ABC Nightline

Ram was being interviewed in his capacity as Time Out Editor in Chief last night by ABC News Nightline to explain to America what Beirut really is, or what it was. It was a life full of vibrancy, liberty, fun. It was a town full of contrast, ideas, differences, sophistication, dreams. This was demonstrated by the fact that TIme Out Magazine was here. Today, we dont know what it will be like tomorrow. But one thing is for sure, we will be here to help rebuild it...back to the Beirut we knew... mrtez

RS says: while it was good to get a voice of sanity out on ABC Nightline, (and i can talk about Time Out Beirut and this beautiful city's culture forever after documenting it for so long) I do feel that when Israel murders 63 civilians yesterday, the highest total in one day, the sixth day of attacks, to speak about Time Out is perhaps a little crass.
63 people in one day. Innocents. And Israeli spokesmen continue to spout the same crap - 'we dont want civilians to die but you know we want out soldiers back'. This is not a direct quote but if you listen to the likes of Mark Regev you get the picture. Yet again the lives of two soldiers, two military combatants, are worth more than any poor Arab villager.
How Bush can talk about Hezbollah giving back the soldiers when poor people are being massacred daily is sick, worse than sick. Does anyone in the outside world really think that Lebanon and its people will say 'ok thanks very much take your people' Do you think anyone here has sympathy for Israel in the face of such total destruction and the killing of so many innocents that never had to happen. There is no justification for this. None. Any of you who have attempted to travel down south in conboy and seen the destruction will tell you the same.
There is not one rule rule for Israel and other rules for everyone else. Palestinians and Lebanese are not lower than Israelis. We witnessed 23 tonnes of explosives hit southern beirut last night. It was so loud it jarred the bones. my eyes are tired. Holding tight. I can't even put the needle on the record on my decks because nothing sounds the same as when I played them a couple of weeks ago at the Shout Collective's beach party in Batroun.(more on shout later). I want to keep my memories strong so i can remember what we have lost and know that if we never get it back, if a whole new generation of Lebanese is scarred by Israeli hell - Israel who seems to know nothing but raging war for 50 years - that we can tell our children what it was. I cannot see anyone forgiving Israel for this. The Zionist Entity is merely creating hate, the most destructive emotion in the world, and I wish we didn't feel that way because hate destroys the hater more thoroughly than it destroys the people he hates. I am trying not to hate. But the longer this continues, the more the people i love are being murdered, the more the most vibrant city in the Middle East is laid waste and its people made into refugees around the world, the more difficult it becomes not to. This is 2006 and humanity should know better.