As tension over the coninuous killing of anti-Syrian politicians and journalists in the country heightens, so does fear. And with fear comes radicalization. It’s is rather interesting reading the Lebanese blogs these past few days. Blogs that previously were relatively neutral, (at least to me) or semi-balanced, now show their true colors. I read blogs whose authors I couldn’t really place as far as religious sects goes. Now suddenly the picture becomes clear. It is funny how radicalization in Lebanon does not go along lines of left and right, but rather Christian en Muslim. It doesn’t bother me, anyone’s true color is interesting, but it does show how ‘skin deep’ this unity is.
And so more radical stuff pops up. Here’s an interesting link I got from one of them. A German movie director managed to get six men to talk who participated in the Sabra & Chatila massacre in 1982, when close to a 1,000, although some say even more, Palestinian women, children and old men (the entire ‘productive’ male contingent had been shipped out of the camp to Tunisia just a few days earlier) got massacred in a three day killing-spree. For those not quite familiar with this; Christian militia men entered the camps and slaughtered quite a few Palestininans. So far, no one had ever been arrested for these crimes, I even believe it falls under the National Amnesty Law here in Lebanon. The Israelis, according to these guys, had an active hand in it. The documentary is called ‘Massaker’ (Massacre in German). Not a very nice story for the Christians.
To keep things balanced then, here is a story from Michael Totten giving Hezbollah a hard time after he got invited by them to an Iftar. It’s pretty accurate though, I’ve been through the same stuff with these guys. They can be very friendly, and incredible rude one minute later. No more Mister Nice Guy. My most favorite account of dealing with Hezbollah, and this was way back in the early ‘90’s, was that they ‘invited’ me to go with their guys into the field. So I could see how they worked, thought and lived, and see that these were guys just like everyone else. When we got to the part where they said “and you can swim together” I thought I didn’t quite get it. Why would I want to swim with those guys? I must have misunderstood them, but I didn’t.
Once, during the Grapes of Wrath, the Israeli incursion into Lebanon in 1996, I drove into Sidon during an Israeli shelling from the sea. So the Lebanese police was sitting in their shelter, and were nowhere to be seen. What was to be seen was bearded men on the road, stopping my car, and ordering me to put my feet down. I had been running around all day, was hot and sweaty, and had taken my shoes off, and had placed my feet on the dashboard. “Feet down”, Mr. Beard snarled at me. I thought it was a joke. I laughed at him. “What? Is this some kind of joke?” “FEET DOWN! NOW!” The driver tried politely to interfere, and asked him on what authority he was stopping us to order me, in my own car, to put my feet down. So Mr. Beard got his gun out. He didn’t point it at us, he just got it out of his belt. “FEET DOWN!” I got the message. That’s the kind of people you are going to deal with if any of the more radical parties get to power. They may seem quite nice and friendly upfront, but they really are not very nice.
Another nasty little one is a film about the existence of Israel. This does not give a very favorable view of the Muslims either, but with the camp stuff in mind, we’ve got balance again.
And so more radical stuff pops up. Here’s an interesting link I got from one of them. A German movie director managed to get six men to talk who participated in the Sabra & Chatila massacre in 1982, when close to a 1,000, although some say even more, Palestinian women, children and old men (the entire ‘productive’ male contingent had been shipped out of the camp to Tunisia just a few days earlier) got massacred in a three day killing-spree. For those not quite familiar with this; Christian militia men entered the camps and slaughtered quite a few Palestininans. So far, no one had ever been arrested for these crimes, I even believe it falls under the National Amnesty Law here in Lebanon. The Israelis, according to these guys, had an active hand in it. The documentary is called ‘Massaker’ (Massacre in German). Not a very nice story for the Christians.
To keep things balanced then, here is a story from Michael Totten giving Hezbollah a hard time after he got invited by them to an Iftar. It’s pretty accurate though, I’ve been through the same stuff with these guys. They can be very friendly, and incredible rude one minute later. No more Mister Nice Guy. My most favorite account of dealing with Hezbollah, and this was way back in the early ‘90’s, was that they ‘invited’ me to go with their guys into the field. So I could see how they worked, thought and lived, and see that these were guys just like everyone else. When we got to the part where they said “and you can swim together” I thought I didn’t quite get it. Why would I want to swim with those guys? I must have misunderstood them, but I didn’t.
Once, during the Grapes of Wrath, the Israeli incursion into Lebanon in 1996, I drove into Sidon during an Israeli shelling from the sea. So the Lebanese police was sitting in their shelter, and were nowhere to be seen. What was to be seen was bearded men on the road, stopping my car, and ordering me to put my feet down. I had been running around all day, was hot and sweaty, and had taken my shoes off, and had placed my feet on the dashboard. “Feet down”, Mr. Beard snarled at me. I thought it was a joke. I laughed at him. “What? Is this some kind of joke?” “FEET DOWN! NOW!” The driver tried politely to interfere, and asked him on what authority he was stopping us to order me, in my own car, to put my feet down. So Mr. Beard got his gun out. He didn’t point it at us, he just got it out of his belt. “FEET DOWN!” I got the message. That’s the kind of people you are going to deal with if any of the more radical parties get to power. They may seem quite nice and friendly upfront, but they really are not very nice.
Another nasty little one is a film about the existence of Israel. This does not give a very favorable view of the Muslims either, but with the camp stuff in mind, we’ve got balance again.
1 comment:
I could NEVER forget the sufferings that I have lived after seeing Massaker.
I sufferedbecause of this movie for weeks.
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