madly in love with Iraq: Bye Bye Beirut

31.7.06

Bye Bye Beirut

It is not easy to put my experience during the last two weeks into simple words.

But what I’ve witnessed made me face the naked truth. The truth I’ve been trying to hide from by being hopeful and optimistic.
I am still wondering though, whether I would have seen things differently had I watched it on TV sitting on my comfortable sofa in London.

The Lebanese first reaction after arresting the two Israeli soldiers; was that the timing of Hezbollah is wrong, as it was the tourism season. But their sentiment changed completely after bombing Rafik Al Hariri’s airport the next day.
They realised the real aim yet again of the Israelis well known to them from many previous assaults.

I cannot say I was frightened because I’ve seen much worse in Iraq.
The difference is there was no retaliation from the ground. We only heard Israeli jets roaring overhead and the blasts when they dropped the bombs, which startled us a bit and then silence. While in Baghdad the ground to air missiles and all types of weaponry aimed at the aircrafts used to make terrifying sounds and shock the earth beneath us.

The above is from the hotel window in Beit Meri (the mountains) 5:00am

Leaving Beirut..........

The only time I felt really scared was on the second night of the aerial strikes; when I took a walk with some of the hotel residents early in the evening and saw a whole army lined alongside the sea promenade looking straight into the water probably watching for frogmen human.
One woman raised her head and cried loudly “May God Almighty sink this ugly frigate we were watching from a far and burn whoever on board”. That same night Nasrallah announced bombing it. I sat trembling in my hotel room till early in the morning.

On the third day there was no hope left neither inside the hotel nor outside. Apart from the local bakery and supermarket there was nothing open. On that exact day my mother arrived from Syria and we spent three more days in front of the TV boiling with anger and frustration watching the destruction and the daily massacres.

The Lebanese I met in the hotel and many locals living in the area were very much with Hezbollah criticising Syria for being so silent. They wanted the Syrian to open the Golan front and declare a real open war once and for all.

On the sixth day and after bombing the light house near where we were staying, the whole hotel slept in the shelter apart from us and another Iraqi couple.

Next morning we checked out and went to the mountains. A 20 minute trip cost us $80. On our way up the bombing of the southern part of Beirut intensified as the traffic got busier the minute we hit the mountains.
We stayed in a hotel one night busy arranging a car to cross the borders, and meanwhile I couldn’t help standing in the balcony every now and then looking down at Beirut screaming below.

The journey from the mountains to Damascus took us only 2 hours including the delays in both the Lebanese and Syrian borders. We were not aware that our driver who charged us $800 took the bombed route in order to come back quickly and get more passengers. He bribed his way through as we did not move from our seats until our arrival.

The following day we travelled yet again to Amman arriving completely stressed and sad, still glued to the TV screen watching in disbelief the whole world conspiring, lying and justifying the slaughtering of another city in the Middle East. But who cares…..

The Conclusion:

I’ve never ever felt so humiliated in my life as I did seeing Israeli jets flying freely in the skies of Beirut, not only that but there were small grey balloons hanging in the air taking photographs at aimed areas. I loathed our weakness, I loathed being born as an Arab, I loathed living in London I hated myself so much I couldn’t even look in the mirror or watch my shadow as I walk. I felt so small and envied a tiny ant struggling to find its way through the sand.

I hate peace and I don’t believe in it anymore, it is so clear now that the more we bow and compromise the more we got stepped at and smashed. If there would be peace one day it has to be on our own terms.

Israel is talking about changing the culture of hate; what a joke, those cowards have the cheek to speak about hate.
Israel has the right to defend itself; and talking about us trying to throw them in the sea, so meanwhile they are throwing us in hell.

The US has only one goal, that is to turn the area to a desert and drain it freely; armless, helpless, pacified and who dares to say a word.

It is very hard for me to say that our only salvation is to ally with Iran, the only strong country left, enough is enough we are living in an era where you have to be feared not respected.

And a small message to all the hypocrates; you may kill and slaughter trying to establish a so called "The New Middle East"; rememmber you are fighting an ideology not a group of people.

Nasrallah is not a terrorist; he is probably the last dignified man in the area. Right now he is the only man I can take my hat off for.

54 Comments:

Wow, the events you have witnessed have really friend your brain.
I guess it would be like asking me to think logically on the afternoon of September 11.
Surely the folks in Lebanon knew that having a giant terrorist militant organization armed with 13,000 rockets and anti-ship weapons in their country was a *bad* thing, right? I mean, this does not take a genius to know this, right?

