Syria issues a statement that it will intervene if the conflict continues: "If Israel invades Lebanon over ground and comes near to us, Syria will not sit tight. She will join the conflict. We have cooperation forces on alert. If Israeli troops provoke us, Damascus will act to guarantee the national security of Syrian territory."
"But It's Israel!" A Fox News reporter in the Gaza Strip was shot at by Israel. Check out the footage-- and the anchors' reaction. By the way, Electronic Intifada and Electronic Lebanon are great resources-- both bring together news analysis and on-the-ground reports with an emphasis on the voices of Palestinian and Lebanese people.
And the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Israel's extensive advanced planned for this operation and explains why Hezbollah's kidnappings were an excuse.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Saturday, July 22, 2006
US rushing bombs to Israel, and other "surprises"
I found Robert Fisk's Elegy for Beirut in the London Independent incredibly moving.
Tikkun Magazine's site has some interesting stuff, including this very mixed, but informative, grab bag of four reactions to the war by left-wing Jews. Gila Sversky, an Israeli peace activist, writes about antiwar demonstrations in Israel being forced to have the same sort of police protection in Nahariya that racist groups get from the police here. (Same reasoning-- the vast majority would bash their heads in otherwise. The war has 95% support in Israel.)
Here's a fun article from the NY Times about how the US is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel.
...the appearance that the US is actively aiding the bombing campaign?
...it could be compared to Iran's efforts?
Um. About that... where exactly does the ambiguity come in here? If any other country did the same thing, I really doubt the Times would hesitate to delete the qualifiers that pepper that sentence. And why not compare it to Iran? After all, we know for sure that the US continues to rush arms to Israel, and we don't know if Iran has gotten, or is attempting to get, arms to Hebollah yet.
This brings up another question. Clearly, the US wants to avoid having to put its own troops into play in this mess, given the other messes it's currently trying to contain. Iraq continues to heat up-- the death toll has now risen to over 100 Iraqis a day in a cycle of violence the US is powerless to stop. And remember Afghanistan? I know, I know, we're not supposed to have thought about Afghanistan since 2002, but US troops are still there, and Afghans and Americans are still dying. And the National Guard couldn't do much during Hurricane Katrina because so many of its helicopters, amphibious vehicles and people were overseas. It's hurricane season again, and the National Guard has already been called out to assist in mass power outages in Missouri and New York. The military is desperately trying to recruit more soldiers. Despite its threats against Iran, the US military is, as Bilbo Baggins would have it, "stretched thin-- like butter scraped over too much bread."
So the US is going to do everything in its power to help Israel finish what it started without committing troops. This is no surprise-- Germany and Russia have indicated that they'd at least be willing to send troops as part of an "international peacekeeping force" after a cease-fire, but Condoleeza Rice said the US was "unlikely to." They'll use other tactics if possible. So far that's meant arms shipments, a sharp increase in the pro-Israel tilt the US encourages in its media, and of course lots of stalling and equivocation on the diplomatic front. What next? Sanctions on Syria, maybe? Veiled economic threats against Arab nations that don't cooperate in pressuring Hezbollah, Syria and Iran? It may eventually be the case, if this starts looking like World War III (like, if Iran gets actively involved) that the US will have to get involved militarily. But in the meantime, it'll keep claiming to be evenhanded while doing everything it can to aid and abet this crime against the Lebanese people and (as always) the Palestinians.
Tikkun Magazine's site has some interesting stuff, including this very mixed, but informative, grab bag of four reactions to the war by left-wing Jews. Gila Sversky, an Israeli peace activist, writes about antiwar demonstrations in Israel being forced to have the same sort of police protection in Nahariya that racist groups get from the police here. (Same reasoning-- the vast majority would bash their heads in otherwise. The war has 95% support in Israel.)
Here's a fun article from the NY Times about how the US is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel.
Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.
...the appearance that the US is actively aiding the bombing campaign?
...it could be compared to Iran's efforts?
Um. About that... where exactly does the ambiguity come in here? If any other country did the same thing, I really doubt the Times would hesitate to delete the qualifiers that pepper that sentence. And why not compare it to Iran? After all, we know for sure that the US continues to rush arms to Israel, and we don't know if Iran has gotten, or is attempting to get, arms to Hebollah yet.
Israel’s request for expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike.
