Fake borders

The first time I visited Europe it was in the year 1987, I was only 12 years old. It was a 40 days bus trip from Beirut to France. Before that, in the year 1986 I visited by relatives in the US. I believe that these two trips shaped my personality… To be open to the outside world...

In 2005, I visited France this time at 30 years old. I was fascinated by the concept of “no-borders”, I was in Grenoble one morning and we decided my sister and I to go to Torino in Italy for launch. One night I was in Paris and we decided with a friend to go to Amsterdam…

Then, it struck me that the aim of global terrorism and the Bin Laden &Co is to stop people from getting together freely. They want people to stick to their given geographical territories; they want to prevent them from knowing the other and reaching the other and therefore hate the other. That is a diabolic plan!!!

Borders mean nothing. Countries mean nothing.

The only one that has a meaning is the human being.

Private message

I am happy to the way I turned out to be…Well at least those who know me can understand what I mean…

Thanks dad for making me read the newspapers since I was 11 years old
Thanks mum for putting me in a fine school
Thanks Deedee for arguing (philosophical arguments!) with me
Thanks Heroush for taking care of me
Thanks Metz for preparing delicious meals
Thanks Zav for making me recreate myself all the time
Thanks Marco for making me feel what unconditional love is
Thanks Helene for being there all the time
Thanks Hayat for believing in me
Thanks Banet for being my precious special friends
Thanks Christine for giving me great opportunities to discover my strength
Thanks Lilit for making me strong
Thanks A&N for being the friendly faces that I need to rely on to keep on believing in peace

Our nicest neighbour...the Mediterranean*

It is so funny...
Syria is allowed to talk about peace with Israel but not Lebanon.
The Syrians have the right to negotiate with Israel to reach peace whatever that peace is: cold, warm, hot, boiling.

But it will be a crime for a Lebanese to think (just think) of peace with Israel...

Explain it to me...Why is that?

Lebanon is not under the Syrian control anymore...and the Lebanese government should have a clear vision about its future relations with Israel.
What are we going to do with this belligerent neighbour? Are we going to fight it year after year after year? Are we going to wait for its attacks and aggression? 1969-1978-1982-1993-1996-1999-2006 aren't these invasions enough to conclude that we have to find a sustainable solution?

*This is a statement by my dearest friend Rita Baroud ( I love you)

Recommendation

For a long time I havn't heard an accurate analysis of the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East on CNN, for the matter of fact ....nowhere

But today I heard on CNN Sandra Mackey a journalist analyzing the consequences of the war on the Lebanese internal politics...Well for my surprise she was so accurate and so realistic and so right with all the things she said

She has written a book published June 2006 "Lebanon: a house divided". I havent got the book yet and I dont know if it is available in Beirut (remember the blockade!!!!!) but it looks like it is a very good book and very accurate.

P.S I am stressing on the issue of accuracy because this is one of the major problems that the US and others are having with misleading information about the Middle East!!!!!!! NO NEED to say more

Nothing to say

I feel empty…I have been trying to write... whatever…even a word…but without success…Why?

I don’t know…
Maybe I am fed up with the absurdities of the Middle East…
Maybe I am trying to join dots hopelessly…
Maybe I am trying to dream of a future…
Maybe I am looking for a human face on the other side…

Many maybe (s) but the result is one: I feel empty

Trust...again

Walid Jumblatt spoke…
Comapred to Saad Harriri Jumblatt’s press conference was very realistic away from emotions, not comforting. Harriri’s speech was more “popularistic” and gave more hope to the Lebanese.

Jumblatt was critical of Nassrallah; he was clear that there was no Lebanese consensus over the war. He said we refuse pre-emptive strikes whether coming from Israel/US or coming from Iran/Hezbollah on the Lebanese soil.

He said we can build the country, it is easy but how can we build trust again?

He said the Shiaa in Lebanon should not try to find a special role, should not try to distinguish themselves from the other Lebanese (he quoted Mohamad Shamseddine)

Where are you Nassrallah? Say what you have to say…speak in your Lebanese mouth…Be a real Lebanese...Be a real hero…

Forget Iran

Don't ask...Don't tell

The Lebanese government has decided to adopt the policy of “Don’t ask…Don’t tell” regarding Hezbollah’s arms in the South.

