Opening American Minds

Here is my attempt to open American minds. The following is an op-ed piece that I wrote which appeared in the local newspaper. It is personal and emphasizes the humanitarian aspects of the conflict but still effectively gets across the magnitude of the disaster in Lebanon. Most people in the U.S. have no concept of the asymmetry of this conflict. From past experience, writing anything that is perceived as confrontational just creates a torrent of indignant and angry letters. The way this is written leaves no room for anyone but the most rabid Israeli supporter to bitch.


(August 8, 2006) — Last Christmas my family was reunited in Beirut, bringing siblings scattered on four continents together for the first time in a decade.

One memorable day, we rented a bus, filled it with three generations of our extended family and drove up the Beirut-Damascus highway to Baalbek, the site of the spectacular Roman temple of Jupiter. We drove up the mountains across a brand new viaduct bridging a deep gorge, to a snow-covered mountain pass where the kids had a snowball fight and finally down to the fertile Bekaa valley and Baalbek. That evening we returned to Beirut, descending back to the coast just as the sun set over the Mediterranean.

For the past 16 years since the end of the civil war, the Lebanese have painstakingly rebuilt their country into the vibrant, cosmopolitan society it once was. There was a sense of regained independence with the departure of the Israeli troops from the south in 2000 and Syrian troops in 2005. Many difficult problems remained but there was a tremendous sense of optimism and hope. Foreign investments were rising dramatically, and tourism, once a vital part of the economy, was flourishing. Tens of thousands of expatriate Lebanese were returning every summer to reconnect with their roots, but more importantly to connect their foreign-born children to their family and heritage.

It is this sense that Lebanon was almost back to normalcy from the dark years of conflict that makes the events of the last three weeks all the more heartbreaking to the Lebanese and all who care about Lebanon. The beautiful viaduct we drove across is destroyed, the Beirut-Damascus highway rendered impassable and the town of Baalbek bombed. A section of Beirut has been flattened, as have numerous villages. Some 60 miles of Lebanon's coast is now covered with a thick layer of oil after the Israeli air force bombed a coastal power plant's oil tanks.
The human cost for this country of 4 million has been devastating: at least 850 dead, 3,200 injured and more than 900,000 displaced. My extended family is safe but scattered. My in-laws left Beirut for the relative safety of the mountains. My sister-in-law and her young children managed to leave but my brother remains in Beirut.

Conditions across the country are dire. Electricity is severely rationed, and fuel is scarce.These are difficult times for us. Emotions vacillate between fear for the safety of loved ones, anger at the senseless destruction of the country, guilt for being out of harm's way and frustration at not being able to help. It is the sense of despair at seeing history repeat itself.

No one, Israeli or Arab, seems to have learned the lessons of history. No one ever wins in such confrontations, everyone loses, some much more than others.