly.

In The New Apartment

2008-07-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

I have started several posts, and none seem to have caught the spirit of the moment here, so I have not published them. We are starting a new chapter in our Beirut adventure, but I’m having a hard time defining when it actually begins. Did it start when we left the old apartment and camped out in the little “half-way house” for six weeks? Or when the movers took all our stuff out of storage and brought it here to the new place? Does it start when AbouDanny and his helper finish painting? Or when we have unpacked? Or do we simply have to sit out on the balcony with a martini, ignore the utter chaos behind us, toast the sun as it sinks quietly over the horizon of the western Mediterranean, and say “New Chapter!”?

That’s just what we did.

Sunday Afternoon

2008-06-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

For most of us, Sunday afternoon is a quiet peaceful time. In the US, you gather together for a cookout or an afternoon picnic. In Lebanon, it is usually spent with family and friends, either at home or at a restaurant that lets you keep your table until it starts to get dark. Food comes to the table in stages, starting with the cold mezzeh. Hummous, baba ganoush, tabbouleh, fattoush, or if you are very lucky, Kibbee naye (OK for my American friends, raw lamb with cracked wheat and spices). That's just for starters

The hot mezzes are : french fries (I will never forget the french fries made by Fawaz ElKhoury's mother n Balamand) kibbee, foul, sojouk sausage, fillo cheese rolls, chicken livers in pomegranate (well, not for me), and my most favorite, patata harrah (that's fried potatoes with so much garlic that they are hot and spicy). Then, when you feel totally stuffed, the hot meal arrives! Shish kebab (which for me growing up was always beef, but here is is lamb. Keftah, hot little meat patties, chicken kabob , grilled sausage.. All of it so good!

For the afternoon, you should probably be drinking Arak. ( for sure with Kibbee haye). I have an astonishing supply of arak at home. Thoughtful gifts from parents and departing teachers have left me with a tasty array of commercial and homemade arak. Thank you all! The Lebanese wineries of the Bekaa also supply a good selection of red and white wines that do not disappoint!

For our afternoon, we are at home and then on our way out to meet Phillip, Carol's Albanian cousin (they are all cousins) for a light dinner in Hamra.

The political situation here continues to be fraught with uncertainty and partisanship. Remember, this is a country ruled by an ancient feudal system of patronage and tribalism. George Bush (GWB=WFPE) once described this as a "fragile democracy." Perhaps that was an overstatement (for once in his life). The current deliberations to select the ministers for the new government have been protracted and detailed. If you get Defense and Education

Through all this, we are set up in our little temporary apartment, getting ready to move to the good one. Now that Carol is home, the apartment has gotten a little smaller, but it is good to have her home.

Stay tuned.

TW3

2008-06-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

Who remembers "That Was the Week That Was"?
You can probably google it if you don't.
This was, actually is, the week that will be.....
There is something wrong with those tenses, but I hope you get the idea.

We have three more weeks of school, and this was going to be a busy week.
Then Mrs Branch, the Principal, was called away for a week.
Since I am the principal-in-waiting (aka Assistant Principal) much of her schedule became mine.
So it's been a really busy week.
Add to that the two concerts (and a party) of the Balamand University Chorus, in which I am a tenor, and you have a very busy week!

But I am not writing to tell you all that.
I am really writing to tell you how the news of Barak Obama's nomination is regarded overseas.
Look at Huffingtonpost.com and see the headlines from all over the world.
GWB (WFPE) has already receded to the vanishing point.
The US has already begun to regain some of the credibility it lost.
Even if McCain wins (I think not) the US has gained by Obama's true candidacy of hope.
Do my American readers feel the change in the wind?
There's a stiff breeze over here!

OK, I will be late for the concert if I go on any longer, and there aren't many tenors!

A Week Has Passed

2008-05-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

You could probably plot a graph that shows the political tension in Lebanon and the time between my posts here, and notice that the more trouble there is, the more often I post. So, it has been a week since I wrote last... what does that tell you?

Downtown Beirut is in permanent party mode (although I have not attended). All of the big popular stars, Haifa Webhe et al, have been performing, fireworks, free drinks, literally dancing in the streets. Some people are happy.

But some people are still angry, and there are still outbursts in the mixed neighborhoods. Both Sunni and Shia died in the brief takeover, and that pain does not subside quickly. The Army, at least, is now stepping in to quell the outbursts, but even soldiers have been killed.

The question of Hizbollah's status as a state within a state is being questioned. Can we really refer to them as the "Opposition" when they took over much of Beirut by force? Isn't that a political term, not a tactical one? It would be as if the Democrats had M-16's and the Republicans didn't. There really isn't any political paradigm in the US that fits this bizarre situation. Maybe back in the run-up to the Civil War, but let's not go there. (John Woodward, my American History teacher in high school, where are you when I need you?)

But my tension/posting graph leaves out one important variable. This is the end of the school year, and a nutty time in any school. Performances, celebrations, report cards, achievement tests, committees, and end-of-year summatives all whirl together in a perfect storm. This has been a non-stop week, although Mrs Branch (my boss) and I have managed to find time to tend to a very small street kitten who is quite needy. Food and water twice a day. This little creature, alone, tiny, how can we not?

Oh, and did I mention the dress rehearsal and two concerts next week?

So I don't ask your forgivenss for this sparse posting, just your patience.

Carol is bringing me a Flip Ultra digital video recorder when she comes back from D.C.
Stay tuned for video. (Would that make this a VLOG?)

Change

2008-05-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

One of the little pleasures of living in Lebanon is that when the gardenias bloom, people share the blossoms from the plants they have at home. I have at least a dozen in my office, and on the way home today, I will get a gardenia lei for the new apartment. The sweet aroma matches the smiles that have appeared on everyone's face. When the "Dialog in Doha" reached an agreement, I think the whole country breathed a sigh of relief. I'm sure this weekend will be one long party downtown.

We are moved in to the new apartment and comfortable. The cats gave us a scare but they emerged from their hiding place just when we were about to give up. Carol heads to the US tomorrow for some conference work for AmidEast. The school year is widing up, so I am busy! Until we get internet at home, blogging will be sparse, but I promise not to be silent for too long.

Flight from Egypt

2008-05-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

No, this is not about George Bush (WFPE) leaving Egypt on Air Force One. The reference is biblical.
It's about how we must have looked moving out of our home of five years this afternoon.
(Actually, we are in the old home for one more night.)
But today was the day scheduled for the guys from school to come and move our heavy stuff to the temporary.
Three beefy guys with strong backs and one truck came home with me after school.
There was only one problem: our daily three hour power cut started at 3 o'clock.
So they carried down as much as they could and took it to the next place.
We had planned to do some ferrying on our own with the car, but go back and check the "Saturday Surprise" post. No car.
That meant that the guys were carrying down bags of groceries and oddly packed things that we thought we would be doing ourselves. Not a pretty sight!
But, as we have often said to ourselves the past few days, "What doesn't kill you makes you strong."
Or, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" (just an aside: while we were waiting for the tow truck on Saturday afternoon, we distracted ourselves by imagining situations in which having an engine go dead would have been a catastrophe.
Like, going 60 mph, at night, far from home, in the rain, fleeing bullets, fleeing the country... we have fertile imaginations, but were grateful that it happened at such a manageable time and place.)

A brief note about the political events here: the dialog in Doha continues but the news reports don't suggest that there is much consensus building; that isn't surprising.

The most appalling news of the day is that the US gave Israel "permission" to go after Hizbollah while they were distracted by overtaking West Beirut. The plans included aerial bombardment of south Beirut, tanks on the ground in two columns, one coastal, one inland. The goal was to catch H off guard while they were taking Beirut. The Israelis declined the "opportunity." It would have been a bloodbath, with a lot of innocent civilians in the crossfire. All this was to happen on May 11, before Bush (WFPE) arrived in Israel. Apparently, the White House was angry that the Israelis missed this opportunity. Who can rein these people in??? BTW, have any of my stateside readers heard of this in the American press? It is an unbelieveable story, but widely reported here, and largely assumed as fact. I'd like to hear it from ABC et al.

Finally, if you don't hear from me for a few days, don't panic. The temporary apartment doesn't have great internet access; it will take me a few days to set it up. I can do email from school, but not much time for blogging.

Busy Sunday

2008-05-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is moving day #1, so today has been the day to finally pack all the things that we didn't know what to do with. It has been a busy day; I wish we had more boxes and better ways of packaging the remaining stuff, so we will just have to deal with it as best we can. By Monday night we will have moved into the temporary apartment, and that will be home for six weeks. Of course, Carol will be in the US for two weeks, so her time in the tiny house will be less... the movers come back on Tuesday to take everything else to storage.

What is happening to Lebanon? There are so many stories and rumors and certified sources speaking up that it really is difficult to know exactly what is happening. The political leaders (all except Nasrallah) are in Doha, trying to negotiate an agreement that will let everyone move on. But Hizbollah is saying that their considerable armory is not negotiable. Well, I can say that after this week, that armory is exactly what needs to be dealt with. A great poster says it all: One People, One Nation, One Army.

School starts up again tomorrow, and most of us are concerned about what political baggage the kids will bring back with them. There are some concens for the baggage that teachers bring too. As a foreign teacher, I can't really appreciate the depth of feelings that exist in faculty and students. In the elementary school, we are most concerned about the healing the experiences of the past few days.

I'm sorry for the short posts, but I have to fit them in between power cuts and packing. I have to spend a few minutes checking on the American political situation too. Where's Hillary?

Saturday Surprise

2008-05-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

The politicians have all gone off to Doha for dialog. Lebanon is quieter because of that alone!
But they will come back, and we hope it is with some agreement. Some commenters have observed that Hizbolla lost more than it gained because now everyone sees them for the militia bullies that they are; they have done what they swore never to do: turn their guns on their own countrymen. If Israel wanted to knock one of Hizbollah's last remaining arguments for existence out from under it, they would return Shebaa Farms to Lebanon right now, unconditonally and very publicly. It's the last bit of disputed territory on the southern border that just happens to have a lot of water. If Israel were to give it up, it would eliminate one of Hizbollah's reasons for existence. (You heard it here first)

But that's not the Saturday surprise. Today we did some out and around errands, partly to give the car a run. It doesn't like to sit in the garage all alone; the battery dies. So we went downtown to a big open air market and for coffee with Laila and then stopped on the way home at Smith's Market to buy their last bottles of sake. Smith's has looked a little sparse lately, and we aren't sure how long they plan to be open. When we got home, Rowda our wonderful housekeeper had come by to do even more work, and for a beef stew lesson. She is an outstanding cook, but she needs to see how American food is cooked, and one of her other clients has been asking for beef stew.

Long ago at Bancroft School, I was the one responsible for cooking up a vat of "Viking Stew" for our feast at the end of the Viking Exploration unit. It was great fun, and after we got all those third graders pumped up on stew and bread, we sent them off to raid the cafeteria. But, I digress... This morning I taught Rowda how to make Viking Stew. It did taste just like the old days. And after that, just to give the aging BMW another run, we gave her a ride home.

Carol says that after we dropped her off, as we were pulling away from the curb, the car made a funny sound. I didn't hear it. But about half a mile later, the car just died. No engine, no battery, no steering, zero, zilch, nada. We spent the next hour waiting for a tow truck, for which our friend Ibrahim had given us the number. We considered all the places where this could have happened that would have been much worse than right across form the Marriott Hotel, a very good landmark. Not on the highway, or at night or in the rain or while we were fleeing bullets or any of those awful possibilities. Just at the side of the road by the Marriott. Right about on schedule Majid arrived with his tow truck (and friend had just stopped to help). I had called the mechanic who works on the car, and he gave Majid directions to his garage. We got to his house easily and eventually dripped it off there, and then we were home!

It was something I have always worried about, but with the help of friends, was not at all the disaster I had feared.

Gotta go for now.

Stay tuned.

Friday update

2008-05-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

These updates have been getting later and later in the day, which is an indication that the days are getting more an more normal. I have been going to school in the morning and when there is a power outage at noon or three, it often means that I can't get online until the evening. The outages are nothing new; welcome to the third world. We lose power for three hours a day on a usually predictable schedule, so we aren't in the elevator when it goes out.

Today's big news was that delegations for each side went to Qatar to "talk". As they were leaving, protesters along the route had signs that said "If you can't reach an agreement, don't come back!" Lebanese are getting on with life; most shops are open, traffic is increasing, but don't think for a moment that anyone has forgotten what happened.

I don't think we know how the power structure here has changed. It will take some time before we do.

Stay tuned

Thursday, May 15

2008-05-15T11:15:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been waking up early, and getting some of the basics done before the day really starts.
First, I make a list for the day, starting with the date and the day of the week, so I know exactly where I am. Then I list the items that I didn't get to the day before or the new things that have been added in.

then, for the past few days, I have gone out for a walk. (Without school, it is such a pleasure having a little freedom in the morning) (those days are almost over). My walking route takes me past ACS, the Hard Rock Cafe, the lighthouse "manara". and a place called "Uncle Deeks" a coffee place on the Corniche. On Monday, I was really having a hard time making any sort of a decision, and the only thing I could focus on was that I wanted coffee, and that led me to Uncle Deek's. Wow, what a good choice! I found out why there is so much traffic waiting outside his shop!

You can get espresso. You can get Arabic, or you can get a third alternative which no one had even considered. (thanks Arlo). Take a slug of sweetened condensed milk, a squirt of hot water, and froth that up with jet of steam. When you have a nice cup of foam, spoon a portion of Nescafe instant coffee on top, and hand it to the eager customer. Give them a moment to stir it all together before they drive away. That's why you have so many folks slowing down to go to Uncle Deeks for coffee in the morning. It's all the caffeine and sugar you need to start the day!tomorrow.

Is all of this giving you a sense that Beirut is getting on with life? I hope so, because that is what seems to be happening. Even in the face of monumental decisons/conversations/ negotiations, the Lebanese have a way of getting on with things.

The negotiators may be deciding if the airport will open (it will) or the downtown will get unblockaded (maybe not), but it is an evenly decided group that decides how things will go from here.

I think I will leave this blog unfinished and ready for revisions/completion tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

R

Outside Lebanon

2008-05-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday afternoon. Many Lebanese, in Beirut at least, are beginning to get on with their lives. Stores are opening, there's more traffic, and in response to questions, most people say "I'm ok, how are you?" Stories are passed around about confrontations and bullets over the weekend. Another layer has been added to the mythology of Lebanon. In fact, a friend said today, that having survived two "events" we were almost Lebanese!

The delegation from the Arab League is here now (not yesterday as I told you). They are meeting with everyone important.
I have read that the border crossing to Syria at Masnaa has been opened. that's a start, at least. Watch for news of the airport road. That's the major "civil disobedience" of Hizbollah at the moment. Well, the downtown tents too. They have been there so long they almost seem like a regular part of the landscape.

The title for today's post refers to events in the country to the south. GWB (WFPE) is there now, "celebrating" the beginning of Israel. How many of you know that there is an Arabic word for exactly the same event? The work is "Nakba" and it translates to "Catastrophe." That is what the birth of israel was for the people who lived in Palestine., I would direct you to read the chapter in Tom Freedman's book From Beirut to Jerusalem that describes the event if I could tell you which chapter. (It's packed Instead, I give you this link:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1B63B5EF-1708-416C-BCA4-B294A39E3D51.htm
It is an excellent narrative of the events of that war.
I don't think that visiting AlJazeera's website will put you on a "no-fly list." Maybe just a little extra airport security. (Like I always get).

Peaks and Valleys

2008-05-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday, almost 7pm, and I don't mind telling you that it has been quite a day. Carol had enough energy to go out at 6:30 to a choir rehearsal. I had enough energy to mix a martini, boot up the blog, and cook dinner (Carol's recipe)

I'll start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you wake up, sometimes there is a little gap between sleep and awake, when you are awake, but not fully conscious. (Is this a hypnogogic time?) And that little moment was quite pleasant; there's no school today, the sun shining, birds etc. But then reality intruded. Lebanon, Hizbollah, that ugly flag, George Bush, Hillary, retirement? and a host of other little demons that rob me of sleep at one end of the night or the other.

But today there was a major demon: our impending move to another apartment. Actually, it's a moving processs, not just a singular event. It might have been a simple process, but no, not for us. The apartment we are headed for is a wonderful old Beirut place; it is on the Corniche, and has an expansive view of the sea. Robert Fisk, author of Pity the Nation lives on the third floor; we'll be on the fifth. But, it will not be vacant until July 1; we have to be out of here on May 15. So we had planned with ACS for us to move into a small school apartment for the gap time, in fact, moving this past weekend. NOT! (see previous posts about current events)

Now mix two more ingredients into this pot:
1. An ACS family that lives in a building occupied by Future TV, a major target for Hizbollah, needed to get out in a hurry. We said that they could use the apartment we were headed for. Their need was more urgent than ours; no question.
2. Our movers, Auto-Khaled, told us yesterday that they did not have any storage space to put our stuff for the interim. (I know that not everyone who reads this blog knows us personally. I'll give you a little insight. When we lived in Massachusetts, our house had two floors plus a basement and a finished attic. The two-car garage even had an attic. Every nook and cranny was full of stuff, from the eaves to boiler room. We are savers.) There isn't all that much storage space in our apartment here, but we have still managed to acquire (and stash) a lot of stuff. So the fact that there was not place for us to put it all was a very unpleasant surprise.

Back to the peaks and valleys...after that pre-conscious awakening moment...
Good morning Robert. What the hell are you going to do now?

So this morning I was awake and showered and on the way to an empty school much earlier than I needed to be. I didn't need to at all, really. But when the going gets tough, the tough go for a walk. In that time, I managed to devise a few strategies for how we might cope with all of this as I inhaled the ozone and sea air of the seaside walk.

Did I mention that I had forgotten my cell phone went I went out? Because when I got home Carol greeted me with "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Auto-Khaled, the movers, had called. They had some storage space now, and were an their way to start packing us up. And within the hour they were at the apartment, boxes, tape, plastic wrap and wrapping stuff ready to go. And wrap they did! I remembered when we left Istanbul, the the packers there actually packed a pile of stuff that we were going to throw away. They packed nearly-empty bottles of some mysterious alcohol that friends had left with us as they left. We tried to have a little more control than that. With the help of our wonderful Rowda, I think we were able to do that.

By the end of the day, Mt Khaled is dominating living room. (see photos) The kitties think it is an assemblage that we have made just for them; Gracie has already summited the pile. Helou, her ever-cautious sidekick, has yet to scale the heights, but he will.
It's time for dinner (I COOKED!) On the menu: Red lentil curry with tofu. (it smells great!)
I'll upload two photos, I don't know where blogger will put them. The moving squad and the mountaineer Gracie.

Current events in Lebanon? I have paid only a little attention today, but:
The Arab League delegation has arrived.
there has been a lot of posturing by the differing factions.
I think Hizbollah has lost the hearts and minds of a lot of Lebanese.
The USS Cole is back in the Med. I think it is here for one reason only: GWB (WPE) is in Israel, and the Cole is an anti-missile destroyer. It's a missile umbrella for GWB. (no comment)

Monday!

2008-05-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

So, the weekend is over and we should be back to work today.
Well, no.
No school today, and ACS has decided not to open at all this week
The situation is so uncertain that we could not guarantee students who arrived safely in the morning would be able to get back home just as safely. Would you send your child to school with those conditions?
Our target date for opening is next Monday, May 19. But that is subject to review.
I think it is a reasonable question to ask if we will re-open at all.

How can I explain the situation in Lebanon?
The government (which has been holding on by a thread) decided to call out Hizbollah on their private communications system and spying on arrivals at the airport. I have read that the communications system is linked to Syrian intelligence, and was implicated in some of the assassinations. That's serious. But spying at the airport? From my balcony, I have a really good view of most of the planes going in and out.

Hizbollah reacted very sharply to these government actions. Within minutes of Nasrallah's speech on Thursday afternoon, there were military confrontations in Hamra. I had gone out to buy wine and was out on the street when the local firing began. (It was a quick trip home!) Those soldiers were already in place, before the speech. Hizbollah won this round by out-planning the opposition.

Hizbollah's lightning raids into Hamra shocked the city and the government, and when the Prime Minister addressed the country on Saturday afternoon, he firmly said that this sort of violence would never work. then he gave the troublesome decisons over to the army, which promptly reversed them. It might have been the end of the story, or at least that was what a lot of people hoped. But this is not over at all. There is serious fighting up north in Tripoli and east of Beirut in the mountains. Hizbollah has weakened the government, and continues to attack on several fronts.

The only good thing to come out of all this is that Lebanon now sees Hizbollah more clearly. The weapons that H swore would never be used against Lebanese have, in fact, done horrific damage to the country. The Christian, Sunni , and Druze communities may be able to unite politically to defend themselves against H, but H has the military advantage. The final resolution is not clear at all.

If you think all of this sounds complicated, wait until I describe what it has been like to try to move to a new apartment.

Stay tuned for details. Hint: we are still in the old apartment.

More on Sunday

2008-05-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

I suppose it is an indication of the speed of change in this event that I did not mention the surprising events of yesterday in my sunday update. I spend so much time reading about them that they become old news very quickly.

There were two precipitating events for all of this.
1. The government decided to investigate Hizbollah's private communication system.
2. The government decided to remove the airport security head because of his close ties to Hizbollah.

