Chasing the Peace

This is the fun part!

2007-06-06T01:27:00.000+01:00

Once you have your mind made up and begin to plan, the world looks like a wonderful place, full of adventure and opportunity. During the planning process you see theoretical problems, but so many more solutions!

I’ve decided that, cash permitting (no small barrier) I will go to Iraq. The land between the rivers, the new Vietnam, the cradle of civilization and the conflict zone of our generation, this country has been calling out to me since last year.

I’ll be Istanbul at the beginning of August, and from there I intend to travel southward through Turkish Kurdistan into the Iraqi Kurdish region which is relatively peaceful and stable. From there if the fancy takes me Baghdad is a day or so away.

Istanbul to Diyarbakir is about a twenty hour buss ride, costing around a Euro an hour for the pleasure. A friend of a friend has offered to put me up for the night in Diyarbakir which is nice as I’ll need to relax after twenty hours on a crowded buss. I intend to relax a few hours there, and then get a buss to Silopi, which shouldn’t cost much more than the first leg of the trip. It’s Silopi that will be my jumping point to get into Iraq, the trip from there to the Iraqi border town of Zakho is a short one, but I’m allowing a day for it lest the bourder crossing be complicated. From there its onto As Sulaymaniyah and perhaps even the ironicly doubed ‘City of peace’ itself, Baghdad.

The possibilitys of what to do while there are endless, and make me wish I could spend more rather than less time there. My third year politics dissertation deals with the Kurdish region of Iraq, that alone could occupy the entirety of my time there. Ontop of this, I have aplied for a position as a toutor for youth camps being run by the government of the region. I have emailed the ESU about the possibility of running debating workshops in Baghdad University, it sounds crazy but why not! Since my last trip I have become a tad more realistic about the possibility of being published, but I have learned an afull lot, and would intend to keep readers of this blog updated if nothing elce came of my scribbilings.

Then of course, there is the more pleasant side to it! I have a friend in the US military, would be rather nice to buy him a drink, and hell, a bit of touristing never hurt…

The war could have ended by the time I get there and I may simply blend in to the throngs of tourists clabering to re-enter the damaged cradle and stare in awe at her wonders. Either way we can all be sure of one thing, it I’ll all be over by Christmas…

Both sides of the Coin

2006-09-20T18:48:00.000+01:00

(The following is an article for Face up, an Irish teen magazne)

War is not just high politics and gun battles, but touches everyone near it. Adults are oft set in their ways, children say what they are told and politicians lie. Teenagers, on both sides are the one sure way of finding the truth. I spoke to Darine from Lebanon and Yotal from Israel about their experiences of the war, everyday lives and there hopes for the future.

Lebanon

“I’m still scared, not scared from Israel, scared from Hizbollah…”Darine Matar is a nineteen year old teenager from Tyre, a badly bombed city in southern Lebanon. Darine is a member of the minority Christian community, and is afraid to walk the streets for fear of Hizbollah. Hizbollah are a radical Shia Muslim militia which operates throughout Southern Lebanon. The recent war was not so much a war between Lebanon and Israel, but a war between Hizbollah and Israel.
On the first day of the month long conflict, Darine was with her friends on the beach. “I saw boats and I thought it’s a joke… it’s not real. But after five days, I was crying all the days” The Matar family immediately moved from their home by the sea in Tyre to live with Darine’s grandmother across town. Their home is on the second story of a group of houses, and as such they would be far less likely to survive an Israeli hit than if they were in their grandmother’s Bungalow. “I slept next to my little sister every night, not because I was scared for me, because I was scared for her”
While they remained in Tyre, life was made up of fearful days and sleepless nights. Bombs rained down upon their city, killing hundreds. Having endured the Israeli pounding for a week, the Matars fled north to the relative safety of the mountains, leaving behind friends, their home and their father’s fishing boat. There they stayed until a ceasefire was declared, a month after the bombing started.

Darine, now back home, tells me how girls are not allowed to work in Southern Lebanon. “In Tyre, girls not work. I have idea to work, but my father, he say no work” “The boys, they can do as they like, do anything they want, but the girls no.” However, this discrimination has led to an interesting development. Boys are allowed, and indeed expected to work from about age twelve onwards, while the girls are told to remain in school. During the summer the girls swim, sleep and go for walks while their male counterparts are earning money. The “close-minded” men see education as little more than a pastime with which girls can entertain themselves until they are ready to marry. Indeed some adults, including Darines parents, push their daughters not to work even when they are finished university.
But what all of this leads to is that the female population of Lebanon including Darine, who wants to study media in Beirut next year, are far more educated than the males. With the difference that an education can make to ones wages, it will be very interesting to see the effects that the difference in education between males and females will make to Lebanese society in the next decade or so.

Israel

“Every time I hear a door slam I jump, I think maybe it’s a bomb” Yotal Phung is a thirteen year old Israeli from Haifa, the northern Israeli city which was hit by many Hizbollah rockets. Yotal’s Christian parents immigrated to Israel following the Vietnam War. They now run a successful Chinese restaurant on Jaffa Street in Haifa.
When the war started, it was believed that Hizbollah did not have the technology to reach Haifa. But after less than a week, Fajar missiles started to fall upon Yotal’s home city. Yotal’s family restaurant is located near the port area of Haifa, by far the worst hit area of Haifa. Hizbollah attempted to disrupt the Israeli economy by hitting her ability to trade. Some fled, others waited in bunkers hoping the war would be short lived. After a week and a half of enduring sirens, bombs and terror, the Phung family fled south to live with relatives. They did not return until the war was over, and the rockets stopped falling.

