Death Note
It was beautiful. The blue sky was literally filled with thousands of dancing white objects elegantly falling in Downtown Beirut. They were floating in the air with the wind and gravity in sole control. It was as if it was snowing during the peak of the summer heat. Even children were playing innocent games, competing to catch as much of these gliding objects as possible. But this was no game.
The white objects falling from the heavens were harmless leaflets containing a harmful message. “The Israel Defense Forces intend to expand their operations in Beirut," the single-page leaflet read. "To the residents of Hay el-Sulloum, Bourj el-Barajneh and Chiah: For your own safety, you must evacuate those neighborhoods immediately, and evacuate every place where Hezbollah members or aides exist or carry out terrorist operations," it continued. “You must know that the expansion of Hezbollah terrorist operations will lead to a painful and strong response, and its painful results will not be confined to Hassan's gang and criminals," it added. The leaflets were signed, "The State of Israel" and were written in Arabic.
Painful and strong response? Painful results will not be confined to Hezbollah? What does this mean? Responses can get stronger and worse? I thought we already felt a strong response. How much worse can it get, more disproportionate than this?
Out of all the three neighborhoods mentioned in the leaflet only Bourj el-Barajneh has previously been hit hard, while Chiah has lost a single building in a bloody strike. On the other hand, the dense Hay el-Sulloum with its 200,000 inhabitants has been unscathed so far but any strike on it will surely result in great and horrid destruction. That neighborhood has actually become a refuge for the residents that have been displaced from the south of Lebanon and from nearby Dahieh. Now these refugees and their hosts will have to find another sanctuary.
I wonder how it feels to be warned to leave your home ‘immediately’. I wonder what questions arise under such a threat. “To stay and risk your life or to leave and lose your home, your memories?” I would most probably leave. But what if all I ever worked for and all I own is my house. What if that’s the only thing I have given my family, my children and that’s where all our memories lie? Would I be able to leave? That would be the kind of decisions that tear you apart, inside out. I just can’t believe all this is taking place less than 10 minutes from where I live. I just can’t believe that all these people are forced to take such hard decisions in such short notice. And we are here, fearing the earth-shaking sounds of the explosions.
The white objects falling from the heavens were harmless leaflets containing a harmful message. “The Israel Defense Forces intend to expand their operations in Beirut," the single-page leaflet read. "To the residents of Hay el-Sulloum, Bourj el-Barajneh and Chiah: For your own safety, you must evacuate those neighborhoods immediately, and evacuate every place where Hezbollah members or aides exist or carry out terrorist operations," it continued. “You must know that the expansion of Hezbollah terrorist operations will lead to a painful and strong response, and its painful results will not be confined to Hassan's gang and criminals," it added. The leaflets were signed, "The State of Israel" and were written in Arabic.
Painful and strong response? Painful results will not be confined to Hezbollah? What does this mean? Responses can get stronger and worse? I thought we already felt a strong response. How much worse can it get, more disproportionate than this?
Out of all the three neighborhoods mentioned in the leaflet only Bourj el-Barajneh has previously been hit hard, while Chiah has lost a single building in a bloody strike. On the other hand, the dense Hay el-Sulloum with its 200,000 inhabitants has been unscathed so far but any strike on it will surely result in great and horrid destruction. That neighborhood has actually become a refuge for the residents that have been displaced from the south of Lebanon and from nearby Dahieh. Now these refugees and their hosts will have to find another sanctuary.
I wonder how it feels to be warned to leave your home ‘immediately’. I wonder what questions arise under such a threat. “To stay and risk your life or to leave and lose your home, your memories?” I would most probably leave. But what if all I ever worked for and all I own is my house. What if that’s the only thing I have given my family, my children and that’s where all our memories lie? Would I be able to leave? That would be the kind of decisions that tear you apart, inside out. I just can’t believe all this is taking place less than 10 minutes from where I live. I just can’t believe that all these people are forced to take such hard decisions in such short notice. And we are here, fearing the earth-shaking sounds of the explosions.
posted by beirutlive at 3:09 PM
11 Comments:
Make the terrorits stop, and leave so that the martyrism isn't used as it has been.
is the goal of israel to displace every single citizen? where are they to go? Beirut already has close to 1 million refugees.
this is very ridiculous and horrific.
Not only where are they to go, but how the hell are they supposed to get there? Roads, bridges are bombed out...the airport isn't functioning..there is a blockade of the ports. What is left?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Has the site been hacked?
What's with this Suri post???
What can I say... Typical.. Just typical...
::shaking head::
unbelievable....
shortly after posting a political comment with a link to my website, my email accout (which is usually clean and intact) got flooded with a bunch of similar weird texts...
Carmel - the site was hacked a while back, apparently. The article that had been posted suddenly became a link to some magazine that caused the posted article to read like gibberish. It's now been fixed, apparently.
Israel is a cancer on the middle east.
The US and Israeli governments are guilty of war crimes.
The American colonists who fought the British had no uniforms, and blended into their communities.
If the British in the 18th century had operated according to Bush's rules, there would be no US.
I feel compelled to apologize to the people of Lebanon and Iraq, for the actions of my government.
A great quote by Golda Meir:
"We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours. Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us."
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