LEBANESE DIVIDED AND TRAUMATISED
August 20, 2024Other than GAZA, Lebanon is the only country that has endured death, destruction and devastation since the October 7th attack by Hamas resulted in an un-Godly act of revenge by the demonic Zionist regime that has hijacked Israel. More than 550 people have been killed including at least 250 civilians, homes, churches, and roads have been destroyed, thousands of hectares of agricultural land poisoned by Israel’s white phosphorus attacks.
We know we are the next target for Israel’s sickening, unlawful, unrestrained vengeance. While negotiations persist in Doha, many foreigners have left Lebanon and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese expats that normally return for the summer either didn’t come or left early.
For those who remain, and those like me who could have left but have decided to stay and continue to provide independent coverage as the situation on the ground escalates, the uncertainty is proving to be our biggest challenge.
Last week, I decided to canvass the pulse on the streets of the capital Beirut and travelled to outer-lying areas to compare the responses.
This is Part One of a four-part series that I will be sharing this week to keep you abreast of what the Lebanese think, feel and fear.
In this part, I address the obvious question – “How do the locals feel about the possibility of a full-scale war erupting between Israel and Lebanon?”
The responses are divided with local business owners feeling the economic strain of lost business, young students uncertain about their future, and those who say “Let them drop a bomb and kill us all. It is better than the life we are living now.”
Lebanon has been enduring a protracted and deep economic crisis since 2020, which has resulted in more than 80% of the population living below the poverty line.
LEBANON AND THE LEBANESE DO NOT WANT OR NEED A WAR!
Check it out and share to support our PLEA for PEACE and an END to the MADNESS.
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English Script:
Daizy: Just trying to ask Lebanese across Lebanon, different parts of Beirut, about the situation in the country.
Amira: I’m kind of on edge because I’m not sure if, like the situation is going to affect my ability to pursue what I want to pursue, to travel.
Karim Grinch: Many Lebanese citizens left the country, because they are scared of the situation in Lebanon.
Joe: The war in the South impacted us all of course, because it is part of Lebanon, it’s not isolated from Lebanon, it’s a part of Lebanon. It affects all of Lebanon, and the South is all of Lebanon. The whole country is affected, not only me. We are all upset about the war happening and we don’t want it for sure.
Akl: Since Hezbollah began its attacks, our work has diminished significantly. Some citizens have left, while others have stayed and are scared and unable to work. Business was great earlier in the summer, but now it’s diminishing slowly.
Daizy: Are you here from the South?
Nour: My mother is from the South, and I actually have a lot of my family members on my mom’s side who live in the South. So ever since October 7th, ever since everything started, it’s been very stressful for us because every now and then, we have to talk to our family members to try to convince them to try to come to Beirut and leave their lives behind. But that’s just not easy for them. They have kids. Their kids go to school there. Their job is there. So, to change their entire lives and come to Beirut is not easy. And like, they are always in this dilemma. Do we leave? Do we stay? Do we leave? Do we stay? And like, they don’t know what the right thing to do is.
Samira: We are very unhappy. But what can you do? It’s on and on and on. Every year, every time. It has to have an end I think for everyone, for the Palestinians and for the Lebanese.
Jawad: It’s normal to get impacted by it. But at the end of the day, we will stay because this is our land. We’re the owners of the land, we won’t leave it, even if they destroy it on us, we will build it again. War was imposed on us. It is not us who wanted war.
Raymond: The situation in Lebanon is abnormal now. Normally in July and August, we would have many expatriates here, but now the small number that we used to see, may come for one day and leave, and even many of them didn’t come, because they’re afraid of the political situation and the war supporting Gaza. What does this war have to do with us anyway?
Daizy Gedeon: Has the situation impacted your career, your business, your work?
Ziad: Greatly so actually, because, the way my job goes, like I have to see patients once a month, and it’s, a long process, you know, a year, a year and a half, two years. And with all this going on, a lot of people are leaving. So, I lose a lot of my patients because they want to continue their treatment outside, and, like, they can’t continue with me anymore. So, it’s a bit of a problem.
Charbel: The situation in Lebanon is not just war, it’s more than that. It’s a war that’s going on in our heads, fear, fear for our children, fear of making progress. I mean if we want to expand our business, we say no what if war broke out? If want to travel, what if something happened? Everything we want to do becomes related to war. What if something happened? We rush to supermarkets. We live in a rush, we’re running out of time. People are not living anymore, and if they are, they’re living in fear.
Ziad: No one is at ease. I think the most severe factor is the unpredictability of it you know, nobody knows what’s going to happen, nobody knows if it’s going to happen or if it’s not going to happen. And this uncertainty is what’s driving people, a bit insane every day, which is like, rightly so.
2 Women: Either we live, or we die. This life we are living is worthless. There is no electricity, no water, there is nothing in this country. What do we have left in this country? If we get bombed it would be better for us, so that we can die and find peace.
Daizy: Find peace from life here?
2 Women:Yes of course, because it’s not a life worth living here.