Yotal hopes to study computers when he leaves school, but this comes of course after his stint in the army. Conscription is in place throughout Israel, and everyone, male and female must enter the army once they finish school. Only orthodox Jews and Arabs are exempt from military service. When I asked Yotal about his feelings on the matter, he just laughed. “I need to join, or else I’ll go to gaol!” he chuckles, as if the idea of not joining the Army was a silly one. I asked him would he join if service were not compulsory, the bright young man paused at this, as if the idea was a totally new one. “hmmm… I think yes” –Why? “They teach you to fire a gun” Yotal tells me with a smirk, “and they turn you into a man.”

I asked Yotal why he thought Hizbollah bombed Haifa; “…they try to scare us. Because Israel Army bomb their house” he says with a shrug. “I think everyone the same” Yotal goes on, “I think there can be peace with the Arabic. We need to talk.”
“This is everyday life here, wars bombs and terrorists.” Explaining why he wishes to stay in Israel once he’s older rather than emigrate from the war torn nation, Yotal tells me that he loves Israel, he considers himself Israeli despite the fact that he is Christian, and he loves the “beautiful city” of Haifa.

Christians Jews and Muslims all mix in the same social groups in Haifa, as well as members of the Bahi faith, and countless other denominations. It is a truly multi cultural city, despite the strains of war. I asked Yotal at the end of our chat did have anything he wanted to tell the readers of Face Up. “Arabic is not bad, you see war on TV and people say Arabic is bad, but not all Arabic is bad.”

-Ross Frenett
Israel and Lebanon

“Shabbat Shalom motherfuckers!”

2006-09-11T17:02:00.000+01:00

“The sirens started going off and I just froze, I didn’t now what to do” Ben, an American working on a kibbutz for the summer tells me. He marvels at the cool headedness of his fellow workers. “The Israelis, they just walked. I mean, I was running for my life, but to them this is just, life, you know?” Ben is not Jewish, but decided to come and work on the Jewish commune after he had completed his degree in religious studies. He was one of the few volunteers who stayed on the Kibbutz once the katushia rockets began to fall. The closest rocket landed less than a kilometre from Ben’s bunker, in a field within the Kibitz.

The terrifying sirens didn’t wake Ben up one night, and it was the exploding rockets which acted as his alarm clock. He told me how he ran through the abandoned kibutz towards the bunker in which the remainder of the volunteers had taken refuge upon hearing the shrieking Sirens.

I’m visiting the Kibbutz Beerot Yizchak. A friend of a friend, Mat, is studying here for a few months and has invited myself and some friends to visit him on the Sabbath, or Shabbat.
As the sun sets we are taken out to a pumpkin field and ten or so Jews welcome the coming of Shabbat with Hebrew hymns. There is something strangely sad, but proud out the songs being sung, and I couldn’t help but feel privileged to have been there.

“Shabbat Shalom motherfuckers!” One of Mats class mates wishes us goodnight as we sit around in the Kibbutz common room playing cards and chess, drinking tea and chatting. On Shabbat we can use no electronic equipment, and we cannot write, in addition to many other prohibited acts. The next day was much the same, sitting, chatting and playing chess. The Kibtz zoo, housing camels, goats and monkeys provided a good two hours of entertainment. The food n the Kibbutz was some of the best I’ve eaten in Israel.

I’m queuing for the buss to Haifa in Jerusalem central station. An orthodox Jew pushes past me to get ahead, a member of the IDF next to me shifts the weight of the rifle slung across his back from one side to the other, and a group of girls at the head of the queue chatter without care. The radio being broadcast out or the Buss stations speakers goes silent, and a man begins to speak softly in Hebrew in its place. Everyone turns away from there que, the girls continue to chatter, the Russian immigrant, recognizable by the book he was reading, to read, but they all make they’re way silently and calmly to the exists, like the audience clearing the Auditorium after a film.

I follow the crowd. When we get to the gather point I ask a question I already know the answer to, “what’s happening?” “They think be there is bomb, but maybe not” a young woman answers me, as calm as telling the time. She then goes to get Coffee and a pastry. This is life in Israel, no point complaining or making a fuss; the people here learnt long ago that such things are the luxuries of a peaceful society, where bombs and wars are rare.

People with guns are everywhere, soldiers, police, young men in three quarter length shorts and sandals, all carry machine guns. But, or some reason, this does not seem odd. The rifles are not brandished threateningly, but just appear to be a fact of everyday life. I tried to come up with a way of explain this to someone who has never been to Israel, and the closest example I can give is this. Imagine a medieval town. Try to get a mental picture; most people will imagine, amongst the monks and plague ridden peasants, a large proportion of the population carrying swords and bows, just going about their daily lives.

Get up in the morning, put on your shoes, brush your teeth, pick up your M16 and head of for the day. As I try to express myself a man with an automatic rile and a coffee speaking on his mobile phone sat down next to me.

2006-09-10T20:28:00.000+01:00

For some reason this computer wont allow me to paste from a word document...

No matter, there is a colage of scribilings which I've produced over the last few days up on my bebo page. Ill work on getting them up here.

Ross
Haifa

On the road again

2006-09-06T22:33:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow morning I make for Haifa, the northern Israeli city that was hit with a good number of HIzbollahs rokets throughout the war.

I will be spending a day in the port city, and then going on to spend Friday end Saturday on a Kibutz near Tel Aviv.