This brings up another question. Clearly, the US wants to avoid having to put its own troops into play in this mess, given the other messes it's currently trying to contain. Iraq continues to heat up-- the death toll has now risen to over 100 Iraqis a day in a cycle of violence the US is powerless to stop. And remember Afghanistan? I know, I know, we're not supposed to have thought about Afghanistan since 2002, but US troops are still there, and Afghans and Americans are still dying. And the National Guard couldn't do much during Hurricane Katrina because so many of its helicopters, amphibious vehicles and people were overseas. It's hurricane season again, and the National Guard has already been called out to assist in mass power outages in Missouri and New York. The military is desperately trying to recruit more soldiers. Despite its threats against Iran, the US military is, as Bilbo Baggins would have it, "stretched thin-- like butter scraped over too much bread."
So the US is going to do everything in its power to help Israel finish what it started without committing troops. This is no surprise-- Germany and Russia have indicated that they'd at least be willing to send troops as part of an "international peacekeeping force" after a cease-fire, but Condoleeza Rice said the US was "unlikely to." They'll use other tactics if possible. So far that's meant arms shipments, a sharp increase in the pro-Israel tilt the US encourages in its media, and of course lots of stalling and equivocation on the diplomatic front. What next? Sanctions on Syria, maybe? Veiled economic threats against Arab nations that don't cooperate in pressuring Hezbollah, Syria and Iran? It may eventually be the case, if this starts looking like World War III (like, if Iran gets actively involved) that the US will have to get involved militarily. But in the meantime, it'll keep claiming to be evenhanded while doing everything it can to aid and abet this crime against the Lebanese people and (as always) the Palestinians.
Emergency meeting for Philadelphia activists
Help form a network of groups and individuals in the Philadelphia area to organize against Israel's war against Lebanon and Gaza, and the U.S. government support for this offensive.
Emergency Meeting: Tuesday, July 25th, 7pm.
Basement - Calvary Church, 48th &Baltimore (in Phila)
Parking in area, easy to reach on #34
Subway Surface line from Center City
Since calling for the emergency response demonstration last Friday, the Phila. International Action Center has heard from a number of people interested in forming a network to be able to respond to the growing crisis in the Middle East brought on by U.S. and Israeli offensives. Some of the suggestions are to have round-the-clock vigils and to build locally for the August 12th demonstration in Washington. The July 25th meeting would take up these ideas and more. Please pass on this information.
Friday, July 21, 2006
More useful links
Democracy Now! has been providing excellent, excellent coverage this week. Check out today's issue for a debate between an Israeli refusenik and a member of the Israeli Peace Party, Meretz.
And for those in the Philly area, Bubbes and Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace are holding weekly vigils.
Endtheoccupation.org is also a site worth visiting, as is coverage from the British Socialist Worker.
And from Counterpunch:
Alexander Cockburn on Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need To Know
Paul Craig Roberts (Asst Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan) on The Unfolding Horror Show: Will Americans Join Iraqis, Lebanese and Palestinians as Neocon Victims?
And for those in the Philly area, Bubbes and Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace are holding weekly vigils.
Endtheoccupation.org is also a site worth visiting, as is coverage from the British Socialist Worker.
And from Counterpunch:
Alexander Cockburn on Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need To Know
Paul Craig Roberts (Asst Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan) on The Unfolding Horror Show: Will Americans Join Iraqis, Lebanese and Palestinians as Neocon Victims?
Everything else is noise and propaganda...
Taxi drivers in the south were charging up to $400 per person for rides to Beirut — more than 40 times the usual price. In remote villages of the south, cut off by strikes, residents made their way out over the mountains by foot. The price of food, medical supplies and gasoline rose as much as 500 percent in parts of Lebanon as the bombardment cut supply routes. The World Food Program said estimates of basic food supplies ranged from one to three months. The U.N. estimated that a half-million people have been displaced, with 130,000 fleeing to Syria and 45,000 believed to be in need of assistance. -Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press
How do you mess with a civilian population, I mean really mess with them? Israel has an idea: bomb their supply routes, their airports, bridges, ports and highways, their food factories and hospitals and water mains, and then issue a warning for them to get out. Then watch the fun: will they try to drive on bombed-out highways? Will they attempt to walk through the mountains with their children, their grandparents and whatever belongings they can carry? If they're trying to transport their families in trucks or vans, you can bomb those as they leave their villages, since the IDF has declared all civilian trucks to be legitimate targets.
