"Stay inside today, Dr. Lamb! Do not go outside!" this observer's
friend, Hussein Chokr from Nabysheet in the Western Bekaa Valley
ordered by telephone at crack of dawn this morning. "Abu Mohammad", as
he prefers to be called (of out respect for his eldest son) was in
Montreal, Canada when he lost his wife Khadija, 43, (a full time mother
for five children, and loving wife, while he arranged for them to
immigrate to Canada. Khadija single handedly raised the children as
mother and father in his absence.
Their beautiful sons Mohammad, 22 (who had just become a lawyer
graduating first in his class); Bilal, 19 (a first year university
accounting student, known in his community for his computer skills);
Talal, 17 (a gifted artist who was planning for the first public
exhibition of his art in Canada (some of which can be seen at
www.majzarat-al-nabysheet.org) and Yassin, 15 (who had just received a full tuition scholarship), were all murdered at 7:10 am on July 19, 2006.
This happened when the Israeli air force "erred" and launched a US
MK-83 1000 lb. bomb, guided by a Raytheon JDAM (joint direct attack
munition) system and blew up their home. The boys' sister Bushra
miraculously survived as she slept with her mother in the third floor
bedroom and was later dug out from the rubble with serious injuries for
which she continues to receive intensive care.
No one in the Chokr family, building or immediate neighborhood,
according to villagers, had any connection to any element of the
Lebanese Resistance. Abu Mohammad's family, like himself, and many in
Lebanon, were non-political.
The Israeli act was quite simply one more war crime.
How Hezbollah was ambushed
The continuing and intense anti-Hezbollah barrage started last week in
rat-a-tat fashion. It continues to intensify this morning with a
significant number of Lebanon's politicians, religious leaders and
other partisans raising a cacophony with new charges. Conspiracy
theories, taunts, threats and provocations continue, the stone throwing
on some streets, as commentators offer myriad analyses of "the
implementation of suspicious schemes" as Beirut's An Nahar noted.
The hot war prospects not looking so great recently, it is widely
believed in Lebanon that the decision was taken following David Welch's
recent visit here for an intense cold war assault against Hezbollah and
we are now witnessing its implementation. Some locals are calling it a
"hot air cold war" as a barrage of accusations is fired across Dahiyeh
from several directions.
Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt, led off against Hezbollah last weekend,
followed rapidly by the Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.
Items:
- Hezbollah is spying on the airport! Jumblatt
announces. "They are monitoring runway 1-7 with cameras on top of Jihad
al Bina packing crates in order to assassinate or kidnap their
opponents along airport road which runs through Shia neighborhoods".
Swoi habibee! (Easy, sweetheart) Walid. "The containers to hide the
cameras," said Jihad al Bina Director Qassim Allaq, "are owned by the
organization (Jihad al Bina construction company) and have been in
place for the past 20 years, so why hasn't anyone asked about them in
the past?"
"These containers," Allaq continued, "are our property and have been in
place for more than 20 years. There are cameras everywhere around the
place for security. The land on which the containers are placed is the
property of the organization (Jihad al Bina)…why hasn't the media
spoken about the containers before? Why haven't anyone of the officials
asked us about them in the past?"
- "The Iranians are spying on my house!", Geagea
announced within hours. Actually three teenage students may indeed have
watched Geagea's mistress leave his house just minutes before Samir's
wife returned. The students said they were following the popular
tourist route called "the Jesus Trail" and got off the right road. A
definite violation of the redline because Mrs. Geagea, who represents
the Phalangist Lebanese Forces in Parliament has a fiery temper! One
wag joked that maybe Iran put Geagea, who still may be obliged to
answer for the disappearance of the four Iranian diplomats in l983 who
it is claimed were kidnapped by his forces, "in the doghouse again!"
- Within minutes, Israel Defense Minister Barak
called in reporters to go on the record and repeated David Welch's
comment that the Lebanese will have a 'hot summer' and that the local
economy will tank again as tourists stay away and that Hezbollah can
destroy Israel's nuclear faculty at Dimona.