Do you think the Arab people felt small on the days of Purple Fingers in Iraq? How do you explain your belief that the USA wants to belittle you when we risk our soldiers lives and our treasure to overthrow a dictator and provide for 3 reasonably democratic elections? The Iraqi people were able to express their will freely just like normal countries.
We try very hard to bring stability and liberal democracy to a country with no history of it. This is the most supremely difficult task anyone has tried to accomplish in this century.

Why do we do this? Because the alternative you hint at is too bleek--it is the war of civilizations--the WWIII--the deaths of more than 20 million people.

So why not go the other way? Why not eliminate terrorism in Lebanon? Bring peace and democracy to the region. Hezbollah does not want democracy. They want domination. They want Islamist rule and intimidation.

By Original_Jeff, at 12:57 am
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

By ahmed, at 1:26 am
This is a very emotional post. I respect your emotions and understand them, but I do not share your point of view, I am currently writing a post about it and I will post it soon.
It was a pleasure meeting you, you are my favorite girl of the three.

By ahmed, at 1:27 am
jeff you hold some very noble ideals but you have to consider the real effects that are being felt by people in the region right now.

if your home was being attacked by a foreign power, would you start fighting with your fellow countrymen before you fight back? probably not. your prognosis of lebanese politics is very simplistic and things are really not that easy though many people would liek them to be.

i have to read this again before i respond.

By Anonymous, at 2:24 am
Original Jeff,

You should question why this ‘militant organization' was born to begin with. It was born due to Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, and if this RESISTANCE (a word that is out of your dictionary and probably a little difficult for you to comprehend since the mainstream media has no room for it -please don't take this personally; you represent the majority of the American 'masses') is squashed, ANOTHER will rise out of the ashes...just like it did after 1982 in Beirut. Hezbollah was not born then. The events led to its birth.

And please do not go comparing apples and oranges when you talk about Iraqi elections...Everyone in Iraq knows that people voted to VOTE AMERICAN TROOPS OUT! The Iraqi people thanks to American occupation are neither 'free' nor independent when a foreign power dictates the next step for the government and foreign officials arrive unannounced to land in a country whose whole sovereignty has been confiscated!

If Hezbollah had wanted " domination...and...Islamist rule and intimidation", they would have imposed it 15 years ago...They NEVER did!

You have never been or lived in the Middle East. Your 'couch' view of how things should be handled are not pragmatic. I challenge you to spend one single day on 'the other side'. Trust me, it will change your perspective dramatically.

ZZ

P.S. "Stability and Liberal Democracy can never come with occupation"...In Iraq specifically, and after 3 rotten years...this has only proved true.

By Zaineb Alani, at 4:06 am
Dear Hala,

Take a deep breath...remember Life was and never will be Fair..the diffrance between Nasrallah and Saddam is simple Saddam was a an unwise Barbarian, Nasrallah is a wise human who understands the barbarian Isreali Government he also know how to push their butoons at the right time and the right place, this time however the recoil was to hard.

By Zappy Corleone, at 5:14 am
It seems Britain is helping the US to provide Israel with the bombs they need for their war:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5230514.stm

By Anonymous, at 6:12 am
Hmm, the URL in my previous post looks incomplete som here it is again:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5230514.stm

By Anonymous, at 6:15 am
The previos URLs looks incomplete again, after Scotland this should follow:

/glasgow_and_west/5230514.stm

By Anonymous, at 6:22 am
Many of you have watched and listened to Nasrallah in his native language. I have not.
I ask you this question: Have you ever heard Nasrallah express the idea that Israel has a right to exist?

My understanding is that Nasrallah's most fundamental belief regarding Israel is that it must be destroyed.

In that case, Israel really has nothing to offer in a negotiation with the "resistance."

So please, all you Arabs should be supporting Israel. The Israelis want nothing more than for all of the people of the middle east to be prosperous, free, and live in modern, liberal democracies that respect their people and protect their human rights.

The Israelis accept land for peace as a concept, and they want Palestinians to have their own state. They had moved out of Gaza and were preparing to do the same in the West Bank. ... Yes, you can argue that they had limited trade, etc, but if the result had been peace, do you think they would waste their money policing these areas? Hell no.

By Original_Jeff, at 12:20 pm
Hala

glad to see you are sage. I sypathise with your anger, and know that I stand by you. Don't let the Jeffs in the world get you down. There will be justice one day be it through Jihad or by other means.

Original)Jeff

You are not so original for you P
parrot the American sentiment. I dispute your claim of Israel having a right to exist. Its very conception was at the expense of 700,000 Palestinian Arabs who lived in the area and called it home. But now that they are here, the Palestinians are expected to settle for a homeland that is divided in half by a Jewish state? At any time the Israelis can at will cut off Gaza from the West Bank. Why should the Palestinians be the ones to be so vulnerable when they were the native population at the time of the Balfour declaration?