It's also worth noting that if the attempt is to rout Hezbollah entirely from the region, this is beyond counterproductive. Israel may be succeeding in destroying much of Hezbollah's stash of rockets (which also dwindles rapidly as Hezbollah launches them at Israeli civilians). But think London in the Blitz, think of Tokyo, think of the Iraqi resistance: aerial bombardment brings the citizens of the bombed area together. Hezbollah already had a great deal of support in Lebanon, largely because of its many non-terror-related activities, like the wide-ranging charities, ambulance services, and other social services that provide the sort of support the weak Lebanese government doesn't supply. Now the Lebanese people are under attack, a bloody and indiscriminate attack, and their government is doing nothing-- not fighting Israel, not bringing food and water to the shelters, nothing. Who's doing something? Hezbollah.
There's certainly a large chunk of the Lebanese population that blames Hezbollah for bringing this bombing onto their heads, but there's little doubt that Hezbollah's support is wide and growing. And now Israel is launching a ground invasion. Have they learned nothing from Vietnam and Iraq and for that matter the British Empire? If you bomb and invade a country whose citizens are dead set against you, you can kill as many resistance fighters as you want. There will always be more. They will keep fighting you and fighting you. Hezbollah will establish new headquarters. They'll get new rockets (despite the publicity about getting them from Iran, many of Hezbollah's rockets have turned out to be from China). And they will have no shortage of volunteers.
So yeah, this war's clearly not about rescuing two kidnapping soldiers. (Incidentally, isn't anyone worried that if the soldiers are being hidden in Lebanon, they might die in the bombing raids? If this were a movie, that would be a continuity error.) It's not about getting rid of Hezbollah. So what is it about? Tariq Ali argues that "[Israel and Washington] want to isolate and topple the Syrian regime by securing Lebanon as an Israeli-American protectorate on the Jordanian model." Israeli activist Uri Avnery agrees: "The real aim is to change the regime in Lebanon and to install a puppet government... That's the main thing. Everything else is noise and propaganda."
Where does that take us? What would that mean for the region? Would Iran take it lying down? Will the US, which at the moment appears confused and directionless, attempt to step in? Is this World War Three, or will it stay localized the way it did when the Israelis pulled the same damn thing in Lebanon in 1982? Stay tuned...
How do you mess with a civilian population, I mean really mess with them? Israel has an idea: bomb their supply routes, their airports, bridges, ports and highways, their food factories and hospitals and water mains, and then issue a warning for them to get out. Then watch the fun: will they try to drive on bombed-out highways? Will they attempt to walk through the mountains with their children, their grandparents and whatever belongings they can carry? If they're trying to transport their families in trucks or vans, you can bomb those as they leave their villages, since the IDF has declared all civilian trucks to be legitimate targets.
It's also worth noting that if the attempt is to rout Hezbollah entirely from the region, this is beyond counterproductive. Israel may be succeeding in destroying much of Hezbollah's stash of rockets (which also dwindles rapidly as Hezbollah launches them at Israeli civilians). But think London in the Blitz, think of Tokyo, think of the Iraqi resistance: aerial bombardment brings the citizens of the bombed area together. Hezbollah already had a great deal of support in Lebanon, largely because of its many non-terror-related activities, like the wide-ranging charities, ambulance services, and other social services that provide the sort of support the weak Lebanese government doesn't supply. Now the Lebanese people are under attack, a bloody and indiscriminate attack, and their government is doing nothing-- not fighting Israel, not bringing food and water to the shelters, nothing. Who's doing something? Hezbollah.
There's certainly a large chunk of the Lebanese population that blames Hezbollah for bringing this bombing onto their heads, but there's little doubt that Hezbollah's support is wide and growing. And now Israel is launching a ground invasion. Have they learned nothing from Vietnam and Iraq and for that matter the British Empire? If you bomb and invade a country whose citizens are dead set against you, you can kill as many resistance fighters as you want. There will always be more. They will keep fighting you and fighting you. Hezbollah will establish new headquarters. They'll get new rockets (despite the publicity about getting them from Iran, many of Hezbollah's rockets have turned out to be from China). And they will have no shortage of volunteers.
