ARMENIAN LETTERS FROM LEBANON
Beirut, July 19, 2006
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Thankfulness is a good starting point whether in Christian worship or
in human relationships. Indeed, as I write these lines, I cannot but
thank those who, during these past days of turmoil, have exhibited
a sense of solidarity with the people of Lebanon, prayed for peace,
made concrete suggestions, or silently felt with us.
What is going on? How are you doing? What are you doing? What is
going to happen? These have been the questions of those inside and
outside Lebanon.
The country is in a state of shock.
Eight days ago, all we were discussing at Haigazian University was
the student enrollment and financial aid needs for Fall 2006-2007,
now, with a suspended Summer session and uncertain days ahead, we are
simply hoping that by the end of September there will be a start of
the Fall semester, the ruined bridges will be rebuilt, the internal
displacement problems will be solved, and we will see and end to the
hostilities before the Summer ends.
Three weeks ago, my wife and I were touring some beautiful parts of
Lebanon, the Bekaa valley, the valuable ruins of Baalbeck and Anjar
with our commencement speaker, president emeritus of Boston University,
Dr. Aram Chobanian and his wife. Now, there are unattractive ruins
all over the country; they have no touristic value, and we cannot
even get to the closest ruins to us.
A week ago, the supermarkets, petrol stations, and bakeries of Lebanon
were begging customers to choose their branch or brand, now, in most
parts of the country, shelves are being emptied, petrol is being saved,
and US dollars are unavailable in the banks. Note that I am not even
referring to certain villages in the South, where the ill have no
access to medical care, and the hungry have no access to food stores.
These types of villages are increasing by number every day.
Until last week, the Haigazian neighborhood and downtown Beirut were
busy with tourists, students, and businessmen. Now, the whole area
has turned into a relatively safe haven for displaced people from
Southern Beirut and South Lebanon. 500,000 people have been internally
displaced. Up to 100,000 have gone into Syria. On our street alone,
two floors of the Armenian Evangelical College next-door are housing
close to 75 people, including many children; the former School of Law
on our other side is packed with hundreds of families, and the Sanaayeh
Garden near our place is a roofless shelter for many more hundreds.
These people are nervous and devastated. I hear them quarreling with
each other about who should sleep in which corner. Every time they
get bad news from their town or about their relatives, loud cries
erupt from the School of Law 100 meters away. Contrary to my memory of
former times of similar experiences, this time, many of the displaced
families around us are middle income people and somewhat educated. Some
300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon so far and
1000 injured.
Central Beirut is certainly safer than many other parts of the
country. The quiet is interrupted regularly by the sounds of
explosions. Here’s how it has been so far: If loud explosions are
heard early in the morning, then people do not go to work. If they
are heard during the day, the streets are vacated immediately. One or
the other, has been happening every day. Some of the least expected
areas have been targeted outside the southern suburbs of Beirut,
a bomb here and a bomb there, in the port of Beirut, the Manara,
Ashrafieh, Jounieh, Hadath, etc. And these are what I call the safe
areas of this war. We are much safer, so far, than many others in
the country. Some freedom to move around, buy things, communicate
are good gifts in these difficult days.
In a day or two, most foreign countries will have evacuated those
citizens who have wished to leave the country. It is said that this is
the largest wartime evacuation effort of its kind since WW2. Many of
the evacuees feel unhappy they are leaving their friends in unsafe
situations. Most Lebanese feel that once the westerners are out,
attacks will intensify against Lebanon. But I remind myself and
others, we have seen this before and survived. We will survive again,
by faith. Even in these days, there are blessings and reasons for
thankfulness.
Here are some conclusions I need to share:
– The current crisis will certainly lead the young people of this
country, especially the Christians to fall into hopelessness, thus to
intensified attempts to emigrate. Therefore, churches, NGOs and others
will need to be very creative and dedicated in their ministry. We
will need more people who can speak the truth not simply with love,
but mainly with hope.
– As soon as the crisis is over, the Lebanese will want to
rebuild. International help will be desperately needed. The economy has
been hit strongly. Therefore, the already existing financial crisis
of the people will get much much worse. Schools that have welcomed
displaced people will need to be renovated as soon as possible. As
far as Haigazian University is concerned, more financial aid will be
requested by the students.
– The Lebanese did not enter this crisis in a unified stance, and this
is taken advantage of. It is expected that the strikes against Lebanon
will create more tension among the Lebanese. I hope not. Who is to
blame, they ask? We have learnt in politics that blaming is part of a
strategic game. Who started this? Who reacted and how? These questions
seem so insignificant if compared to questions of justice and peace and
love. I would rather ask: Who is being just to whom? What is hurting
in each society? What truths is the media hiding? What misleading
interpretations are being spread? Again, I have been disappointed
(but not surprised) by the poor quality of the international coverage
with some exceptions. Airtime does not mean quality news. Giving
one piece of news from Lebanon and a parallel from Israel is not
necessarily good journalism. Media is also politics. Finding the
truth about matters such as wars is a very complex endeavor. Getting
to the roots of problems has never been the virtue of politicians
and powerful leaders. No easy conclusions can be satisfactory.