In his speech on Saturday, the Prime Minister said that he would allow the army to review those two decisions.
About half an hour later, the army announced that both decisions had been rescinded.
Hizbollah started disappearing from the streets of Hamra shortly after that.
But serious problems remain.

Sunday Update

2008-05-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday evening; the city has been quiet all day, but I am afraid that is not the case everywhere.

There is continued fighting between the Druze militia and Hizbollah (or alllies) in the mountains.
Extended fighting yesterday in Tripoli was calmed today, with the intervention of the Lebanese army.
The airport road remains blocked, as do other major roads around the city
Although Beirut has returned to some sense of normal on the surface, this trouble is far from over.

ACS has closed for another day, and our schedule for the rest of the year is under discussion. For some time, ACS has used Teacherweb to enable teachers to have information online that students can access

Our plans to move have been delayed for a week. We were planning to move to a small school apartment for a few weeks until we could move into our new apartment down on the Corniche at the beginning of July. That first move was supposed to be this weekend. Didn't happen. We have asked the new owner of the apartment for a little more time here, and he has been agreeable to that. The movers may come tomorrow to start packing, but their business address is the Airport Road, and that's one road that is blocked...

One of the remarkable things about the internet is that we all have access to the same sources for news.
CNN is a good one, of course, but there are others:

www.naharnet.com website for An Nahar, a Beirut newspaper. The paper is in Arabic, the website is English
www.nowlebanon.com
www.yalibnan.com
www.dailystar.com website for The Daily Star, Lebanon's English newspaper

If you read these websites, you will know almost as much about what is going on as we do here.
Of course, you will have to depend on me to know if the dry cleaner is open.

Saturday Update

2008-05-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday has almost been a normal day.
Waking up to the sounds of birds instead of dumpsters and scooters
(not to mention gunfire) was truly a pleasure.

We have been out and about in the neighborhood, and seen some damage.
To be honest, however, after all that noise, I expected more, although I have not been to any of the hotspots.
The grocery stores are reasonably stocked, but they are about the only shops open.

Our bellweather dry cleaner is still closed.

One indicator of what neighborhood you are in has always been posters and flags.
All the pictures, posters and flags of Rafiq Hariri or his son Saad are gone or defaced.
There is a new flag in town.

The political events are a little difficult to decipher. This afternoon's speech
by Prime Minister Saniora was not exactly conciliatory. CNN can explain it for you better than I can.
He put Hizbollah's weapons in perspective when he asked where are the Israelis in the neighborhoods you attacked?
Hisbollah has always said that its weapons were for the defense of Lebanon from Israel.
People did believe that, but they don't any more.
I haven't seen any response to the speech yet.

Although Hamra, and most of Beirut, is quiet today, this is not over.
There is fighting near Tripoli up north, and there will certainly be other hotspots.
The airport is still closed and the Hizbollah tents are still choking downtown.
How these events shape the future of Lebanon remains to be seen.

How these events shape our future also remains to be seen.

Stay tuned.

Friday Afternoon

2008-05-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

Bright warm sun, blue sky, cool breeze, blooming frangipani, Spring in Beirut!
Only the aroma of burning tires on that breeze reminds me of today's events.

I suppose the Summer War prepared us for this.
We heard a lot of explosions, mostly Israeli bombs.
The airport was closed, the port blockaded and the streets were empty.
We hung on Brent Sadler's every word, and checked local news websites constantly.
But we were safe at home, knowing that we were not targets.

So now, the noise from afar has not been Israeli bombs, it has been small arms fire, RPG's and more.
I can sleep through distant bombs about as well as I slept through most of last night's thunderstorm.
The roads to the airport are blocked and MEA has suspended all flights in and out.
But this time I'm home with Carol and the the kitties.
Brent and the websites are still active, and there is even more news available.
We're used to all that, so why is this time so different?

Guns on my street.

I was a little freaked out when I watched a nervous Army patrol work it's way down a cross street in front of us.
They are the good guys.
So it was a bigger freak-out to discover a squad of militia (Amal or Hizbollah) on the street, well armed, directly below us.
Their body language was arrogant, their control of the street was obvious.
If you have read CNN today, you will see Hamra mentioned as a Hizbollah-controlled neighborhood.
That's them; that's us.

I need to remind you all that we are personally safe, and not in any danger.
We have been packing to move to another apartment, but that seems to be put off for a bit.
I truly hope that we will be able to stay here, that Lebanese life and ACS will continue,
perhaps changed, but not dramatically.
If not, at least we are packed.

Thursday Update

2008-05-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today was quiet in Beirut; there were more cars in the street than yesterday, but stores, including our drycleaner, were closed again. At ACS there were no classes except for the IB students, who had exams.

At 4 o'clock, Hassan Nasrallah had a news conference by video link; he fears assassination too much to be seen in public. Afterwards, there were the predictable celebratory automatic rifle firings into the air (In case you were wondering, those bullets do come back to earth, and more than a few people have been hurt by them.) Then we could hear more in the distance, and I understand from friends who have called, that there is unrest in other parts of the city. At 9:00pm, Hamra is quiet. I don't know if there is a curfew, but I don't have evening plans beyond watching Russell Crowe in "A Good Year" , so it doesn't matter.

What does matter is that this poor little country is really a mess right now.

We're still in the process of moving, but I have just noticed that our moving company's address is the Airport Road. The one that is currently blocked by Nasrallah & Co.

Stay tuned

Beirut Snow Day

2008-05-07T06:18:00.000-07:00

The title of this post is not intended to belittle or diminish the gravity of what is happening in Lebanon today. For various reasons, a general strike was planned, then morphed into a charged political event. The union cancelled its strike after the government raised the minimum wage but the political confrontation between government supporters and Hizbollah is very much active in the streets. In order to avoid putting children in cars and buses on those streets, most schools cancelled classes today. Except for the students taking IB exams, ACS was closed today; it never snows in Beirut, but political storms do give us unexpected days off now and then.

I can certainly put the day to good use; we begin our extended process of moving this weekend. On Saturday, Carol, Helou, Grace, and I will move into a small school-leased apartment for six weeks. On Monday, movers arrive to pack everything else and put it in storage. At the beginning of July, we will all move to our new apartment; it is quite different from where we are now, but I am not going to give you a complete compare-and-contrast in this post. I will just say that we are giving up a little space and neighborhood and getting a seaside apartment with expansive views of the Mediterranean and a two minute commute.

But am I packing today? Well, a little. Whatever we don't take with us to the temporary place, the movers will pack.

One last note of reassurance before I start cooking dinner (a new roasted vegetable soup from Emily). Our part of Beirut has been quiet all day. I have been out and around, and talked with some of our neighbors (I will miss them being so close), and they are not concerned about anything happening here, but they are weary of uncertainty and apprehensive about the future. There are no easy solutions to the huge problems this little country is facing.

Make New Friends

2008-05-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

But Keep the Old.
We all know the rest of the rhyme.

The Gold Standard of friendship lives in Worcester Massachusetts.

Carol and I were in Worcester for Good Friday and Easter, and enjoyed celebrating and reconnecting with our community of friends there. St George Cathedral, Bancroft School, and Clark University were the centers of our Worcester life, and they were the focus of this visit, too. Everyone complained that I had been neglecting this blog, and they are right. So, stay tuned for more; if nothing else, I can give you some good restaurant reviews for central Massachusetts! Meanwhile, visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13968680@N07/
for a few ( ! ) pictures from our trip to Japan, as well as snaps of Madrid, Beirut and more.

Orange House

2007-10-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

In Lebanon, the end of Ramadan was celebrated by many with the Eid al Fitr, over a four day weekend. We took that time to head south to a little guest house on the beach below Tyre, surprisingly close to the border. We invited some friends, Makram and Leila on Friday, then Sara and Charles on Saturday, and made a few more friends while we were there.

Sara has written a piece on her new blog, so rather than write any more, I will simply refer you to that:

http://beirut-lebanon-life.blogspot.com/

I can add a few photos, though. They are on my new Flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13968680@N07/

As I say in the Flickr set, the Orange House exists to support Mona and Habiba's efforts to preserve the delicate little beach that is the home to 50 sea turtle nests a year. It is a constant battle against trash, dogs, foxes, ignorance and greed. It remains a public beach despite their efforts to secure some protected status. Certainly it is someone's hope that this treasure will be "developed." Without protection, something will happen to it, but "development" is not quite the right word. Who can help?

The Last Day of Summer Vacation

2007-08-22T00:17:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was my first day back at school, which means that last Wednesday was the Last Day of Summer Vacation. It’s always a day of some bittersweet guilt. First of all, that I have so much vacation when others don’t. (I have often said that I am taking early retirement two months every summer) And then there are the questions about how I spent the time: how is the balance sheet of projects planned/projects completed ? Did I spend enough time at the beach? Did I finish my summer reading? So, the LDOSVacation is a day for some reflection.

In the morning, as I checked the news and blogs, (there wasn’t much happening) I noticed that the breeze was unusually cool and pleasant. August is supposed to be the cruelist month here; a month of dog days, overbearing heat, and humidity that makes you sweat, even when you are sitting still. But we had that in July, so maybe, having done our time in Hell, we would be spared a re-run in August. It was a nice day! What to do?? I had recently recovered from another curse of August, and had not spent much time too far from a bathroom, so being out and around seemed like a good idea. I decided to take a good walk , ending at the Riviera Yacht Club, aka the Riv, where there is a pool.

Being a pedestrian in Beirut can be life threatening, and there are jokes made about the safest place to walk being the middle of the street. Cars often park on the sidewalk, and there are often other obstacles that mean even if you are walking on the sidewalk you end up in the street. Trash dumpsters, recycle bins, phone booths, old bus stop shelters and the occasional sentry box all take up sidewalk space, leaving little room for walkers. Then there are the other walkers! I always seem to get stuck behind a group of amblers, who walk as if they were reluctantly on their way to a root canal. Or, conversely, I face a bunch that seems to feel that the sidewalk is theirs, and walk four across. I’d like to be a spiny little pufferfish and expand to meet their onslaught. Add in street crossings to this blend of pedestrian hazards, and you realize why Lebanese don’t like to walk. Except on the Corniche.

In Beirut, the Corniche is several miles of sidewalk that run right along the edge of the sea. In some places it is so close to the water that ocean storm waves break across it. Other places there are rock formations that invite fishermen and sunbathers, card players and narghile smokers, almost exclusively men. Some of the tide pools are like backyard inflatable pools, and fill up with kids. Families will often set up a circle of chairs and while kids swim or ride bikes up and down the sidewalk, the folks smoke and enjoy their coffee. On the weekend, vendors sell corn on the cob, nuts, coffee, and you can get a great shoe shine for not much money. There is one section of the Corniche that is high up off the water, and there are restaurants hanging on the edge that have a great view of the Pigeon Rocks, one of Beirut’s more famous geological formations. (No one knows where the name came from) This summer there has been some construction that interrupted the flow of Corniche walkers, but the more intrepid have just stepped over the gaps and rough patches. Not today. Not content to dig the occasional ditch, they have removed all of the pavement, leaving only a ribbon of rocks and rubble. I am walking in the street again.

As it turns out, the pavement isn’t totally gone, but my momentum is lost, and I make an early turn into the Riv, and very quickly find my way to a “sun bed” that is on the outer edge, where the breeze comes right off the water. This is idyllic! There aren’t many people here, it’s quiet, sunny breezy, and I have a book (The secret to a good tan is a good book). Tom Clancy is a good beach read as long as you skim over the parts where he lectures on military hardware or flaunts his prowess in strategic planning. This would be a really great Last Day of Vacation, except that I’m not even to the best part yet!

When I had finally had enough sun, and was getting hungry, I headed home. The Riv does have an excellent restaurant, but when I eat alone, I tend to just eat and not enjoy. As it turns out, however, this is not always the case. When I get home and showered, I decide to have a salad lunch, with my new favorite green, rocket (Emily tells me it’s Arugula in America). There is also some baba ganoosh, that Rowda made yesterday, and she has also made tabouleh. And, in the refrigerator, I make a happy discovery: she has also made kibbee nayeh! I have three of the most delicious foods of Lebanon, in my refrigerator, all on the Last Day of Vacation. A simple easy meal has turned into a feast, but the presence of kibbee nayeh on the menu dictates the addition of one other Lebanese favorite: Arak! Lurking in the bar, I know I have an old olive oil jug with Arak written on a scotch tape label. I’m not exactly sure how it has come to us, but I do know that it is a big bottle of home made Arak, and will go very nicely with lunch.

What is Arak? Start with some grapes; ferment and distill them over a wood fire, then flavor the clear, potent liquid with mountain grown anise. Let it rest, and intensify, in terra cotta urns, and Viola! Arak! Turkish Raki is similar. (I do not have the right font to spell this word correctly. The i should not be dotted, which makes its pronunciation change to “uh.” With the emphasis on the first syllable, it is pronounced rockuh.)(My favorite Turkish tee shirt says “Raki is the answer. I can’t remember the question.”) Greek Ouzo is also in the same family. I won’t bother with the nationalistic argument over which is best. Arak is far superior to the others.

If you order Arak in a restaurant, the waiter will bring a tray with glasses ice, a small pitcher, and a fresh bottle of arak to the table. With a waiterly flourish, he mixes the water and arak first, then, when the mixture has turned a milky white, adds the ice. The “Lion’s milk” is then poured into glasses and presented. Arak goes with mezze the way champagne goes with caviar. At home, I skip the flourish, but it is important to mix the water and arak before you add the ice. Ice first produces a little film of something on the top. When I start to do the mixing, however, I discover that I have not replenished our bottled water supply. So, necessity, that creative mother, guides my hand to a can of cold Schweppes soda water. Wow! This is new and tasty. I’ll have to check with Selim, the Blue Note bartender downstairs, (who makes the best dirty martini in Beirut) to see if this change is a faux pas or a felony.

So now you have the ingredients of my Last Day of Summer Vacation. Take one balcony, cover with shade and fill with a cool breeze. Add greens, kibbee nayeh, baba ganoosh and tabouleh, with sparkling arak on the side. Eat, relax, enjoy.

Of course, the missing ingredient here is Carol, but she’s was in D. C. enjoying Sala Thai takeout and going to Ben’s Chili Bowl on a regular basis, so don’t feel bad for her. Besides, I didn’t have to share.

Mostly Quiet in Beirut

2007-07-17T09:19:00.000-07:00

I don't usually blog directly into Blogger; I like to write offline and then paste it in later. But tonight the evening is so pleasant and the neighborhood so, well, neighborly, that I just want to tell you about what I am seeing and hearing. First of all, we just finished a great meal of spaghetti with black olives, feta and garlic. Carol put it all together in the time that it took the pasta to cook; now, that's fast food!

At this time of year, the sun hides early, behind one of the taller buildings nearby; it blasts into our western windows until about seven o'clock, and then we are left with pleasantly cool twilight for a long time. There's a nice breeze, unlike this morning, when it was hot and still (I was awake early). Our good sea view is to the north, so sunsets are no big deal for us.

Across the street, in St Mary's churchyard, there are a bunch of kids playing. Carol thinks they belong to George, the main caretaker at the church. They are having a good time, and their happy sounds add a friendly, family sound to the street. From here i can see several balconies of nearby apartments, and without being nosy it's fun to see what's going on. A new couple has moved in right across from us, or at least I think it's a couple, maybe just two guys and an occasional girlfriend. He often has coffee in his boxers, just for Carol. Two floors away, there's an older couple who have visitors, a daughter maybe, and a tiny baby. Jidoo loves to sit on the balcony with the baby in his arms; she never cries.

In the evening, the jackhammers of construction/destruction next door are silent. We have heard there is a Holiday Inn going up there soon. We have months of noise if that is the case. What we really fear is the start of construction in the vacant space we overlook. It's a parking lot now, but when the rectangle is fully vacant, it may mean the construction of a 37 story building. Seven underground and 30 above. It would be a monstrous blight on the neighborhood. If we are still here, I will post a digicam and film it in time lapse speed. But I hope we won't be here.....

In the cool of the evening, the balconies are filling up, there's a clump of guys down on the corner with their narghiles , now the churchyard kids have gone home, and the traffic sounds have dimmed. Taxis still beep now and then, and scooters still shoot up and down the street (it's a one way street), but clearly the day is over for most of us. The evening prayer call drifts in on the breeze and some faraway sirens are pushing their way through the light traffic. The thinnest fingernail of moon shares the sky with one star.

I think I am trying to paint a picture of a serene and pleasant place. I know that in Tripoli, to the north, over 100 Lebanese soldiers have been killed fighting against the terrorists in Nahr el Bared. Further east, in Iraq, all hell is breaking loose on a regular basis, To the south, the Israelis are working hard at proving that they aren't the last victims; there's someone even more beleagured than they were under Hitler. How can they have not learned from that? Politically, socially, economically Lebanon is a mess. But life goes on, and it isn't all that bad for us.

OK, no revising, no editing, well, not right now anyway.

Sea Turtles in Lebanon

2007-07-01T00:33:00.001-07:00

The first day of summer vacation usually finds me slavishly back at school, finishing the paperwork that I have avoided for the past few months. After the lunch and flurry of goodbyes on that very last day, I never go back to my desk to finish up. I have admired teachers who are actually done on that day, but I have never managed to do it myself.

This year was different! School was done on Wednesday and on thursday morning we packed up the car with enough stuff to last a month (we’re going for three days), and headed for the beach. It was going to be a big goodbye time. Friends Philip and Deirdre are retiring to their home in Patagonia, while other friends, George & Monica, are going to Curaciba, Brazil, to teach a little longer. We, of course, are keeping the home fires burning in Beirut (so to speak).

Our destination is as special as the event; Orange House is a small guest house run by two remarkable women, Mona and Habiba. The Orange House was Mona’s family home, and its pedigree is clear to see in the garden. Big old plantings and fountains provide a backdrop for Habiba’s bright geraniums and impatiens. These days, Orange House is a warm and welcoming guest house , but hospitality is not their main focus. About 100 meters from the house, through a thriving banana plantation, is the beach. But it is not just a beach for tired schoolteachers to bask in the Mediterranean sun. It is a turtle beach.

Every summer, female sea turtles clamber 20 meters or so up the beach, dig a hole, and leave a batch of eggs. Then they slip back into the sea, leaving the eggs to hatch 45 days later, when their babies will dig their way out of the sand and skitter down to the water.
There will be dozens of nests along this isolated stretch of beach. Early each morning, Mona and Habiba walk its length, looking for tracks in the sand that will show them the way to a new nest.

Once found, the nest is carefully excavated, the eggs checked, and measurements taken. This morning, finding the second set of eggs took some persistent digging. Momma turtle does make an effort to flip some sand around to hide the nest as she leaves, so the exact spot can be hard to find. Mona seems to have a good sense of where to dig, though, and she is very persistent. Once inspected, the nest is reburied, a protective grid of wire mesh goes on top, and a final layer of sand. The grid will protect the eggs from hungry dogs and little foxes. The nest is not obviously marked in any way, but careful triangulated measurements are made so that the hatchlings can be watched 45 days later. We scratch out the revealing tracks and continue the search for more nests.

Turtles are not their only items of interest; in a sense, Mona and Habiba have adopted the whole beach. As they have walked it every day, they have learned its patterns and rhythms. They know the fishermen and the other walkers; they know the soldiers at the lonely outpost at the end. (I wondered who those guys must have pissed off to get a job in such an isolated spot, but then I remembered that the Israeli border is just a few kilometers away. ) They collect the trash left by people who come to enjoy the wonderful unspoiled beach, and I don’t mean the occasional dropped water bottle; juice boxes, candy wrappers, disposable diapers, and a sneaker, are all part of today’s harvest. Unlike the beaches to the north, this trash does not come in from the sea; the Israelis are tidy, at least.

Update: I took my third turtle walk this morning. Habiba and Fadi (who helps around the house) checked the beach today. They found four sets of tracks, but the turtles did not dig their nests. One seems to have been pestered by foxes, and the other strayed into a rocky patch of beach. Habiba is part Sherlock Holmes and part Davy Crockett as she sifts through the tracks and signs of the turtle action. Each site is noted and measured even though there are no eggs. I learn that during the laying season, each turtle will lay two sets of eggs. The 17 nests they have now, insures that there will be at least 34 this summer, but that number is much lower than last summer.

Saturday Surprise

2007-06-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

This morning, the sound of gunfire on Makhoul Street strained a lot of nerves already stretched taut. We were not on the balcony, but around the corner, and had already seen the two hearses go down the street towards the military funeral at St. Mary's. The gunshots were a military salute to two soldiers, killed in the continuing battle at the Nahr al Bared camp. There were a lot of nervous people on the street, especially when the disciplined order of the salute degenerated to random firing; at least it wasn't automatic!

What now for Lebanon? The current government is fiercely holding on to its slim majority, but someone is killing them off one by one, and the president of the country is refusing to allow the by-elections that would replace the murdered parliamentarians. Hezbollah continues to jeopardize the government in its own way, and then there are the camps. The Palestinian camps are islands of desperation; these are families who lost their homes in Palestine in 1948. They have been contained in the camps since then, denied the right of return to their homeland. By agreement, they have been left to police themselves, but that has created even more problems both in and out of the camps. There are no easy solutions.