I'm not really sure what to expect, but then again I suppose thats why I'm going.

On a vaugely interesting side note, Gerry Adams is currently in Israel, so I've emailed the Sinn Fein press office to see would it be possible to interveiw him, or least of all see him speak. It will probibly amount to nothing, but you never know.

Ross

Jerusalam

Jerusalem

2006-09-03T23:20:00.000+01:00

[Edit]

Red Fm is tonight, tueday the 5th at 23.15, rather than yesterday. Thanks.

The city where David ruled, Jesus rose from the dead and Mohammad flew....I had a nice cup of tea and a sit down.... I'm happy with that though.

I'm going to be on Red fm at around half nine on Monday, and the Corkman are printing that piece this week, rather than last week (Thursday to be specific). I'm going to take a break from war for a few days and enjoy the most important city in the history of mankind.

You'll hear from me when I head north.

Ross

“If I were sure that this war would finish Hizbollah, I would wish it to continue”

2006-08-31T21:04:00.000+01:00

I’m sorry about the flowery introduction and conclusion, but I couldn’t help myself. They were cut from the ones I sent to papers (not that that matters)!

A gust of wind catches litter on the streets in Tyre, brings it together and makes it dance then drops it again a few feet from its original position. Up turned by this weather educed ballet is one of the many propaganda leaflets which Israel scattered all over Lebanon throughout the course of its 34 day long war with Hizbollah. A cartoon depicts the Shia groups leader, Hassan Nasrallah as a snake hiding under the ground, with Lebanese civilians dieing over head. A rough translation of the Arabic script which tops the caricature is: “Hizbollah, protectors of the Country…? The country is the victim of the resistance!!!”

“If I were sure that this war would finish Hizbollah, I would wish it to continue” Diana Matar, a 23 year old mother from Tyre confides in me. “We hate Israel, we hate America, but we also hate the Hizbollah, all for war. We want peace in all the world” Diana is a member of Lebanon’s ever shrinking Christian minority.

Diana’s 19 year old sister Darine says she is still scared to walk the streets at night, “not scared from Israel, scared from Hizbollah” Darine told me how the mainly Shia city of Tyre is “not for Christians, not for anybody who is no Muslim, anybody who is not Hizbollah. They can come, do as they like, take your things, you can do nothing”

Darine finished School this year, and hopes to study Media in Beirut next year, but with no timeframe given for the re-opening Lebanon’s badly damaged Schools and Universities, she may have to wait another year.

The sectarian tensions which are still rampant within this small country, following its 30 year civil war, are never more apparent than when one is speaking to the young. “If I see a boy, and he want to talk to me, maybe he like me, if he is not Christian, I walk away” I asked her did this mean she only spoke with and socialised with Christians, she answered as if I had asked her if she breathed air “of course!”

Darine bemoaned the “close mindedness” in traditional southern Lebanon, when her father, who up until this point was silent as I spoke to his family in their house by the Sea, cut in. “We are not the winners of this war! No one is! Look around you, winners…” After his animated outburst, Joseph dismissingly waved his hand toward the south, and slumped back down into his Chair. This weather beaten fisherman was taken prisoner by Israel and tortured for two days during their 1982 invasion of Lebanon. “He was not a fighter,” his wife told me, Joseph having fallen mute once more, “he was on his boat, and they just took him. UNIFIL got him out.”

Lebanon’s Christian community have never been great lovers of Hizbollah, but following the costly 34 day war which Hizbollah brought down onto the heads of the people, the tensions have risen. The Matar family told me how the very same Shias who took refuge in the Christian region of Tyre, which was mostly spared Israel’s wrath, were now waving Hizbollah flags, blaring out hateful “resistance” songs from their cars and homes and harassing Christians in the street.

I spoke to the Matars as shocking new storeys are emerging of Hezbollah’s treatment of Christian civilians during the war. The Observer newspaper has heard accounts that Hizbollah Gunman fired on Christian civilians as they attempted to flee the fighting. Again, according to The Observer, on the 26th of July a convoy of civilians attempting to leave the southern village of Ain Ebel were fired upon my masked gunmen, injuring ten of them.

Leading Hizbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan denied that the group was involved in preventing civilians from fleeing the war zone. Hizbollah claims that Israel deliberately targeted civilians, and has called for an international enquiry into Israelis conduct in the recent war, which cost over 1200 Lebanese lives. However, the Christian villagers are adamant, and they claim that their stories can be verified by the fact that the bullet holes in their vehicles match the 7.62 round, which is fired by Hizbollah’s AK47 rifles, and not the 5.56 round fired by Israel’s American made M16.

Stories like these, whether true or false can only serve to deepen the anger that Lebanon’s non Shia community feel towards Hizbollah. During the course of the war, the people here were united against Israel, however now that the dust has settled, Lebanon’s Sunni, Druze and Christian community have begun to ask questions. Posters, Baseball caps, flags and t-shirts bearing the Hizbollah Logo could, two weeks ago, be seen all around Lebanon, as a singe of defiance to Israel. Today, they are confined to Shi areas. A poll in the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient du Jour found that 51% of the population, more than 80% of non Shia’s, want Hizbollah disarmed.

The wind picks up again, the dance resumes, and the leaflets that were disguarded as useless propaganda two weeks ago, are being looked upon again with fresh eyes. The “divine victory” fades as anger grows.

Annan calls "for the seige to be lifted" as UNIFIL remembers its dead

2006-08-29T19:34:00.000+01:00

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today visited the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqora, Southern Lebanon. His visit comes as his tour of the Middle East, to shore up the ceasefire in Lebanon, is ongoing.