You speak of Hizbollah as terrorists. Was the Bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut a terrorist act? No, it was a military target. The USS Cole was also a military target, yet that is also pinned as a "terrorist act". (I know it was AL Queda..it's an example.) It seems that the label of terrorist is given out based on whether you support the U.S./U.K. plan for the new Mideast or not. You want ot call Hizbollah terrorists because of all the Katyusha rockets they fire into Israel...that do kill civilians. Well let's then talk about all the civilians the Israelis have killed in air and artillery strikes. Hizbollah has weopons that lack any type of guidence systems, so they do not aim at anything let aloone civilians. With all the high tech weopons that Israel has, thanks the the U.S>,what is Israel's exvuse? Just oops?

Wake up and smell the coffee.

By Anonymous, at 1:46 pm
I speak as someone who's ancestry is made up up of the two most oppressed groups in North America.

I've been hated. I've had violence done upon me for my skin color. Hell, I've had violence threaten for simply being male, on more than one occasion.

I'm also a layperson researcher; I study mostly 14th-16th century Ottoman history, which gives me a unique perspective on things, from what I'm gathering.

I started reading your blog, recommended by a couple of other blogs I frequent, because you always expressed hope. Love -- it's in your title -- in love with a country my country sadly invaded.
Reading your blog has made me more involved in getting us out of Iraq in a way that doesn't leave folks there with a civil war on their hands. You may think you have no power, but your words are powerful, and they are being heard, I swear to you.

I'm trying to respect your anger, your feelings of impotence, of anger. You feelings that the only way to win is to strike back. So love is slowly replaced with hate, and a strong women that looked to a grand future is leveled, like the lands she loves, to the level of wanting to lash out in anger.

And what the IDF, what Israeli is doing is deeply, deeply stupid. Not just the deaths and the destruction, as horrific as they are. Yet the worst thing of all -- the loss of goodwill, just as we here in America lost so much goodwill with the push to our war. Please forgive us -- and them; they know not what they do.

The way of War, of Resistance, is going to fail, because the best you'll get is Vietnam, where everyone save the powerful lose. Can you really, truly see HB overtaking the IDF? Of course not.
This is something many of us in the West are trying to express to our leaders, to step away, to stop converting loving people like yourself into supporters of the very thing we're supposed to be fighting...but it seems we're going to just have to throw the bums out. Again.

And we so desperately need people on your side to do that with. People who love their lands, and who want peace -- not at any price, but at the right price. The price of being strong enough to put the gun down, and work for a sustainable peace.

And yes, this is exactly what I'm telling my Jewish friends. I've...had a couple of fights, along those lines. Been accused of being anti-Semitic, that I want Israeli to lose.

I don't. Nor do I want to lose Lebanon, or Iraq. But if we do our part here, to put in wiser leaders, leaders who can start healing the rifts, securing the peace...someone over there must be willing to do the same. Lebanon's already had one insane civil war; encouraging the Way of the Gun will only bring it another, and even we can see the seams starting to tear, now.

Does that make sense?

By Anonymous, at 1:49 pm
Original Jeff is WAAAAAAYYYY too accepting of Israel's targeting ambulances. There's a reason Kofi Annaan accused Israel of targeting the UN post where 4 UN workers were bombed. Israel KNEW they were there and there were MULTIPLE calls to Israel about the bombs before the UN site was hit by Israel.
I have lost any remaining respect for Israel, and with their violence and oppression of people in Palestine, there wasn't much left to lose.

Where are the two kidnapped soldiers? That video tapes of some gruesome torture haven't been released, makes me think they're still alive. Kudos to the greater civilized actions of Hezbollah.
We can see who is more human right there.

Hala, Israel's actions speak of their desire for all out war. If they can provoke Syria and Iran to join in, they can probably get Bush the butcher's implicit permission for nuclear use.

Israel wants war. Don't give them what they want.

Look at the fall of Russia, the fall of the Berlin wall. Israel will one day fall of it's own accord. It's an unnatural state propped up by the US. It's only a matter of money and time. You don't need bombs.

Don't let your anger eat you up. Temper it, hone it, sharpen it and focus it. More killing will not get you what you want.

By Anonymous, at 2:47 pm
tim i had that problem too, when you copy the text of the comment to your clipboard it pastes the entire link. don't fret!

original jeff, i want to be clear that i don't support hezbollah, but you can see here exactly what war does to people-it radicalizes them, not the opposite effect.

as for you question, is it better to cry peace while annihilating a country, or cry annihilation while barely affecting it?

lebanon is being destroyed right now. not hezbollah, not even hezbollah supporters, the whole thing is being dismantled and internationally not a peep.
if the right in america would be willing to destroy what was possibly the most prowestern society and government in the region, if even they can't be seen as allies what message do you think that sends to the rest of us? what faith do you expect them to have in those ideals? what trust of western leaders that were so supportive only a month ago?