School is done for students, and teachers have three more days, with some admissions testing for me. We continue to be firm in our decision to stay here for the summer. Perhaps not the easy travel-around time we had hoped, but life here is still pretty good. Lots of people aren't going out at night, but we don't do that often anyway. When we want to, we have the Blue Note right downstairs! Carol will be doing some Linden Travel work in DC at the end of July, getting ready for leading her Art & Design trip to the Far East in the Fall. I'll be goin' to the beach and feeding the cats.

Today's Event

2007-06-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

Calm and hopefulness have been dashed yet again, as a car bomb in Beirut has killed a member of Parliament, his son, and two bodyguards. There were bystanders also killed, and many injured. The explosion was near the ferris wheel close to the westernmost point of the Corniche, between two swimming clubs.

We heard it, and saw the smoke shortly after.

I am watching CNNi for information, so I won't bother to repeat what they are saying.

Stay tuned

Exhibit Review

2007-06-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

The exhibit has been reviewed by Nicole Sobecki in The Daily Star, Lebanon's only English newspaper. Aside from one serious (but forgiveable, given the Kodak connection) error, I think it is a very good writeup. Here's another photo too, that, for some reason, they didn't put in the paper.

The Daily Star

(I hope this is a hot link. If it is, Thanks Brian!)
if it isn't, I'll try again...

More of the Exhibit

2007-06-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

The trouble with posting these here is that there aren't any of the glassy reflections that give these photos a glossy sparkle.
You need to figure out a way to do that for yourself!

2007-06-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

exhibit

2007-06-07T12:19:00.000-07:00

I think I have to post the photos one at a time. The bandwidth of Lebanon is very limited!

My Exhibit

2007-06-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
I have a group of photographs on display at a local restaurant; they were all taken in the neighborhood, so it seemed appropriate that they are on display here too. For a nice writeup, visit this link at the Daily Star, Lebanon's only English newspaper: www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=82795 - 6 Jun 2007 - I only have one problem with it..... If for any reason the link doesn't work, google Daily Star Beirut Eastman (hint)

More of the photos:

Stellar Sunday

2007-06-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

Today you are getting a rambling rough draft of what's going on here.

Carol and I have often said that May was the best of Lebanon, but this year, that was not the case. Rain, dust, hot, cold, bombs, threats, and other crazy stuff all conspired to make May a difficult month. Today, the third of June, seems to have inheirited the mantle of May. Clear blue sky, cool breeze off the sea, and surprisingly, a diminishment of tension, at least for us.

The Hariri Tribunal vlte has passed at the UN, and there have been no repercussions here.
The festering boil in Nahr el Bared is drawing to a close, with the Lebanese Army proving itself under fire.
Palestinians have supported the Lebanese government, and this may lead to improvement at the other camps.
At ACS, the class of 2007 has graduated; I went to the reception after graduation, and saw many families that had younger children at ACS who were my students. My first students at ACS are 9th graders this year. Will I see them graduate?

Yesterday I finished hanging my photographs at Prague. It was not the easy in-and-out process I expected! I got there on Fraday afternoon, (having left school early) and started putting the pieces where I had imagined they would go. Two big prints (100x70 cm) (for you Americans, 100cm is about 36 inches, these are large) went up easily, but the other little prints, when I put them in place, were....little! So I went to see my friend Riad at Super Graphics and asked him if he was busy. "Today?" he said. "Friday afternoon?" he asked. "We are never busy for you." A true friend. So Riad and Toufiq made three beautiful 70 x 50 prints for me, and we hung them out to dry for the night. Framing them was my job for Saturday morning. I won't give you all the frustrating details, but what I finally decided on was plexiglass with a thin cardboard backing, all held together with little chrome clips.

OK, so they were all assembled, all clipped, and then I attached a wire on the back to hang them and well, the plexi just bowed right off the wall. I had some big clips, so I tried one of them at the top, and it seemed to hold. When i got them to Prague, however, they just slipped off...now what??? An inspiration: double sided sticky tape on the back kept the clips from slipping. Now we were all clipped and taped and ready to hang... I had taped one of them upside down. Well if I was Kandinsky or Vasarelli, I might get away with that, but my mannequins would look pretty odd upside down. Have you ever tried to un-stick extra-strength double-stick tape? It is possible. It takes patience. It's a good think it all worked, because that was that last bit of patience I had. Show's up, looks good. I can relax now. I've even thought about prices, but I don't really need to; no one ever buys my work.

i don't want to disappoint the foodies out there; all I can do is tell you what Carol is making for lunch. We first had Gouvetsi when we were with our friends Carol and Steve on Santorini. Steve orgered gouvetsi, and we all had other stuff. When we saw what he had gotten, we all realized that for the second time, he had quietly ordered the best thing on the menu. Ours was good, but he really knew how to get the best. I'm not giving you the whole recipe, just the ingrediets: Lamb, tomatoes, butter, orzo, baked in the oven. It's almost ready!! I have to run out for wine, and then it will be time to eat.

Short Update

2007-05-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

There have been no serious repercussions to the UN Hariri tribunal vote, yet, at least.
The siege of Nahr el Bared continues, but rumors about who, when, why are running wild.
Wild speculations are treated as news, so it is hard to know for certain what is true.

You'll have to wait for the weekend to hear more about food.
My photo exhibit goes up tomorrow, with maybe some press coverage!!

Who is Dr. Franklin Lamb? Published on Counterpunch, with some wild opinions and ideas, articles linked to Hizbollah sites, reportedly inside the Nahr el Bared camp. Who is he?

Weather Report

2007-05-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

Early this morning, the sky was ominously dark, and I wondered if it might rain. The lightening sky revealed a bank of storm clouds over the mountains that seemed to be spreading over Beirut. When thunder broke the morning stillness, I thought for sure we were going to get it, and went out on the balcony to see the deluge. The only sign of it, though, was about a dozen fat drops on the railing, just enough to make a mess with the dust that was already there. Since I walk to school, I was relieved that I would not have to do it in the rain.

That pretty much describes the political/military situation here too, except for the outcome. I hope it doesn’t rain there either.

Weekend and more

2007-05-28T05:12:00.001-07:00

Beirut had a quiet weekend until late last night when someone on a scooter threw a hand grenade from a bridge, down onto a guard post. With five policemen injured, I guess that scooter was more dangerous than most. The close calls I have had being a pedestrian here, have all been with scooters. Apparently, rules of the road, or common sense, do not apply to them.

There is a glimmer of hope for a peaceful resolution of the Nahr al Bared standoff. The government has agreed to let the Palestinian leadership negotiate with the terrorists. They have until Wednesday.

And now, my foodie friends, I have something by special request. Someday, when we have fully sensory-enabled computers, you might be able to smell the garlic on my fingers. I’ve just finished making a batch of tum. Tum is a high-powered garlic sauce that makes many different appearances around the Mediterranean. Skordalia in Greece, aioli in italy, tum in the Arab countries, it's all about garlic!. this is the first time I have ever actually made it, because it is readily available, and always comes along with take-out chicken.

First, a word about that chicken.... There’s a place nearby that sells rotisserie chicken right off the spit. Out in front of the shop there’s a glass fronted rotisserie, with four or five rows of chickens. Gas-fired burners lick up at slowly rotating rows of little birds, with the juices dripping down from one lineup to the next.. The golden birds on the top are the ones that have been in there the longest, and they done to a turn (is this where that phrase comes from?), with crispy skin all the way around. They are ready to eat! The glass doors are a clever marketing device, because the sight and smell is almost irresistible! So, you go in, ask for a chicken, and they slide it off the top spit into a little swaddling of thin mountain bread, and then your mouth waters the whole way home. When you unwrap the bread, some of the crispy skin sticks to it, and that part never even makes it to the table. I figure that’s the reward I get for carrying dinner home. The garlic sauce that always comes with this chicken is called tum, and usually you get several small containers of it. The commercial tum looks innocently like mayonnaise, but packs a potent garlic punch.

So, on Saturday when I was shopping for dinner, I decided to get what the market calls “white chicken” which is cut-up-and-ready-to-go-on-a-skewer chicken that has been marinated in a yogurt/garlic sauce. (I have also used this chicken for a sauté with white wine and cream, mushrooms and tum, over ziti). But when the butcher handed me the package of chicken, I forgot to get a tub of tum, which was at the other end of the counter. Thus the need to make tum of my own.

All the recipes I looked at contained the same basic ingredients: Garlic, olive oil and salt. Some included a slice or two of mashed up bread, or some boiled potato. One recipe put it all in a blender and just pulverized it. More recipes, though, used a mortar and pestle to smooth the garlic and salt into a paste, added the mashed potato or bread, and then finally the oil. I decided to use the low-tech way; this is not a job you can hurry, and I guessed that liquefying the garlic in a blender would produce a different result than the slow grinding of the m&p. I peeled and cut up a whole head of garlic, poured a glass of wine, put some music on our new iPod speakers (in this case, Paul Simon’s Graceland) and then sat down to pound away on the garlic for a while. It didn’t take very long to turn the little cloves into a pulpy mash with a powerful aroma. Grace (the cat) didn’t like it much, so she left me alone. (this is a former street cat who has been known to steal chunks of church bread off the dining room table) The addition of a little lemon juice and a few tablespoons of olive oil (local, from a teacher here at ACS) thickened it up a little, but it looked like it needed a little more body, so I trimmed and soaked and squeezed dry two slices of bread and tossed them it.. The added starch seemed to smooth it out, and I’m sure potatoes would have the same effect: the bread was a little handier, though.

This tum did not look anything like the commercial tum, and tasting revealed that it was different on the tongue, too. How can you compare Wonder Bread to home made? Or fresh squeezed orange juice to frozen? They are two totally different products. My tum was thick and textured, a shimmering gold color with a salty raw garlic tang. Next time I might hold back on the salt a little, but it’s meant to used sparingly on some otherwise bland chicken, or grilled/roasted veggies, so the salt would be be a problem on the plate.

Tonight’s dinner was kebab chicken and mushrooms, pasta with a little pesto, and of course tum on the side. Even the drop-in dinner guest liked it, but then, he was probably just happy to have a home-cooked meal that he didn’t have to cook. As we say here, “Sahtain!”

BTW...leftover pasta? Leftover tum? Toss it all together and hit pasta reheat on the micro. Be sure to share it with anyone you plan on kissing.

Still waiting for Baklava? It’s next, I promise.

Quiet Saturday Morning

2007-05-26T00:53:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful clear Saturday morning; it's coolish up here on the 4th floor, but I'm sure it's warmer down on the street. Friends in Tripoli report that it is quiet up there, but that there is a significant military presence around the city. A few more military transports have come in this morning, so I suspect they army is waiting until has the new supplies it needs, and then it will go into the camp.

I've heard that Fatah al Islam threats during the week included "Crusader schools and universities." That explains the stress at ACS, especially, as a friend observed, the threat certainly included any schools with American in their name. Most of you probably don't know that the ACS mascot is a knight. The charging mounted knight rampant over the high school entrance is clearly a Crusader. I wonder if it might finally be time to change that.

Stay tuned for baklava.

Daily Star Editorial

2007-05-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=10&article_ID=82465&categ_id=5

This is a link to an editorial in Beirut's major Engish newspaper, the Daily Star. Michael Young explains in detail, the orgins of the recent Hersh and Fisk articles, and how they have both been manipulated. Them, and us.

Poster

2007-05-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

i just figured out that I can post it here. Duh!

Friday Update

2007-05-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

Today's update has come a little later in the day because 1. it's been very quiet 2. there was no school today. The holiday was for the "Liberation of the South," marking the day a few years ago, when the Israelis finally left (somewhat unexpectedly). I don't care why, we really needed a day off. Four days, three bombs, lots of parents and confused kids, takes its toll. And Thursday was rife with rumors about possible attacks on many sites, tourist sites, some shrines, and Christian schools (there is one of them right across the street from us, St. Mary's Orthodox College, a k-12 school) (The Orthodox are the least political religious group here, so i wasn't really worried.) But the was the same: lots of worried parents. We didn't dismiss early, but lots of kids were picked up early.

I have heard that there is a plan for the army to "deal with" Fatah al Islam (in Tripoli) this evening. Who knows? Fatah al islam have vowed to fight to their last drop of blood, and the army has said they expect to shed exactly that. The PLO supports the Lebanese army and has supplied some troops to go into the camp.

All day, I have watched bulky military transports flying in to the Beirut airport. They have used the secondary runway, which brings them in right over us. .Seriously, right on top of us, so that I can see from their glide path if they are on track or not. These are big, heavy, unmarked planes, and it isn't fun if they are coming in a little low. But I am sure the army appreciates the supplies. Thank you America.

I had intended to get to Taj al Malouk today, for some photos of the many, many forms of baklava (also spelled baklawa), but my errands just didn't take me in that direction. I had to go the the picture framer to drop off to photos, and then to Future Graphics, to collect two huge prints that will hang in my exhibit in the tiny restaurant called Prague. Those two photos got me in trouble! A very arrogant little security guard did not want me photographing the naked mannequins in an upscale shop downtown. By the time he put his hand in front of my lens, I was already done, but my taxi driver and I just had to argue a little more. Most of it was in Arabic, but i did catch the word "ajnabe" more than once...(foreigner), and I put in my two cents, which no one noticed. I just didn't want to get the taxi guy in trouble.

So, back to baklava... I do still want to got tp the store and take some pictures so that you can see some of the many forms that butter and phillo and nuts can be worked into. Some are flaky and light, with a sprinkle of nuts, and just a little syrup. Others are dense and rich, solid twisted pastry and pistachios, and butter, of course, soaked in syrup. I'm sure there are specific names for each variety, and if my weekend permits, you will know and see all.

Getting back to my show at Prague for a moment, it's called "Mannequins and Men." It is a documentary style collection of photographs of storefronts and shopkeepers in Hamra (my neighborhood). I have taken dozens of photos, enlarged a few, but included all of them in a smaller snapshot montage. I can send a small poster, if you ask.

Have a good weekend!

3 Bombs, 4 Days

2007-05-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

The roundabout in the center of Aley, pronounced just like L.A., was the location of last night's bomb. Up in the mountains, about 20K from Beirut on the road to Damascus, Aley is an important Druze town. It is very popular with tourists from the Persian Gulf region; they usually start arriving in June to escape their hot weather and enjoy the cool air and green trees of the mountains. Probably not this year.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt made a speech earlier this week (I can't find the text online) and this bombing could probably be considered a response to that. So far, the nighttime bombs have targeted a Christian area, a Sunni neighborhood, now a Druze town. There's a message here, I'm just not exactly sure what it is.

For my foodie friends, I have little to offer today, except a brief, low calorie visit to Taj al Malouk. As you walk past his shop at the corner of Bliss and Sadat, an aroma sneaks out the door and pulls you in by the nose. It's the smell of melted butter, fillo pastry and sugar, sprinkled with pistachios and almonds. Baklava! More soon.

Robert Fisk

2007-05-22T23:49:00.000-07:00

Robert Fisk, with his incredible detail and historical knowledge of Lebanon, has a different take on this than Seymour Hersch. Here's the link.
http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2007/05/fisk_fatah_alis.php

Quiet Night

2007-05-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

6:30am Wednesday
Beirut awoke to the normal noises of city life this morning. Storefront covers rolled back, Sukleen trucks emptied dumpsters, buses took people to work again (yesterday was a day off for many), and at times it was quiet enough that I could hear the unhappy kitten that lives in the parking lot next to us. It's driving Grade crazy; she just hands over the balcony looking for the source of the pitiful crying. We have looked too, and if we could find it, we'd feed it. But no, it will not come to live upstairs.

The situation in Tripoli has eased a bit and the Fatah al Islam fighters are allowing Palestinians to leave. They shot at some of them, though. I think that Palestinian security may be brought in so that the Lebanese army does not need to go into the camp.

Seymour Hersch has an interview on CNN that suggests the Fatah al Islam fighters (who are believed to be Sunni) were funded by the Saudis as a counterbalance to Hizbollah. That might explain why they were better equipped than the Lebanese army. Hersch wrote about the plan devised between Prince Bandar (Saudi) and Dick Cheney (is he really one of us?) earlier this year, using the principle that my enemy's enemy is my friend. That idea is fertile ground for the law of unintended consequences, and confirmaton of that would not go down well here at all.

No sweets for the foodies out there today. I will find some for you tomorrow.

Another One

2007-05-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

It's 6:30am on tuesday. I have not found any updates on the situation in Tripoli except that the standoff continues. I think many in the government are regretting the policy letting the Palestinian camps exist as islands. I would imagine that security around them all is very tight now. I did see one columnist wonder how it was that Hizbullah, the Protector of Lebanon, was not engaged in protecting the country from this threat. I guess, like the Maginot Line, all the weapons are pointed in the wrong direction. (See that, Mr. Woodward? I was paying attention!)
At 10:30 last night there was another bom in Beirut, this one near the Dunes shopping mall, in an upscale Sunni neighborhood. It was about the same size and modus operandi as yesterday's, nighttime, shopping mall, under a car, so it is largely assumed they are related. Although this bomb was in the area called West Beirut, it was some distance from us, and we did not hear it.

We have school as usual today, although i suspect that more nervous parents may keep their kids at home. There weren't too many absences yesterday. Checkpoints and barriers will make a nasty snarl of traffic.

Haram Lebanon!

R

New Troubles

2007-05-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
If you are checking this blog, it's because you have been watching the news, and know that there is more trouble in Lebanon. Last night, we watched coverage of the fighting in Tripoli, between the Lebanese army and a Fatah group in the Palestinian camp near Tripoli. This morning, I woke up to news of a large explosion in Ashrefieh, the main Christian district of Beirut.
As I write now, it is 7PM Monday, and I am watching live CNN coverage and commentary from Tripoli. There is a lot of shooting and black smoke. This is not good.
If you watch CNN or BBC, you will know just about as much as I do. What is hard to understand (even for me, here) is that the Palestinian camps operate independently; Lebanese police or army do not go inside them at all. They police themselves (or not). First of all, they are not "camps," they are small cities. I've been into one of the Beirut camps; it's like an old city, with narrow twisting streets and odd shaped lots, but all newly constructed. The layout is based on the way the tents were first set up when they were really "camps." Now it's cast in cement, so to speak.
The current trouble began when police attempted to arrest a group they suspected of robbing a bank, inside the camp. they were repelled, and now the army is shelling those positions. The group is Fateh al Islam, an extremist group, supported by few Palestinians and certianly even less Lebanese.
for now, you are getting the same news from CNN as I see.

Back to Beirut: We had school as normal today, and expect to tomorrow. The Parliament is meeting as i write, and they are stubbornly holding to the idea of an international tribunal for the Hariri killers. If this is an attempt to distract the country or somehow derail the tribunal, the government is totally focused on continuing.

Right now, CNN is interviewing Moh'd Shattah, and envoy to the US and advisor to the Prime Minister. I have met him! He is a steady thoughtful man. He's from Tripoli, and, no doubt, distressed by what he sees.

Now Rami Khoury is on...I've met him too! He is an editor of the Daily Star, the English paper in Beirut. www.dailystar.com

Dear friends, stay tuned. I will try to update this with information that may not be on CNN.

Pray for this beautiful country; they do not deserve this.

R

Man'oushe

2007-03-04T02:06:00.000-08:00

It is impossible to walk down any major street in Beirut and not notice that there is food for sale. Everywhere. Street food is sold from pushcarts, tiny storefronts, small corner shops, and large major outlets. Of course Macdonald’s and Burger King are here, too, and even Sub Station and Papa Gino’s, but they are not the focus of this piece. This is about Lebanese Street Food

The king of the street is Man’oushe. It’s full name is man’oushe bi za’tar, which is, basically, bread with za’tar (thyme), but I’m already getting ahead. When each neighborhood had its own public oven (furn), the women would take their dough to be baked there. When commercial bread became popular, the bakers turned to making individual portions, often spread with a mixture of thyme, sesame seeds and olive oil (za’tar). This folded bread, easily carried and eaten on the go, became a breakfast staple The name man’oushe soon became the general term for any of the wonderful little bread concoctions that are sold on the street.

There are two forms of man’oushe, based on how the bread is baked. It is either baked in a brick oven with a slightly risen texture, or rolled out thin and cooked on top of a dome-topped saaj (sahj). Like an inverted wok, a saaj is a hot round griddle that was once wood fired, but now almost all of them are gas. Our friend Meg Otten from Minnesota was so taken with saaj bread that she bought a small one to take home. It may be the only real saaj in Minnesota! There is a third variety of bread, usually referred to as “Mountain Bread” (khubz marquq). Sonia Uvezian describes early French settlers mistaking these loaves (“two feet in diameter and no thicker than wrapping paper”) for napkins, and subsequently eating them! Making these loaves is best left to the professionals, however, so I won’t try to explain it here.

What makes man’oushe more than just bread (albeit very good bread) is what goes on top. Za’tar is just the basic beginning! The second favorite topping here is jibneh, or, for you Americans, cheese. Salty white ‘akkawi cheese is crumbled on the dough as it heats up on the sage, and while it melts, your stomach growls. If you want, you can have a half-half combo of za’tar and jibneh, called a cocktail, and that’s my favorite. Get the guy to throw on some zeytoon (olives) and sliced banadura (tomatoes) roll it up, and you’ll walk away with a smile on your face!

There are many, many variations on this theme, limited only by the ingredients and imagination available. Each of Lebanon’s ethnic groups has its favorite; individual shops will have their own specialities, neighborhoods do too. In her book Man’oushe, Barbara Abdeni Massaad provides recipes for lots of the variations.