In today's ceremony Mr Annan was visibly moved as he lay a wreath at the memorial to the UN dead in Naqoura. All of those killed “in service of peace”, as Annan put it, were remembered today, but particularly the six UN personnel who were killed during the course of Hizbollahs war with Israel. Four military personnel who were killed by Israeli shelling in the patrol base Khiam, and two civilian UN staff who were killed in the Israeli bombardment of Tyre.

The Secretary General spoke of the “serious irritants” which needed to be resolved, referring to the issue of the two captured Israeli soldiers, an addition to the “issue of the prisoners.” He spoke about Lebanon's obvious commitment to the implementation of resolution 1701, which brought an end to this current conflict, and in light of this called for “the siege to be lifted… which for the Lebanese is a humiliation, and infringement on their sovereignty.”

Mr Annan was very good humored about the heckling he received yesterday, as he visited the devastated suburbs of southern Beirut saying “what happened yesterday was really a little side show put on to impress me. And I think some of the young ones got a bit over zealous, so that , that was fine.”

The UN chief, after dieing in Naqoura, flew by helicopter to inspect two UN positions in the east of the country, before continuing on to Jerusalem. This visit goes on as Italy's first contingent of around 800 peacekeepers, out of a promised 3,000 set sail on what Rome said would be a "long and risky" mission. The Italians are due to arrive in Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre by Saturday.

Ross Frenett
Naqoura, Southern Lebanon

Kofi Annan, press conference

2006-08-29T15:28:00.000+01:00

The UN Secretary General visited the UNIFIL base in Naqoura, Southern Lebanon today. I was lucky enough to be in attendance. I’m putting together a short article, but this is what he had to say to questions asked of him by the media.

Question:
We watched and listened yesterday as you talked to the Lebanese side, and you couldn’t have been clearer, even us in the news media understood you perfectly. If Israel and Hizbollah are serious, as they say they are, about this ceasefire, what must they do in the next 48hours?

Answer:
That’s a very god question. I think first of all we have managed under general Pellegrinis leadership to establish a coordination mechanism monitoring Mechanism. We have had three to four meetings already, The Israeli army and the Lebanese army, under his chairmanship. It is important for the two sides, to come together, to press forth, to reaffirm their acceptance and the speedy implementation of resolution 1701.To affirm, and actually cooperate in the withdrawal and the handover process. I think there is a lot that can be done. With good will it can be done faster than we are doing. We on our side, we are trying to get in the additional reinforcements as quickly as we can. And I think the Israelis need to move on what, are certain key issues which are becoming serious irritants on both sides.We need to resolve the issue of the abducted soldiers very quickly, obviously the issue of the prisoners which will also have to be dealt with. We need to deal with the lifting of the embargo, sea, land and air, which for the Lebanese is a humiliation, and infringement on their sovereignty, and of course the government need measures to assure, ensure that the entrances their country, sea land and air, are secure.And the Prime Minister and his government have taken very serious steps too, first of all they have deployed to the North and East of the country, we have thousands of Soldiers deployed which has not taken place before. They are also in serious consultation with the German government, to give them expertise and equipment in order to protect their land boarder, the airports and the sea, and I think the time has come for the siege to be lifted, the Lebanese have shown their serious about the implementation of 1701 in all the deployments and efforts they have made.So I think these are essential steps, but they will also be very serious confidence building exercises , to reinforce our efforts to stabilise the situation.

Question:
Mr Secretary General, what are your Impressions From South Beirut today, both the hostile reaction to you personally and the destruction?

Answer:
The destruction was quite shocking actually, what I saw, and I could understand the anger and the frustration of some of those who had lived there. But, what happened yesterday was really a little side show put on to impress me. And I think some of the young ones got a bit over zealous, so that , that was fine.

Question:
Sir we have witnessed so many violations of the resolution from the Israeli side in the latest days. What are going to say to the Israeli leaders regarding this issue?

Answer:
No, I have maintained that both parties have to respect the ceasefire, and the agreement. And when we declared the ceasefire I sent both governments a letter with one page attached, indicating what should be done, and what should not be done. Explaining very clearly what I understood cessation of hostilities to mean. And the referee is General Pellegrini on the ground, and myself and the SC at HQ. Parties with complaints on the ground they should come to General Pellegrini, not take matters into their own hands. You can not have, it’s a bit like having a football match where one of the teams also attempts to play the referee. You cannot be a team in a foot ball match and the referee at the same time.If there are problems they have to go to Pellegrini, or come to me. I urge all parties to respect, scrupulously the ceasefire. We do have a chance to turn this into a permanent ceasefire. And with an agreement on the political framework, we really have a chance to build a peaceful Lebanon. We don’t want to go back to a situation wear we can have an explosion like this in six months, or six years. Lets make sure this time its for good, and it requires both sides to cooperate.
End

Ross Frenett
Naqoura

Why I came, what I saw...

2006-08-27T19:13:00.000+01:00

The Cork Man asked me to put together a piece detailing why I came, and what I’ve seen, what follows is the best answer I can give to those two questions in seven hundred words.

Explosions ring out overhead, the sky is temporarily illuminated, then returns to darkness. Dogs hide from the man made thunder. Women, children, the young and the old; all stare up in awe… it's two days before I’m due to leave for Lebanon. I’m at the Cobh regatta enjoying the fireworks with my friends-they’re quite impressive this year.