The Lebanese Army is deploying in the South with the new UNIFIL.
Hezbollah is hiding all its equipments and its fighters are turning into ghosts. One of Hezbollah’s ministers in the government was clear in stating that if the Army finds arms let it confiscate it, if they see a fighter let them arrest him.

That is a good strategy at this stage, as a first step…

Only a crazy person can think that now we can disarm Hezbollah…it will take time…
We have to deal with this according to the Lebanese timing and not according to the Israeli timing…

So Ms Livni back off …

The right spirit

Bravo Saad Harriri, this is the spirit needed.
He made it very clear that we do not belong to neither camps (Syrian and Israeli)…we belong to Lebanon with all its different parties…
He made it clear that Syria’s strategy of starting a civil war in Lebanon will definitely fail…

Let us wait and see what will Jumblat say in his press conference in half an hour…

I expect Sayyed Nassrallah to be next after Jumblatt in clearing his position…hopefully…

Leave us alone

The problem with Lebanon is that none of its neighbors took it seriously. Israelis and Syrians saw in Lebanon a battlefield, they never saw it as a country, as a state, as a nation.

I am a strong believer that the Cairo agreement in 1969 (that allowed the PLO in the country) was the ultimate mistake that consolidated the concept of Lebanon, the battlefield.

Syria and Israel played their games in Lebanon for years and it seems they got addicted to that. They were unable to stop playing…Israel was eager to use its toys again. Syria did not get over its expulsion from the field yet…So, they came back for a last game…

Gentlemen, this was your last game in Lebanon.

Today, the Lebanese army deployed in the South for the first time since 1968.
Today, all the Lebanese agreed on this deployment…and this is very significant…this is the first step towards our nation-building…

Mr Assad your strategy of “divide and conquer” failed…
Ms Livni stop threatening Lebanon of another war…

Leave us alone... 7ello 3anna

The new Middle East

Since the start of the war, many politicians and analysts are talking about the new Middle East that Ms Rice was preaching about.
No one really knows what she means by that, how it will look like...confusion in the Bush Land...nothing new

But I will give you a hint what the new Middle East looks like from my side:

As you know, even though the crazy useless war ended up with a cease-fire, the blockade is still on and therefore it is really difficult to find gas (fuel, benzin…whatever you want to call it) for the cars.
This morning I promised my three year old son to take him to the park (playground…)
But before going there we had to stop at a gas station to fill my car…The station that I am used to was not providing gas…I was really angry… and my small little kid turned to me and said in French “maman, ne t’inquiete pas on va trouver du benzin” (translation: mama don’t worry we will find gas)

That is the new Middle East, little kids trying to appease their parents, trying to calm them…thinking of fuel, of things that shouldn’t preoccupy them.

How wonderful...Thank you Ms Rice

Do it...Say it

Sayyed Hassan where are you? Why haven’t you commented on Assad’s speech yet? All the Lebanese are waiting; they want to know what you think of all the poisonous words that came out of the mouth of the Rabbit of Damascus…

Sayyed Hassan, you know that this is your chance to break up with Syria, to break the ties…

Do it now…

Tell Mr Assad that his strategy of divide and conquer is not effective anymore because all the Lebanese have been vaccinated against that…

Tell him that your guarantee and Hezbollah’s guarantee are the Lebanese people and the Lebanese government only…

Tell him that you fought for the Lebanese (even if many do not support that) and that you fought for the Arab people (again even if many do not support that) and not for failed dictatorships like his…

Sayyed Hassan we are all waiting…Do it

Assad’s Shame and Sham

We were expecting it…it happened…The Assad folklore speech in front of his puppets and his agitated monkeys…

He was so pathetic…all I could hear from his unprofessional, nothing to do with leadership speech was begging… He was begging whoever can help him to bring him back to Beirut…

Reminding us of 1983 will not help you Mr Assad…
Threatening the Lebanese of a civil war will not help you Mr Assad…
Accusing the non-supporters of Hezbollah of being Israeli agents will not help you Mr Assad…

Nothing will help you even your best friend AhmadiNajad can do nothing to bring you back to Beirut…

We have a saying in Lebanon which goes literally as follows: “May the ground open and swallow me” (Ya Ard Ensha2e w Bla3ini)… Well, I am pretty sure that Sayyed Nasrallah was wishing to be swallowed after the Assad and AhmadiNajad speeches…

They made it so clear that the Hezbollah so-called success was their success and would not have happened without them…So, Sayyed Hassan stop saying that this is a Lebanese victory because your bosses do not think so…

When is the next war?

