[wvns] Lebanese anger grows
As Lebanese families rebuild shattered villages, anger grows
By Dahr Jamail and Harb Al-Mukhtar
Updated May 14, 2007
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_3478.shtml
In this photo taken Jan. 17, a Lebanese worker breaks the wall of the
apartment building in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, that
was almost destroyed following Israeli bombardments during the 34-day
long Hezbollah-Israel war. Across the green countryside, many parts of
southern Lebanon remain a wasteland of devastation and rubble months
after the end of the 34-day war between Israel and the Shiite Muslim
guerrilla group Hezbollah and months after the government, Hezbollah
and the world pledged to put a roof on their head and bring the
country back on its feet. Photo: AP/World Wide Photos
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The fighting is over but tension continues to hang over the region. A
Lebanese soldier at a border post who asked not to be named said
Israeli warplanes have been flying into Lebanese airspace nearly every
week in violation of the U.N.-brokered ceasefire agreement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BINT JBEIL, Lebanon (IPS/GIN) - Eight months after Israeli attacks
devastated villages in southern Lebanon, residents are expressing
growing resentment toward both Israel and the central Lebanese
government as they reconstruct their communities.
The war that raged between Israel and Hezbollah July 12 to August 14
last year destroyed many villages in the south, and left others badly
damaged. Within hours of the ceasefire, about a million people who had
fled southern Lebanon began to return, many to wrecked homes. One of
the towns almost completely destroyed was Bint Jbeil, less than 4
miles from the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Rather than funding from the Lebanese government, Bint Jbeil is being
rebuilt primarily with money from Qatar and with some help from
Hezbollah, which arrived first on the scene with funding and relief
supplies for residents.
Others are angry with the local government.
"The local municipality isn't letting us rebuild our homes the way
they were," Bilal Hussein Jama'a said. "They want to build a bigger
road and more modern housing units, but this could affect my house as
I had before."
Mr. Jama'a, who had stayed in the conflict-ridden city for the first
17 days of the war, is also up against both the Israeli military and
the Lebanese government.
"They can bomb us one day and we'll rebuild the next because we are
not afraid of them," he said. "But the rebuilding is on our own, with
the help of Qatar and Hezbollah and Iran, but not from our own
impotent government."
Mr. Jama'a said he supported "100 percent" the continuing sit-in near
the parliament in Beirut led by several opposition parties.
Residents are angry that there is no support from the government, but
that the government steps in to regulate construction paid for by others.
Amnesty International stated after the war ended that many of the
attacks on Lebanon's civilian infrastructure were collective
punishment, and not the "collateral damage" that Israel claimed.
United Nations Development Program spokesman Jean Fabre had estimated
in August 2006 that economic losses to Lebanon from the month-long war
amounted to at least $15 billion.
According to the Lebanese government, more than 1,100 civilians were
killed during the war. Also, 43 Israeli civilians died from rockets
fired by Hezbollah.
The fighting is over but tension continues to hang over the region. A
Lebanese soldier at a border post who asked not to be named said
Israeli warplanes have been flying into Lebanese airspace nearly every
week in violation of the U.N.-brokered ceasefire agreement.
"We see the drones [unmanned espionage aircraft] nearly every single
day," the Lebanese soldier added. This IPS correspondent also observed
an Israeli warplane overhead in southern Lebanon and at least one
military drone.
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