Why did I pack my bags, leave the peace and security of home and head for the Middle East? Primarily because of that feeling of childish helplessness which I experienced when watching the war on the news, was no longer bearable. I felt an urge to go, to do something about it. I was sick of watching this tragedy unfold, and not being able to stop it.

I couldn’t stop it, but what I could do was go to it. It was within my meagre powers to go and see the war, experience it for myself. Maybe I could write something about my experiences, perhaps I could take a photo that would make people see it in a new way. If I could get through to so much as one person, if a photo I took or an article I wrote could make one more person sit up and take notice, then maybe in my own small way, I would have contributed something worthwhile. Maybe I will have been more than just a spectator.

I sought self improvement; how can you appreciate the life you live if you have never experienced hardship? I have found Irelands newly acquired prosperity has come as a mixed blessing. I am from the first generation of Irish people who have never known want.

It has often been said that hardship builds character. I went looking for hardship, throwing myself at danger. Real danger-not the danger of failing an exam, or missing a train, the kind boys are raised on; bombs, bullets and grenades. Like the characters in so many childhood novels, I went in search of adventure, of the unknown, and hoped that I would come out a better, wiser, and more appreciative person at the other side.

“Come, sit, smoke.” Saaid, a former baker, half-orders and half-invites me to join him and his friends as they sit around telling stories, reminiscing and smoking a hookah pipe. I sit, and they do their best to communicate with me, and I with them as we end up speaking with our own hybrid tongue made up of English, French and Arabic with a healthy sprinkling of gestures to fill in the gaps. Our curious party, who would not be out of place in a pub in west Cork, are in the middle of Southern Beirut, almost totally destroyed by Israeli shelling. We sit around on the rubble that used to be the men’s homes, and they ask me of Ireland. The Lebanese seem to take the destruction of their homes as a minor inconvenience: “We will rebuild them, better than before,” I am told with a shrug. “We will make new life.”

I sit and write this article on the seafront in Tyre, a badly damaged city in southern Lebanon. Not two weeks after the end of this tragic war, the beach is teeming with children and adults alike; swimming, canoeing, surfing, making sandcastles, picnicking and playing football.

Talkar, a translator from the south, whose home had been destroyed by Israeli shelling, told me “[T]o be happy in your home, you must be a good neighbour. Lebanon wants to be a good neighbour to Israel, want peace, Lebanon not country for war.” Talkar, and all Lebanese hope, that their simple dream of peace, will now become a reality, that they have endured their last war.

When I go home, and people ask me what I saw in Lebanon, what will I answer? I saw rubble, I felt the silence of a dead village, walked passed mass graves and through oil-soaked sand. But, I also saw a people looking towards the future with hope, a people ready to forgive. I saw the international community live up to its promises, and send thousands of its own sons to this little country to guard a ceasefire pregnant with peace. Hope, I saw hope.

Ross Frenett
Lebanon

More French Arrive in Lebanon

2006-08-25T17:28:00.000+01:00

In the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura on Friday, another one hundred and seventy French troops landed. These follow a smaller contingent of about fifty that were deployed to the region last week, but are still just an advance party for the many thousands more UN troops expected.

French President Jacques Chirac pledged on Thursday to send another 1,800 troops for south Lebanon, to reinforce the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon, or UNIFIL and support the Lebanese army. This deflected much of the heavy criticism levied against France since the ceasefire. Following expectations that she would lead the force, France initially only promised two hundred troops to safeguard peace in its former colony.

This wave of troops is made up almost entirely of engineers, who will be tasked with mine clearing and disposal of unexploded ordinance, in addition to reconstruction. These teams of engineers will be preparing the ground for the arrival of many more foreign troops expected to arrive in the following weeks and months. As well as its military functions, the force will also be undertaking humanitarian work by rebuilding bridges, removing ordinance from civilian areas, helping to clear roads, and generally helping the civilian population to return to normality.

The French are the first nation, hopefully of many, to actually commit troops on the ground following UN resolution 1701, which brought an end to the thirty four day conflict. The conflict between Israel and Hizbollah cost the lives of over 1,200 Lebanese, and 157 Israelis. Resolution 1701 calls for the strength of the UNIFIL force to be brought from 2,000 to 15,000 troops.

The rules of engagement, source of much debate over the last few weeks, were described by French Admiral Magne, commander of the four French vassals ferrying troops and equipment into Lebanon, as much more “robust” than the ones troops have been operating under up until now.

Despite the smooth completion of the deployment, tensions were high and security tight. Snipers were deployed all around the port and helicopters circled overhead. France lost 58 troops to an attack in Beirut, allegedly masterminded by Hizbollah while last deployed Lebanon in October of 1983. 251 US marines were also killed in by the devastating suicide bombs which ultimately led to the withdrawal of French and American troops. Admiral Magne, who was there that dreadful day, said that since then “lessons had been learned”, lessons which will put into practice during this mission.

The French navy will be stationed off the cost of Lebanon at all times, with full hospital facilities as well as combat ready troops capable of being helicoptered in at a moments notice should the situation deteriorate. Possibly to support or maybe even extract French troops and civilians from the area, if that need arises.

As well as troops, armoured personnel carriers, trucks, jeeps, bulldozers and other ‘light equipment’ were also dropped in Naqoura. ‘Heavy equipment’ - cranes, larger trucks and anything else that could not be unloaded unto the small pier at Naqoura - will be brought up to Beirut port on Saturday.