Today at 8 am the war stopped in Lebanon.
So, what do you expect us to do now?
Should we pretend that nothing happened? Should we delete from our memories all the events from July 12 till August 14?
I saw lot’s of Lebanese on the streets again, in the restaurants again. That is great for a while but not healthy on the long run.
If we keep deleting we will keep on having wars, this is what history is trying to teach us but we are refusing to learn.
This is a cease-fire; cease-fires are always temporary. Isn’t it time to think about something more permanent like a peace treaty?
Many will say this is blasphemy, moreover it is not the time for that… we have to mourn, to rebuild etc… and we are the last country to sign a peace treaty with the enemy.
Fine, but at least keep that on the agenda…even if it is the last item…or else the only question that we should be asking ourselves is: "when will be the next war in our country; the country that we all love?"

Cease-fire

The Israeli government decided that the cease-fire will be effective starting Monday 14, at 5 am GMT. At the meantime the IDF is intensifying its military operations, of course getting advantage of the last quarter…Great! killing more, destroying more…
The Hezbollah leadership is confused, one night Nasrallah is with the implementation of 1701(The new UN resolution), the other night he refuses the resolution…Great a confused fully loaded, armed man…
Heyyyyy I am fed up…The whole day I am hearing useless analysis
Is there going to be a real cease-fire? Is the Lebanese Army able to protect the Lebanese borders against Israel? Will Hezbollah disarm? What will happen after the cease-fire? Are we going to get the Shebaa Farms? What did Livni say? What did Seniora say?..... Talk talk talk talk……….
I am fed up
Why don’t we THE INNOCENT PEOPLE on both sides leave and go somewhere else and let the IDF, Hezbollah, the ministers on both sides and the analysts stay in Lebanon and Israel? They can fight, destroy, analyze and so on…nothing will change.
I am really tired…who will give me my life back?

Sad Anniversary

A month a go on July 12 at 11:45 am, my husband asked me to get my son from the nursery because a friend told him that something bad might happen in the country. Today, on August 12, my son is not at the nursery, he is not in his house, he is not in his bed with 1 million other Lebanese that turned to refugees.
Today the UN Security Council adopted the resolution 1701 that they say is the best thing for all parties to end the aggression.
Today, the Lebanese government accepted the resolution.
Today, the IDF has intensified its military operations.
Today, I am still confused about the war.
Today, I am still wishing that this whole thing will turn out to be a nightmare.
Today, I am still cross with Sayyed Hassan Nassrallah.
Today, I do not trust the IDF and the Israeli government.
But today, after a whole month of destruction, killings and hatred I am still a strong believer in Peace.
I will do whatever it takes; I will go wherever I have to go to see peace prevailing in this region.

The aftermath

When the war started a month ago, almost all the Lebanese were surprised and shocked. We were not in the mood of war; we were in the mood of festivities.
What has happened has happened. What has gone has gone…
What I want to know and what worries me is what will happen after the war ends…
Many so-called analysts have started preaching that what is coming next will be worse than the Israeli destruction… Great…
Is Hezbollah more frightening as loser or as victorious?
Is it easier to deal with a weak Hezbollah or a strong Hezbollah?
If Hezbollah is disarmed and stops existing as a resistance movement; will its leadership focus on the internal politics and work on creating an Islamic Republic? What will be the “raison d’etre” (sorry I don’t know how to use the French keyboard) of Hezbollah as a non-resistant party?
These are some of the worrying questions…there are more…
I wish I knew a fortune teller …

Eureka!!!