By Anonymous, at 3:29 pm
Nadia,
It seems like things might have been heading in the right direction a few months ago. There was that agreement amongst Barghuti (sp?) and the other prisoners about what might constitute a reasonable peace with the Israelis regarding Palestine.
But then the radicals, who really don't want Israel to exist at all, saw that this was a threat to their objective (destruction of Israel), so they went about their way of provking things. First in Gaza. Later, Iran was under fire for the nuclear program issue, so maybe they provoked the stuffy in the north.
It just seems like the good people who want peace, who want to make a land-for-peace deal, are always getting derrailed by the radicals.
In fact, I wonder if this is why the Arafat would not commit to a deal with Barak (when Clinton was president). Perhaps he was worried that he could not get the radicals to unite behind a peace plan and that civil war would result. And, I bet he was right!
In fact, Israel probably should not have even gone down that path--they had too much faith in Arafat, in retrospect. They would have made the deal and then the other side would not have been able to maintain peace.

Anyway, the radicals are not the fried of Hala_S, they are holding her back--and the aspirations of millions of people in the middle east.

You've live there, what do you think?

By Original_Jeff, at 12:22 am
i am just trying to illustrate why people feel the way they do. what i think should be asked also, is not whether radicals are their friend but why they should call the americans their friend? how can they possibly do that now? how many times are we supposed to go through this?

as for me, unlike a lot of the commenters here i am a totally westernized arab though i still have many family connections there, so i'm not so sure that what i think matters. but i don't think i have to support hezbollah to be against israel and the united states' doings here.

it's my personal (and probably very unpopular here) opinion though, that instead of looking to nasrallah, people in egypt and jordan and wherever else would take the struggle to their own countries rather than living vicariously through others. while i can understand why the lebanese would support hezbollah and believe they have legitimate reasons to, it seems that the rest of the arab world have very brave words when the fighting isn't happening on their own soil, and it isn't their blood being spilt and their children being burnt. if they truly supported lebanon the flow of oil could stop tomorrow, but it won't. as far as i'm concerned it's all empty words.

By Anonymous, at 3:25 am
Nasralah is not vigilant, he knew very well that when hamas kidnapped some Israeli soldiers, they made a big ordeal out of it, how about if hizbalah and not Lebanon did that?

In the same time, the Israeli UNEThical response is totally unacceptable and it seems that they never dream of such opportunity to put Lebanon down, Lebanon by no means, could be the most prosperous, democratic country in the region, is that just pure jealousy, the Lebanese exmaple was something of a good frontier for all arabs.

but i totally agree with you, when you weak, the bully can do anything he wishes!

But allying with Iran, Iran has its interests as well, I belive that each country, and individual should respect freedom, and if there are any freedom struggle , i will go with it, but not under any dogamatic, religous banner, iraq is an example!

salam for now

By Shams, at 3:29 am
"Lebanon by no means, could be the most prosperous, democratic country in the region.

That fate was sealed back in 1969 with the signing of the Cairo Agreement between the PLO and the Lebanese Army urged on by Nasser.

It is to Lebanon what the WW1 Armistice was to Europe. It set the stage and contributed...for the Lebanese Civil War, for Israeli incursion and occupation...for Syrian interference and occupation...for the formation of Hezbollah...for the Lebanese people suffering.

They were prosperous and democratic even with Israel on their border before that date no?

Too many people on all sides want to play the blame game.

IMHO

By Anonymous, at 10:58 pm
Before anyone goes crazy...the correlation between the Armistice and the Cairo Agreement being...one defining point in history leading down a path to a series of (in retrospect) inevitable events.

I know not the perfect correlation but I hope you get the idea

By Anonymous, at 11:24 pm
Your bigotry upbringing is showing.

By Anonymous, at 4:36 am
Hala,

when you are able to calm down and think again, you'll probably revise your sympathy for Hezbollah.

Just think where Iraq could be now had it not been for the destructive forces that prevent the democratic process and the rebuilding of your country. Fanatics with guns are not the solution for Middle East problems. That said, my heart bleeds for Lebanon.

By Anonymous, at 5:58 am
the fanatics in iraq are slaughtering hundreds of their own people daily.

on that note why don't people ever talk about the lebanese maronite militias that wiped out palestinian refugee camps and murdered children by the hundreds?

