Dear Lebanese citizen II
Dear Lebanese citizen,
How are you? Are you enjoying the post-war economic surge? I've never been to Lebanon and little of it is seen on TV, so I'm curious.
But considering the devastating and uncontested triumph of your country over Israel in the 2006 war, and with the Israeli economy spiraling up since then, I assume Lebanon must be a developing whirl, the largest economy in the Middle East, a country of sky scrappers and romantic alleys with busy restaurants, the new region pole of scientific research, the cultural pearl in the area. Or am I missing something?
Two years ago, the crowds were celebrating the defeat of the Zionist enemy. A few weeks after that, a relative from abroad came to visit Israel and she asked if she could see some of the sequels of the war. Well, no that the 4000 missiles did no harm, but I had nothing to show to her. Very soon after the cease fire everything had been fixed or was demolished for a newer, more modern building to replace the damaged one. So I was surprised to see a few month ago that Nasrallah himself was giving the keys of a new apartment to a couple that lost theirs in the war. How can that be? What took so long? If I'd be in Lebanon now, would I still see signs of the conflict? Where are those who incited you to fight this war to the end, that promised to pay for every cost, to rebuild Lebanon bigger, higher and stronger? How can the winning part be still recovering?
I heard some versions that not all Lebanese make side with Hezbollah, but that is very hard to believe. Really, can you imagine millions of citizens seeing the Iranian backed guerrilla putting them through so much trouble without even rise their voice. What kind of weasel of a people would see their leaders killed, their cities bombed, their borders threatened, their liberty strangled, without even a significant protest? No, I don't think so. I'll stick with the idea of the fundamentalist majority.
Anyway, there is something that worries me more. The unprecedented success on beating the Jews up and the visceral joy it caused in the Lebanese masses, would that be an incentive for a second onslaught of courage? I'd really hate that, because although we where unharmed and our jobs were undisturbed, I must admit that our month long refugee status pushed us to a restaurant rampage whose consequences can still be noticed in my bank account. And although Beirut was barely, unnoticeably hit by the past conflict, be sure that in an hypothetical second round Israel's patience will be much thinner and IDF will mean business.
So, my dear and troublesome neighbor, I hope one day I can have a cup of coffee and baklava in Beirut, and I'll see Lebanese tourists in my beaches. Until then, let's keep the fence in one piece and watch out for the moles destroying our gardens.
Yours,
David from Haifa.
How are you? Are you enjoying the post-war economic surge? I've never been to Lebanon and little of it is seen on TV, so I'm curious.
But considering the devastating and uncontested triumph of your country over Israel in the 2006 war, and with the Israeli economy spiraling up since then, I assume Lebanon must be a developing whirl, the largest economy in the Middle East, a country of sky scrappers and romantic alleys with busy restaurants, the new region pole of scientific research, the cultural pearl in the area. Or am I missing something?
Two years ago, the crowds were celebrating the defeat of the Zionist enemy. A few weeks after that, a relative from abroad came to visit Israel and she asked if she could see some of the sequels of the war. Well, no that the 4000 missiles did no harm, but I had nothing to show to her. Very soon after the cease fire everything had been fixed or was demolished for a newer, more modern building to replace the damaged one. So I was surprised to see a few month ago that Nasrallah himself was giving the keys of a new apartment to a couple that lost theirs in the war. How can that be? What took so long? If I'd be in Lebanon now, would I still see signs of the conflict? Where are those who incited you to fight this war to the end, that promised to pay for every cost, to rebuild Lebanon bigger, higher and stronger? How can the winning part be still recovering?
I heard some versions that not all Lebanese make side with Hezbollah, but that is very hard to believe. Really, can you imagine millions of citizens seeing the Iranian backed guerrilla putting them through so much trouble without even rise their voice. What kind of weasel of a people would see their leaders killed, their cities bombed, their borders threatened, their liberty strangled, without even a significant protest? No, I don't think so. I'll stick with the idea of the fundamentalist majority.
Anyway, there is something that worries me more. The unprecedented success on beating the Jews up and the visceral joy it caused in the Lebanese masses, would that be an incentive for a second onslaught of courage? I'd really hate that, because although we where unharmed and our jobs were undisturbed, I must admit that our month long refugee status pushed us to a restaurant rampage whose consequences can still be noticed in my bank account. And although Beirut was barely, unnoticeably hit by the past conflict, be sure that in an hypothetical second round Israel's patience will be much thinner and IDF will mean business.
So, my dear and troublesome neighbor, I hope one day I can have a cup of coffee and baklava in Beirut, and I'll see Lebanese tourists in my beaches. Until then, let's keep the fence in one piece and watch out for the moles destroying our gardens.
Yours,
David from Haifa.
Labels: beirut, israel, katiusha, lebanon, middle east
posted by David Schkolnik at 8:11 AM
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