Here’s one for the bread:
2 1/2 cups strong white flour
8 oz cake flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tblsp vegetable oil
1 1/4 lukewarm water

Sift flour and salt together in a bowl.
Dissolve yeast in water and set aside for a few minutes.
Pour yeast mixture gradually into flour.
Knead the mixture to make a soft dough.
Continue for 5 – 10 minutes until soft and elastic.
Put in a flour-dusted bowl, let rise until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Punch down and divide into four balls. Allow to rise 30 min more.
Flatten each ball and then roll out to abut a ten inch-circle (if you are baking)
A little thinner if you have a sage.

Get your toppings ready!

Thyme mixture (Za’tar)
7 1/2 cups ground wild thyme (you should pick you own).
1 1/2 cups sesame seeds.
3 cups ground sumac.
1/2 cup salt.

Spread this on your flattened dough circles and bake 7 – 10 minutes in a 400F oven or 3-5 on a hot sage.

If you order this at Faysal’s on Bliss St, and ask for everything, you will get tomatoes, cucumber, shocking pink pickled turnip, mint, and olives.

Supreme Cheese Pie
2 cups ‘akkawi cheese
1 cup halloumi cheese
1 cup feta cheese

Chop or grate the halloumi and ‘akkawi, then rinse to reduce salt.
Blend with feta.
Spread evenly over prepared dough.
Bake 7 – 10 minutes in 400F oven, or 3-5 on hot sage.

One final man’oushe from Barbara Massad’s beautiful book is an example of how basic ingredients and flavors reappear in different settings. What she calls “Meat Preserve Pie with Chickpea Dip” is really man’oushe baked with hummos awarma on top, garnished with a little mint and sumac. I’ve never seen it for sale on the street; I may have to go hunting!

Next on the menu: Schwarma

For some reason, Blogger is not letting me post the photos to go with this post. I'll try later.

Quieter Today

2007-01-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

You may remember that last summer, one sign of normalcy was that the dry cleaner on the next street was open. Well, he's open today. More good signs: Miss Rowda is here, catching up on what she missed yesterday. There are cars on the street, and some students in the school across the way. ACS is closed today, ( a decision made last night) but I'll probably go down and catch up on a few things.

Hezbullah has, according to Al Jazeera, called off the strike. BTW, if you have never been to their website, it is a well organized and useful source of news. http://english.aljazeera.net/News Today it has full texts of both JWB (WPE) SOTU speech last night, and also Jim Webb's rebuttal. Their news seems balanced and clear. (that woulld be in contrast to...Fox, to name just one msm).

We are relieved at the de-escalation of the confrontation, and hope that it means Siniora will get to Paris and the big donor conference, where Lebanon hopes to get some much needed international $$$.

Stay tuned

Not About Food

2007-01-23T02:00:00.000-08:00

Well friends, here we are again, looking out over a very quiet Hamra, wondering what happens next.

As the sun came up this morning it revealed a heavy pall of nasty smoke; it looked a little like special effects smoke, and when the sun was high enough to cast some shadows, it was almost pretty. It didn't smell pretty, though; burning cars and tires seldom do. My colleague Sara Khoury called me a little later and said that from her balcony, with a great view out over the city, she had counted at least a dozen separate sources of smoke. A little later she described a dense cloud of darkness all over the city....let's just consider the symbolism of that!

Seeing the smoke, I was pretty sure that almost no parents were going to send their kids to school, even thought ACS had announced that it would be open. Some schools announced their closure yesterday, and I don't know why ACS didn't. By the time I got to school at 7:30, the decision had been made to close, and the few kids who had arrived (with their parents) were sent home. Teachers who were able to get there left shortly after that, as did I. By the time I got home I could feel the smmoke in my throat, and I was happy to be inside.

It is now 12:30 here, and the air has largely cleared. There is still a dark smudge to the north, and looking east towards the mountains there is still plenty of smoke, so it may be that the wind has shifted and we're getting a nice clean sea breeze.

I am watching the Hezbollah channel on TV. Footage of burning tires and cars, blocked roads, shutterred stores, all with a background of triumphant (western) classical music. Soldiers being taunted by rock throwers, burning tires rolled at military vehicles. I have never been sadder for this country. Does nasrallah think this is going to make Lebanon a better place? Is he even in control? Hezbollah has accomplished with fear and intimidation what Israel was unable to do this summer; they have divided and demoralized the country.

Latest word from Sara the lookout is that most of the tire fires are out.

And the school admins will be meeting today to decide about school tomorrow.

Lebanon needs your prayers again.

Stay tuned,

Robert

Kibbeh

2007-01-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

Another essential element to the meze table is a versatile concoction of ground lamb and bulgar called Kibbeh. First a pronunciation lesson: it isn’t just an easy two-syllable word, there is a little hesitation between the two b’s, and the second syllable is pronounced with a short e. It should look like this: kib’beh.

Kibbeh is claimed as the national dish of two countries, Lebanon and Syria, and it is a favorite dish of virtually every country in the region. Each has its variations and interpretations, so there are many recipes and shapes for kibbeh. Like hummus, everyone’s mom does it best. Except for the vegetarian versions of potato, pumpkin and fish kibbeh, kibbeh is made of lamb, bulgar (cracked wheat) and seasonings. Recipes can include pine nuts, onion, lamb chunks and yogurt. It can be baked, fried, boiled, stuffed or served raw. This is a truly versatile food!

As you might expect, Kibbeh is more than a menu item; it has an important place in mythology and tradition. In Recipes and Remembrances, Sonia Uvezian describes a wedding tradition in which a strong man from the groom’s family would go to the wife’s family on the day of the wedding, prepared to take her by force if she had second thoughts. As a show of strength, he would hoist the family’s jurn (stone mortar for making kibbeh) over his head. The bride would, of course, be persuaded by this, and go willingly, if not happily.

In the old days, a jurn and a madaqqa (pestle) were essential tools for making kibbeh. On the day kibbeh was on the menu, the heavy stone jurn would be dragged out to convenient workplace, perhaps a courtyard or kitchen garden. The cook’s helper would use the madaqqa to pound the raw lamb and bulgar into a smooth paste. Sonia Uvzian describes the “ measured thump of maqqada against jurn…music to the ears of the people, an aural foretaste of the pleasures awaiting their palates.” (Uvezian, p. 221) Kibbeh was the dish by which a woman’s skill in the kitchen was measured. Molding the thin shell that would hold the stuffing of ground lamb, pine nuts and finely chopped onions took care and skill.

Today, the food processor is the tool of choice; a few quick pulses of the chopping blade can quickly do the job, but I doubt that the village strongman will come to hoist your Cuisenaire! The basic kibbeh recipe from the Women’s Club of St George’s Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester, MA is not difficult. One pound of ground lean lamb, one cup of fine bulgur, one small onion, one tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper. Peel the onion and grind with meat. Wash the bulgur and squeeze thoroughly. Add wheat to meat and mix well. Put it through the grinder once (or pulse it in the processor). Soften with a little cold water. Other recipes call for cinnamon, allspice, and/or red pepper. One Syrian recipe uses da’ah, which is a blend of cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, black pepper and cinnamon.

Once you have a quantity of the basic recipe you need to make some decisions. Which of the tasty variations are you going to try, and how will you serve it? Well, perhaps you should have made them before, as the recipes for each to vary slightly. I’m not giving you all the recipes either, you’ll have to do a little research. But I will tell you about one of the best: Kibbeh Nayeh…raw kibbeh.

Kibbeh Nayeh is made with the freshest and leanest lamb leg, trimmed of all fat and gristle. The proportion of bulgur is about the same as the basic recipe, although there are variations in just about all the cookbooks. I’ve noticed that raw kibbeh in America tends to have a coarser texture in comparison to the smoother Lebanese; Lebanese also has more spices, especially clove.

Process the lamb, wheat, onion and spice mixture to the desired consistency. Now your choices are aesthetic ones. Rowda, our wonderful housekeeper, (who has come in on her day off to make kibbeh nayeh so that it will be perfectly fresh for a party) serves hers in small patties that are about the size of the McDonalds fifteen-cent hamburgers (That was in 1965). For you younger readers, maybe two tablespoons. I have also seen kibbeh nayeh served in a simple mound on a platter, drizzled with olive oil and garnished with mint. Wedges of onion and flat Arabic bread serve as the scoops that help the divine mixture into your mouth.

Basic baked kibbeh starts with the Women’s Club recipe divided in half. A filling is made with half a pound of diced lamb, a little butter, one small onion, diced, and 1/4 cup pine nuts. Brown the lamb, add onions and sauté until the onions are done. Brown the pine nuts in a little butter and add to the meat and onions. Sspread half the raw kibbeh mixture in an 8x8 pan and distribute the filling mixture evenly on top. Then cover it with the other half of the raw mixture. (A little cold water will keep it from sticking to your fingers.) Cut the kibbeh into a pattern of small diamonds, and just before it goes into the oven, top with 1/3 cup of melted butter and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of water. Bake at 425F for 35 minutes or until the top is brown.

There is so much more to say about kibbeh. There are recipes and variations that are truly wonderful, but I need to get this posted. Watch for a few more recipes. I am trying to find one for fish kibbeh that was so good that even fifth graders liked it; of course, they cooked it too, so they had to try it. It was great!

Hummous bi Tahini

2006-12-29T05:16:00.000-08:00

Hummous, (Homos, humus, hummos) no matter how you spell it, is a wondrous food. It appears on virtually every Lebanese dinner table as a meze, (starter) Every cookbook of Mediterranean food mentions it, and most give you a recipe. Here are the ingredients: lots of chick peas, some tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper. If you start with dried chick peas, there is some overnight preparation. If you start with canned, you can get right to work. For me, the difference in taste is imperceptible.

Start by draining a can of chickpeas; give them a rinse and put them in a food processor and buzz them up until they are a rough paste. You may need to add a little water. Add a few cloves of garlic, a big spoonful of tahini, then lemon juice ( I have found that fresh squeezed makes a big difference, start with two lemons) , salt and pepper to taste. If you like it smoooth, do it a long time. If you like some texture, don’t do it so long. You can adjust any ingredient to your taste. That’s all there is to it! Traditionally, hummos is served in low ceramic dish; mound it up, then spread it out with the back of a spoon. Drizzle with your best olive oil, give it a shake of red sumac or a sprig of mint, and serve it with a stack of flat Arabic bread cut in wedges. Even in the very best restaurants, that bread will come wrapped in a little plastic bag; it starts to go stale as soon as you open the bag, so don’t let it lie around…get dipping! In Lebanon, everyone’s mom makes the best hummos, but for the adventuresome, there are variations that make it more interesting.

I like lots of garlic, but to get that really garlicky flavor using raw garlic, sometimes you get a harsh bite. So one day I roasted some of the garlic first; the result was lots of garlic with no pain, and another layer of flavor.

Add a dollop of red pepper paste to the food processor and trade the sumac and mint garnish for cumin. If the peppers are only red, not hot, add some of your favorite hot stuff.

Try some other garni: toasted pine nuts or pistachios, or chopped black olives and parsley.

Finally, best for last, there is Hummous awarma. I am not sure of the spelling, but it doesn’t matter. Brown about 1/4 of a cup of pine nuts in butter. Watch them carefully, because they go from white to burned in a remarkably short time (I know). Set them aside, and in the same pan, brown about 8oz of finely chopped lamb with salt and pepper to taste. Mix the pine nuts back in, and spread this all on top of your waiting hummos. Try not to hog it all.

Occasionally when we go out to dinner at our favorite local restaurant, the Blue Note Café (which is on the first floor of our building) I will order Hummos awarma and fattoush for dinner. I am not eager to share, and Carol is willing to tolerate such poor behavior. But with a large group, I usually make sure that I order one for me and one for everyone else. I had never experienced Hummos awarma before I came to Beirut; I am not sure why American Lebanese restaurants don’t serve it.

As I prepare to post this, the political situation in Lebanon is about as stirred up as your best hummos. With tents downtown, Hezbullah is still passing out money, and the March 14 majority is standing fast on their constitutional authority; it’s hard to see how it will end. Add Iraq to the mix, with Saddam Hussein’s execution rumored for tomorrow (I think the US will regret facilitating that). Syria is making some peaceful moves towards Israel and the US, and Israel is worrying about Iran.

My references for this piece are:
Lebanese Mountain Cookery Mary Laird Hamady. David R. Godine pub. 1987.
This was the first Lebanese cookbook in our house. It seemed like we had found
all the secret recipes from Worcester’s famous El Morocco Restaurant. What I
didn’t understand until we got here was that it’s all mountain cookery here. The
mountains go right up from the sea.

Recipes and Rememberances Sonia Uvezian. The Siamanto Press. 2001
This beautiful book contains as many stories as recipes. Often beginning with
“In the Lebanon of my childhood…” the author explains how many food
traditions began, or how the preparations were carried out without the aid of modern conveniences.

A New Direction

2006-10-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
When I considered some of the possible topics that this blog might cover, now that Lebanon is relatively quiet, I made a list of some of the major issues facing the Middle East today. As I have tried to focus on any of them and express my thoughts in an incisive and journalistic way, I confess to feeling totally overwhelmed.

Why, when you could be reading Juan Cole, would you be reading me? Will Keith Olberman ever get up early to see what insightful and astute punditry I have posted? Will I ever become a source for the Colbert Report? I think not.

But I have enjoyed writing and posting and receiving responses from so many of you; as long as my topic was right in front of me, I felt qualified to write about it, and I thought it was worthwhile to help people see what I was seeing. So I have been wondering about a topic that might be interesting, accessible, occasionally controversial, and easy to digest. It would have to be a topic that expressed the flavor of Lebanese culture, steeped in memory and spiced with the passions of experience. Well, there you have; what do the Lebanese love, possibly even more than political infighting and intrigue? They love their food.

When we lived in Istanbul, a friend was explaining the origins of an area called Arnavutkoy. It was on our bus route towards downtown, and on a good day, we would often walk along the Bosphorus, through Arnavutkoy, to Ortakoy where they sold immense baked potatoes stuffed with cheese and butter, and a host of other mix-ins. Sadly, one of them wasn’t bacon, but I am getting off topic already. Carol was very fond of Arnavutkoy, because it translates nicely: Arnavut = Albanian, and koy = village. Not that there were a lot of Albanians there then (except for Carol) but there were when Albania was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Our friend explained to us that many of the Albanians in Istanbul and elsewhere in the Empire, had been gardeners and farmers. They had been responsible for growing and selling produce in the city. (I have not fact-checked this, but it fits well) “They were the gardeners for the Ottomans. Much the same way that the Armenians were the jewelers.” Well that seems reasonable. In this region, even now, jewelers and metalsmiths often have that telltale –ian ending their family names. Our dear friend Bedros, in the Grand Bazaar, collected and sold antique pitchers, hamam bowls, candelabra, and also manufactured very reasonable copies. The Armenian skill with metal lives on. The Ottomans, it seems, were quite adept at using the skills of the peoples that were “incorporated” into the empire.

So here’s a hypothesis: the Lebanese were the cooks of the Ottoman Empire. Taking the diverse ingredients of the region, they created a cuisine that is reflected around the Mediterranean to this day. The vegetables: tomatoes, eggplants, squash, beans, lentils. Meat: lamb and goat. Grains: wheat, barley, beans Greens: spinach, mint, wild greens. Herbs and spices…too numerous to mention, but garlic, oregano, mint, thyme…

You might ask how a preppy American guy thinks he can write anything worthwhile about Lebanese food. That would be a fair question, and I have a reasonable answer: shish kebab has been part of my family culture since before I was born. (OK, we made it with steak, not lamb). But probably more importantly, most of what I first learned about Lebanese food, I learned about in the back room of Ed Hyder’s Mediterranean Marketplace in Worcester Massachusetts. I can think of no more willing and generous teacher than Ed.
Stay tuned; I’m starting with meze, and hummus is top on the menu.

Beirut Normal

2006-09-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

OK, we know the air embargo is lifted because the planes are coming in, using the secondary runway, the one further from the water. We see the landing lights 'way out over the water and their final approach is right over us (HEY you're a little low Lufthansa!). There has been a little more activity at the port, including a huge fire that burned UN relief supplies, but I am guessing that cargo ships and tankers are on their way. They probably waited to leave port until they knew we were
open. I wonder if this means that the 60 Alphasmart Neos will be on their way soon. (Those are the nifty little portable keyboards that ACS orderred in June. They were just about to be shipped when the war broke out. I used one to write this blog while we were underway).

We've been out shopping a few times, both around the neighborhood and further, to Spinney's up north and in town. The shelves aren't empty, although you can see that supplies are thin. I noticed that one shelf of olive oils was only one bottle deep, and it was similar with other things. Prices are up, especially gas for the car, but we buy so little of that that I don't really notice. We had 1/3 of a tank, , and 50,000LL filled it. Spinneys hasn't repriced old stock, so the Massaya wine special was the same as when we left, even more of a bargain, in fact. Our stove gas guy tried to screw us even before we left so he is on our &%$# list now. We won't even buy water from him any more. Fresh vegetables are looking a little tired; a lot of produce comes from the Bekaa Valley, and that is not an easy trip yet. Dairy products are ok, except for the Candia Dairy. Their products have disappeared (they were the yogurt we liked best). I suspect that they were the dairy that was destroyed in the Bekaa. They were also rumored to be the dairy that won the UN milk contract away from the Israelis.

I am making some attempt at focusing my attention on one or two major issues to be reading and writing about, but there are just so many possibilities. the Gaza crisis, Israel's use of American made cluster bombs, depleted uranium armaments here and in Iraq, the deliberate oil spill south of Beirut, the refugee situation here. So many issues, so little time, and is it possible to make any impact at all? Suggestions?

I have not yet been down to see any of the damaged areas. To begin with, I don't think I have ever been in that part of Beirut, so I am unlikely going to go exploring now. And secondly, the last thing they need is tourists. If someone who knows their way around is going, I may tag along; stay tuned.

Meanwhile, school is moving towards opening day, teachers are arriving, and life is returning to Beirut's version of normal.
Thanks for you comments
R

Things That Matter

2006-09-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

I was going to post a nice piece on how things here are getting back to normal (they are, whatever normal Beirut is).
However, the lead article on Counterpunch seemed more compelling:

GAZA IS DYING

By PATRICK COCKBURN

Gaza.

Gaza is dying. The Israeli siege of the Palestinian enclave is so tight that its people are on the edge of starvation. Here on the shores of the Mediterranean a great tragedy is taking place that is being ignored because the world's attention has been diverted by wars in Lebanon and Iraq.

Here's the link: http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick09082006.html

Sorry, I have the directions, but haven't mastered hotlinks yet.

R

in case you missed it

2006-09-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

If you didn't read rocky Anderson's speech in Salt Lake City, here's a reminder: READ IT

The last line: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Go here: http://dailywarnews.blogspot.com/
You will need to scroll down to find it, but a visit to Daily War News is always worthwhile.
I have noticed that the posts there are getting longer and longer. and worse and worse.

Went shopping up the coast today, I wanted to give the car battery a bit of a boost. Went to Spinney's. While the shelves were not exactly overflowing, most things were available. And, Massaya ( two bottles of Classic red with a pound of Barilla pasta and a jar of sauce) (a meal in a box) was still on sale!

It was a big day at school; the staff reductions for local hires were announced, so tomorrow we will have some idea of what our teams and divisions look like.

R

2006-09-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Well, we are here in Beirut, home at last. The trip back was surprisingly uneventful. Even the lines at Dulles were less than what I expected. After that, routine security was quick and efficient. I was careful to empty my pockets of change and put my watch in my backpack, so I didn’t set off the detectors. I have a plastic belt buckle, so I got through the scanner, but shoe removal is mandatory everywhere. Of course, my back pack, with a laptop and camera with all sorts of batteries and wires attracted a bit of attention, and there was no way to avoid that. I must say that the security people were all thoughtful and polite as the searched through everything!

We flew from DC to London then Amman/Beirut. The only problem on the Atlantic/Virgin flight was that the seats were very narrow; my elbows are still sore! After that, we had few hours at Heathrow, with good shopping and food. There was an internet WiFi hotspot, which let me connect, so I had news of the world, at least! Please remember that for the last month, I had been in Washington, with a 24/7 superfast internet connection.

At last we are in Beirut. For now, nothing is routine. As the plane went through its final approach, I was relieved to see so many lights in the mountains. The airport was efficient. (Although, it was a problem that I did not have a Lebanese exit stamp in my passport. I reminded them that it was an evacuation, not a “departure” and they chuckled. Finally, they let me in. Interestingly, the same agent who noticed that I did not have an exit stamp, had not noticed Carol didn’t. )(She’s much cuter than I am.)

In the dark ride from the airport, we saw little of the bombing. I was relieved to have power when we got to Makhoul St, which meant that I would not have to carry the luggage up four flights. Except for the lighthouse, Hamra is untouched. As a neighborhood, the streets of Hamra are quieter, with fewer taxis and not so many people.

Getting back to normal, we have renewed our satellite. We have re-started TV service and broadband internet. The telephone companies have extended our accounts until Oct 25, which is quite generous, so communications are close to normal. Ms Rowda has kept the apartment ready.

I went down to school this morning. I felt like the Prodigal son on his return; everyone was so happy to see me. No fatted calf, but lots of hugs and kisses. Tempering the arrival was the news that while the foreign hire teachers have gotten word of their jobs, the Lebanese teacher have not. That word comes to them on Wednesday.