By Anonymous, at 1:50 pm
Madly in Love,
You write so beautifully, I say this because I wish some of my japanese univ students wrote the same way ;-)

I read your posting carefully. I hear your voice. After months of posting everyday on Treasure of Baghdad's blog, I feel somewhat closer to the people in that situation. The maleness in me, wants to put their big bear paw around your shoulders and tell you, "Don't worry honey, everything is going to work out ok...Trust me." Then, in the script the guy exits stage right, with a rife over his shoulder. He's going to get those bad guys! The teenage audience in the darkened movie theater stand up and cheer. This is what they paid for!
Hey, is this a movie or "for real"?

Madly in love,
I should have ended with that previous line. but it wouldn't be true to how I really feel. Our family has two teenage daughters. All their lives they have only known the movies about death and destruction, never anything close to the reality...well neither have I.
And I am the one reading these blogs everyday and writing comments, not them ;-) I am the one who wants his heart attached to your (Iraqi and Iranian and Lebanese,...and I guess, I have to say....Israeli) shirtsleeves, not them. Whenever I see the photos of girls, I can't help but think of the parents of daughters, because we share in this one moment, only this brief connection, a connection of daughters....

So, I respect your anger and frustration. You have a right, more than a right...to feel, to hurt, to be angry, to wish to be a man that could make others feel afraid just as you have been made to do so.
THAT fear, is what is so deadly, Madly In Love, beware of the fear...not the anger, not the hurt, not the grief, I don't worry about those feelings....but the fear and what the fear encourages us to do next..that is what worries me, I see the same, imagine the same, coming from the skies, in the cockpits of those jets; basically the same fear, which blots out all connection with humanity, so arises the animal in all of us......to feast on the weaker prey.

By Lucky Hill god, at 1:46 pm
ZZ,
why don't you have a way to leave comments about your art?

By Lucky Hill god, at 1:57 pm
so after all Hala, are you going to go back to live in London? or do you intend to stay in the middle east and fight to end this humiliation?

Just wondering!

By Anonymous, at 8:57 pm
To Original_Jeff

If you are to declare any liberation movement a terrorist organization, then Americans are all terrorists because they pretend to liberate Muslims countries (by the way, how do you explain your country support of non democratic regimes). The problem is USA trying to fixe the shit they first caused. The best would be for Them not to do anything.

By Anonymous, at 8:54 pm
Barf. How depressing. How on earth is it that so many Arabs can only feel pride and self-respect when they align themselves with Jew-hating terrorists? This is shameful.

Recap: Israel leaves Lebanon in 2000. They get attacked by Hezbollah on the way out. The UN passes a resolution calling for the disarming of Hezbollah and the installation of the legitimate armed forces of Lebanon to take control of the south of the country. This fails to happen. Hezbollah stockpiles rockets, illegally crosses the border and kidnaps two soldiers. This, friends, is an act of war by any definition. Israel is responding by doing what should have been done years ago: they are trying to wipe out Hezbollah.

The Israelis gave up southern Lebanon and got no peace. They offered Yassir Arafat, career terrorist, 95% of the West Bank, all of Gaza, and parts of East Jerusalem, and he turned them down and incited his people to blow themselves up. They tried to give up land in the West Bank, and got no peace. They gave up Gaza, and Hamas gave no peace. The only thing most Muslims want is the total destruction of Israel. They do not want peace.

The moral depravity of the Arab Muslim knows no lower bounds, apparently. Palestinian TV, in children's shows, no less, glorifies suicide bombers. It likens Judaism to devil worship. And the Arab world wonders, really, why so many in the West are not with them?

When on earth are you Arab Muslim clowns going to grow up? When are you going to realize that the distress in your region is due to YOUR behaviour?

By Anonymous, at 2:58 am
I concur with Herb's comment; it is Arab pride which is in the way of the Moslem world's ability to defend itself. It is not the fault of the United States or Israel. A rational person would look at the weakness of the Moslem world compared to the West, and learn from it, rather than continuously managing to put themselves in situations where they are going to get defeated.

Whether or not Israel belongs where it is, Israel IS where it is. The world is not going to let the Moslems commit genocide against Israel. It would be far better for the Moslem world to accept reality and work with the world as it is, rather than being constantly at odds with their world.

By Anonymous, at 2:56 pm
genocide?
um what?

By Anonymous, at 11:54 pm
Yes, Anonymous, genocide. Stop and think about what would actually happen if Arab or Persian Muslim armies were to overpower and overrun the state of Israel.

The answer is genocide. The Jews of Israel (and most Israeli Christians and even a few Muslims, no doubt) would be wiped out by the invaders. This would be the realization of the stated goal of President Ahmadinejhad of Iran: to put an end to the existence of Israel.