This all went on as meetings between Lebanese army and the IDF, chaired by the UN, were ongoing. Today’s meeting between the two armies was the fourth of its kind since the ceasefire, to discuss the Israel withdrawal and the occupation of former Israeli positions by Lebanese forces.

It also emerged today from a source within the UN, who asked to remain nameless, that the UN lost more personnel than initially expected during the course of the war at least two non military staff were killed in Israeli raids around the city of Tyre.

Ross Frenett
Naqoura, South Lebanon

©rossfrenett2006

Irish give to Lebanese children

2006-08-24T17:37:00.000+01:00

At a presentation in Sida in southern Lebanon on Thursday, money raised in Ireland to the sum of around 20,000 Euro was presented to the orphanage of Tibnin, amongst others. Many dignitaries and press were in attendance. Amongst them, the Mayor of Sida, Dr Abed Raman Bizri. Dr Bizri spoke about the special relationship between Ireland and Lebanon. He said, that the people of Lebanon were deeply gratified, but not surprised, that the Irish had stuck with them through their times of hardship. “The Irish are the most welcome of all of the foreign troops, the most trusted.”

The good will towards Ireland in Lebanon has been built up over the more than twenty years that the Irish were deployed in Lebanon as part of UNIFIL. The first Irish troops entered Lebanon in the seventies, attempting to bring peace during the country’s tragic civil war and the Israeli occupation. A total of forty seven Defence Forces personnel lost their lives during the twenty three years of the mission. Over the years Irish troops built up a special relationship with the local populace, even teaching local children a spot of Hurling. The mission officially ended in 2001, but a small number of Irish troops remain.

The orphanage in Tibnin, which was funded and maintained by the Irish army while they were here, was damaged during the fighting. The orphanage is home to more than seventy children who have lot their parents. The payment is hoped to be the first of many, with approximately half of the money raised being put into the Tibnin orphanage and the other half being spread equally amongst other orphanages in the war torn south.

Presenting the money to the orphanages on behalf of Ireland was Ireland’s Honorary Consul General Khaled Daouk. For further details, see: http://www.irishlebproject.com/

Ross Frenett
Sidon, Southern Lebanon

Change of plan

2006-08-23T19:23:00.000+01:00

The Lebanese army have placed a whole load of new restrictions down, and with my UNIFIL contact busy, there was nought that I could do.
However, this evening after ringing Lt Col Molloy’s mobile pretty much constantly for hours, I finally got through to him. He happened to be in Tyre organising the Italian troop’s arrival, so we met up for a chat.
Tomorrow, I’m heading up to Sida to a presentation of money donated by Ireland to orphanages with him. Hopefully then travelling down to the boarder within the next few days. He also had a lot of other ideas, which are far too up in the air to go into here, but all in all, a positive development.

Ross Frenett

Security Clearance

2006-08-23T08:18:00.000+01:00

I’m off south to spend some time with the UN. When I was on the phone to the Irish Lt Col, I said it might take some time for me to get clearance. (To move through the barricades, even NGO’s don’t get south without it.) To this, he laughed, asked me to spell my name, and said he’d let the Lebanese army know I was coming, not to worry about it…

Ross Frenett

Lebanese Return to the Beaches

2006-08-22T14:57:00.000+01:00

Just over a week after the ceasefire, the Lebanese are flocking back to the countries beautiful beaches to unwind and cool off. Lebanon had expected these beaches, along with the countless Roman ruins and other historical sights around the country to bring over one million visitors over the summer. Instead, they got one million refugees, or ‘internally displaced’ as they are labelled, and thirty four days of war.
But now, with that war over, they are wasting no time crying over spilt milk. Fatima, a housewife from Tyre, who is currently applying to move to Ireland, told me “the people in Lebanon, they could stand on what has happed, and it would last forever, or they move on, rebuild houses, build new life.” And it certainly appears that they are doing just that. Saaid, a ten year old son of a fisherman, held out his hands full of freshly caught fish “look the fish!” he beamed at me with pride. During the war there was no fishing, as it was seen as to dangerous.
The war hasn’t made so much as a dint in the famous Lebanese hospitality, as I walked along the beach, Fatima invited me to t down with her and her daughters, Fatima, Nur, and two others whose name I failed to catch. Food and a hooka pipe were quickly thrust upon me.
Ten year old Hassan, Ali who is seven, and the two nine years olds Ali and Jadid dig holes and make sand balls to throw at one another, young men play soccer, the old sunbathe and people of all ages swim. Despite this idyllic image, the beach is not totally devoid of politics. A large David’s star, with “FUCK OFF” written underneath it was inscribed into the sand. However, the gravity of the otherwise serious statement was somewhat reduced by the rather large penis that was drawn next to it.

Ross Frenett
Tyre, South Lebanon

(c) Ross Frenett 2006

"Israel...go, and everybody would forget Hizbollah. Hizbollah gone."

