Mieh-Mieh Report

Third-hand. My aunt is sheltering with my cousins in the valley on the eastern side of the village. They have plenty of food and there is probably enough water for now.

The road to Sidon was bombed, I guess the "bridge" they're talking about is the overpass by the American School, in Ain-el-Hilweh. Dad says it's easy enough to cross ravines and such on foot. You just cut into the river bank, lay down planks and walk over, he says.

There's a report that the Israelis bombed the farmers' market in downtown Sidon (note, a Sunni and minority Christian district, not sympathetic to Hizbullah, but it's possible some of the banana sellers are Shi'ites, so of course they all deserve death). Can't let the people congregate to buy food, that would support terrorism.

My dad says he believes my relatives are all yakking and playing cards and perfectly sanguine in the midst of the shelling. This is the spirit of Lebanon. When he was there during an Israeli air raid once, he says he was terrified but his brother spent the raid on the veranda with his buddies playing cards.

The Lebanese cannot be cowed by this sort of hamfistedness. They will endure. Whether this invasion is the way to disarm Hizbullah seems very unlikely. It has set back the prospects for peace for at least another generation. Let's hope it's not the opening volley in a larger regional war.

Comments

[Dan Sherman]

Israel is not trying "cow" the Lebanese people. I don't see Hizbullah dropping leaflets in the area they will be bombing to warn civilians.

The Lebanese people are great people, but they need to call a spade a spade and rid themselves of terrorist organizations like Hizbullah. Otherwise, they are going to suffer collateral damages when stuff like this happens.

It's very sad that Lebanon associates themselves with Hizbullah. Very sad. And it's going to get sadder before it gets happier.

Dan

[Barbara Jones]

Leila - great post on Daily Kos - I have been thinking about you and your family for the past few days, and your blog been informative and has also helped me to connect in some way. What many people don't realize is that the Lebanese have always assimilated, wherever it is they settle. My parents, both born in Detroit, maintained our Lebanese traditions, but they also instilled in us that we were Americans (great Democrats that they were!). They stressed education above everything. Interesting enough, all 27 of the second generation (my cousins and I) married people who are not Lebanese - we are one great American extended family - so I can relate to your incredible, loving family. Take care and continue the hope.

[Achillea]

There's a report that the Israelis bombed the farmers' market in downtown Sidon (note, a Sunni and minority Christian district, not sympathetic to Hizbullah, but it's possible some of the banana sellers are Shi'ites, so of course they all deserve death).

No more so than the old lady and her son killed in Haifa by a Hezbollah rocket. Only the Haifa deaths and what caused them aren't just some anonymous, unconfirmed 'report.' Then again, they're only Jews, so doubtless they deserved death, right?

[Leila]

Did I say that? Read my whole blog, fellow. My children are one quarter Jewish. My husband is half. I go to funerals for my Jewish in-law relatives and listen to the kiddush and cry. If Hitler were in power he'd send me and mine out on a boxcar and I never forget it.

But why is it that every wail for Arab dead is supposed to be accompanied by an equal wail for Israeli dead? Why is it that an Arab-American isn't allowed to talk about what's happening to her family and ancestral country without first writing a long essay about how terrible it is that any Jews anywhere come to harm?

My first experience of hating terrorism came when at thirteen I saw a TV report of a thirteen-year-old clarinet player killed in a bus bombing in Tel Aviv. He was the best clarinet player in Israel. I was a young violinist then and orchestra meant to me what football means to high-school linebackers. I had spent the previous summer in Lebanon and witnessed an Israeli bombing raid on a refugee camp that killed 20+ people, and I had heard the same old arguments from the Israeli side that I'm hearing now "they hide in the skirts of their women, it's regrettable but what do you expect." I also heard arguments from the Arab side, that a bomb on a bus that kills two Isrealis should be compared to the 20+ killed every time Israel retaliated. Etc. etc. etc. I wept for that Jewish Israeli clarinet player and I knew that the whole damn thing was wrong. Wrong, wrong wrong.

And it's 30 years later and it's still wrong, and it's stupid, and those of you who rationalize this violence are no better than the terrorists you hate. You are the same as them. I know you and I know your supposed terrorists and I say to you, you and your logic are the same as Hizbullah. And any one of us could become a terrorist if the factors were right.

It's in times of chaos and war and mass death that true character emerges. Examine yourself and your rationalization and your hatred. You think I want Israelis to die? You are projecting your own blood lust onto me.

[Frank Hale]

Hi Leila,
This is Frank from Oakland. I corresponded with you once before when Max Rodenbeck's article came out.
Your response above is beautiful, but as other readers have pointed out your Kos link has attracted a lot of bottom-feeders. Reason doesn't work with these folks: it's like red meat to sharks. You're liable to wear yourself out and they thrive on attention. I suggest that you have a friend or relative scan your comments section for now to weed out the pathological and bigoted commentators. There are some honorable conservatives who are appalled by Bush's excesses (Gary Wills was once one of them). These folks can learn from your knowledge of the "Middle East" and are worth replying to individually the way Jonathan E. does on his blog. Otherwise stay with the respectful and gently sniping! ( I'm thinking of Allison C.).
One last tangential note. That thundering dunce, Rep.Steve King of Iowa, the one who bad-mouthed Helen Thomas, in a speech on, I believe, 6/9/06, actually compares Iraq to Oakland! (Go to votesmart.org speeches and look up speeches for this idiot. It's in the final paragraph).

[Achillea]

Did I say that? Read my whole blog, fellow.

Well, first off, I'm not a 'fellow.'

Secondly, please show me where I said Shi'ites deserved to die. Can't do it, can you? Not much fun to be undeservedly labelled a racist, is it? Try thinking twice next time before you do it, then.

You may now resume the standard lefty tactic of clapping your hands over your metaphorical ears and chanting 'bigoted and pathological' every time a challenge to your little worldview appears on the horizon. Have fun with your sycophants.

[janinsanfran]

Leila -- your response to the nitwit above is too good for him. But there we are.

Thank you for keeping on writing.