Any honest consideration of this scenario by anyone leads to this conclusion.

So when Nasrallah, Assad, Ahmadinejhad and other Jew-haters talk about defeating Israel, they are talking about a genocide. And as Cump (above) said, the world is not going to allow this to happen. It is a lost cause, and the Arab world and its Islamic allies elsewhere would do well to accept Israel where it is, and make peace, and begin trading with it. This was proposed by King Abdullah of Jordan in 2000 -- no doubt contributing to Yassir Arafat's call to arms after coming home from Camp David, where Bill Clinton had pressured Ehud Barak to make the most generous offer of land to the Palestinians that had ever been made.

When voices of reason and moderation, like King Abdullah's, get drowned out in a sea of terrorism and medieval Islamic warrior-pride, it leaves the West shaking its collective head in bewilderment, and wishing it could simply ignore the Middle East.

Unfortunately, the Middle East cannot be ignored. Islamists have developed the habit of exporting their terrorism, and until they stop or are utterly destroyed, the West is going to have to pay attention to the region. In the meantime, it is the moral duty of the West to stand with Israel, whose right to exist has never been rightfully acknowledged by almost all of the Arab world, and to give support to the opponents of Hezbollah, Hamas, Fatah, and the other various Islamist terror groups.

By Anonymous, at 1:50 am
Listening to 'Herf' and 'Cough'...I can only agree with Ahmedinajad...Israel should have never been established on the blood of Muslim Arabs and every single Western Zionist should be paying the price not us.
Arab Jews belong in the land...Every other Zionist should disappear...Find a State in the US or Europe -as Hala said...Go annihilate the occupants and build your land there...Get OUT of the Middle East! Thank God Hezbollah is doing something about it!
ZZ

By Anonymous, at 4:32 am
i'd prefer to look at the actual situation as opposed to hypothetical or imaginary ones.

thank you for your input.

By Anonymous, at 4:32 am
last comment directed at herb.

By Anonymous, at 4:36 am
Fair enough, Anonymous, but you could have just as easily stated that the comment above yours - also by an anonymous individual - essentially proves my and Cump's point, however hypothetical it might be.

By Anonymous, at 1:51 pm
Your ignorance of how the state of Israel was established and how it continues to exist and the seas of Arab blood sacrificed for the sole purpose of the existance of this TERRORIST state (in the FULL sense of the word) supported by a TERRORIST regime in the US is only an indication of your SICK racism! What makes one or two Israeli lives more valuable than millions of Arab lives? It is this attitude that has instigated COUNTER agression from Arabs and will continue to do so. Unless the Zionist RACIST EXPANSIONIST HOLOCAUST agenda against the Arabs is recognized and dealt with...there will only be more and more bloodshed...After Sadat, we had some hope, but after the NeoCon Zionist dream that has rendered Iraq in tatters (divide and rule) for the sole purpose of the security of Israel and NOW the destruction of Lebanon and what's left of Palestine...Arabs find it very difficult not to hate EVERY Jew! We cannot blame those who have no involvement with the Zionist disease but every diseased Zionist who argues on behalf of Israel in our opinion should be buried!

By Anonymous, at 4:00 am
Why is the west in the MiddleEast anyway? Israel and its entire nation of PAWN SETTLERS are there to secure the OIL and strategic economic interests of Western corporations...The Jewish 'nation' was going to be dragged to Australia at one point, what changed that? The Torah and the 'promised land'? In practical terms that's a load of BS! What about the rights of other religions to that same piece of land? What makes the rights of others neglible and that of Zionists supreme? I'll answer that for you JEWISH-OWNED CORPORATIONS that RULE the world today! Makahteer was right!
Whatever the reason...We will NOT watch Israel destroy us bit by bit...ISRAEL WILL END...maybe not today, maybe not in the next ten years...The FRENCH occupation of Algeria lasted almost 100 years...Eventually, they were KICKED OUT...So we have hope. The Israelis will leave...even if it takes the lives of the entire Arab nation of 150 plus million to kick them out! They NEVER WANTED PEACE...NO LAND WAS EVER ENOUGH FOR THEM! They created on pretext after the other to cause war. They have to grab more and more...God willing, the dirt they grab is the dirt they bury their bodies in!

