Didn't we all wonder who those girls in the car were? The one that won the World Press Photo? Well, the verdict is in; We now know the identity of the five.They are four christians and one muslim, but they are not gawking over the alien scenes in the southern suburbs of Beirut. They are, and I quote one of the girls, “appalled at the destruction of our neighborhood, you can see it on our faces.” They are girls from the hood, so to say.
A wonderful piece in a Dutch newspaper (not mine) reveals the identity of the five. They all live in the southern suburbs themselves, they say, except for one. Four of the car occupants are from Dahiya, one is from Shiah. They are Jad (22), Bissan (29), Tamara Maroun, Liliane Nacouzi (22) en Noor Nasser (21). They met each other during the war in a Hamra hotel (story doesn’t say which hotel) where they were staying because they had to flee their own neighborhood. Noor is the only muslim in the company, the rest are christians living in Haret Hreik, which was originally a christian neighborhood. (Can anyone verify this for me? Do we still have a large population of christians living in Haret Hreik? I’d be pleasantly surprised.) Lana El Khalil (25), is the owner of the red cabriolet, which is actually - she says – an orange mini cooper, and she used that car during the war to do volonteer work for Samidoun, an organization that helped victims of the July war. She points to the sticker on the dasboard as proof. Lana left her apartment in Hamra during the war in order to let refugees move in (?), while she moved into the apartment of her parents (I am just quoting the newspaper here). Jad was driving the car for her.
The rather ‘sexy’; clothing, as the newspaper calls it, is due to the fact that “Lebanese find a glamorous image quite important. Even if you are not rich, you can still look glamorous.” According to Bissan, none of the girls are from a middle-class family. “We were appalled at the destrcution of our neighborhood, you can see it on our faces.”Hat tip to Ddaniel and Carolien!
4 comments:
Haret Hreik is still officially a Christian municipality in the lebanese sectarian division of public service positions. Haret Hreik is actually the hometown/birth place of Michel Aoun.
During the end of the July war, there was a rumor that most of Haret Hreik is owned by the local church and that they wanted their land back, which Hezbollah had used illegally to build their head quarters.
I wonder whatever happened to these rumors. It would be interesting to contact the church and find out.
You're welcome! ;)
Daniël
I'm a Lebanese from a Christian village in the north, and the truth is that ALL the Lebanese where very terrified and upset about the war.(By the way the blonde one is very HOT)
Post a Comment