- The next day it was announced that the Saudi
Government pledges "to spend their whole treasury if that is what it
takes to 'save Lebanon' (and their business interests i.e. solideire,
hotels, banks and real estate) as they reportedly increase dramatically
aid to all Lebanese Christians who will oppose General Aoun and his
entente cordial with Hezbollah.
- A Pro Government Muslim group verbally attacked
Hezbollah, without offering any evidence to support its claim saying
"What Hezbollah is doing as part of its expansion policy is setting up
armed barracks inside residential apartment buildings along the coast
of Iqlim (Kharroub) and its entrances for dubious goals – one of which
could be to control the international highway that links Beirut with
Sidon and the rest of the south," said a statement issued after a
meeting between the two groups at the house of MP Mohammed Hajjar.
- On May 6 pro Siniora MP Atef Majdalani accused
Hezbollah of shifting to civil strife with the objective of declaring a
breakaway state.
- A couple of hours later, Geagea again:
"Hezbollah is another Mahdi Army militia planning on fighting the
government in the Beirut alleys."
- Last night the Phalangist Voice of Lebanon
radio said Hezbollah members were dressed up in police uniforms and
penetrating districts of Beirut controlled by their rivals of the
Mustaqbal movement.
- Within minutes a government source also said
Hezbollah was massing gunmen in downtown Beirut, sparking fears of a
possible attack against Prime Minister's Siniora's private office.
- A statement was issued from Saad Hariri's
office on behalf of the March 14 group which accused Iranian ambassador
to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Shibani of becoming a "high commissioner"
entrusted with overseeing the creation of the Hizbullah state.
- Geagea again: "Hezbollah is buying up Mt.
Lebanon and West Beirut real estate to disperse their security assets
and build 'a state within a state!"
- Jumblatt again: Hezbollah has set up a separate
optic cable telephone communication system near Saida to link the Shia
communities.
This "telephone system" item did get some significant public attention
in Lebanon but not for the reason Jumblatt had hoped. Not many Lebanese
are against Hezbollah creating another "resistance tool" against
Israel. During the July 2006 war Israel messed with Lebanon's phone
system sending scare messages and jamming the phones in the south, but
could not penetrate Hezbollah communications. What fascinated the
general public here is the fact that at nearly 49 cents per minute
Lebanon's phones rates may be about the most expensive in the world
with terrible reception—plus bugged by Israel and others, tens of
thousands across Lebanon mistakenly believing they could sign up with
"Hezmobile, Inc" phone service with cheap rates and better reception
were at first delighted and then disappointed when they learned the
system was only for military communications and in no way will compete
with the regular miserable phone system.
"We were hoping we could stop paying off the warlords each time we make or receive a call", one couple said wistfully.
And so it has been going these past several days.
It has been a "Hezbollah this, Hezbollah that, Hezbollah can do no
right" campaign thought by many observers here to have been planned and
launched in Washington. "The best defense is an aggressive offense"
Feltman and Welch tutored the March 14th Deputy Nayla Moaward according
to her report of her recent consultation in Washington as they prepare
to receive the Maronite Patriarch Sfeir the 6th of the recent stable to
strut into Washington to receive their "briefings".
Things came to a head on May 5th when the Cabinet decided to move to
shut down the Hezbollah communication system and fire Shafiq Shuqeir
the Security head at Beirut's Airport who is believed to be a Hezbollah
supporter.
Of all the provocations this past couple of weeks, one of the most
bizarre involved a guest of Walid Jumblatt, the arch Zionist French
Deputy Karim Pakzad invited to a Conference here by the Druze leader.
The Deputy's claimed "kidnapping" and interrogation caught the
attention of journalists and researchers in Lebanon who are familiar
with Hezbollah's highly efficient Media Relations Office and
Hezbollah's security concerns.
It wasn't just that the Deputy set out to take photos in secure areas
without permission, or how he appeared to exaggerate what had actually
occurred, as he repeatedly explained, more dramatically with each
telling, that he was "kidnapped, blindfolded, held for four hours and
interrogated by Hezbollah in a secret location." Or even the well
prepared news conference with no fewer that 22 microphones which
Jumblatt laid on to announce "this international crime" to the world
which every Zionist and US neocon media and Internet outlet dutifully
hyped as the story which grew direr at each retelling.