So yeah, this war's clearly not about rescuing two kidnapping soldiers. (Incidentally, isn't anyone worried that if the soldiers are being hidden in Lebanon, they might die in the bombing raids? If this were a movie, that would be a continuity error.) It's not about getting rid of Hezbollah. So what is it about? Tariq Ali argues that "[Israel and Washington] want to isolate and topple the Syrian regime by securing Lebanon as an Israeli-American protectorate on the Jordanian model." Israeli activist Uri Avnery agrees: "The real aim is to change the regime in Lebanon and to install a puppet government... That's the main thing. Everything else is noise and propaganda."
Where does that take us? What would that mean for the region? Would Iran take it lying down? Will the US, which at the moment appears confused and directionless, attempt to step in? Is this World War Three, or will it stay localized the way it did when the Israelis pulled the same damn thing in Lebanon in 1982? Stay tuned...
Dispatch from Saida, Lebanon
The following was sent to me by my friend in Beirut who is still awaiting evacuation. She received this from her friend Darine Zaatari in Saida, Lebanon, who requested that she circulate it. I've edited a bit for typos.
Thursday, July 20th
Jumped out of bed at 2:00 am Thursday morning to an airstrike right here in Saida. Great explosion shaking the whole building. It was close, but we could not figure out where exactly. Another airstrike shortly after. Now it sounds a bit further. We rush out onto the balcony. The glass door to the balcony, like every glass window and door at home, slightly left open to prevent them from shattering due to explosion pressure. We cannot see much.
We sit out for a while. It is completely quiet. Even bats are too scared to fly around. Then a noisy buzzing sound in the air. This time it is an MK, a pilotless spy jet, usually smaller in size and flies low, takes photos. It is not to be feared in itself, but what usually follows it does, a new airstrike. It takes photos and explores locations to target. Twenty minutes later, an airstrike. Later we go to bed.
We wake up around 4:30, yet another attack. This time it is a gas station. Anythingto deplete resources and people's will to strife. At 5:00 am, the phone rang. I raced to the phone contemplating every single possibility of who might have gotten hurt from the family and friends in the raid. I hear an automated recording, a voice speaking formal Arabic, "To the residents of south Lebanon, you have to evacuate thesouth. The State of Israel." I was stunned, lost my ability to move or feel anything. Of all the different kinds of direct and indirect threats I have received throughout my life from the Israelis, this is the first time I get it right in my home.Two days ago, they threw flyers with the same text. But, do you think people care? Do you think people respond to these threats? A phone call, a very ersonalized terrorizing message right in my ear and in Arabic, yet insufficient to drive me out of my home. I am only one of many. But I am not a mother and I do not live further south.
According to government estimates Tuesday night, half a million Lebanese have been displaced. Most are staying with relatives or friends or in rented apartments. Over 70 thousand in Beirut and north registered in government centers, particularly public schools. Over eight thousand in Saida are distributed over 30 centers.They are turning abandoned government buildings into refugee centers. They continue to destroy the country's infrastructure and cutting off villages from one another. The two biggest cheese and Labneh factories in the Beqaa bombed to the ground. Hundreds of cows and sheep farms in Beirut attacked from the sky. Trucks with red cross signs on it or not, carrying first aid supplies and food essentials to refugees bombed by jets killing drivers and other people around. Continuous bombing of houses and residential buildings. If the war ends today, 60, 000 people will be homeless.
Yesterday we visited two refugee centers. One had 150 and the other had 310 and was expecting at least 40 more. Resources are scarce, medication, infant formula, food. We rang door bells looking for an extra pillow, sheet, mattress, extra anything. There are 100 mattresses for 310 people in the center. My heart turns into a raging fist as we drive around the city. People looking for their relatives. They know they fled together, but now no word from the other car. Same stories come outof southern Beirut. People leaving their bombed homes and cannot find a child, a husband. In Saida, refugees are sitting on the streets or in street roundabouts, with nowhere to go. Nowhere. Barely made it safe to Saida and then nowhere to go. A family, a mother and four children, surviving one airstrike killing twenty five people right there in the same house they were staying, got attacked by sky shortly before reaching Saida. Nowhere to escape; we are all targets.
More cars with white rags tied on radio antennas. Some cars had flags. Flags, of the many supporters of the German soccer teams, now come to use. They are tied to cars, huge flags, implying someone in the car carries the German nationality and hoping being German is worth something in this war. How ironically tragic, these flags were carried around by people every time Germans won a game, flying up in the air, with horns blowing and people cheering. Flags of victory and joy. So many Brazilian Lebanese around, so many supporters of the Brazilian soccer team, yet no Brazilian flags on any car to be seen. People's values vary with nationality.