By Anonymous, at 4:11 am
You mention genocide...The ONLY genocide against the Jews was the Holocaust (and the reported 6 million is only according to Israel's account...)As for Israel's genocide of the Arabs, let me list them:
1. Deir Yassin
2. Sabra & Shatila
3. Qana 1
4. Qana 2
5. Invasion of Southern Lebanon 1982
6. Invasion of Southern Lebanon 2006
7. DAILY KILLING OF PALESTINIAN CHLDREN. Israeli snipers use them as 'practice points'.
8. 12 Million Iraqi children under US/Zionist imposed sanctions (they knew it wouldn't hurt the tyrant Saddam).
9. 300,000 Iraqi civilians as a result of 'Shock and Awe' for the security of Israel and the toll continues.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GENOCIDE?
Tell me, what is the exact number of Israelis killed since the establishment of the Zionist expansionist state? Does it compare to the numbers above? We DID NOT IMPOSE THE HOLOCAUST. Why should we pay the price of your misery? Why do you take it out on us? YOU in the end will perish and not us...The land is ours and has been for hundreds of years (the earliest and oldest Jews were Arabs; they were not Polish and Russian!) and will continue...All outsiders will eventually leave...As the Arab saying goes "with their tails between their legs"...

By Anonymous, at 4:28 am
Question to the one or several anonymous commenters who have expressed anger at my comments:

This again is a hypothetical, but, I assure you, sincere question:

Would you accept the state of Israel's existence if the inhabitants were only Arab Jews?

By Anonymous, at 11:40 am
What happened to the Christian Holy Sites of Jerusalem and Bethlehem? What happened to the Christian religious heritage in the land? Or Muslim heritage for that matter? Why can't Arab Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike live together? Judaism is NOT a nationality. Judaism is a respected Abrahamic religion that has been abused by Zionists, just like Islam has been abused by Bin Laden and the like..They all fall in the same pit of extremism!

By Anonymous, at 12:00 pm
i think any jews that are not from there and want to live there should do so under the same rights and privileges as any arab or anyone else who is not indiginous to the region. we are a long way from that.

By Anonymous, at 5:59 pm
Arabs would not be dying, if it were not for the stated intention of every Arab and Moslem State and organization to destroy Israel. It is not Israel's fault that Arabs die when Israel defends itself. Over-exaggeration of the numbers of Arabs who have died because of the war does not decrease the fact that both Arabs and Jews are dying for no purpose at all

The Moslem world has to stop what is one definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over again, hopeing the result will be different. Obviously, hatred and terror is not working. Perhaps there are a few wise people in the Arab world who can understand that cooperation and trust work far better.

By Anonymous, at 7:08 pm
You need to REVERSE that advise to Israel (a state established by way of terror and bloodshed) and continues to do so to remain...
"The Moslem world has to stop what is one definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over again, hoping the result will be different. Obviously, hatred and terror is not working. Perhaps there are a few wise people in the Arab world who can understand that cooperation and trust work far better. "
All the wars were instigated by Israel...Any military fact book will tell you...of course unless it's written with the Western propagandistic /colonialist attitude of the occupier/super power...

By Anonymous, at 11:35 pm
"All the wars were instigated by Israel?"

Hahahahahahahahaha!!! All the wars? Really? What color is the sky on your planet?

By Anonymous, at 7:54 pm
Well this post has drawn alot of comments. I am impressed.

I share your anger Hala. I may be Jewish but I am not a Zionist. I hope Hizbollah fights hard against the Bush-Olmert agenda. Lebanese should be angry with the Syrians as well as other Arab countries for standing by and watching fellow Arabs be killed. Those that speak out against Hizbollah are traitors and should die like the dogs they are.

By Anonymous, at 2:08 am
i'm sorry i think that's a pile of garbage. it's very easy to be pro-nasrallah when you risk nothing. if the arab world wanted to fight israel and what they are doing here they could do it in a second by stopping the flow of oil to all their supporters, but they won't. i haven't seen an ounce of outrage for lebanese children in the same way that it came about in reaction to the cartoons of the prophet mohammad. if they want peace fine, if they want to defend lebanon fine but if they just want to fight israel they can do it on their own land, not living vicariously through lebanon like it's been done for 30 years.

By Anonymous, at 3:29 am
also i've never been ashamed to be who i am.

By Anonymous, at 3:43 am
Nadia

Your right. Can you clarify what points you think are garbage? Were they in the post or in a comment?

Thanks

By Anonymous, at 6:18 pm
Nadia said:

if they want to defend lebanon fine but if they just want to fight israel they can do it on their own land, not living vicariously through lebanon like it's been done for 30 years.

This is a very good point. For too long Lebanon has served as the battleground for the war against Israel. It is simmilar to how America is using Iraq as a battleground against its enemies, (I do not say the war against Terror for I do not believe it is one.) Both Lebanon and the Palestinians have been used over the last 30 plus years. They are expendable pawns in the eyes of the Arab world. It is a crime that Arabs treat their fellow Arabs in such a way.