I hope this answers a few of your questions.
There are many more.

Robert

PS As I write, we have been watching < The Last Samurai > It has quite a bit to say about a local indigenous force fighting a more technological foreign enemy. Wow! Who knew that Tom Cruise was a visionary! Be sure to see it soon.

Time to say goodbye

2006-09-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

OK, this is it. The FedEx man is cutting it a little close, but I'm sure he will be along.

We will be home tomorrow, Inshallah!

And, I do have a job.

Here's something new to read:
http://dailywarnews.blogspot.com/
It's usually about events in Iraq, but today it is a speech on patriotism by the mayor of Salt Lake City, Rocky Anderson.

New Reading

2006-08-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here's another blog for you to check: Helena Cobban's "Just World News". This is no mere blog. Ms Cobban is a respected journalist, and you will see her link posted on many sites, including Juan Cole. Her articles appear in many well-respected publications. She writes about much more than just the Mid East, but generally, I have read what she has written about Lebanon.

Today she has posted an analysis by Mouin Rabbani about Nasrallah's recent interview on NewTV about how Hisbollah and Israel my have miscalculated themselves into the month-long war. It's an interesting read.

Here's the link: http://justworldnews.org/ (second article down)

Now that our time in the US has become finite, it is much more valuable (hmmm... what can we learn from that??) and we are working to make sure that we get things done here that might be more difficult in Lebanon. I am going to miss this Comcast internet connection, so I am downloading and uploading everything I can. Some of us enjoy shopping, but the travel agent's admonishment about 50lb max on suitcases may mean no more of that. And, although we have enjoyed some wonderful restaurants here, I haven't been to Baskin Robbins yet. I have neglected phone calls too. Some of you may not know that I am a reluctant caller; I use the phone only when essential, and I never call just to chat. Email yes, phone no. So, I am making a new year's resolution (I'm a teacher; September is the new January) that I will use the phone more often.

Successful travellers to Lebanon have indicated that the trip was long but uneventful. I'm ok with that! They report that while the south of Beirut is indeed a wasteland, Hamra is essentially unchanged and quiet. Grocery shelves are not bare, but I doubt that Hellman's or Skippy will be there.

Stay tuned,
R

Announcement

2006-08-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
No sooner had I posted the previous message about no news from ACS than an announcement arrived from Dr Damon:

Dear Community Members,

In these difficult times as we work together to open the school, I am pleased to make the following announcement:

The Board of Trustees has decided that regardless of the situation, all current employees will receive their educational and health benefits through June 2007. Employees may be asked to fill out financial aid forms. Health insurance will not be interrupted.

This decision is a vote of confidence in every member of this community and their value to the community.

George Damon
Headmaster

That is exceptionally good news for people facing a very uncertain year.

R

Read this

2006-08-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends,
Here's an article from the Daily Star that asks a lot of very good questions.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?article_ID=75056&categ_ID=2&edition_id=1

I am sorry that you have to cut and paste the address; if anyone knows how I can make them "hot links" please help me do that.

We are still planning on a return to Lebanon this weekend, although conditions there are not improving. The Israeli blockade continues, keeping out essential supplies for everyone, including medical and relief supplies for hospitals.

Here's another article on Counterpunch that has an interesting perspective. It's titled "America's Rotweiler".

http://www.counterpunch.org/

There isn't any news from ACS. Rumors abound, of course, but I won't pass on any of them here. Many questions remain unanswered, so we will just have to wait.

Rob & Carol

2006-08-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here's an article on some of the lasting effects of the Israeli incursion.

Cluster bombs lie in wait for Lebanese children

By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent
BINT JBEIL, Lebanon, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Like a small black football, it lies in the dirt not far from Haitham Daaboul's front door in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.
It looks innocuous, but a careless kick from a passing child would detonate this cluster bomb, one of thousands of unexploded devices Israel scattered over the towns, villages and hillsides of south Lebanon during its 34-day war with Hizbollah fighters.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L24468429.htm

More articles soon on the oil spill and the possible use of depleted uranium.

The Israelis said they would bomb Lebanon back 20 years... more like 200 or 2000.

2006-08-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

This link is to an article in Beirut's Daily Star Newspaper.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=75003

It compares the balance sheet of dollars and benefits between Israel and the US to the dollars and benefits between the Arab world and the US. Sandy Carden sent out a similar piece earlier, and this one goes even further.

The headline is: Wake up, America! Israel is no friend of yours
While Us citizens benefit from the arab world, they don't know they're on the losing end with Israel

For non-ACS readers: the school has 584 returning students, and plans to open on October 2. At roughly half, the enrollment will support roughly half of the admin/teachers/staff, so we await the final decisions and plans based on Septber 1st enrollment numbers.

R

One more week

2006-08-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,
We have postponed our departure until Sep 2.
More later,
R

Required Reading

2006-08-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

Here's an article on Truthout that makes very interesting reading. (Thanks Barbara B.)

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081906G.shtml

Don't forget to buy the current New Yorker and read Seymour Hersh's article "Watching Lebanon."

We have booked two tickets to Beirut for next weekend. Subject to change, of course.

R

Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land

2006-08-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.
Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.

Another documentary from BBC offers an historical framework for the growth of terrorism and at the same time, origins and thinking behing the Neo-Conservatism.
It's called "One Planet, One Nation" Here's the link: http://www.oneplanetonenation.com/ponightmares1.html

One of the advantages of being in DC is the awesome Comcast internet connection. These documentaries download in less time than it takes to watch them.

Rafic Hariri International Airport is open! I did notice that 21 Americans were evacuated yesterday... I wonder why they just didn't wait a little longer. Oh, they'd have to pay for a plane ticket...

Stay tuned,
R

Juan Cole Wednesday Aug 16

2006-08-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

This is a portion of Juan Cole's post today. I couldn't say it much better, so I won't try.
Read it all at www.juancole.com

It was such a stupid war. It was thick-as-two-blocks-of-wood strategy on all sides. It was moronic for the Israelis to plan it out last year. It was idiotic for Hizbullah to cross over into Israel, kill soldiers, and take two captive. It was brain dead for the Israeli officer corps and politicians to think they could get anything positive out of bombing Lebanon back to the stone age and making a million people homeless. It was dim-witted for Hasan Nasrallah to threaten Israelis with releasing poison gases from Haifa chemical plants on them. It was obtuse for the Israelis to confront a dug-in guerrilla movement with green conventional troops marching in straight lines. It was dull of Hizbullah to fire thousands of katyushas into open fields where they mainly damaged wild grass. The few times when the rockets managed to kill someone, it was often an Arab Israeli civilian. Stupid.

More from me later,
R

0500 GMT Aug 14

2006-08-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
After 33 days of conflict, there is now a pause. At least, that is what CNN reports.
Ben Wiedeman and Matthew Chance, on both sides of the border are reporting a momentary silence. There have been heavy strikes all day from both sides, and the reporters are skeptical. "Fragile" is a word they use often. Hala Gouranin is using the words " little confidence" that the peace can hold.
Israeli leaflets, suggestooped!
ng Iraninan influence and dire consequences for non-compliance, have fallen from the sky.

Will it hold? I will have to wait until tomorrow to find out, It is 1:30am here. We went to visit friends in Philadelphia today, and I was the round trip driver, so I'm pooped! I was a great day, though. Stellar weather, and wonderful friends.

The last images from cnn as I log off are of israelis praying. I will paraphrase Orthodox theologian Callistos Ware: the closer we get to God, the closer we get to each other. (Imagine the spokes of a wheel as they approach the center). He may not have been speaking about the christian/muslm/jewish divide, but I don't hink he would disagree with my expansion of his statement.

Pray for Lebanon!

Robert

Aug 13 from Beirut

2006-08-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

I have been lazy about posting, and missed one letter from Sandy. Here's today's.

August 13, 2006

Just about anything can be delivered to your doorstep in Lebanon; ranging from Bliss House shwarma sandwiches to condoms from the local pharmacy. Everything is easily assessable with a brief phone call. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that gasoline could also be delivered to our doorstep.

Frustrated with the five hour wait to put the 10 liter limit in the tank of our 1988 Honda Prelude (Maradona), we employed the help of our friend Ahmed, the taxi man. Discreetly we asked him where he was filling his tank. Whispering on the phone, he gave Mazen the number of one of his “contacts”. Upon calling this black market connection, we agreed on a time and gave him the directions to our house. The price was outrageous…20 liters for $27 (normally costing about $18). I was hoping for someone looking like a Ninja but was disappointed when a plain looking middle-aged man drove up on his moto and dutifully filled our tank.

Like the profitable gas mafia, the social fabric of Hamra is changing and molding into something different. With the extended power cuts and lack of fuel to run the elevator generators, people are throwing baskets attached to ropes over their balconies to lug up groceries. Old tricks of the Civil War are resurfacing. Mazen recounted a story of when they couldn’t find one rope that could reach the height of their apartment building. Cleverly, they tied several together, but Mazen could remember several instances of when the basket heavily loaded caused the knots in the rope to unfurl, leaving groceries scattered on the pavement below.

Some changes in Hamra aren’t as charming. Although SuKleen, dedicated men who pick up the never-ending garbage tossed carelessly on the ground, is working hard, bags of garbage are flung about, regardless if a trash can is only a few meters away. The neighborhood is swarming with refugees from the south, who have little respect for cleanliness and are frustrated with the condition of their lives. Every night when Mazen and I walk, we encounter large families sitting on the sidewalks, smoking arguileh. It is as if these refugees have tried to replicate the lives they once had in the villages. Many small children in schools are left unattended and “do their business” on the roofs of schools or even in the courtyards. Lice and scabies have become rampant in the close and humid quarters one million refugees are sharing. The adults are depressed and despondent because they are discovering that their villages fall into the “buffer zone” an 18 kilometer chunk of land Israel has claimed from Lebanon. Where will these simple villagers go back to? I am even more curious to see how Hezbollah is going to help them as promised. Iran and Syria better start having bake sales because they are going to have to fund some massive reconstruction!

The UN Resolution has hardly been a success. Since the moment it was signed by the Security Council, Israel has been bombing all areas of Lebanon in devastating attacks. In fact, today alone I counted around 17 bombs that shook the windows of our apartment. It is almost as if they want to destroy as much as they can before leaving, or worse, prove to their citizens that this war wasn’t just a big failure (which it certainly was). More bridges, more electricity power stations (although it is well known that Hezbollah has power generators in all of their military bases), and more innocent civilians have paid the price of their complete failure to disarm Hezbollah. The Lebanese Parliament met immediately after the resolution passed and unanimously agreed to the conditions, including Hezbollah, but it is only a few hours ago that Israel agreed to the terms. They said that by Monday at seven a.m. sharp, they hope to be able to apply the ceasefire. I find it exceedingly arrogant that Israel gets to decide when they will begin the ceasefire. If there was a political betting association, I’d place a substantial sum on Olmert not being re-elected. My only fear is that someone worse could replace him.

I have attached some very clever protesting in Berlin. The Germans are by far the most poetic.

Until next time and with love,
Sandy

Thursday, Aug 10, 2006

2006-08-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

Among the worst news of the day is that they have hit the old lighthouse in Ras Beirut. Apparently it was a closely focused hit, but I did see a report of a strike closer to the Prime Ministers apartment on Bliss St. That could be any one of a lot of places that we all know and love.

Better news is that France and the US have agreed on something, and perhaps that will hold off the new offensive that is being trumpeted from the south.

The saddest news of the day is the following article, and I don't blame them.
I hope that I am not violating a copyright by republishing this. Here is the link to Truthout:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081006C.shtml

Lebanese Direct Growing Anger at US
By Scott Peterson
The Christian Science Monitor

Thursday 10 August 2006

While the US worked on a cease-fire agreement, Israeli warships fired on southern Beirut.
Beirut, Lebanon - With his arm raised and fist clenched, Sheikh Hussein furiously expressed a sentiment rapidly taking hold here.

"We know who our first enemy is: America," he shouted before tearful mourners at a funeral Wednesday for 30 civilians killed by an Israeli airstrike on Monday. The white-turbaned sheikh led the crowd in a militant chant: "Death to America! Death to America!"

Even as Israel continues to pound Beirut's southern suburbs, and agreed Wednesday on plans to expand its four-week-old offensive as far as 18 miles into southern Lebanon, many here increasingly blame the US for its extensive military and political support for the Jewish state.

"Israel wants to stop the war, but America orders them to continue," the sheikh asserted later in an interview. "This is the American freedom?"

Moments before the first child was interred by weeping parents Wednesday, Israeli ordnance hit again at a building nearby; more strikes followed during burials. In the south of the country, as many as 10,000 Israeli troops continued their slow push north, against strong resistance from Hizbullah guerrillas.

And in Beirut's Shiyyah district, where the Israeli strikes Monday night took more than 40 lives - the largest single-event toll of the conflict - it was a day of digging.

Just after first light, Hassan Dirani pulled several stuffed teddy bears and toys from the rubble, shook off the dust, and gently assembled them on a slab of concrete, with a blonde doll on top. They were dolls his own children had given to families displaced by fighting in the south, who had sought refuge in this "safe" Shiite-Christian neighborhood.

For Mr. Dirani, his emotions were first about the children - three of his remained in the rubble. And second, they were about accusing the US of giving Israel a free hand to destroy Lebanon.

"Thank you, George Bush. Thank you for those 'smart' bombs," says Dirani, whose wife and surviving son were injured in the attack. "I want to ask George Bush: 'What did our children do to him?' "

"Even with this, we love the American people. We love peace and respect Americans," continues Dirani, differentiating individuals from official policies. Unprompted, shell-shocked Lebanese now often skip accusations against Israel, and lay blame on its chief patron.

"I beg Americans not to vote for another butcher and criminal like George Bush," says Dirani, who works at the environment ministry. Tearfully, he says his small daughter, now entombed, had been sharing her excitement about her upcoming sixth birthday party next week; she wrote out an invitation list of 20 school friends.

"Why does your system and White House do this to us ... give smart bombs to throw on our people?" asks Dirani. "What are you going to tell your kids [to explain it]?"

It is these human dramas that are changing attitudes in the war sparked by Hizbullah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers. Israel's overwhelming military response has emptied southern Lebanon of 700,000 people, blockaded the country, and systematically destroyed bridges and airports, making relief efforts all but impossible. On the first day of conflict, Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz vowed to "turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years" if the soldiers were not returned.

"That's how they create terrorists," says Mohammed, a Lebanese restaurant owner, while watching the digging effort in Shiyyah. "And they ask: 'Why do they hate us?' "

As the bulldozers and backhoes moved slabs of smashed concrete, the tines of their buckets biting with determination into the smoking rubble, emergency workers with picks and shovels - and stretchers at the ready - kept a sharp eye for victims.

First one man was found, then a woman. Then a backhoe driver called out through the dust: "Here's another one!"

It was 4-year-old Riham Ramaiti, granddaughter of Said Yatim, who broke down, shaking, at the sight of her.

"No! No!" he cried, shouting prayers as she was bundled up and taken away for washing, and then the afternoon funeral. Riham had been visiting relatives with her father, Ali, an electrician, and mother, Maya, when the building collapsed.

"I don't understand anything! I don't know, I just don't know," wailed Mr. Yatim, his body shaking. "Criminal people and a criminal government does this to us. The kids have nothing to do with missiles and bombs, but they are burning everything. No one in the world deserves such a massacre."

Other anxious relatives clamored nearby, waiting for news; one official in a bright green emergency vest carried a list of names, crossing out one after another throughout the grim task.

"Americans, Europeans, and the Western people are great people ... they love freedom," says Yatim, as workers sought to find his daughter. "But the governments of Bush and [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair are criminal."

Yatim's wife Alia arrived, wearing a black head scarf, her face twisted with emotion.

"I saw Riham," Yatim reported to her. "She looked the same, nothing changed. She's an angel."

The search continued. More were found. An emergency worker discovered a large chunk of shrapnel, a foot long and very heavy, with sharp serrated edges designed to destroy buildings.

"We never thought we would see this in Lebanon again," says Alia, who survived the 1975-90 civil war.

"Imagine if Americans were receiving this, and not Lebanese," says Yatim. "If these were Americans dying in this massacre, what would they think?

"We are in the 21st century, and it's unbelievable we still have people who follow such a savage way," he continues. "There are 1,000 ways, democratic ways, that [Americans] can protect the world - not this way."

Then he broke away, as a bucket of rubble was emptied on a collapsed roof. "There is Riham's toy!" Yatim tells his wife. A moment later, it was covered by another bucketful.

"Will your words and photographs go out? They won't stop you?" Yatim asks a visiting reporter, his voice at once broken, and tinged with challenge. "We don't trust the world anymore."

Wednesday, Aug 9

2006-08-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Today I visited some big tourist sites in Washington. The Viet Nam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, WWII memorial, Korean War Memorial. This thought that ran through my head over and over: How have we gone so far wrong? I know that not everything in our collective American past has been a moment of glory, but it seems that now we are moving downwards in a spiral, from disaster to disaster. Being an American used to be a good thing overseas; that's not so anymore.

Here's your reading assignment for today: http://anecdotesfromabananarepublic.blogspot.com/
It's a blog from Beirut.

Robert

Reading assignment

2006-08-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

This article is from Information Clearinghouse.
Here's the link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14406.htm

Israel, Oil and the "planned demolition" of Lebanon

By Mike Whitney

“The world has become accustomed to the idea of mass migrations and has become fond of them…Hitler—as odious as he is to us—has given this idea a good name in the world.” Ze’ev Jabotinsky; Ideological founder of the Likud Party “One Palestine Complete” p 407

“The raw logic of Israel’s distorted self-image and racist doctrines is exposed beyond confusion by the now-stark reality: the moonscape rubble of once-lovely Lebanese villages; a million desperate people trying to survive Israeli aerial attacks as they carry children and wheel disabled grandparents down cratered roads; limp bodies of children pulled from the dusty basements of crushed buildings. This is the reality of Israel’s national doctrine, the direct outcome of its racist worldview.” Virginia Tilley “The Case for Boycotting Israell” Counterpunch

08/07/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- By bombing the highways and main bridges into Beirut, Israel has cut off the capital from the outside world and put the entire nation under siege. Israel can now execute its plan to pummel Lebanon into rubble without the threat of foreign intervention.

The north has been effectively severed from the south allowing the IDF to continue its ethnic cleansing operations as well as its search-and-destroy missions for Hezbollah fighters. They have meticulously destroyed all the main points of entry at the Syrian border and blockaded the coastline. Israel believes that their earlier occupation (which ended in year 2000) failed due to the unrestricted flow of supplies and weaponry from Syria and Iran. The Bush administration has assisted this effort by providing crucial intelligence from the NSA about the movement of material from the outside.

By now, it should be apparent that Israel’s military campaign has nothing to do with Hezbollah’s capturing of the 2 Israeli soldiers on July 14. The present plan, which was drawn up more than a year ago (and which high-ranking members of the Bush administration were fully briefed) is designed to establish a new northern border for Israel at the Litani River and create an “Israel-friendly” regime in Beirut.

The plan to annex the land south of the Litani River dates back to the founding of the Jewish state when Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion described the country’s future borders this way: “To the north the Litani River, the southern border will be pushed into the Sinai, and to the east, the Syrian Desert, including the furthest edge of Transjordan.” (See Map of post WW1 Zionist plan for region http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Maps/Story1045.html )

Read more at InformationClearinghouse.info

R

Robert Fisk Required Reading

2006-08-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

Robert Fisk: A terrible thought occurs to me - that there will be another 9/11
Published: 05 August 2006

The room shook. Not since the 1983 earthquake has my apartment rocked from side to side. That was the force of the Israeli explosions in the southern suburbs of Beirut - three miles from my home - and the air pressure changed in the house yesterday morning and outside in the street the palm trees moved.

Is it to be like this every day? How many civilians can you make homeless before you start a revolution? And what is next? Are the Israelis to bomb the centre of Beirut? The Corniche? Is this why all the foreign warships came and took their citizens away, to make Beirut safe to destroy?

Yesterday, needless to say, was another day of massacres, great and small. The largest appeared to be 40 farm workers in northern Lebanon, some of them Kurds - a people who do not even have a country. An Israeli missile was reported to have exploded among them as they loaded vegetables on to a refrigerated truck near Al-Qaa, a small village east of Hermel in the far north. The wounded were taken to hospital in Syria because the roads of Lebanon have now all been cratered by Israeli bomb-bursts. Later we learnt that an air strike on a house in the village of Taibeh in the south had killed seven civilians and wounded 10 seeking shelter from attack.

In Israel two civilians were killed by Hizbollah missiles but, as usual, Lebanon bore the brunt of the day's attacks which centred - incredibly - on the Christian heartland that has traditionally shown great sympathy towards Israel. It was the Christian Maronite community whose Phalangist militiamen were Israel's closest allies in its 1982 invasion of Lebanon yet Israel's air force yesterday attacked three highway bridges north of Beirut and - again as usual - it was the little people who died.

One of them was Joseph Bassil, 65, a Christian man who had gone out on his daily jogging exercise with four friends north of Jounieh. "His friends packed up after four rounds of the bridge because it was hot," a member of his family told us later. "Joseph decided to do one more jog on the bridge. That was what killed him." The Israelis gave no reason for the attacks - no Hizbollah fighters would ever enter this Christian Maronite stronghold and the only hindrance was caused to humanitarian convoys - and there were growing fears in Lebanon that the latest air raids were a sign of Israel's frustration rather any serious military planning.