I got it now...
Israel has occupied lands in the South of Lebanon again...
After an interruption of 6 years the IDF is back to Marjaoun...
Nassrallah announced yesterday that the Hezbollah fighters will turn the new occupied lands in Lebanon to hell…
I am convinced now that the happiest person today is Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah why? Now he has the best excuse to keep his arms...
Yes Nasrallah has postponed I don't know for how long the disarming of Hezbollah.
Tomorrow, if the UN Security Council adopts the American-French modified plan, if the Lebanese government refuses it, what will happen? The fighting will continue, the destruction will continue and Hezbollah will keep the arms...
On Sunday the Syrian bullshiter Walid Moalem (the Syrian foreign minister) said Syria welcomes a regional war, Ahlan Wa Sahlan…
I say the Lebanese do not welcome a war that might last for years like the last war that lasted for 15 years…

What is happening on the other side

I will not get bored repeating this: not all Lebanese are in favor of Hezbollah and its war against Israel, and not all Israelis want to destroy Lebanon.
Here is a link you would want to look at
http://maarav.org.il/draftedart/

Futile Dreams

I had an interview on Monday on a radio station in Canberra Australia to talk about the war in Lebanon... At one point during the interview the host Lisa asked me : "Did you wish Hezbollah did not exist?"
That is a futile question, Hezbollah does exist and we have to deal with it...
It is the same as when some Arabs and non-Arabs say if Israel did not exist such and such would not have happened... What a stupid thing.... Hey people, Hey AhmadiNajad... Israel exists and it will continue on existing unless of course the Iranian Superman AhmadiNajad will wipe out Israel as he bullies...

Instead of putting all our energy in futile discourses, let us put our energy in finding strategies to deal with Israel to create a peaceful environment in the Middle East.

Hezbollah will always exist, Israel will always exist, what we have to work on is to change the dynamics of their relationship.

Dan the Man

The UN Security Council meetings are usually boring except when Dan Gillerman, the Israeli ambassador to the UN has to deliver a speech.
Yes, he is Israeli put I admire his way in delivering speeches…Actually I enjoy listening to him, he makes me laugh… hey let’s make it clear I am not talking about the content of his speeches.
But, Mr Gillerman is a natural actor, I like him when he looks at the Lebanese ambassador and directly speaks to him while our ambassador tries to ignore him. I like him when he calls our ambassador my “Lebanese friend”, which makes our ambassador nervous.
This man is so funny, shrewd and devilish…
I am happy that Dr Tarek Mitri has gone to the UN to represent us at this crucial point. I just saw Mr Mitri’s performance, not bad Dr… Thank God that you did not leave the floor to Mr Nuhad Mahmood (our ambassador to the UN. Please with people like Mr Gillerman at the UN, our government should choose the best of the best to represent us…
Mr Mahmood, why don’t you run the tapes of the “Gillerman Show” and learn a bit? Of course during your free time in New York.We can not always lose at the UN even when we are right because of our poor performance

positive activism

Today I decided that I will boycott all the news channels and I will try to have a normal life as if the war did not exist. I got up at 8 o’clock for my morning shower, no electricity… and of course no hot water… I said to myself, no no no it has nothing to do with the war… It is a coincidence…
Go prepare your coffee… while drinking my French vanilla flavoured coffee on my balcony I looked at Beirut covered with black clouds… No no no it has nothing to do with the war… It is a coincidence…
I entered my living room, I wanted to read a book on the history of spices (well that was the only book that had nothing to do with the Middle East that I could find on the shelves)… I stared reading it smelling the cinnamon and the other exotic spices of the East… and guess what an Israeli fighter jet flew over my region… No no no it has nothing to do with the war… It is a coincidence…
I put on my clothes and decided to go for a frappucino and an oatmeal raisin cookie at Starbucks, on my way I saw very long queues of cars waiting in front of gas stations… No no no it has nothing to do with war… It is a coincidence…
Good news, I got the last piece of oatmeal cookie, oh lala I am so lucky…WOW
I went to the Canadian Embassy to get the immigration applications for me and my family… No no no, it has nothing to do with the war… It is a coincidence…
Oh my God, I don’t have enough gas in my car to reach my new safe house in the mountains; that means I have to find a gas station and queue for hours to be able to reach home, to join my son…
I counted 42 cars in front of my car at the gas station…No no no I can not take it anymore… No no no I can not ignore the war anymore…No one can ignore the war…It is in our faces everyday…
We have to stop accepting all this bullshit, we have to stop being passive and submissive to the will of the destroyers on both sides.
I heard a Lebanese blogger suggesting Lebanese and Israelis (who are against the war) to march simultaneously towards the borders… That is a positive activism… but unrealistic because the borders are very dangerous… However the spirit of this blogger is great and we should build on that and come up with a positive realistic action against the war.

