It was reported this afternoon that Lebanon and Hezbollah agreed on the UN resolution. Just minutes before, I received this report from Judith LeBlanc, the National Co chair for progressive coalition, United For Peace and Justice. She is in Beirut right now, with a small US peace delegation. I wonder what the people on the ground think about the decisions made 'upon high'.
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Eyewitness Report
Beirut on Day 29 of the War
By Judith Le Blanc
United For Peace and Justice National Co chair
On day 29 of the war, Beirut is a blend of many realities. The facts are that 1,000 have died, over 3,000 have been injured in Lebanon. Most are children. Whole villages and sections of cities have been evacuated, and life continues.
Every night there are new bombings of apartment buildings in Beirut and homes in southern Lebanon. Tyre has been blockaded and every major highway has been bombed. The United Nations says their humanitarian aid programs are paralyzed now.
Some Lebanese feel that the world has abandoned them. Many believe that Lebanon will survive as it has in the wars of the past. Time is not standing still. With every day the situation becomes more dire.
The spiral of continued war and failed diplomatic initiatives leaves the Lebanese government unable to make a full accounting of the extend of the damage to the infrastructure or the impact on the economy.
Families are trying to survive together and when possible they have sent their relatives to Syria or other countries even further away. One man who waited in line behind me to use the pay phone told me he sent his wife and children to another country. He stayed behind because his 90 year old mother refused to leave her apartment. He said
There are the families crowed into apartments waiting for the war to end. The families from the south of Lebanon sit under tarps for another day in Beirut's parks while others sit in public schools.
Cars form long lines at the few gas stations open while their drivers periodically erupt. into arguments.
Not too far off shore oil tankers are wait behind the Israeli Naval blockade while the hospitals report that they only have two days of fuel left. The tankers won’t move with out written permission from the Israelis.
While the banks are the only business running on regular business hours, they fear that many loans will not repaid.
Small clothing stores are having sales for no shoppers. A French owned store laid off 200 workers. At the protest outside the store, the workers said why do you lay us off in a time of need? Most workers are on half days if at all. Others are being forced to take their vacation time.
In the Hamra neighborhood where Muslim, Christian and Druze live together small shops stay open while periodic power outages compel the use of small generators. It is less than 2 miles away from the southern neighborhoods bombed in the last few days.
Haret Hraik, a neighborhood in southern Beirut, has been bombed for three nights in a row. Almost all the small shops are closed except for an occasional tire repair shop. We went to photograph the damage. When we got out of the car there were many press photographers who asked where we were from. We went on to another block where a group of men were watching the bulldozing of buildings bombed two nights ago. They asked where we were from, of course, and then they offered us chocolates!
We talked of the war and its impact. At one point, a man came up and asked what media we represented. He was from Hezbollah. They have set up guards and street patrols. He told us where to go to register to get an inside tour. The second time we were stopped, a man on a scooter pulled the car over.he told us not to photograph at all and gave us the address to register for permission.
Amongst the rubble of a bombed out building, I spoke with a man named Idriss. We were watching the bull dozing of a building that had been bombed two night s before. He had lived in New York City before Sept 11. When he was deported from the US, the immigration officials told him they were sorry, but because he is Arab and Muslim he would have to leave.
We chatted about New York City and he asked where I lived. When I told him that I can see Yankee Stadium from my bathroom window, he wanted me to go see his good friend Sami at his corner store at 161 Street in the Bronx.
He spoke of the senselessness of the bombing, but also reminded me that the bombs were sold to Israel by the US. I took his picture and promised to go to see his friend.
Over the past three days, many have said that Hezbollah is not the issue now. It’s the war. Some have said that Bush and the Israelis began this war to split the people along religious lines. More than one person said they believed this war was planned long ago. Some also believed the bombing was to force the people to decide to be for or against Hezbollah.
At noon time, as we photographed the clean up of one bombed out neighborhood, we were told by the press that another Israeli air raid had happened.
We thought we saw leaflets falling outside our window. Now they are reporting on CNN that yes, leaflets are being dropped in central Beirut. That has been the practice before a bombing. CNN is reporting that the Israeli government has decided to bomb closer to the center of the city.
There are many realities that are going on here. There is hope and there is fear. There is also a struggle to bring people together and lay the basis for a better future even while the end of this war is not in sight.
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