Indeed, as the Lebanon war continues to destroy innocent lives - most of them Lebanese - the conflict seems to be increasingly aimless. The Israeli air force has succeeded in killing perhaps 50 Hizbollah members and 600 civilians and has destroyed bridges, milk factories, gas stations, fuel storage depots, airport runways and thousands of homes. But to what purpose?

Does the United States any longer believe Israel's claims that it will destroy Hizbollah when its army clearly cannot do anything of the kind? Does Washington not realise that when Israel grows tired of this war, it will plead for a ceasefire - which only Washington can deliver by doing what it most loathes to do: by taking the road to Damascus and asking for help from President Bashar al-Assad of Syria?

What in the meanwhile is happening to Lebanon? Bridges and buildings can be reconstructed - with European Union loans, no doubt - but many Lebanese are now questioning the institutions of the democracy for which the US was itself so full of praise last year. What is the point of a democratically elected Lebanese government which cannot protect its people? What is the point of a 75,000-member Lebanese army which cannot protect its nation, which cannot be sent to the border, which does not fire on Lebanon's enemies and which cannot disarm Hizbollah? Indeed, for many Lebanese Shias, Hizbollah is now the Lebanese army.

So fierce has been Hizbollah's resistance - and so determined its attacks on Israeli ground troops in Lebanon - that many people here no longer recall that it was Hizbollah which provoked this latest war by crossing the border on 12 July, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two others. Israel's threats of enlarging the conflict even further are now met with amusement rather than horror by a Lebanese population which has been listening to Israel's warnings for 30 years with ever greater weariness. And yet they fear for their lives. If Tel Aviv is hit, will Beirut be spared. Or if central Beirut is hit, will Tel Aviv be spared? Hizbollah now uses Israel's language of an eye for an eye. Every Israeli taunt is met by a Hizbollah taunt.

And do the Israelis realise that they are legitimising Hizbollah, that a rag-tag army of guerrillas is winning its spurs against an Israeli army and air force whose targets - if intended - prove them to be war criminals and if unintended suggest that they are a rif-raff little better than the Arab armies they have been fighting, on and off, for more than half a century? Extraordinary precedents are being set in this Lebanon war.

In fact, one of the most profound changes in the region these past three decades has been the growing unwillingness of Arabs to be afraid. Their leaders - our "moderate" pro-Western Arab leaders such as King Abdullah of Jordan and President Mubarak of Egypt - may be afraid. But their peoples are not. And once a people have lost their terror, they cannot be re-injected with fear. Thus Israel's consistent policy of smashing Arabs into submission no longer works. It is a policy whose bankruptcy the Americans are now discovering in Iraq.

And all across the Muslim world, "we" - the West, America, Israel - are fighting not nationalists but Islamists. And watching the martyrdom of Lebanon this week - its slaughtered children in Qana packed into plastic bags until the bags ran out and their corpses had to be wrapped in carpets - a terrible and daunting thought occurs to me, day by day. That there will be another 9/11.

August 5, From Sandy in Beirut

2006-08-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

August 5, 2006

Dear all,
Sorry I skipped a couple of days. I was a bit under the weather and decided to spend some time away from the computer. Yesterday evening, I received a phone call from Ahmed, a taxi driver that many ACS teachers use. He had been in the south in Tyre with several reporters. He needed my help to withdrawal money from an ATM with one of the reporter's debit cards. He called a man Paul, and then Paul proceeded to give me his PIN number. Such trust in times of war.

I was shocked when I first saw Ahmed, he looked like he had aged ten years. His already thin body was even more gaunt. His car was covered in a thick layer of dust, with white athletic tape brandished on the roof spelling TV (transport vehicle) and PRESS, with the hopes that Israeli planes wouldn't bomb him down. He even lost his tailpipe with the terrible road conditions. Those of you who live here, know that it takes normally only 30 minutes to Saida and then Saida to Tyre another 30 minutes. But, now with the deplorable road conditions, sometimes driving in farmer's fields, it can take almost five hours. Of course, several times throughout the journey, Ahmed must pull over to listen for Israeli war planes which hover threateningly in the area. He returned to Beirut to load up on gasoline, which is virtually nonexistent in Tyre, water, and various supplies for the journalists.

The stories he told Mazen and I were stark. He said that the villages they are passing through were almost completely deserted, like ghost towns. There are very few survivors and those that have survived are wandering the streets like ghosts. Most are elderly. Dead corpses lie rotting in the streets surrounded by cats and dogs fighting over body parts. Where there are rescue teams, bodies are thrown into mass graves, sometimes 30-40 at a time, for fear of disease. Many corpses are unidentifiable after rotting in the hot, humid environment for days. Ahmed said that the stench of these areas is the reason he isn't eating...it lingers in his mouth for hours.

According to the Red Cross (who is by far bearing the brunt of the rescue missions) there have been 955 deaths in Lebanon. Thirty percent of those deaths are children under the age of 13. That is almost 300 children killed. He said that not one road in the south has remain unscathed from the bombing. This kind old man cuts off his story with tears in his eyes saying, "Only God can help us now."

One day ago, Mazen and I were up until 4 am because of the constant bombing of Daihe. I, alone, counted about 20 bombs, until exhausted I fell asleep. I have attached pictures of Daihe to show you some of the results of these bombing missions. According to LBC, the Israeli government said that for every rocket that is launched into Israel, they will destroy a building in Daihe. In addition to this, Israel has started to bomb bridges in the Christian areas of the north. They also completely destroyed the last remaining road to Syria via Homos. Now, Lebanon is completely cut off from the world. Humanitarian aid workers were using that very road to get supplies to bombed areas because of the very tightly controlled ocean blockade.

According to the Minister of Energy, we have five more days of fuel remaining. Cars are lined up for several city blocks waiting to fill up their tanks, ironcially in very organized lines (Lebanese are certainly not noted for their line-making ability). Gas stations are capping the limit of each visit at 10,000LL (around 7 dollars). What most people don't know, as even I didn't, the electricity here runs solely on gasoline. Hospitals are particularly worried in the event of complete power outages.

So, if things could not be worse, I saw on Al Jazeera TV that hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah supporters demonstrated in Iraq. Currently the Senate is grilling Rumsfeld about the situation in Iraq. One of the top military officers stated that the situation is the worst he has ever seen and civil war is a definite possibility in the near future. The events in Lebanon are only dividing the Shiite and Sunni Muslims further apart. Ironically, those demonstrations ,where young men covered in white burial cloths (signaling to the world that they would die as martyrs for the cause), chanting "Death to Israel, Death to America" gave me a strange sense of hope. It appears that the US will want to get this situation under control quickly, so that the whole Middle East doesn't blow up. The US does not want a civil war in Iraq, not because of the lives of its soldiers, but cruelly to protect its own economic interests in the area.

When the "democratically" elected and American-backed Iraqi president and prime minister are telling the world that what Israel is doing is wrong, in addition, to many other nations in the world, I wonder when the US and Israel (hand of the US) will decide to listen.

Until next time,
Sandy

Aug 5, Saturday morning

2006-08-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

.Dear Friends,
I have nothing new to report except for the gradual cooling of the DC area.
News from Lebanon continues to be grim, with commandos on the beach in Tyre, roads north of Beirut bombed, and factories in the Bekaa targeted (in addition to Leban Lait). Deaths mount while talks continue.

We watched "Munich" last night. It asks some relevant questions.

Here's your new reading assignment:
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
This is a blog from a woman in Baghdad; she doesn't post every day, but here observations are articulate and there is no denying she has a front row seat to how things are.

Stay safe
R

An Anonymous Comment

2006-08-03T04:13:00.000-07:00

Sandy has gotten the following email from someone, possibly a person reading her comments here. Please have the courtesy to identify yourself. Her reply follows

Sandy - Where do you get off sending out all this crap? Don't get me
wrong, I'm neither pro Israeli nor Lebanese in fact not pro or anti anyone.
But one question I ask myself and will now ask you .... How many Israeli
suicide bombers have you heard of over the past twenty/thirty years? Then ask
yourself how many Palestinian suicide bombers.

Not until people such as yourself look at yourselves (and look at
yourselves honestly) will you see how the rest of the world view you and the
cowardly actions like suicide bombings and begin to see that perhaps you are
receiving the oats you have sown?Why when the rest of the world attempts to live in harmony with others
of different creed and colour must you and your people feel above such
things?

This mail would be long and lengthy indeed were it to attempt to detail
all the issues surrounding this conflict, but I will leave you with one
last fact to ponder. A fact such as you conveniently leave out of the
propaganda in your milk and wheat...weapons of mass destruction mail.
Fact: This evening Hezbollah launched over 230 missiles into Israel.
Their most intense launchings so far. 230 randomly fired missiles with little
or no though as to the innocents they will land on.
Tell me, where is Hezbollahs compassion in all this?
Forgive me if I'm wrong ... but did not some kidnapping of soldiers
spark this latest conflict?Sanctioned kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah/Hammas members
if I recall correctly.

Next time you attempt gaining sympathy Sandy, at least make some effort
with projecting a balanced overview 'eh?
At least that way you'll go some way to gaining a degree of credibility
in which to further your cause against Israel and it's people.

Regards, gencouple

Sandy's reply:

To whoever you may be,

What I find most interesting in your e-mail is the phrase, "people such as yourself". I guess coming from you, who has no idea who I am, this is oddly out of place. Indeed throughout your entire e-mail you have prolifically used the word "you", as if I am Lebanese, Palestinian or perhaps even a terrorist.

Just to give you a bit of perspective, since you seem to have a very narrow one, I am an American working overseas in an American school. Since my tax dollars are spent on enormous amounts of foreign aid to Israel, I feel I have a right to my opinion and to express it to my family and friends, as of course you do. Sadly or perhaps gladly, I am not either of those in regards to you.

The reason that you don't hear about Israeli suicide bombers is because, simply, they value their lives more than anyone else in this world. I am in no way supporting suicide bombing, in fact I think that it must be one of the most deplorable things in this world. But, on my scale of violent acts, I guess I find it much more cowardly to drop bombs from a plane, killing over 700 people (mostly women and children) in the matter of three weeks. I agree that the foundations of Hezbollah and other extremists groups are based in hatred and like you wisely stated lack compassion. But, for the life of me, I can't understand how an entire nation of highly intellectual people, who have been subjected to crimes that are unforgiveable, can't seem to figure out that using violence (especially at the expense of American tax payers money) just won't destroy "these type of people".

I am not going to make any judgements on your lifestyle and who you are as a person, but I would be willing to bet that you have never been in a place in your life where it was better to die than to live. You are right, though, to assume that I have some respect for Palestinians. I am not sure if you have ever bothered to get to know any, and I hadn't either before coming to this part of the world, but if you had, you might change your very brittle and judgemental accusations that you so carelessly flung my way. Perhaps if you researched the Israeli and Palestinian conflict from BOTH sides, you might understand some of my perspectives. Let me even be more honest with you....I was even you once. I shared all of your vehement opinions. But, I guess when you are fearing for your life, the life of your husband, the life of your friends that you have grown to love, you see war in a different light. Hopefully you will never experience this in your lifetime.

Hoping for peace soon,

Sandy

August 2 Letter from Beirut

2006-08-02T04:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
I am posting this email from Rola Salem, a colleague at ACS, who is in Beirut.
R.

What Else!!!

I woke up this morning to the tragic and brutal attack on our babies,
kids, women and elderly. I could not believe my eyes. How can anyone see
these pictures and not see the truth of what is happening in Lebanon. Could
it be possible that the whole world is just observing and convincing
themseleves that this is okay to happen! Do these leaders think that we
believe their lies about "caring and protecting human lives"? I for one
think that we had enough lies from the International Community. Nobody
in the whole world should tolerate this attack on innocent civilians.
We preach justice, and patience, and tolerance, and respect. How can one
really explain these words to the kids of the south and to the kids of
Lebanon! I find myself lost when my kids ask me why is this happening mom?
Are these criminals? Well, "Yes, they are" I find myself saying. I
will not lie to my kids and tell them that what is happening in Lebanon is
just a movie waiting to be broadcast in theatres around you. There is a lot of
anger and frustration in our hearts because no human being can really
justify and explain what is really happening to Lebanon. Thank God the
people of Lebanon still have faith in God, whereas other people have
faith in their advanced weapons of mass destruction.

I really do not know how we will function again this year if there is to
be any school year. Our country is torn to pieces and it will take years and
years to forget these heartless crimes and brutal attacks on our kid
population.

I am expecting my baby's arrival any day now, but with a lot of fear in
my heart of what I am seeing on TV. We will keep our faith in God and keep
on praying that justice will be served one day. We deserve peace in Lebanon
and no country,whether it has power or not, has the right to interfer
with our decisions. They talk about freedom, well let us have it and we do
not need anybody's help. We are an educated country, we are proud of our
heritage, we have a rich culture and we do not need anyone to tell us
what to do.

I thank God that all my friends at ACS and outside ACS are fine and
coping with this situtaion. I also hope that those of you who were at ACS and
are outside the country now tell the truth of what is really happening in
Lebanon. Most of what we see in our news is not even thought of or seen
on televisions in other countries, and it is up to you to show the real
picture.

I hope that this is over soon. I am staying in Lebanon with my family.
Stay in touch and stay safe!

Mrs. Rola Salem
Grade 3B Homeroom Teacher

Aug I From Sandy Carden in Beirut

2006-08-01T04:02:00.000-07:00

Dear All,
In an attempt to reach out to the remaining teachers (most Lebanese) from the American Community School, we keep inviting several to dinner. As many are from different religious and political backgrounds, I enjoy listening to the various perspectives of my co-workers. We sit on my spacious balcony, full of fragrant flowers, and discuss the dire situation by candlelight, as all houses in Beirut are lighting candles in the evening as peaceful protest.

Throughout this ordeal, something as been nagging me ,and I decided to pose this question to the group last night.

"Why did the Israelis blow up the Liban Lait (milk) factory, leaving millions without fresh milk in the country?"

The factory was not owned by Hezbollah members, and although it was in the Bekka valley, wasn't near any Hezbollah "headquarters".

Haitham immediately answered my question. Now for those of you who do not know Haitham, I must explain his character. He is quiet, a tad shy, soft-spoken, and extremely educated. He works for the IT department and can find information from the Internet that I didn't know existed. Apparently the same question had been bothering him as well, so he researched it until he could come up with a plausible answer.

Up until last year, Israel were supplying all milk products to the UN soldiers that were stationed at the border between Israel and Lebanon. This last year, the UN decided that they could get the milk products cheaper from Lebanon, so a local milk company here in Lebanon began supplying the troops....Liban Lait. I can't even begin to imagine the reason behind all of wheat silos being bombed.

There has been a 48 hour "cease fire" which the US pressured Israel to make. Although, the past 48 hours, there have been air shelling at the Syrian-Lebanese border, the Bekka valley, and several towns that are very near the border. As cars are lined up for hours trying to get gasoline and the electricity being cut for sometimes 20 hours a day, gasoline is in dire need. Syria promised to transport several tons of gasoline to Lebanon, and perhaps this is why Israel continues to bomb the road leading to Syria.

In addition to the border bombings, they shelled the car of a Lebanese general and then later apologized for it saying they thought it was Hezbollah members. The UN observers finally made it into Bint Jbail where they found a completely devastated town. Not one building was untouched. They discovered many survivors and all were old (meaning over the age of 70). When CNN reporters looked throughout the rubble, all they found were shrapnel of Israeli bombs, even one that hadn't exploded. One elderly woman who had been hiding under her stairs for three days said that in one day, she counted over 350 bombs being dropped. The sadly ironic thing is that the reporters didn't find any remains of Hezbollah missile launchers, of Hezbollah fighters, or even Iranian weapons, although Israel says differently.

Perhaps some of you are wondering why these civilians did not leave their homes after the Israelis very graciously sent pamphlets giving them two hours to evacuate before shelling began. There are actually several reasons. The first one is that as many were evacuating, their cars were bombed by Israeli air strikes, although they had given them two hours. This caused many to flee back to their homes for safety. Those that were not lucky enough to own cars, were forced to either pay the $500-$1,000 fares most taxi drivers were charging to take them to Beirut, or stay in their homes risking death. Most, simply, did not have the money. Some families, like that one in Qana (yes, the 60+ killed all belonged to one family with the exception of a few other elderly people) stayed behind because their livelihood was raising goats. They were afraid what would happen if they left their goats because in previous evacuations, they were slaughtered by soldiers (both Israeli and Lebanese) or wandered off never to be found. Some elderly refused to leave, especially Palestinians, because they still remember vividly the time they carefully locked the doors to their houses and left Palestine as, even then, Israeli shells were dropped on their villages. Of course, once they left, Israeli Absentee Law stated that their properties and estates were fair game to gobble up.

Just today, Israel told the US (not even the world, or the UN) that they needed ten more days to complete their "mission". I am wondering what horrors they have planned for the Lebanese community as it seems they have barely scratched Hezbollah.

With love to you all,
Sandy

July 31 USA!

2006-07-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
It was a looong flight, but we are now in Washington D.C., at the home of our dear friend Darryl.
My passport is getting renewed, and Carol is ready for some work with Linden Educational Services.
More about the trip soon,
Thank you for all your messages and prayers,
Rob & Carol

Sunday Morning

2006-07-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

After being up all night,
we are
ON THE WAY.
Free wireless internet in the airport

July 29, Saturday Evening

2006-07-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
There is one more plane out of here, and we will be on it.
It should leave at 5:45 Sunday morning, but the word they use for delay is "slide," as in "That time may slide."
We should arrive in Atlanta ten hours after the wheels get off the ground. One plane stopped in Shannon for refuelling, and they got some time in duty free. As I recall, Irish Coffee was invented to revive the early trans-atlantic passengers who had endured the long Pan Am flight from New York to Shannon. Sounds good to me!
As we have gotten used to waiting and seeing, we are not counting our chickens, but the Lt Colonel, who has been dead wrong twice, was unusually quiet tonight. Perhaps that will be the key.
Inshallah!

Rob

Late Friday

2006-07-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

While I am in transit (Inshallah tonight) here is your reading assignment:

http://dailywarnews.blogspot.com/ just so you don't forget there was a war going on somewhere before Lebanon.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072806C.shtml This sounds optimistic about Lebanon.

I'll be having a martini in Atlanta, even if I have it with breakfast!

R

July 28, Noon

2006-07-28T02:20:00.000-07:00

Our names are on the recently posted list for departure later today, probably late tonight.
It doesn't guarantee that we will actually go then, but it does put us in a group that will process together, and that will depart together. Destination? Probably Atlanta. Not our choice, but nothing else has been either, so why change the pattern? That could change enroute...
What are the chances of martinis on this flight? Only God knows.
I'll probably get more time to write later, so stay tuned...
R

Turkey Time, July 27

2006-07-27T00:44:00.000-07:00

Turkey Time
We arrived here late on Monday, and finally were “processed” into our room at about 1:30AM on Tuesday morning. I think I woke up around noon on Tuesday. Now it’s Wednesday afternoon, and we have just had lunch (chicken again). Condi and Co. have are making the announcement from Rome, but I will have to go online to read about it, as the sound in the Activity Room TV is not all that good. ( I did see Karen Hughes later on, mouthing the same infuriating platitudes that allow Israel to continue killing women and children. And UN observers. ) If you were also targeting Red Cross trucks (a documented event) would you want UN witnesses? Do you honestly think it was an accident? Do you think there will be any disciplinary action taken against the pilot? Have you done your homework and read about Israeli cluster bombs and phosphorus? The Israelis have added a new and dark element to the definition of chutzpa.

The US Air Force has a huge housing facility on this base; it is intended to be used for staging troop movements in and out of the region. I think it was used before Desert Storm and possibly Iraq, but it has never had a group so large. They have always been military, never civilian, so their learning curve has been steep as to the needs of families, but wow, they catch on fast!

They have found cribs and high chairs, games, tv’s, basketballs, soccer balls, and will try to get anything they can to help families. They have opened up two laundry facilities and are working out a linen exchange for sheets and towels. Do you find it alarming that they seem to be setting up shop here for a long haul? I DO!

There has been more than one comment made about how difficult the Turks have been about facilitating this evacuation. I do have to say that they aren’t going out of their way to do this, it’s just the way they work. Approval, signatures, and stamps in triplicate are not unusual. Of course, someone high up could say “Just get these people out of here” and it would happen a lot quicker because Turks do follow directions. (I have since learned that the facility is Turkish, and we are all guests. Paying guests it turns out, because these rooms are costing $100/day. 1600 divided by 8 = 200 x $100 = $20,000 per day.)