By Anonymous, at 6:57 pm
iraq is a battleground for the usa and that in turn has made it a battleground for wahabbis and iranians, which we are seeing the effects of. that shouldn't be forgotten.

hezbollah did some good things for lebanon in the past but this time they made a very stupid mistake. likewise he knew nazareth was an arab town but he fired missiles there anyways. he made a very racist apology afterwards.
what's happening right now is a mess and we should hope that this ends as soon as possible, most hospitals are saying they have the fuel to function into this week. anyone that's supporting this out of pride or revenge is not my friend.

but i don't really have a problem with much of what you said beyond the traitor line. which i obviously don't believe.
i'm glad that we understand each other, sorry it's been an emotional month.

By Anonymous, at 7:52 pm
Yes it has been emotional. Our strength will be found in our ability to understand each other even though we do not always see eye to eye.

By Anonymous, at 2:30 am
Cool blog you have here and a very emotional post.
Please take a look at mine and link it up here.
Thanks

By Anonymous, at 1:23 pm
To be upfront, I am an American. I work with people from many nations. Mostly I argue with an Egyptian.

A couple things that I don't get.

Arab Pride / Humilation. They seem to go hand in hand. Mostly it is backwards looking. It's not how can we make things better for our children, it's how can we avenge the past.

I am partly American Indian. Another proud people who lost lives and lands. That is the past. What matters now is our children and future. We use the laws, and every advantage we can get to help our children remember the past, but live for the future (some time look up the Trail of Tears).

How can you let the Palestinians be pawns to stongmen (Arafat et al). They are used as pawns. How can the Lebanese let themselves be turned into the same things. It makes me sick seeing dead children for Nasrallah's glory.

Talking with my friend I said if Telaviv was nuke by Iran, Isreal would nuke the rest of the Mid-East. He said fine, there would still be a few Arabs left to take back the land. What good is a radioactive waste with 300 Million dead?

The Indians have made peace with the world as it is. The Vietnamese have made peace with the US (the US is their biggest trading partner).

Why can not Arabs & Persians, etc realize that there is no genetic difference between Arab Israelis and the Palestinians. You are killing your brothers. Why are Shia and Sunnis killing each other in Iraq.

Why is changing the past more important than your children's future?

I just don't get it...

By Anonymous, at 3:07 am
Tsalagi
I don't get you either. You know why because there is a huge difference in culture and in experience.
I wonder what your feeling would be if a jet flew over your town and bombed your whole area and you sat there helpless cannot even defend your house?
The problem with Americans and many others is they look down at us, and for some reason they think they have better values.
So you think what is happening in Iraq is Iraqis fault and what happened in Palestine and Lebanon is their fault as well. It is an amazing point of view.
If you are right, it means any stronger country can take over another weaker one and we have to accept the superiority of the stronger part.
Why should we accept Israel give me one good reason.
Yes we have a lot of pride, something you guys don't understand because you were never in a situation to feel it.
Actually you are not worried about our childrens' future. You were just trying to put some consistency in your comment. As if we have a choice in protecting them. My friend we don't. Whatever we do we will be killed ok. please just try to absorb this.

By hala_s, at 10:32 am
hala

You say that americans and westerners are looking down on you and for some reason they think they have better values.
So why many muslims I talked to said that islam is the only true religion, that muslim culture is better because people in the west are immoral and obsessed with material, because every second girl have a lover, because woman are treated like commodity. Some of them said then that women in the west are not worth much because many do not have children and asked me why my friends work instead of getting married. And that people in the west do not have any culture/morality to speak of.
It seems that you are accusing us of looking down on you but you people are doing the same, you are looking down on us.

Now, about Iraq and Lebanon.
Hizbullah attacked first, do you think that Israel might not get livid. They attacked many times before and Israeli kept quiet but do you think that the last time was a straw which broke camel's neck. How many times Hizbullah is supposed to attack Israel? I think that in their place I would also get angry.
You blame israel instead of nasrallah of destruction, you also claim victory for Hizbullah. You got a victory, the hero nasrallah, and from your and zz words you want more of such victories. So why complain, I think that your next victory will be even more destructive.

And what about iraq, sunni and shia fight for a power and in the process kill each other. Why blame americans? Do americans compell you to kill each other, to maim each other, to fight for power and for support of Iran and KSA? If you do not want to kill nobody can force you to that, unless you want to.

You said you have pride, well, then, why don't you use it to build and to invent. You are using your pride destructively to kill, blaming everybody else for the killing you yourself are doing.

By Anonymous, at 7:18 am

madly in love with Iraq

31.7.06

Bye Bye Beirut

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