Still here
People are starting to get frustrated with how long the evacuation is taking and how little news we are getting from the Embassy. Granted, I know they are working on a very complicated plan that requires moving around 10,000 people, but still, given the press coverage the AUB campus has received and the number of students "stranded" here, I'm surprised they haven't at least sent someone down to do a briefing. Whatever.
There are people still leaving the country via Syria. All of the Ivy League students have left. Private firms provided them transportation, and this service was available to them through their schools. I'm not sure if they had an additional cost to get this insurance or what. Someone commented (I think it was one of the girls from Princeton) that this is kind of like the Titanic, where the wealthy are the first ones out, or at least the ones who attend the wealthy and influential schools.
In previous interviews (my how famous I am becoming) I said that I am staying on campus. Well, I have been venturing out for food, and last night I actually spent some time with a group of about 10 friends at a restaurant/bar about a block away from campus. It was good to actually laugh and just relax a little. Of course, the topic of politics and the war we are caught in the middle of came up, especially when the Israelis bombed the airport again. I'm wondering if they are starting to run out of targets. There is still power in the neighborhood surrounding AUB and I can see the city lights at night, though it is spotty and goes out often.
The current rumor circulating states that Hezbollah has decided to return the kidnapped soldiers. This won't stop the violence, I feel certain in predicting that, but it will give Hezbollah and appearance of credibility when Israel does not step back: Hezbollah would be able to say "See, they're the bad guys, not us!" While I have devoted significant space to railing on Israel, I have no love to Hezbollah either, and both sides need to be "collectively punished" by the international community for killing and endangering so many people. In the past, this kind of situation would lead to a splintering of Lebanese society, with people dividing themselves along factional lines. However, the Lebanese social and political landscape changed with the assassination of Rafik Hariri and the expulsion of the Syrians. Now we are seeing the Lebanese unite as a people. It is my understanding that much of the Israelis plan centers on the Lebanese dividing into factions again, leaving the central government weak and the country easy to control. This is not quite the case, making the situation more volatile. From the New York Times: "With Beirut under siege and the Lebanese government largely out of sight, many Lebanese grew resigned to a crisis that was largely in the hands of foreign powers." In other words, the rest of the world is determining the fate of the Lebanese people, and the Lebanese feel there is very little they can do. The ability to disarm Hezbollah is far out of
We just heard about a story in the newspaper Al-Nahar (this was a print article, so I can't put a link to it) that said there was a 2000-person peace demonstration in Tel Aviv, asking for an end to the war and for a prisoner exchange. Previously I had heard that the Israelis were pretty united behind this action, but perhaps that changes when they started to get the bombs and realized that a serious threat of further escalation existed.
Last night we were talking about the problems in the Palestinian refugee camps. The camps are extremely poor and are obviously situated in the south, so they are really hurting and very unable to flee the violence. While we still have plenty of food and many of the stores are open today, however, in the south they are starting to run out of food and other necessities. While they are relatively close to us, 20 miles or so, but with the damage to the roads and the danger, it is hard to get stuff to them.
On a lighter note, a friend of mine from the program is writing a satirical blog about the situation over here, and I'm including it for some comic relief.
There are people still leaving the country via Syria. All of the Ivy League students have left. Private firms provided them transportation, and this service was available to them through their schools. I'm not sure if they had an additional cost to get this insurance or what. Someone commented (I think it was one of the girls from Princeton) that this is kind of like the Titanic, where the wealthy are the first ones out, or at least the ones who attend the wealthy and influential schools.
In previous interviews (my how famous I am becoming) I said that I am staying on campus. Well, I have been venturing out for food, and last night I actually spent some time with a group of about 10 friends at a restaurant/bar about a block away from campus. It was good to actually laugh and just relax a little. Of course, the topic of politics and the war we are caught in the middle of came up, especially when the Israelis bombed the airport again. I'm wondering if they are starting to run out of targets. There is still power in the neighborhood surrounding AUB and I can see the city lights at night, though it is spotty and goes out often.
The current rumor circulating states that Hezbollah has decided to return the kidnapped soldiers. This won't stop the violence, I feel certain in predicting that, but it will give Hezbollah and appearance of credibility when Israel does not step back: Hezbollah would be able to say "See, they're the bad guys, not us!" While I have devoted significant space to railing on Israel, I have no love to Hezbollah either, and both sides need to be "collectively punished" by the international community for killing and endangering so many people. In the past, this kind of situation would lead to a splintering of Lebanese society, with people dividing themselves along factional lines. However, the Lebanese social and political landscape changed with the assassination of Rafik Hariri and the expulsion of the Syrians. Now we are seeing the Lebanese unite as a people. It is my understanding that much of the Israelis plan centers on the Lebanese dividing into factions again, leaving the central government weak and the country easy to control. This is not quite the case, making the situation more volatile. From the New York Times: "With Beirut under siege and the Lebanese government largely out of sight, many Lebanese grew resigned to a crisis that was largely in the hands of foreign powers." In other words, the rest of the world is determining the fate of the Lebanese people, and the Lebanese feel there is very little they can do. The ability to disarm Hezbollah is far out of
We just heard about a story in the newspaper Al-Nahar (this was a print article, so I can't put a link to it) that said there was a 2000-person peace demonstration in Tel Aviv, asking for an end to the war and for a prisoner exchange. Previously I had heard that the Israelis were pretty united behind this action, but perhaps that changes when they started to get the bombs and realized that a serious threat of further escalation existed.
Last night we were talking about the problems in the Palestinian refugee camps. The camps are extremely poor and are obviously situated in the south, so they are really hurting and very unable to flee the violence. While we still have plenty of food and many of the stores are open today, however, in the south they are starting to run out of food and other necessities. While they are relatively close to us, 20 miles or so, but with the damage to the roads and the danger, it is hard to get stuff to them.
On a lighter note, a friend of mine from the program is writing a satirical blog about the situation over here, and I'm including it for some comic relief.
posted by Courtney at 12:34 AM
1 Comments:
Found your blog on BlogHer, really interesting stuff and I appreciate your honesty and descriptions. Hope you re able to esacpe safely!
Wanted to give you a heads up that the goverment has decided not to bill evacuees. Isn't that nice of them?
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15068775.htm
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