At least sixty-one people died yesterday in different areas in Lebanon,the biggest death toll per day since the start of this war. Only one fighter and the rest arecivilians. Families all together killed. Many people believed to be still under destroyed houses. The situation is getting worse by the day. We fear that once the foreigners are evacuated, things will get even worse. According to the media, this is the biggest evacuation in the world since WWI. There are 20,000 Americans being evacuated. Not only with nationality, people's value also varies with place of birth. The US embassy is openly setting evacuation priorities of 20,000 Americans according to place of birth. There is one position lower in the hierarchy to being born in Lebanon and that is Palestine.
So many battles on so many fronts. The battle to survive, the battle to survive strong, the battle with the enemy, the battle with dispelling all the lies from the western media, the battle to stay unified, the battle to hold on to anger, the battle to stay focused and help out, the battle to get out of bed in the morning not just to an airstrike. So many battles. One battle we have won so far, the battle to survive strong. You hear it in people's voices: we do not care about the destruction, we persist and we resist.
Thursday, July 20th
Jumped out of bed at 2:00 am Thursday morning to an airstrike right here in Saida. Great explosion shaking the whole building. It was close, but we could not figure out where exactly. Another airstrike shortly after. Now it sounds a bit further. We rush out onto the balcony. The glass door to the balcony, like every glass window and door at home, slightly left open to prevent them from shattering due to explosion pressure. We cannot see much.
We sit out for a while. It is completely quiet. Even bats are too scared to fly around. Then a noisy buzzing sound in the air. This time it is an MK, a pilotless spy jet, usually smaller in size and flies low, takes photos. It is not to be feared in itself, but what usually follows it does, a new airstrike. It takes photos and explores locations to target. Twenty minutes later, an airstrike. Later we go to bed.
We wake up around 4:30, yet another attack. This time it is a gas station. Anythingto deplete resources and people's will to strife. At 5:00 am, the phone rang. I raced to the phone contemplating every single possibility of who might have gotten hurt from the family and friends in the raid. I hear an automated recording, a voice speaking formal Arabic, "To the residents of south Lebanon, you have to evacuate thesouth. The State of Israel." I was stunned, lost my ability to move or feel anything. Of all the different kinds of direct and indirect threats I have received throughout my life from the Israelis, this is the first time I get it right in my home.Two days ago, they threw flyers with the same text. But, do you think people care? Do you think people respond to these threats? A phone call, a very ersonalized terrorizing message right in my ear and in Arabic, yet insufficient to drive me out of my home. I am only one of many. But I am not a mother and I do not live further south.
According to government estimates Tuesday night, half a million Lebanese have been displaced. Most are staying with relatives or friends or in rented apartments. Over 70 thousand in Beirut and north registered in government centers, particularly public schools. Over eight thousand in Saida are distributed over 30 centers.They are turning abandoned government buildings into refugee centers. They continue to destroy the country's infrastructure and cutting off villages from one another. The two biggest cheese and Labneh factories in the Beqaa bombed to the ground. Hundreds of cows and sheep farms in Beirut attacked from the sky. Trucks with red cross signs on it or not, carrying first aid supplies and food essentials to refugees bombed by jets killing drivers and other people around. Continuous bombing of houses and residential buildings. If the war ends today, 60, 000 people will be homeless.
Yesterday we visited two refugee centers. One had 150 and the other had 310 and was expecting at least 40 more. Resources are scarce, medication, infant formula, food. We rang door bells looking for an extra pillow, sheet, mattress, extra anything. There are 100 mattresses for 310 people in the center. My heart turns into a raging fist as we drive around the city. People looking for their relatives. They know they fled together, but now no word from the other car. Same stories come outof southern Beirut. People leaving their bombed homes and cannot find a child, a husband. In Saida, refugees are sitting on the streets or in street roundabouts, with nowhere to go. Nowhere. Barely made it safe to Saida and then nowhere to go. A family, a mother and four children, surviving one airstrike killing twenty five people right there in the same house they were staying, got attacked by sky shortly before reaching Saida. Nowhere to escape; we are all targets.
More cars with white rags tied on radio antennas. Some cars had flags. Flags, of the many supporters of the German soccer teams, now come to use. They are tied to cars, huge flags, implying someone in the car carries the German nationality and hoping being German is worth something in this war. How ironically tragic, these flags were carried around by people every time Germans won a game, flying up in the air, with horns blowing and people cheering. Flags of victory and joy. So many Brazilian Lebanese around, so many supporters of the Brazilian soccer team, yet no Brazilian flags on any car to be seen. People's values vary with nationality.
