July 20, 2006

My friend, Hanady Salman (editor at As-Safir newspaper in Beirut), wrote this today:

"The fear is growing in Beirut. Beirut is sad, scared, wounded and … left alone. By yesterday morning, the UN said 150 000 people (foreigners and Lebanese holders of 2nd nationalities ) had already left Lebanon .Evacuations aresupposed to be completed by Friday . Today has been an exceptionally calm day : the US marines are evacuating Us citizens. By tomorrow , the country will be left to its own people and Israeli shelling. In Beirut , by Saturday , there will only be those who have nowhere else to go and the very few who deliberately decided to stay. There were also be those who managed to flee the south and the southern suburb of the capital.
What will happen to us on Saturday ?
A friend called a few minutes ago , scared and begging me to go hide with her in Baabdat in the mountains. She said her friend who works with the UN and lives in Washington called her to tell her to stay out of Beirut , because she heard that by Saturday , it will be hell , nothing will stop them. The city will be theirs : my city , my dearest city , my only home , is open to their warplanes and shells. Our kids , as of Saturday , will be the targets of Israeli fire. So it’s said.
What I fear the most is that by Saturday , July the 22nd, Beirut will be cut off from the rest of the country , and the world. Every morning , I rush to the office to make sure the internet is still working. Every day I ask myself : why didn’t they stop it ?
As of Saturday , I fear every city or region will be cut off from the rest of the country. Maybe they won’t bomb us. Maybe they will just leave us in our cities and villages to starve and rot to death. Maybe they will do both.
Worse than not knowing what will happen is knowing that whatever the Israelis decide to do, nobody wants or can stop them.
Hanady"