Give me ideas...save me...save millions of people on both sides

persona non grata

Walid Moalem is the foreign minister of Syria... He is not welcomed in Beirut... He came on Sunday to participate in the useless Arab summit of Arab foreign ministers, as soon as he was given the opportunity to say what is on his government's mind, he started bullshiting...
The Syrian regime is unable to understand that no one cares what Bashar thinks about the American-French deal over Lebanon, that no one wants to deal with Bashar and his surrounding.
If the Americans and the French decide to talk to someone it will be Iran.
Syria is out of Lebanon and it will not come back...
Bashar thinks that the Shebaa card will bring him back to Beirut, haha... Look around you the world has changed.

Psychology and War

For 27 days now, almost all the Lebanese are mesmerized in front of the TV watching the news and listening to the analysis guessing when the war will stop, what will be the next move of each party, who is winning the war, whose war is this…etc etc…
I discovered that all our university teachers and professors are political or military or “strategic” (whatever that means) analysts. I discovered that all the reporters (senior, junior, beginner, intern…) in newspapers are analysts and have the answers to the hardest questions, questions that the parties concerned may not have an answer to…

If I had the chance to host analysts, I would have chosen psychologists and psychiatrists. I am sure you want to know why.
It is simple; this whole war is because of mentally sick countries, governments and populations.

Let’s start with the parties directly involved in the war: Hezbollah and Israel.

Hezbollah is a Shiite movement or party or whatever you want to call it. Shiites in the history of Islam were considered second class Muslims compared to Sunnis. They were always lacking power and marginalized. So, now Hezbollah in its fight against Israel, it is showing that Shiites can be powerful, they can bring honour to Islam and they can be the protectors of the Islamic world. The lack of love towards him turned him to an aggressive entity wanting to prove himself. Hezbollah wants to regain the love of the parents (the Islamic world).

Israel is an insecure entity, always feeling persecuted, looking for the enemy everywhere. Stupid comments like wanting to throw Israel into the sea, or getting rid of Israel do not help in healing the patient on the contrary it enforces the idea of persecution, and therefore making him more hysteric and unpredictable in his moves.

Now, let’s move to the other indirect parties: the US, the EU, Iran and the Arab world.

The US is an obsessed entity, obsessed with terrorism and Islam. It has the compulsive obsessive disorder thing… Always wanting to kill the terrorists and the Muslims whoever they are or wherever they are non-stop 24/7.

The EU has the ongoing eternal guilt feeling towards Israel because of the Holocaust. So whatever, Israel does or will do the EU will never be able to stand against it.

Iran’s mental sickness is the same as Hezbollah’s; that inferiority feeling towards the Sunnis, and the feeling of being unloved, desperate to do anything to regain the respect and love. So, they show that they will stand up against the US, they will be tough and so on…

The Arab world is like the EU. However, the Arabs feel guilty towards the Palestinians; they feel that they left them alone in their fight to regain their lands. Moreover, those who signed peace treaties with Israel are the sickest, because the guilt feeling is bigger than the others… That is why we see Egyptians and Jordanians more passionate about Hezbollah’s fight against Israel.

So, you see this whole war between Israel and Hezbollah can be analysed from a mental perspective.

We are indeed living in a sick world.

Finally I got it!!!