At least sixty-one people died yesterday in different areas in Lebanon,the biggest death toll per day since the start of this war. Only one fighter and the rest arecivilians. Families all together killed. Many people believed to be still under destroyed houses. The situation is getting worse by the day. We fear that once the foreigners are evacuated, things will get even worse. According to the media, this is the biggest evacuation in the world since WWI. There are 20,000 Americans being evacuated. Not only with nationality, people's value also varies with place of birth. The US embassy is openly setting evacuation priorities of 20,000 Americans according to place of birth. There is one position lower in the hierarchy to being born in Lebanon and that is Palestine.
So many battles on so many fronts. The battle to survive, the battle to survive strong, the battle with the enemy, the battle with dispelling all the lies from the western media, the battle to stay unified, the battle to hold on to anger, the battle to stay focused and help out, the battle to get out of bed in the morning not just to an airstrike. So many battles. One battle we have won so far, the battle to survive strong. You hear it in people's voices: we do not care about the destruction, we persist and we resist.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
A sampling platter of useful articles.
Amy Goodman, of Democracy Now!, interviews Beirut-based independent journalist Robert Fisk.
"If Israel has the right to use force in self defence, so do its neighbours": Ahmad Khalidi in the Guardian.
Israel as an extension of American empire: from Tikkun Magazine's blog.
What Does Israel Want? Israeli professor Ilan Pappe on the goals of this war.
Why Is Israel Back in Gaza? Ramsy Baroud, editor of the Palestine Chronicle.
The Angry Arab News Service
US Middle East Policy: Democratic Illusions: Lance Selfa in the International Socialist Review-- from 2005, but a useful tour of the Middle East.
"If Israel has the right to use force in self defence, so do its neighbours": Ahmad Khalidi in the Guardian.
Israel as an extension of American empire: from Tikkun Magazine's blog.
What Does Israel Want? Israeli professor Ilan Pappe on the goals of this war.
Why Is Israel Back in Gaza? Ramsy Baroud, editor of the Palestine Chronicle.
The Angry Arab News Service
US Middle East Policy: Democratic Illusions: Lance Selfa in the International Socialist Review-- from 2005, but a useful tour of the Middle East.
like a mini-Katrina...
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid cosigned a letter expressing anger at the US's glacial pace at evacuating citizens from Beirut. "This is being treated like a mini-Katrina," he commented in the Washington Times. The Marines landed in Beirut today to help evacuate US citizens, some of whom spent the day sipping free cocktails on the deck of the rented luxury liner Orient Queen.
The comparison is striking. Yes, several thousand US citizens, including two of my dearest friends, are trapped in hotels, dorms and apartments around Beirut as I write this. It's a terrifying situation for them, particularly if the US decides to force them to pay thousands of dollars for their transport, and my sympathies are certainly with them. Reid compares their position to Hurricane Katrina, when many more thousands of US citizens were left to die on their rooftops as the fetid floodwaters rose. There is a Katrina comparison to be made here, but it's not about stranded Americans this time. A more apt comparison would be the Katrina-like displacement of over half a million Lebanese now taking place.
With roadways destroyed, and Israel's planes bombing milk bottling plants and medical convoys, Lebanon's already weak and inept government relief effort would be a joke, if there were any humor to be found in the situation. Beirutis are crowding into makeshift shelters in schools and parks, and attempting to stretch what food and water supplies they have, since no food and water is forthcoming from the government. Volunteers (including my stranded friends) and Lebanese left-wing organizations are working frantically to raise money and deliver supplies to the ordinary people who have suddenly become refugees. (For more information, or to donate to their relief effort, click here.) The groups' requests are telling: they are asking for sanitary supplies and anti-diarrheal medicines, as Israel's indiscriminate bombings turn polished, metropolitan Beirut back into the war zone of two decades ago. Like Londoners during the Blitz, Lebanese families are taking one another in and remaining in resolutely high spirits. But the world is watching, quietly and unapologetically, as Israel responds to the kidnapping of two soldiers by obliterating a city of millions. Will they step in and make an attempt to stop the assault? Will dispossessed Beirutis, like their brothers and sisters in New Orleans, be forgotten and left to fend for themselves?
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