2006-08-22T11:18:00.000+01:00

“The government of Lebanon, bitch government!” Houraan, my taxi driver tells me as we drive through Beirut. “government Europe, all American dollar Governments, bitch governments… I love the Hizbollah” he goes on, as he blows kisses towards a Hizbollah flag hanging from a window. He speaks in glowing terms about the Shia group’s leader Heassan Nassrallah, while gesturing wildly, and more than once losing control of the rusty old cab. “Nearly 80% Lebanese people support Hizbollah”
He then goes on to speak with disgust about how Hizbollah is referred to as a terrorist organisation in the West. “I hate Osama Bin Laden, he is very bad man, hate Al Qida. Hizbollah, only for the Lebanese.”
Having spoken to a Hizbollah official yesterday, I begin to realise that nearly everyone who is vocal on the current conflict, may as well be reading the Hizbollah manual on speaking to foreigners. Scores of people have fed me the same anti Israeli pro Hizbollah line.
To speak out against Hizbollah, or to recognise the right of Israel to exist is less acceptable in public. There are no catchy slogans for common sense; there is no "divine victory" in compromise. However, despite the overly vocal Huraans, popular opinion is much less extreme than the billboards and flags would make out.
Talkar, a now unemployed translator from southern Lebanon who speaks a myriad of languages, including Swahili, was a Hamal fighter during Lebanon’s decade's long civil war. Then he fought against Hizbollah, now he begrudgingly supports them.
“If Israel gives back farms tomorrow (referring to the disputed farmland along the Israeli Lebanese border which Israel continues to occupy), I will be the first to go, to shakes hands with Israel. Because to be happy in your home, you must be good neighbour. Lebanon wants to be a good neighbour to Israel, want peace, Lebanon not country for war. Country for tourists and visitors. What have we got? Beaches, ruins. No oil, no army, no gold. But, if I come in your house tomorrow, what would you do? Fight, of course! So we fight Israel, defend ourselves, until they leave our home and stop killing our people. Israel, George Bush, say they want to get rid of Hizbollah, want ‘new middle east’, but, they can get rid of Hizbollah tomorrow. Not with bombs, soldiers death. One phone call. George Bush, he pick up phone and say to Olmert, ‘go from Lebanese land’ and Israel would go, and everybody would forget Hizbollah. Hizbollah gone.”
The opinions and aspirations expressed by Talkar are in a silent majority within Lebanon. But the heavy handed actions of Israel, the near destruction of the south of the country, leavening thousands of people, Talkar included, homeless, turns the Talkar's of this country into the Houraan's.

Ross Frenett
-Beirut

(c) Ross Frenett 2006

Peace and Sovereignty

2006-08-20T10:27:00.000+01:00

Hizbollah sentries eye me suspiciously, some brandishing their automatic rifles as if they were clubs, others wear them as fashion accessories, draped across themselves in a nonchalant manner. I do my best to look inconspicuous as I pass through the checkpoint in southern Beirut. I stroll, half in a daze through the total destruction that surrounds me. The stench of rotting food and burst sewer mains, added to smouldering fabric stings my nostrils, flies thicken the air.

All around me are massive buildings that have collapsed in on themselves like poorly built houses of cards, with one floor falling in on the next, and that on the next. These have become, for some scavengers, a treasure trove of opportunity. Despite the risk of unexploded bombs, the ruins are crawling with two kinds of people; Scavengers looking for valuables amongst the rubble, and families looking to salvage something of their former lives. Hizbollah flags flutter defiantly throughout the devastation. Mattresses, teddy bears, thongs, money, furniture, and family photographs all protrude from the rubble. I pick up a copy book; brush it off, Ali Jabar, Micro economics is written in a laboured childish script. My imagination takes some effort to control. Is Ali still alive? What about his parents? Perhaps he’s buried under the rubble on which I stand. Such thoughts must be controlled; otherwise one would go mad in a place like this.

Amidst the devastation, a very important political event is occurring. This is not the high politics of Condoleezza Rice or Tony Blair, but the politics of the street. JCBs, cranes, heavy lifting equipment, trucks are all around. Clearing roads, moving rubble. Less than a week after the cessation of hostilities, the rebuilding has begun.

But these rebuilding projects are not funded by the government, or by the international community, but by Hizbollah. The leader of the Shia organisation Hassan Nasrallah pledged to rebuild the homes destroyed by Israel, and to pay the rent of the displaced in the meantime. Many in the west scoffed, but not four days after the ceasefire Hizbollah social workers were compiling lists of those due compensation, and handing out crisp one hundred dollar bills to those deemed eligible.

This action is a stark contrast to that of the government, whose understandable inefficiency following the destruction of infrastructure has been exacerbated by corruption and apathy. Now that its “relief effort” is under the eyes of the international community, the many, non-Israeli related problems within the small multicultural state are becoming clear. Lebanese politicians view themselves as a privileged class, whose election verifies the fact they are, in fact, better than the man in the street. Millions get skimmed off the top of the governmental budged, and funds allocated for just causes oft go astray. Taking a walk off the beaten path, even in Beirut, will show that the crippling poverty, which invariably drives people into the hands of extremists, is endemic. Human waste flows through the streets, six foot high mounds of rubbish block the paths. The smell in the impoverished section of the city trumps even the stench of death in the bombed areas. Half starved cats and bloated rats are almost indistinguishable, and children claw through the rubbish heaps searching for anything edible or merchantable.

Hezbollah’s post war activity also highlights the pathetic hesitant inaction in Europe. France has, yet again, failed to deliver. Many, including myself, who supported France’s stance on the Iraq war, brushing aside allegations of French cowardice, have begun to have doubts. Was it not France who screamed like a petulant child for an immediate cessation to hostilities in Lebanon? Was it not France that brokered the current UN resolution with the United States? President Chirac has shown that his nation is, as much as I hate to say it, unlike the UK and the US, not willing to put its money where its mouth is. The disappointment here in the streets of Beirut, as well as in the wider world, is palpable. France, being the only trustworthy member of the UN Security Council not engaged elsewhere, should have stepped up to the plate when the world called. Instead it has offered a pathetic couple of hundred troops to assist peace in its former colony, and proven that its statements on the Middle East came from a desire to sore political points from the US, and not from the heart.