Earlier, I mentioned the feeling of routine that has already begun to set in. As soon as the sun is far enough down, the men are out on the front porch of the housing units talking about the day’s news (or non-news). Across the street (a sidewalk, really) there is a permanent soccer game on the gravelly open space. The wimmin’ folk are doin’ laundry around the corner. Teenage boys are actin’ goofy in front of girls, who have their eye on the flyboys, who have their eye on the stunningly beautiful Lebanese young women. We have discovered two pizza places that deliver; one of them has wine on the menu…shhhh. (Will I pay $14.95 for a bottle of Turkish wine that we used to get for $3.00? Wait and see)(probably not, I’ve heard it is not allowed in the gates. Those darn Turks!). The name of this place, by the way, is Patriot Village; it is a little town that was totally deserted a week ago, and, just like a Twilight Zone story, it has magically filled up overnight, only to empty out as we all get “processed.” There have not been any births yet, and, thank God, no deaths.
The security officer I was talking to this afternoon, though, did allude to a textbook scenario of situations like this that suggests bad stuff will begin to happen eventually. Stress, anxiety, and depression will begin to overtake patience and “we’re all in this together” attitude, and the nastier side of human nature will begin to emerge. Perhaps that explains the presence of so many airmen (and women) who are armed and appear to have little to do. Hmmm….two of them just strolled by. Good evening officer. Howdy sir, how’s everything tonight? Just fine. Good night sir. This may be Mayberry for now, but perhaps not for long.

One of the interesting news items of the day has been the reluctance of some members of congress to allow Prime Minister Makili to address a joint session. Are they afraid they (and we) will hear what the real deal is in Iraq? Will they be shocked to hear that someone supports Hizbullah? Maliki’s political roots are with the same group that gave birth to Hizbullah. If he were do disavow them, he would be shunned by his own people! I know that GWB only wants to hear from people who agree with him, but we’re talkin’ about muzzling the democratically elected leader of one of our allies. Is speech only free if it agrees? How many other ways have we seen GWB and his minions try to suppress news and info they don’t like? According to them, global warming is still only a theory!

Local News Department.
The base commander has just announced that four planes will be here tomorrow and one more on Friday, and that is enough to clean this place out. The order of departure is: elderly, kids under 5 and their families, other families, everyone else. I’m pretty sure the only category we fit into is the last one. If they decide that 60 is elderly, I’ll be ok with that for the duration of the flight. Otherwise, I’m guessing we leave on Friday.

After this, I won’t have much to blog about. I do have a flock of pictures to send, but I am waiting for a good internet connection so that it won’t take too long. I will be sending you Sandy Carden’s emails from Beirut. She is the only American ACS teacher still in Beirut., I think, and quite um, expressive when it comes to interpretation of events. There are, of course , lots of Lebanese ACS teachers there, too , and I would happily put them out on the blog too. Just send it when you can.

Good night and good luck,

R

This just in: The base commander was a bit optimistic in his plans. Actually, his exact words were "You're with the Air Force now, and we know how to get planes" Well, only two planes today, none tomorrow. Departure for us: probably Monday.

Required Reading

2006-07-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
We are still in Turkey; we have been here long enough for a surprising sense of routine to set in. I will give you more details about how hard the Air Force is working on this, and how the Turks are making it more difficult, later. For now, here is your new Summer Reading assignment:

http://www.juancole.com/ It is a disturbing account of what the Israelis are thinking, and more...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072506A.shtml
You can just go to www.truthout.org and make your own choice of articles.

There is also an excellent account of how the US has filed to remember, or even learn, the lesson is VietNam in the Houston Chronicle. You'll have to check Google News for that.

When I have talked to Sandra Carden, still in Beirut, I will ask her permission to repost her emails here.

The restoration of wireless internet here has gone a long way to reweave my fraying patience. I was startng to lose it with some of the kids in the activity room yesterday. Now I have begun to engage some of the AF personnel on some strategies for keeping order here. there are 8 computer stations for 1500 people. Video games? Chat rooms? I don't think so!

Hugs from Carol

Stay tuned

R

Evacuation Saga

2006-07-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

In yesterday's post, I forgot to mention that we have ended up at Injarlik Air Force Base in Turkey.
What follows is the saga of how we got here. As evauations go, it probably wasn't too bad, but compared to any other sort of trip, it was hellish. It ends with our arrival here.

Sunday, July 23 On the Boat
It’s 12:50PM, and we have just boarded the luxury liner called the USS Trenton, and are awaiting our “placement,” which I take to mean some sort of place to be within the ship. We are in the large covered parking area underneath the flight deck.
Our trip began this morning at 6am when our friends from Lebanon Taxi met us with a clean white Mercedes for the trip north to Debaiyeh. Traffic on Sunday morning in Beirut is blissfully light, so we made the trip quickly. We were in line by 6:30, and by 7:30, we had already had our passports checked and been dog sniffed. (I’m not exactly sure what they were sniffing for).
They had made a corridor of little awnings, like you would have in the backyard. Only there was a double row of about 25 of them. And they were packed with people. The line inched. By 11:30 we were at a smaller group of tents where we could sit, then by noon, another set of tents where we went through a reasonably thorough luggage search. Then around the corner to a processing point were they recorded passport information.
After a bit we got to make the trek to the boat, at which point, we began to feel like refugees. I’m sure you saw the CNN footage of the Marines landing on that little beach, tromping through the water, marking the first presence of combat marines in Lebanon since they fled the country after the barracks was bombed 22 years ago. We left from that same little beach. We didn’t have to get our feet wet, but it was a scramble to get down there and onto the ramp of the LCS (?).

It was a short ride out to the Trenton, and more processing and now here we are, up on deck, hot, tired and surrounded by about 1600 Lebanese/American men women and children. Just picture it….

The seriously bad news that we have just learned is that we are not going to Cyprus. We are going to Turkey. Cyprus is overloaded, and cannot handle any more. Up until we were on the boat and there was no chance of turning back, we had been assured we were going to Cyprus. I will write this now and not edit it out later: this is beginning to feel like a mistake. We won’t be able to go from Turkey to Cyprus, we will have to go to Athens first. But there is also the possibility that we may have no choice but to take the chartered flight all the way back to the US. If this had been an eventuality when we started out, I’m pretty sure we would have stayed in Hamra.

I do have to say one good thing about this: The police, Marines, sailors, customs people, everyone in this process, have been unfailingly polite and helpful. Even most of our fellow travelers are doing their best to be agreeable.
My only complaint, and it is a biggie, is that information has been scarce or unreliable, even when it comes from official sources. No one knows what will happen in the next stage.
The time is now 4:30PM, and we are not yet underway. I really hope we aren’t picking up more people, because there isn’t much room left. I’d like to stretch my legs, but I am afraid that I’ll loose my space!
With the comforting insurance of a place on Cyprus evaporating, I am growing increasingly uncomfortable with our decision to go. This is precisely the uncertainty we were so happy to have diminished by the Groome’s generous offer.
OK, I have been out and around, and do have a tiny bit more information. There are 1750 people on the ship, they were prepared for 1200, and the delay (It is 7:00 and we haven’t left yet) is so that we can take on extra food and water. No vodka, though.
Here’s a distraction: If your were going to be evacuated, would you wear 4” open back spike heels?
Would you wear an undeshirt, surfer shorts and flip flops? How about a skin tight orange top and white spandex bottom (that girl should not wear that outfit anywhere!).

I can see that some of the sailors are quite appreciative of the traveling clothes that some of the young ladies are wearing. All that lonesome time at sea…

It’s 7:15 and we are underway!
10 hours to, Mersin, Turkey.

So now I’m typing in the dark. Keyboarding skills pay off. Although I do wish this wonderful NEO had a backlit screen.

We have met some really nice people on this adventure. First is Charles, who introduced us to his Very Expensive Scotch early on. His factory in the Bekaa was bombed few days ago, and then he learned this morning, just yesterday. It’s a metal fabrication plant; they make water tanks. Shawn, the Chaplain’s assistant; he was sincere and honest in his concern for us, and read us a passage from the scriptures that has gotten him through many difficult times. Alex, the Lebanese businessman who is as distraught as we are about being diverted to Turkey. Diverted? We feel hijacked!
But we also have figured out that there is no way they an make us go to Baltimore if we don’t want to, and that we have reasonable hope of getting a ferry from Mersin to a Greek island and then to Cyprus.

I will write to CNN on their comment line to tell them how good the US Navy has been to us. Apparently there were a lot of complaints on their first evac run, and CNN caught passengers who had complaints. One marine also told me that the evacuees had thrown rocks at them because things were going slowly.

The Chaplain just read her evening prayer to us all. It was a nice gesture, but I wonder if perhaps she could have found someone to do a Muslim prayer. Well, even our money says “In god We Trust” I suppose the Navy does too.

OK,, lights out for me, for now.

6:00am Monday
There are no comfortable positions in a folding chair. I did manage a little sleep, but kept waking up. Then I discovered and open space nearby. It wasn’t a whole lot more conducive to sleep than the chair, but I did get some sleep.

The Captain just gave us an update on wheres and whens. We should dock in Mercin in about three hours. And then transfer to the Incerlik Air Force Base (US) and from there to chartered jets to Baltimore. Except we don’t want to go there! Hopefully we will get a chance to speak up about that…oh, to be sure we will speak up, but will anyone listen? Is the system carved in stone already? Mercin is a major industrial and tourist center, so there should be ample transportation opportunities from there. If we can stand the idea of getting on another boat, we might grab a ferry to a big Greek island and then to Cyprus. Or a flight to Athens and then to Cyprus.

True to his word, we got to Mercin at about 9, but it took about an hour to dock. Then they unloaded the luggage. There was no sort of coveyor belt or machinery that could do it,, so the Marines and sailors made a bucket brigade, and tossed them along down a ramp, and lined them up in rows so we could identify them. Keep in mind that 1750 passengers = 1750 bags and more because some people actually brought two. All the while the Marines and swabbies were toting baggage, others were beginning to clean up the bags and bags of garbage that 1750 people can generate. In that regard, the mess that our shipmates generated was truly appalling. They did little to minimize the mess. What I saw in the bathrooms, and later peeking in the cabins after they had left was also embarrassing. But the crew took it in stride and with a smile. I cannot say enough about the work they did, and their helpful friendly manner.

We had set ourselves up in a quiet little corner, we thought; it turned out to be a corner of the crew smoking area. You won’t be surprised when I tell you that Carol made a lot friends (and heard a lot of scuttlebutt). I even heard her discussing college choices with one group!
It was about 3:30 by the time we said goodbye to our new pals. Buses were waaiting, and the processing was about 45 minutes; the wait in the bus another 45, and then finally we were off. It was a caravan of 7 buses and two Turkish police cars, who, for no apparent reason, would stop us all, yell at the drivers, and then start us u again. A mystery.
Then we arrived at the gates of Incarlik, a base that is shared by Turkey and the US. That should have been a little red flag. Our wait at the gate was just a little over an hour and a half, as our names and numbers were “processed” yet again.
Oh, did I mentioned the cheery young woman who greeted us for the Air force and happily said that in a few moments we would be on beautiful air conditioned buses and then off to our air conditioned housing units. The bus was beautiful, for a bus, but it wasn’t air conditioned. And now, at 9:30 PM, we are in an airline hanger, waiting to be…..processed yet again. Does anyone remember Soylent Green? (the movie was about the recycling of people) Were they processed….?

So now, let me tell you the latest change in our thinking: Carol does need to be in the US for Linden tours, on Aug 1. She may not get a ticket off Cyprus if we are there. I will probably stay with her and go to the US,, and then work at getting back to Beirut ahead of her Aug 9 ticket. Heck, staying in D.C. I will be close to the seat of power! (I could say something about why would I want to be close to that ass’s ass, but I will try to maintain the high moral tone of this blog, and not mention it.)

So, back to our saga. It’s 9:45 and we are still in the hangar, with a lot of other folks. I wish being patient got me something besides the end of the line…
Finally, internet, shower, air conditioning, sleep.
It’s Wednesday morning.
Wait for the next post.
Love to all,
R & C

July 25 1:30AM

2006-07-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

As evacuations go, it probably wasn't bad, but by any any other scale, it was hellish.
No danger, just delays, discomfort, and disinformation.
I will tell all in a longer post tomorrow.
Me and my NEO were busy.
Carol sends love to everyone,
I'm goin' to take a shower!

R

July 22, Saturday afternoon

2006-07-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

I think the pictures finally posted; we have internet for the first time allda.
the following comments are not exactly complete, but I want to get them off now.
We leave tomorrow, early in the morning.

July 22, Saturday Afternoon

Dear Friends,
Until today, I never really thought it would come to this. We are leaving our home because of hostilities that seem to be spiraling out of control. Those who could control the warring parties have chosen not to.

Like two squabbling children on the playground, they point their fingers at each other saying “He started it!” My response in that situation, and I have been there, has been to gently take the pointed fingers, turn them towards their owners and ask “Please tell me what you think you might have done to start this.” Most second graders can come up with one or two things they have said or done that have fuelled the fire, and the dialog towards resolution continues from there. Condi? Are you paying attention?

Sadly, Condi/GWB/Cheney want a “new Middle East.” They seem to want to erase or ignore the players they don’t like and just deal with their friends and see the world through their own tinted glasses (I can’t imagine what color they are… polarizing sunglasses only let through light that oscillates in one direction, perhaps that is it. They can only talk to people who agree with them.) As the rest of us can see, however, the Neo-con agenda is a failure in Iraq, and it is likely to be a failure here as well
Read Juan Cole on Salon.Com for reasons why this strategy will not work, and also his blog: Informed Comment at www.Juancole.com

For now, Israel is free to pursue its plan to cripple Hizbullah.
But with every bomb they drop, they recruit another volunteer for Hizbullah, sometimes two, sometimes ten.
Israel says they want peace, but are only guaranteeing increasingly hostile neighbors.

This just-reported news item leaves me speechless:
The US is rushing the delivery of pinpoint targeting missiles to Israel.
And our Secretary of State is going to broker some sort of peace here????

And in northern Lebanon, a communications tower has been hit. Of course, all those Hizbollah metrosexuals just can’t last a minute without their cell phones! They’ll just give up in a minute without them! It also eliminated a lot of tv news and information for the northern part of the country

At the moment, internet and power are out, so this is being written “on spec.” It will get out eventually, but I don’t know when. No power and no generators mean a quiet city.

OK, Power and 'Net!
Our last concern is that we may be sent to Turkey!! No! We have a place on Cyprus, but it is very crowded. We will get there eventually, so don't worry if you don't hear from us for some time.

Love and hugs to you all,

Carol & Rob

2006-07-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

2006-07-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

July 22

2006-07-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

Hopefull, what follows will be the photos I took yesterday.

July 22, Saturday Morning

2006-07-22T01:18:00.000-07:00

Started July 21, Friday Afternoon posted Saturday morning, July 22

Cabin fever set in this afternoon. We decided that it would be worthwhile to know exactly where our departure site was, and maybe we could pick up some useful information about when to arrive, and how long this would continue. Sara Khoury and Ibrahim Bedeir had described its location, just past Spinney’s on the road north. With that destination, and the admonishment to stay away from trucks in the back of my mind, we set out. The drive was as normal as any driving experience in Lebanon can be. There seemed to be fewer cars on the road, but plenty of traffic regardless. There are a few intersections in Beirut where I observe the traffic lights carefully. Many drivers do not, and I risk being rear-ended when I stop, or broadsided if I don’t. Today, all bets were off, and no drivers were paying the slightest attention to lights, red green or otherwise, even me. My thin veneer of polite driving habits has been peeled away, and I can probably never drive in the US again.

So, back to the trip; it was pretty much routine. Along the stretch of road we traveled, there did not appear to be any bomb damage. We passed other evac departure points at Biel, close to downtown, and at the Forum, a little further out. Finally, after about half an hour, just past Spinney’s , we saw crowd of people on the overpass, so we took the ramp up and parked to see what we could find out.

The crowd at the assembly point was orderly and quiet. It was a Lebanese line, however; I don’t mean anthing derogatory about that, it’s just that Lebanese, like some other Mediterranean cultures I know, just don’t “queue up” very well. If Geri Branch had the bullhorn in her hand and said “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like your attention please” and then given them some directions, I’m sure they would have gotten themselves in to an American-style line right away.

What we learned there was that it takes six hours to process 1500 people. The man with the bullhorn said, over and over, “We will take you all, just not today” A few minutes later, a large cordon of Leb. Police came out and made a perimeter around the group that was there, and began telling people who were just arriving to come back tomorrow. It was 2pm, so I think they had reached the limit of people they could take care of before the blockade time limit (7:30pm). It seemed to be an orderly and careful process. As they cordoned off the remaining group, the police did announce that we shouldn’t worry…every one will go, and they will be doing this for at least five more days.

The most information came from people who had been there for some time. I heard a young woman complaining (in English) about the “line” so we talked a bit about their experience; like us, they were there to see how things were. They would be leaving Saturday or Sunday, they thought. They later translated the police announcement for me. Carol talked with a young woman about her wait. As the police closed off the group, she worked her way into the crowd. Carol said that she was worried about getting her dog through with her. I hadn’t even noticed that it was in a carrier in her lap, so I bet she got it through.

The other aspect of our trip that was reassuring was the degree to which people were going about their routine with calm and purpose. We stopped at Spinney’s
Which is a big British supermarket chain. The shelves weren’t necessarily orderly, because o lot of their workforce is probably not coming in, but the food was there. There was even a “promotion” on Massaya Classic, our favorite red wine: one boxed set with two bottles, a pound a pasta and a jar of sauce. Dinner!

I know that life to the south of Beirut is totally disrupted and destroyed. CBS news just did a piece on the surreal difference between different sections of the city. The corniche at sunset looks as it does any evening; families setting out chairs where the men smoke narghile and children pedal their scooters and trikes. The women gather in clusters; some couples stroll, shyly hand in hand. Compare that scene to the flattened apartment blocks of Borj al Brajne, or the parking garage shelters, or the impassable south coast road.

This morning, the Brits announced that this is the last day for their major evac departures. The American operation continues; we did volunteer to help with that, but no one has taken us up on it. As we have so often seen, events can change things quickly. With the Israelites massing on the border, Condi dragging her feet to the region, and even still not allowing she can or will do much (She isn’t even coming here.) we wonder what we are waiting for. You are probably asking the same question! Without a specific reason to stay, other than the desire to protect our home, we have finally and firmly decided that tomorrow is the day. Our status will go from resident to refugee.

Internet permitting, I will post some pictures of the evac site, and one of Grace, apparently pausing to pick just the right words.

Stay tuned.

Carol & Rob

July 21, Friday Morning

2006-07-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

July 21, Friday morning
I started this last night:
July 20, Thursday Evening

I’m starting the Friday update a little early; events are beginning to move quickly, and I don’t want anything to get lost in the rush.

First: We had a great conversation with Emily tonight, but had to call her back because I forgot to tell her what we saw on the TV tonight. MSNBC was doing a piece on Chicago’s growing obesity problem. One of the restauranteurs they interviewed was Doug of Hot Doug’s in Chicago. I have eaten there, and talked with Doug. He’s the man who believes that there are no two more beautiful words in the English language than “Encased meats.” Doug makes the most unusual and creative sausage combinations you can imagine. You’ll have to visit his website www.hotdougs.com to check his menu because I don’t want to misquote it. But, did I mention that on some days he fries the French fries in duck fat?

OK, this is a bit of a diversion from the tales of Beirut, but we sort of need that.

Emily told us that she had been in touch with the information line set up by the State Department. (888 407 4747) . They were shocked to discover that we were still waiting to be called. Except that is exactly what the embassy website here still tells us to do. I’ve heard that tomorrow will be a big evac day, but I have no desire to be in the middle of it.
I think Saturday will be our day to go.

We still have power, but the internet is down; it is impossible to know why. It has always been a fragile thread, but it has been so reliable lately that it was easy to take it for granted. So,, for the moment we are limited to CNN, Sky News and Orbit Satellite . Orbit carries most of the major network news programs, including The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. They aren’t quite as up to the minute as CNN, but it provides some balance. I’ll go down to school this morning in the hope of connecting there. It is still our most important source of information. Since you are reading this, I was successful!

What happens now? Watching the news leaves me speechless with anger and frustration. I fear a backlash in Lebanon against the US for failing to intervene. There are two chest thumping bullies calling all the shots now, and even the great and munificent Bush may not be able to alter the course of this. The law of unexpected consequences is taking over.

A little later…
I’m at ACS now. The walk through the garden of AUB was refreshing as always. They are keeping their walkways clean and gardens watered. It looks exactly as it always does, except there aren’t any students. Not everyone has left, however; two ACS kids were watching the destroyer offshore. Rami Sabban and Jad a middle schooler. They were surprised when I told them that the whole world is watching this. This is history, and they are part of it. Of course I told them they should be keeping a journal about all this. And yes, Monica, someone is feeding the cats.

It was a relief to find that school still has an internet connection. There’s a lot of information stashed away in email and websites which cannot be gotten any other way. If I have a complaint with the way the evac has been handled it is that information from the Embassy is very hard to come by. Even when you can read the website, there are few specific details. And, as I said before, it is only a wisp of thread, easily broken.

One thing about this blogging that I dislike is that as I look over older posts, I want to keep revision them. (My old students may recall the “P.A.I.N of revising.” The N stands for Never stop revising) But I want to let them stand as they are. I do have to correct something, however. Yesterday I asked what the US knows about making friends.
That should read: “What did the US know about making friends back then?” Bush’s stubborn and blind support of Israel, and his willful avoidance of diplomatic relations with some of the major players in the region, have left us with none of the diplomatic avenues we need.

Don’t worry about us…but pray for this beautiful country.

Rob & Carol

July 20, Thursday Afternoon

2006-07-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 20

Today’s Daily Star headlines

And then it got worse

Siniora pleads for world’s help

Have spies been helping the enemy find targets?