Again I am having difficulties writing continuously, you know why because I am learning new things everyday and I am having difficulties processing the new information.
The latest discovery of mine is that finally I got to understand the new international structure, the one created after 9/11; the one that wants to fight terrorism and bring in the Middle East DEMOCRACY.

So, let me share it with you.

Lebanon came up with a seven points plan to solve the ongoing war with Israel, and the Lebanese PM went to Rome proposing it to the US, the Europeans and some Arab countries.
Israel did not even bother looking at it; the IDF continued bombing whatever it showed on its radar.
The US and France decided that the Lebanese plan did not suit them so, they started negotiating a plan of their own.
Yesterday the plan was out to the public… and both the US and France were satisfied with it and Israel found it to good to be implemented or accepted by the Lebanese.
But no one asked the Lebanese what they thought of it, if it was suitable for them… Who cares about the Lebanese and what they think of the plan.
As if the war is not happening on the Lebanese soil, as if it wasn’t the Lebanese kids that were getting killed, as if it wasn’t 1 million Lebanese that were forced to leave their houses.

Well, this is the new International Structure…. Thank you America, Thank you La France… Thank you for knowing what is best for us more than us…

Inner-search

I am not being persistent these few days in writing my thoughts or feelings on the blog because I am giving myself time to manage my contradictory feelings and thoughts that I am having since the start of this bloody war.
Thoughts like just and unjust war, thoughts like war and peace, thoughts like friendship and enemy.
Feelings like hate and love, feelings like love of a country and love of the people.
Then, someone (that I hope I will have the chance to meet one day) wrote to me these lines: “conflicts take 4-5 generations to heal from.The “loser” keeps on striving to revenge, and the “victorious” never enjoys its victory as it needs to constantly protect it by force and war”.
What can I say? This thought made me stay sleepless for two days

At which generation are we now in the Arab-Israeli conflict?
From 1948 till 2008, let us look at the generations on the losers’ side (Palestinians and Arabs)
1-The first generation witnessed the creation of Israel and fought the first Arab-Israeli war.
2-The second generation (kids of the first generation) witnessed their parents’ bitterness and loss and tried to rectify the “mistake” by engaging themselves in several wars.
3-The third generation (kids of the second generation) kept on hearing their grandparents’ stories about the injustice.
4-The fourth generation (kids of the third generation) are reading about the injustice from the history books.

So, if I am not mistaken in my estimations, currently we are at the 4th generation in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the violence is continuing and the voices of peace on both sides are fading and becoming inefficient.

I need your comments on these thoughts, Am I correct in counting the generation? Am I missing something? I want to know when are we going to be ready for peace in this region?

The explorer

I have been away for two days... doing nothing? Not at all, on the contrary I think I was doing a very useful thing.... I was reading about the "other", the "different", about the "enemy"... Who is that? Of course Israel, but not what so ever Israel (what we call in Arabic 7ayalah) no not 7ayala Israel.

I spent two days reading about the Israeli population or the people in Israel. All my knowledge about Israel is through their politicians (Olmert, Peretz, Sharon, Netanyahu, Peres, Rabin, Golda Meir, Ben Gurion....) their generals, tanks, intelligent missiles, merkavas, patriots...
However what do I know about the people inside the country?
Not all Lebanon is Hezbollah and for sure not all Israel is Olmert-Peretz-Halutz.

I read a very interesting book that I advice those interested in knowing about the Israeli people to read.

"The People on the Street: A writer's view of Israel" by Linda Grant

The writer exposes the thoughts and feelings of the people of Israel in all their variety; of those that fled the Holocaust, of those not interested in politics and do not care what is happening beyond the Green Line, of those that served with the IDF in Lebanon, of those who served with the IDF in the occupied territories, of those who were forced to leave the Gaza settlements, of those who hated the Arabs, of those who hated Israelis, of those Arabs coming back for the first time to the land of their grandparents….

It is a very enriching book full of colourful personalities and full of information about the “Israeli personality”.

Linda Grant did not want her book to be an activist’s book, did not want it a politics book however, she ends the book with a certitude that the solution for the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis is through a two state solution.

I will try in the coming days to put on these pages some of the things that Grant put in her book that I found interesting to share with everybody.

I advise you to read the book