Taking a walk down Hamra Street, the main street in Beirut, one could be forgiven for thinking they were taking a leisurely stroll down the main street of a continental European city. Busy restaurants, bustling street trade and sleek new shops selling the latest fashions are the order of the day.

Not a week after the UN brokered ceasefire, which has largely be seen to have stuck, despite small skirmishes, tourists are returning. My own taxi from Damascus to Beirut was shared with a Japanese tourist, Shakra, guidebook, three-quarter length shorts and camera all in toe.
“Tonight I go Clubbing! Five weeks we have fear, death. Now I feel to dance, drink, fuck.” Fadi Nassar, a young artist who lives in Eastern Beirut, told me. Fadi has not seen his girlfriend who lives in Northern Lebanon, since the beginning of the month long conflict. He moved back to Lebanon last year from Sweden, when it looked like the country was getting back on its feet again. His mood is reflective of the mood in the stylish centre of the Lebanese capital, with pubs, cinemas and theatres all reopening their doors after a month of uncertainty and fear.

The city, which is no stranger to bloodshed, having endured a decade’s long civil war, is now a surreal place. Stalingrad meets Paris. “Made in USA…” Fadi comments, half to himself, as we pass a pile of rubble which, in its previous incarnation as a block of flats, used to house hundreds of Lebanese civilians.

Despite the thirty-four days of bombing, Hizbollah’s TV station is still broadcasting. This is a fitting metaphor for Hizbollah’s performance throughout the war. Not only has Hizbollah survived as an armed militia, denying Israel one of it’s major war aims, (the others being a cessation to the rocket attacks on Israel’s northern towns, and the return of the two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping sparked this conflict) but it has greatly increased it support, both inside and out of Lebanon’s Shia community. Hizbollah t-shirts, postcards, posters and flags can be seen throughout the city.

Talal, a Hotelier from the minority Druze community told me “to me, terrorism is killing civilians, Hizbollah, she kill what, thirty civilians? Israel, she bomb all civilians, kill one thousand five hundred civilians in this war!” When I asked about the start of Israel’s latest war, and Hizbollah’s rocket attacks on Northern Israel, Talals answer was clear. “Hizbollah, yes, she attack Israeli army, kill eight, and take two, two prisoner. On day one, Israel attack our airport, Hizbollah she attack Israeli military base. Day two, same, Israel kill Lebanese civilians, and Hizbollah only attack military. After three days of Israeli bombing, then, and only then, did Hizbollah show what she had. …who are the terrorists?” Talal begun, and ended our conversation by reminding me that Hizbollah were the winners of this war, winners of a “divine victory”, as Hizbollah’s own posters put it.

The human cost of this war is never far from the thoughts of the people, whether they like it or not. Posters and banners depicting the charred and maimed bodies of children and adults alike are omnipresent. UN trucks rumble through the otherwise normal city centre, headed south, loaded with food blankets and water for those thousands of refugees who find their homes inaccessible or destroyed following the Israeli bombardment.

“We march for peace and the sovereignty of Lebanon” The reasons for the march through central Beirut, attended by over one hundred people yesterday seem humble enough, but the message it sends out is a bold one.

“Complete sovereignty” is demanded. To an outsider, this does not appear all too radical, but if one scratches the surface of this war ravaged country then the message being sent increases in significance. Obviously enough, the demand for Lebanese sovereignty is one which is aimed at the Israelis. No more attacks, no more assassination, a total end to Israeli meddling in the small state, which began in the 1970’s as Israel invaded to try to root out Palestinian militants. Then again, protesting against Israel is nothing new.

The second message is to the Assad regime in Syria. The Syrian army only left Lebanon in April of 2005, following accusations that the Syrian dictatorship had had a hand in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Many, both inside and outside Lebanon have seen Hizbollah as a tool of both Syria and Iran, acting within Lebanon. However, calls for an end to Syrian involvement in Lebanon are as nothing new, with MP Saad Hariri yesterday accusing Assad of trying to “rob” Lebanon of its victory.

The most striking message however being sent out by this protest, is an attack upon Hizbollah itself. Once the march reached its conclusion in the Saifi region of Beirut, candles made out in the shape of Lebanon were lit, and the national anthem was sung passionately by the crowd whilst giving the straight armed salute. Speakers called for a single unified Lebanese state. Implicitly, this rules out the possibility of “statelets”, such as that carved out by Hizbollah for itself south of the Lini river, with an unofficial capital in Southern Beirut.

Despite the armies deployment of the south of the country, one would be fooling oneself to think that Hizbollah power had been eroded. As mentioned above, within the capital city , I passed into the Hizbollah “security zone” where the militia roam the streets brandishing AK47’s, M16’s amongst a plethora of small arms. The army, the police are nowhere to be seen, and Hizbollah flags, as well as idyllic, Che Guvara style posters of Hassan Nasralah litter the streets
Israel’s “naked violation” of the truce on Saturday demonstrates how immediate a danger Israel still represents. Israel, despite the resolution calling for a cease to all offensive operations, dropped troops in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley who entered into a firefight with local Hizbollah units.
So the people of Lebanon, lead by the corrupt, woed by extremists, attacked by the aggressive and used by the crafty, desperately seek a return to normality. Seek what they have been denied for decades, Peace and Sovereignty.

Ross Frenett
Beirut

(c) Ross Frenett 2006