The beginning of the end?

Today Beirut was not the same. The news of the UN resolution, as bad as it might be, was greeted with great enthusiasm and greater doubt. However, it was clear that people believed that the war was indeed in its final phase. Everyone was of course expecting a final Israeli massacre that will announce the end of the current hostilities – it is some kind of ritual that we got used to every time Israel launches a war on Lebanon (which is basically after every election – any new prime minister has to prove himself somehow by attacking Lebanon). It was Saturday night – which in usual days is the day of celebration – and every pub we visited was full. Finally after the second try we managed to get a table at our usual pub, the ‘Barometre’. Arak and Arabic music were on the menu not to mention the more than vivid atmosphere.

It was not a celebration of the end of the war as much as a celebration of having witnessed and therefore survived a historical event. The war was not over on the front, people were dying like they do everyday now. But you could feel the celebration of life all around the smoke filled room. The soft sound of Fairuz filled the room and soon enough the music passed to a more enthusiastic one as the Arak was flowing. The small glasses were apparently broken so if you want to drink Arak you had to drink a big glass (which is not the usual way to do it). Political discussions soon left the table and only left behind were words of common usage. War humor however is not so easily broken and drinking to the health of the Siyyid is now a daily ritual.

Minutes and hours passed by and the music went down for a minute for the owner of the pub to announce the destruction of an Israeli helicopter – cheers and the sound of glasses greeted the news and the music soon occupied again the audible space. They say that the Shiites are now the most educated community in Lebanon, because they sleep and wake up in schools (the refugees are mostly sleeping in schools since the beginning of the hostilities – it is one of the many jokes you will hear on the street).

One thing that caught my attention today was an announcement that I read in the newspaper: the patriotic front (a resistance movement that was created during the Israeli invasion of 1982 by leftist Lebanese parties to fight the occupying Israeli forces) which is now mainly composed of the Lebanese communist party and the Syrian Nationalist party (it is not a Syrian party but a Lebanese one – the party was founded in the 30s by a Lebanese Orthodox and calls for the unification of the natural Syria which comprises what is now Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Iraq in a secular state) are fighting along side the Hezbollah and took part in the battle of Marjeyoun 2 days ago. This news was greeted with great satisfaction by all the leftists; the resistance is back to what it was.

Earlier today the Siyyid made another speech to comment on the latest developments notably the UN resolution 1701 (a new number to be added to the now so many numbers we have to know). The electricity was down when the speech started so we had to listen to it on the radio. It was not a surprising one and in short he said what he was expected to say: even though we think this resolution is not fair, we will respect it and will respect any seize fire as long as the Israelis do; as he had said and done before, any action by the Israelis will be met by a reaction, but the resistance will not launch any missile as long as the Israelis do not launch any assault. However, as long as there is one Israeli soldier on Lebanese soil the resistance will keep the right to attack him.

What got my attention today more than anything else was the absurd and insultingly illogical paradox that the Israeli government announced: we accept the UN resolution that calls for the end of the hostilities while at the same time gratifying another governmental decision to enlarge the land attack on Lebanon. How can one government do both things? Nonetheless they are welcome to invade by land; after all it gives the resistance a chance to destroy some more tanks instead of counting the missiles that are falling from the unattainable sky.