What was stranger was that everyone Karim was hosted by, just like
every researcher and journalist in Lebanon knows the rules and they are
simple and reasonable. Because of decades of pervasive Israeli spys
metastasizing in Lebanon and especially areas where many in the
Lebanese Resistance live and work, visitors are ask to drop by
Hezbollah's Media Relations Office and obtain a permit so the
neighborhood watch people will not inquire of them who they are and why
they are photographing in security areas.
The same precautions are taken in most sensitive areas these days.
Jumblatt's and Geagea's area also take security precautions. Try
photographing in Hamra near Saad Hariri's Quiritum offices or around
Muerab or near Jumblatt's Mukhtara area and learn how quickly security
personnel will approach.
When the French Deputy is in Washington he might want to test US
sensitivity to security and try to walk around the Pentagon, CIA
headquarters, inside the M Street Naval Annex, enter the ground on
Observatory Road of the Vice Presidents acreage, or dozens of other
locations and start snapping photos without permission.
The evidence strongly suggests this and many of the 'incidents'
recently were staged to provoke Hezbollah into a reaction that has so
far failed through various violent incident designed to achieve the
same end. That effort continues today in Beirut as event unfold.
Americans who live in and frequent Dahiyeh comment on how peaceful and
safe it is. One can walk or jog around these neighborhoods at 3 am
without any fear of being accosted. One visiting journalist from
Washington explained:
"I live almost exactly half way between the White House and the US
Capitol (less than one mile between the two) there are no fewer than 9
police forces, ranging from the Capitol Police to the DC Police to the
Executive Protective Brand and others assigned to secure our
neighborhood. No chance I would wander around at 3 am on my street out
of fear of being mugged or held up by someone high on drugs or looking
for cash. There is no comparison between the security in DC where all
you see are cops and here when you hardly notice any security".
Last July, former American Ambassador to Lebanon Robert Dillon, leading
a Washington based Council for the National Interest (CNI) delegation
met with Hezbollah and later decided to have lunch in their
neighborhood of Haret Hreik at the popular Halefee Restaurant, in fact,
near where Karim was taking photos.
After dining on Falafel and Shawarma the American Ambassador and a few
of his group decided to take a walk and observe some of the hundreds of
buildings bombed during the July 2006 war.
As the group meandered toward the Bir Abed area and approached what is
known locally as "Security Square", a young lady in the American group
starting taking pictures. The group had not visited the Hezbollah Media
Office for a permit or arranged for a guide because their visit was
spur of the moment and it was a Sunday afternoon. After a few photos
were taken the group made a quick collective decision not to take more
photos out of respect for the community and its security concerns. The
CNI delegation young lady put away her camera. Within probably 45
seconds of her putting her camera in her purse, as the delegation
continued its trek through the devastation, a young man with a walkie
talkie appeared on a small "jog" motor scooter from one direction and
seconds later another arrived from the opposite direction. It took five
minutes of polite conversation to assure all that henceforth the rules
would be followed. Sometimes Neighborhood Watch Hezbollah security guys
will ask to quickly review recent photos taken. One imagines that if
there were suspicious photos of "sensitive buildings" further inquiries
would be made. In the present case no request to see the photos were
made perhaps because the group were very obviously benign tourists. As
the CNI group continued their walk the young lady said "they sure were
polite and so apologetic for having to ask us not to take photos
without permission. They were sweet. It's their neighborhood. I am glad
that they try to protect it."
The French Deputy's 'kidnapping' hoax was clearly meant to create an
international incident out of something that was commonplace and could
have been avoided if the Deputy had kept his cool and not become
antagonistic when first approached by Neighborhood Watch.
This observer is not aware what was in the French Deputy's camera that
led to a little more attention from Neighborhood Watch than usual.
Perhaps he will share them with us on YouTube.
Writings 
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