– No matter how hard the situation, I should also mention that many
people are also working hard in Lebanon and elsewhere to ease the
pain of others. Many volunteers, including Armenian ones, are helping
their compatriots. Also, even as we prepare for worse days ahead,
it is amazing that some people on the Haigazian University staff are
working six hours a day painting classrooms, moving furniture from
one office to the other, preparing for the Fall Semester!
I hope to keep in touch, hopefully with shorter messages. Keep praying
for us all, for all people inside and beyond all borders.
In conclusion and while US dollars are unavailable in the banks
and with money-changers of Lebanon, I feel we can truly realize and
believe that "in God we trust".
Faithfully,
Rev. Paul Haidostian, Ph.D. President Haigazian University
P.O.B. 11-1748 Riad El Solh 1107 2090 Beirut, Lebanon
***
Dear friends,
I am sending you an article which I wrote a few days ago, titled "Hear
Our Cry". As a Lebanese, it is my message-cry regarding the unjustice
that is prevailing in Lebanon. I would appreciate if you help me
circulate it to all those concerned with humanity. I do not wish to
gain anything out of it but just to cry out loud that enough is enough!
Hoping for peace.
Sarine
Hear Our Cry! Enough Is Enough!
I am a citizen of Lebanon living in this biblical land. Currently being
one of those who is living and witnessing the ongoing horror in my
beautiful country, I am enraged, angered, sad, distressed and confused
as to what to do. I am sick and tired of people taking advantage of
my country, carrying out their own wars on my land, cleaning up their
dirty laundry at the cost of my fellow citizens. I am not a supporter
of any political party; I am with the land of "Milk and Honey" as
the Bible states. My rage is against Israel, Hezbollah, Bush’s USA,
Iran, Syria and the previous Lebanese government. How dare they,
under selfish pretexts, which I do not even wish to discern, exploit
our country to settle their horrendous accounts. Hezbollah claims to
be defending its land. I used to admire that group during the years
when Israel had occupied the South, being the only ones to defend the
land. After the occupation, they should have joined the Lebanese Army
if they really intended to defend this land. They have no right to
compel the people of Lebanon to pay the price for their selfish moves!
Bush (yes, Bush, not even Mr. Bush!) has declared himself as
nothing short of the next Messiah who has taken under his ‘wings’
the duty of bringing justice to the world, stopping terror from the
globe!!! What a noble and kindred spirit! Shame on him! What right does
he have to violate the privacies of other countries? Before meddling
internationally, one should clean up the national disorder. What
about the homeless in the USA? What about the educational standards
in a number of public schools? What about the crime rates in the
states? What about substance abuse rates? What about tempered rights
of children?
What about the youth landing home in coffins from Iraq? Israel! Shame
on you for using "God’s Chosen People" as a slogan for every inhumane
action in the world! God’s chosen people should be setting examples
for the rest of the world, not violating every single humanitarian
decree! What will you tell God about the innocent children whose
lifeless bodies are hanging out from their parents’ cars as they are
fleeing your bombs? What will you tell the children whose parents
are lying dead in front of them with their intestines bulging out of
their bodies in front of their tiny innocent eyes? What will you tell
students when they find their schools completely destroyed and leveled
to the ground? How can you justify bombing ambulances and humanitarian
workers when they are selflessly and nobly trying to fulfill their
missions of evacuating people and caring for the wounded? How can
you hit homes and not allow people to remove their dead from under
the rubble? THEIR DEAD! You took their lives, at least leave their
dead bodies to their families!
Syria and Iran! It pains my heart to see those two beautiful countries
who have throughout the history of mankind been pioneers in almost
every aspect of existence (long before the Western world had even
woken up) now taking a back seat in the vehicle ofmodernizing the
world. There exist noble people in those countries who have now been
classified as terrorists because of the dark leadership ruling them.
If that is the way they want their countries governed, they have
every right to do so! But keep Lebanon outof it!
We are not savages, we are not beasts! We are a civilized nation. We
do not accept to have others recklessly run our country. It is time
that we have a strong governing body that prioritizes the needs of
its nation above others.
What we are facing today is Hurricane Katrina and the last Tsunami
combined and then multiplied! Yes modern world, that is what we
have! There are around half a million refugees all around Lebanon
having taken shelter in schools, and yes, even on so-called safe
"streets" sleeping on sidewalks. Do we really understand what that
means? 500,000 people sleeping on the icy ground, with no blankets,
no mattresses, nothing to eat but a bite of bread once a day! Do
wereally know what it means to have 200 people use 4 toilets and not
have a single drop of water to flush it? Do we? Let’s just face the
bare facts for a moment. We read and hear the media say "war" and
"refugees". Now, picture one of our local schools with your entire
family in it, with your newborn baby crying for milk, with your young
son shaking from fear not grasping why he is sitting on the floor
while his father or mother is bleeding to death in front of him and
the ambulance is not coming! What would you do?