Crisis escalates as food, medicines run low

War builds trust amid wary sects (a small silver lining)

And one of the smallest, but probably the most ominous: Stay away from trucks

The marines have landed! Why aren’t I reassured that all will be well?
The new sound from the sky today is of the American helicopters as they ferry the evacuees out to the ferries or warships standing offshore. I can’t see them from here, but I can see the smaller navy ships closer in the harbor. They could be American or French or, as I just see on the news, British. I can’t tell what type of ship they are, destroyers maybe, but they aren’t all that large. Hey! I was in the army not the navy, how would I know? Let’s just say frigate and forget it. The greatest challenge for the US Embassy is getting the Americans out who are in the south. They are reluctant to try to bus them out because of the bad roads and because the Israelis have been targeting trucks and buses. There is talk of helicopters, but the risks there are obvious.

We don't have a departure time from the embassy, and frankly, if it doesn't
come until Saturday or Sunday, I am fine with that. If some sort of cease fire
can be worked out by then, maybe we won't have to go. I would much rather
stay. Many of our neighbors in Hamra are surprised and pleased that we are still here, and I hate to disappoint them by going.

Out and About in Hamra
Today is the feast day of St Elias, one of the desert saints, and he is popular here. Early bells got us out to church for liturgy, and then out into the neighborhood. The American University Hospital (AUH) is nearby, and I went to give blood; they always need it, and now more than ever. Carol went to the bank (again). The ever cheerful Mr Assad reminded us that there is a Blom Bank branch in Cyprus.
The streets are more crowded today, and I would imagine that is a reflection of the shifting population. Estimates of the refugees so far are half a million, and although they tend to be going to neighborhoods or centers near their homes, they are finding their way here. One dangerous development is the bombing of a truck in Ashrefieh; it was mistaken for a truck-mounted rocket launcher.
The weather has been oddly cloudy; there are often banks of dark clouds over the mountains, and even here in Western Beirut, the sky is overcast. I am not complaining, because it does keep the heat down.
Last night, we had a great night out with newly married Sandy Carden and Mazen Sheik. I have teased Mazen about the newlywed 5, the weight that that men often gain when they get married. He’d better watch out! Sandy is a good cook.
On the way home we stopped off at the Blue Note to see how they are doing. It was a quiet night, but they do make the best martini in Beirut. Of course I had one!
I know this is getting repetitive, but Hamra is quiet; life goes on. Hajji, our favorite produce merchant, still has fruits and veggies. Wafa at Score Market greets us warmly; I’m sure she wonders if we are drinking all that wine ourselves. I had coffee with Artin Koudalakian, who runs the tiny gallery across the street where we bought our Roberts print of St. Catherine’s Monastery. He loves to chat, and without any customers he was desperate for some conversation.
And, yes, the dry cleaner is open today.

Leave now and avoid the sermon.

I cannot imagine how the Israelis think they will be able to eliminate Hizbullah by flattening Lebanon. They can destroy everything, and they won’t have touched the strength of Hizbullah; they will, in fact, have strengthened it. Hizbullah is people, not rockets. OK, the threat may be diminished along the Israeli border, but they have only insured another generation of Lebanese who hate them with a passion. How is peace made? How did America make peace with Japan after WWII? How is it that America and Viet Nam are now trading partners? Carol will go there in October to help colleges recruit students! How is this possible? What does America know about making friends that Israel doesn’t? And how much longer can America let Israel, the bully of the Middle East, continue to unilaterally do whatever it wants?

I am happy that so many of you have left comments on the blog.
Thank you for all your encouragement

Rob and Carol

July 20, Thursday Afternoon

2006-07-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

Today’s Daily Star headlines

And then it got worse

Siniora pleads for world’s help

Have spies been helping the enemy find targets?

Crisis escalates as food, medicines run low

War builds trust amid wary sects (a small silver lining)

And one of the smallest, but probably the most ominous: Stay away from trucks

The marines have landed! Why aren’t I reassured that all will be well?
The new sound from the sky today is of the American helicopters as they ferry the evacuees out to the ferries or warships standing offshore. I can’t see them from here, but I can see the smaller navy ships closer in the harbor. They could be American or French or, as I just see on the news, British. I can’t tell what type of ship they are, destroyers maybe, but they aren’t all that large. Hey! I was in the army not the navy, how would I know? Let’s just say frigate and forget it. The greatest challenge for the US Embassy is getting the Americans out who are in the south. They are reluctant to try to bus them out because of the bad roads and because the Israelis have been targeting trucks and buses. There is talk of helicopters, but the risks there are obvious.

We don't have a departure time from the embassy, and frankly, if it doesn't
come until Saturday or Sunday, I am fine with that. If some sort of cease fire
can be worked out by then, maybe we won't have to go. I would much rather
stay. Many of our neighbors in Hamra are surprised and pleased that we are still here, and I hate to disappoint them by going.

Out and About in Hamra
Today is the feast day of St Elias, one of the desert saints, and he is popular here. Early bells got us out to church for liturgy, and then out into the neighborhood. The American University Hospital (AUH) is nearby, and I went to give blood; they always need it, and now more than ever. Carol went to the bank (again). The ever cheerful Mr Assad reminded us that there is a Blom Bank branch in Cyprus.
The streets are more crowded today, and I would imagine that is a reflection of the shifting population. Estimates of the refugees so far are half a million, and although they tend to be going to neighborhoods or centers near their homes, they are finding their way here. One dangerous development is the bombing of a truck in Ashrefieh; it was mistaken for a truck-mounted rocket launcher.
The weather has been oddly cloudy; there are often banks of dark clouds over the mountains, and even here in Western Beirut, the sky is overcast. I am not complaining, because it does keep the heat down.
Last night, we had a great night out with newly married Sandy Carden and Mazen Sheik. I have teased Mazen about the newlywed 5, the weight that that men often gain when they get married. He’d better watch out! Sandy is a good cook.
On the way home we stopped off at the Blue Note to see how they are doing. It was a quiet night, but they do make the best martini in Beirut. Of course I had one!
I know this is getting repetitive, but Hamra is quiet; life goes on. Hajji, our favorite produce merchant, still has fruits and veggies. Wafa at Score Market greets us warmly; I’m sure she wonders if we are drinking all that wine ourselves. I had coffee with Artin Koudalakian, who runs the tiny gallery across the street where we bought our Roberts print of St. Catherine’s Monastery. He loves to chat, and without any customers he was desperate for some conversation.
And, yes, the dry cleaner is open today.

Leave now and avoid the sermon.

I cannot imagine how the Israelis think they will be able to eliminate Hizbullah by flattening Lebanon. They can destroy everything, and they won’t have touched the strength of Hizbullah; they will, in fact, have strengthened it. Hizbullah is people, not rockets. OK, the threat may be diminished along the Israeli border, but they have only insured another generation of Lebanese who hate them with a passion. How is peace made? How did America make peace with Japan after WWII? How is it that America and Viet Nam are now trading partners? Carol will go there in October to help colleges recruit students! How is this possible? What does America know about making friends that Israel doesn’t? And how much longer can America let Israel, the bully of the Middle East, continue to unilaterally do whatever it wants?

I am happy that so many of you have left comments on the blog.
Thank you for all your encouragement

Rob and Carol

The NEO goes to war

2006-07-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have moved to an energy conservation mode for these posts.
That means that my writing will be on an Alphasmart NEO, and downloaded to my laptop, as power allows.
Energy efficient, portable, sturdy, they are terriffic. Is this a commercial for Alphasmart?
well, I have used them in classrooms on three continents, and I think they are the greatest piece of technology to come into the classroom since Apples first invaded, but no, I am not advertising, just advocating.

The Kindness of Strangers

2006-07-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

July 19, Wednesday Afternoon

For a starter, some headlines from the Daily Star. Read the articles at www.dailystar.com

Wasteland in the making

Latest targets of air blitz; milk and medicine

US: Truce is unacceptable while Hizbullah remains intact. (what about the rest of the country George? What about the “fragile democracy”?)

Refugees in dire need

New attacks on airport (that’s from LBC)

Is Lebanon the New Gaza? (that’s my question)

White House waives the fee to flee! (CNN) The reported price of an evac to Cyprus is $3000, economy class!

And some links:

Sky News
www.sky.com/news
The Brits have a non-American perspective on all this. Refreshing!

LA times article on the American evac process (Thanks Mary Ellen)
http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-lebanon,0,2021895.story?coll=ktla-news-1

Juan Cole on Salon
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/07/19/maximal/
Israel's maximal option Part of Israel's war strategy may be to push the Shiites out of Lebanon's south. That would be a humanitarian disaster -- and it won't work.

Juan Cole’s “Informed Comment”
http://www.juancole.com/
This blog is an excellent analysis of events in the region. Juan Cole is a professor of history at... UMich (I think)

And some thoughts:
We have been out and around today; down to school, the bank, Faysal’s. So much of what we see is so normal that the photos in the Daily Star are a shock. Then we hear the jets and the explosions, and know that our time in Hamra is an illusion of normalcy. The bank was surprisingly calm. Mr Assad was his usual smiling and helpful self. There wasn’t even a line, but the withdrawal process did take some time. FYI, the exchange rate is 1520. School was quiet; the guards are all there. The business office was very busy yesterday with getting the payroll out. Faysal’s was hopping, and I could not resist the lure of a cocktail with banadura and zeytoon! (look it up Americans). It was dripping-down-your-shirt good.

Neighborhood friends continue to be surprised that we are still here. We saw Joyce (from school) out and around this morning, and she could not believe we hadn’t left. So many people have greeted us warmly, or called to ask if we need anything, or offered whatever help they can. It is we who should help them!

The Kindness of Strangers and Friends
We have been offered places to stay all over the world: Japan, Dubai, Istanbul, Andros, Athens, France, Massachusetts, D,C. and Chicago. (and even more, I'm sorry if I missed you). All are appreciated, and you may yet see us. But all were difficult to accept because they put us a long way from home. Our goal has been to not go too far so that we could return easily.
A few days ago, Paul and Antoinette told us of friends on Cyprus who might be able to help us with a place to stay. It seemed like a remote connection, and we appreciated the gesture, but did not act on it. Today, we heard from Bea and Glenn, and they endorsed Paul’s idea; they are, in fact, leaving their villa and we are welcome to stay there.
Is there a sound from the heavens that accompanies the answering of a prayer?
Quiet tears, perhaps,, or a sigh of relief?
When the call to prayer (bells) comes from across the street (St Mary’s) we’ll be there.
When our call to evacuate comes, and we have no idea when that will be, we will go to Cyprus and wait there until the first moment it seems that return is possible. Carol will probably go to the US for her work with Linden Tours, but I will head back to Beirut ASAP. There will be ample refugee work to do. And, never forget, that no matter how bad things are here, they are much, much worse in Gaza.

One of the analogies we have used at ACS is that bullies often work “under the radar” of teachers. They cleverly do their dirty work while no one is watching, during the odd moments when the teacher’s attention is diverted. Here’s a message to the world: ISRAEL IS A BULLY. And what do we elementary school teachers do about bullies? We empower the bystanders to stand up and say “HEY, YOU CAN’T DO THAT” OK World, it’s time for you to stand up. Lebanon needs you.

Thank you Paul and Antoinette, Bea and Glenn, you are the answer!

Love and prayers to you all

R & C

Manara, July 19

2006-07-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

While the American evacuation has started, there has been no change for us today. I will have more to post later.
I did get to the Corniche today; there were few cars, but some fishermen and sunbathers were out. The lighthouse was not the disaster I expected, but that does not diminsh its sadness. eyewitnesses described a helicopter gunship that fired on it, virtually point blank, destroying the windows, light, and presumably any electronics inside. What Hizbullah connection did the Israelis think up for this assault?

In other news today: GWB plans to veto the stem cell research bill "on moral grounds." His moral compass seems to be heavily influenced by the magnetism of the ballot box. If Lebanon had a strong lobby in Washington, perhaps we would fare better with his "morality."

July 18, Tuesday Morning

2006-07-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

July 18, Tuesday morning

Good Morning, No Israeli wake-up call this morning!
I have ordered my Worst President Ever tee shirt, and you can too! Here’s the site:
http://www.bartcop.com/t-shirt-order-page.htm $23. It’s an “out there” website, and I am not endorsing any of the other causes it might be promoting. It’s just about the shirt.

Let’s see…how has POTUS diminished himself (and thereby us) recently?
Facile, offhanded comments that display his simplistic one-sidedness and limited world view? Endorsing blatant aggression? Talking with his mouth full? Being stupid enough to say things in front of an open microphone that reveal him to be a redneck moron? His mommy must be really pissed at him for showing us that she never taught him any manners. I would turn off the tv if his antics weren’t so funny, and if what he says wasn’t so tragically important.

OK, political venting came first today. What’s new? Not a lot.
Hamra is quiet, but it’s early. We have power, so there are no generators going, and it’s easy to hear the birds in the cemetery across the way. (It has a lot of trees).
The air is very still, and for us that is rare. The smell of smoke is strong enough at times to hurt the back of my throat, but it isn’t constant.
The cats know something is up; they recognize suitcases. I’ll just tell them they’re going over to Philip and Deidre’s for a sleep-over with Rowda.
We hear evacuation news from many sources except for the one that counts. I have seen both the Greek cruise ship (which we saw on billboards when we did our trip to the south not long ago) and an “air bridge” to Cyprus touted as the plan. The embassy website says get ready. Be packed, one suitcase 15 kilos, no pets, have passport and any other papers. This posting does not remind us that we will have to pay for the trip. I don’t see a big white boat in the harbor, so there’s no rush. And, it will take several trips to take the 5000 people they expect. They estimate 25,000 American passport holders are here, and I think more than five thousand will be wanting to go, so that’s even more waiting time.
Lets talk about packing. Will it be two days, two weeks, or two months? Will we be in America in September or Athens in August? The Duke and Duchess of Windsor traveled with dozens of pieces of luggage so they could be ready for anything. We get one each; 15 kilos (33 pounds for you Americans).

Later in the morning

I’ve just been down to ACS, walking through the AUB campus. AUB seemed even more like an oasis than it usually does, with trees and plants in full bloom, sidewalks swept, students elsewhere. There were more guards at the gates than usual, but happily they were the same guards that I have been saying good morning to all these years. My walk included a short stretch along the Corniche, which was nearly deserted. Plenty of places to park! A few military vehicles were strategically placed all the way along it, with soldiers out and around playing soccer. I did not linger, or take the Manara (lighthouse) photo I had intended. ACS felt as oddly empty as most schools do in the summer. It wasn’t supposed to be this empty, though. The summer program has been cancelled, most offices are empty, and the physical plant guys are on round the clock duty. I got a chance to talk to Fadi about my Alphasmart order. We stopped it, literally, on the docks of London. With the port closed, there’s no sense sending it now; when the port does open, there will be far more important needs to be met. But I have been working on this order for four years! I guess I can wait a little longer.

There has been a slight shift in our thinking about evacuation that I would like to prepare you for: If it takes long enough, and there appears to be some glacial movement by all parties towards, at least, a temporary cessation of aggression, and opening of the ports, we will consider staying. All of your invitations have been very welcome, but honestly, the uncertainties of evacuation are beginning to outnumber the uncertainties of staying. No decision has been made; I suppose that means that going and staying are now equal on the scales. Do I need to remind you all that both of us are Libras, known for our passionate need for balance and weighing of options. (some would say indecisiveness).
I can hear Diedre shouting all the way from Dublin “Are you %#$&# nuts?” , and Emily from Chicago. “DAD… what are you %^#$@ thinking???” That’s just it, we are thinking.

On that note, I’ll get this off. I hope it gets to you for your morning read.

Hugs and prayers for you all; we are in this together.

Rob & Carol

July Monday Morning

2006-07-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

July 17, 2006
7AM

Dear Friends,
The Israelis dropped a wake up call at exactly 6:00am this morning. It was not close to us, but it was loud. (CNN has just reported that it was the port facility in Beirut) Now I’ve gone through my morning routine: make coffee, check emails, check embassy website, check Google news then CNN, all of this with CNN on the TV in the background. There is an eerie overlap between them; as I check the embassy website, I see our friend Juliette Wurr who works there, live on CNN explaining that the evacuation plans are still being drawn up. That’s just what the website is saying. Even though there are no plans yet, however, the website warns us that this will not be a free trip. We will have to pay for it! Did Israel pay the USA for that jet I hear overhead, or that rocket?

Now on CNN, GWB is saying that we have to “address the root causes” of the trouble in the middle east, “and that’s Hizbullah.” I cannot deny their role in this, but I think he needs to examine his role in all of this, as he has blindly supported Israel’s blatant aggression in the region. He can’t even bring himself to suggest a cease fire while American-supplied jets are bombing the crap out of Lebanon’s “fragile democracy.” His clueless face enrages me, and if it does that to me, safe and sound in Hamra, imagine what it does to the families of the 15 people on the bus that was blown up Saturday. The Israelis told them to leave the area, so that’s what they were doing. Then the Israelis blew up the bus. They weren’t Hizbullah, they were children.

How are things this morning? As I have said before, Hamra is a safe neighborhood, with a mixed Christian/Muslim/professional/student population. Daily life has continued with reasonable normalcy. There are signs, however, that our protective bubble is thinning. Sunday the streets were quiet, but they always are (When we got the car, that was when I first practiced driving around the city). But on a Monday, by now I should be hearing the protective grates on the storefronts rolling up. The construction site down the street should be hammering away (I don’t miss it, though) . I haven’t heard the kaak man with his bicycle horn. The parking lot down below should be filling up …it’s nearly empty. I do see one hopeful sign; our tiny drycleaner has opened up his shop on Jeanne d’Arc street. I guess there’s always laundry.

Our reputation as a safe neighborhood may also work against us; people are drifting in from neighborhoods where there have been bombings. Are they looking for empty apartments? We are the only people in our building, but soon it will be empty. In Pity the Nation, Robert Fisk has descriptions of military sites nestled into civilian neighborhoods, gun positions on hospital roofs; will that happen again?

We are no longer debating our departure; when the evacuation comes, we will go. Our friends Phillip and Diedre took the Irish evac route this morning. Our beloved housekeeper, Rowda, will stay at their apartment (her neighborhood is not safe). Our two cats, Helou and Grace, will stay with her. She loves them as much as we do, and they will be safe with her. Most of our discussions are about where we will go and how long we will be there, and how soon we will be able to get back. We truly appreciate the many invitations we have gotten, and it would be a wonderful vacation to travel around and drop in on all of you. Our thinking of the moment (and it changes frequently) is to stay on Cyprus until we can get a sense of the general direction of the conflict. If a quick return looks possible, we will wait there. If that’s unlikely, Istanbul, Greece or France are likely destinations. If the situation jeopardizes the start of school at the end of August, we will have another decision to make about going back to the US. You may be thinking that we are clinging tightly to Beirut, when we should be enjoying the freedom that being out will allow, but I remind you: this is home. Home is where your heart is, but also where you keep your cookbooks, Campers, cats, and yes, that little antique silver martini shaker that I bought in Istanbul.

One more political comment: I am disgusted and disappointed in George Bush’s miserable failure as a leader. He can’t even bring himself to suggest, let alone demand, a cease fire; while he aw shucks his way through a press conference and says nothing, jets and rockets that the US has supplied to Israel are destroying this country. He talks of “root causes” as if he and his policies towards Israel are not one of them. I recently saw a “Worst President Ever” tee shirt for sale. I’m buyin’ one.

Remember: we are safe and reasonably comfortable where we are.
When evacuation comes, we will go, but we may not be able to communicate for a while. If you don’t hear, don’t worry. As I have always said, silence doesn’t mean trouble; bad news will find you.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Love,
Rob & Carol

Tough Times in Lebanon

GAZA

Snow Day in July

In The New Apartment

Sunday Afternoon

TW3

A Week Has Passed

Change

Flight from Egypt

Busy Sunday

Saturday Surprise

Friday update

Thursday, May 15

Outside Lebanon

Peaks and Valleys

Monday!

More on Sunday

Sunday Update

Saturday Update

Friday Afternoon

Thursday Update

Beirut Snow Day

Make New Friends

Orange House

The Last Day of Summer Vacation

Mostly Quiet in Beirut

Sea Turtles in Lebanon

Saturday Surprise

Today's Event

Exhibit Review

More of the Exhibit

exhibit

My Exhibit

Stellar Sunday

Short Update

Weather Report

Weekend and more

Quiet Saturday Morning

Daily Star Editorial

Poster

Friday Update

3 Bombs, 4 Days

Robert Fisk

Quiet Night

Another One

New Troubles

Man'oushe

Quieter Today

Not About Food

Kibbeh

Hummous bi Tahini

A New Direction

Beirut Normal

Things That Matter

in case you missed it

Time to say goodbye

New Reading

Announcement

Read this

One more week

More Reading

Required Reading

Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land

Juan Cole Wednesday Aug 16

0500 GMT Aug 14

Aug 13 from Beirut

Thursday, Aug 10, 2006

Wednesday, Aug 9

Reading assignment

Robert Fisk Required Reading

August 5, From Sandy in Beirut

Aug 5, Saturday morning

An Anonymous Comment

August 2 Letter from Beirut

Aug I From Sandy Carden in Beirut

July 31 USA!

Sunday Morning

July 29, Saturday Evening

Late Friday

July 28, Noon