Wouldn’t you spit at the face of this unjust world? Enough is
enough! The Lebanese are a proud and noble nation, who after 30 years
of destructive war caught up with the rest of the world and proved
to everybody that they can be the best in any professional domain.
Let us be, let us help the world with our potentials, allow us to
our basic human rights so we can live andbe able to welcome you on
our biblical land and share with you the "Milk and Honey" that God
has bestowed upon us.
Sarine Khatchikian School Director
***
Dear all,
Let me first thank those of you who inquired about my safety.
I am writing this e-mail from Lebanon. As you all (hopefully) know,
Lebanon has been under Israeli naval and aerial siege for over a
week. Not only that, but our infrastructure has been reduced into a
pile of rubble. No place in Lebanon has been spared. No one in Lebanon
has been spared. So far we have an official figure of 300 civilians
killed and over a 1000 injured and maimed by Israeli aggression. The
security situation was really bad two days ago, with many suburbs
(especially southern suburbs) of the capital city of Beirut being
bombed. The bombings haven’t stopped but yesterday and today have
been relatively calm (part of the reason is that the HezbAllah
resistance fighters have retaliated and hit many strategic facilities
in Israel). I live in a relatively "safe" area, but haven’t been able
to really go to the city center much to take photos, as the Israelis
are now targeting anything that moves. The Armenian community is –
so far – safe, but not for long I presume, since the Israelis have
already bombed "Christian areas" of Beirut where HezbAllah has no
presence at all…
Now I am sure many of you have been following the story, but allow
me to say, your (i.e. Western) media is a joke. I have been watching
what your media has been saying about all this. I doubt that anyone in
USA/Canada/Europe knows what is REALLY going on here. When I say our
infrastructure has been reduced to rubble I do mean it. Our electricity
grid has been bombed save for 2 small plants, which provide electricity
to some areas in Mount Lebanon. The remaining areas are pretty much
cut off from power. The fuel situation is pretty bad too. Many people
have private power generators, but since we are running out of diesel,
those will be irrelevant in a few days. Half a million people have
become displaced, many have fled to Syria. Many have died on the road
to Syria, as Israeli jets have targeted civilian convoys. The food
situation is so far not catastrophic. Well, in the South people are
running out of food, but here there is merely a visible absence of
vegetables and fruits, since all bridges connecting Bekaa and South
Lebanon (major agricultural areas) have been bombed. But as more and
more refugees flock to the capital soon there will be a shortage of
food. People here, in this relatively "actionless" and calm town in
Mount Lebanon have been panicking and stocking up on (mostly canned)
food. So far though prices are reasonable, and most food materials
are still available. But people are bracing for the worst. We don’t
know which area will be next. But the bombings seem to be moving to
the center of the country, where ironically there are no HezbAllah
fighters…
The people here, though at first were against HezbAllah’s rash actions,
are now 100% behind it. With every blow to the Israelis, there is
cheering here in Lebanon, from people of all religions and sects,
including Armenians. There is a feeling of anger at the actions of the
Israelis, which destroyed the fledgling economy of Lebanon. Factories
have been bombed, restaurants have been bombed. Absolutely nothing
has been spared. What is worse, the people are seeing the reaction
of the Western leaders to all this, and it is filling them up with
anger and bitterness. What is good and positive, however, is the
complete unity of the Lebanese people. So there are no sectarian
cracks at the moment, and I doubt there will be any time soon. Well,
not to bore you with such "silly" details…
All is well on my side, and I just wanted to keep you all updated. So
far I have had uninterrupted connection to the internet (both
wi-fi and dial-up – so land lines are working fine in this area),
which is not the case for many people, since more than one ISP
has been the victim of "collateral damage". I have been keeping
a blog, and making regular updates of the situation here on the
ground. You may find it here:
or (should the domain go down
for some reason). You may pass on the link to family, friends, or
anyone who is interested. I will also be posting pictures whenever
I can. Frankly, the situation is pretty scary so people are avoiding
going out of their houses. So far we have not had the need to go down
to bomb shelters. There is serious shortage of bomb shelters in the
suburbs of Beirut, but here in apartment-lined towns of Mount Lebanon,
I presume that is not the case (we have bomb shelter in our building).
Anyhow, that is all from this part of the world. I was planning on
visiting Armenia in August and paying a surprise visit to the people
I met there, but it won’t be happening… Next year, I guess…..
If you would like to show solidarity with the Lebanese people
(including at least 80,000 Armenians who are suffering due to Israeli
aggression), a quick search will lead you to details on protests in
your areas. I am not sure, but maybe your local Indymedia websites
will have relevant information…
Best,
Shoghig, Beirut, july, 20 2006