Lebanon: Qana II on the Third Week of Israeli War on Lebanon · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The war Israel is waging on Lebanon continues to be the focal point of most bloggers in the Lebanese blogosphere. For the third week the posts cover topics such as experiences, expectations and reflections on this situation. This week culminated with the tragic bombing of a shelter in Qana by the Israelis. This incident caused indignation by most bloggers that was reflected in their posts.
Amal as usual expresses her anger and sorrow about the calamity that befell Qana in the following drawing:
Sophie asks in one of her posts: Are Qana's children screams as they are dying Rice's “Pangs of Birth” of her New Middle East?
Pierre Tristam writes an article titled: Massacres at Qana, When “Never Again” Needn’t Apply to Lebanon, in which he brings to our attention the massacre at Qana, ten years ago, by the Israelis before giving his analysis of the one that occurred this week.
Dr. Victorino reflected on the incident saying:
Today, in the early hours of the morning, Tzahal’s noble knights rode over Qana in their shining US-made, US-equipped, and US-paid fighter jets.
It was Sunday, the day of worship in gentile Christian culture.
And Qana is the place where this “weird Jesus cult” started when the beloved King Herod ruled over Israel.
Fouad warned that the seed of hatred and anger sown today will bear dangerous fruits tomorrow:
You fucking idiots, you and your stepfathers in the Land of Opportunity where I foolishly reside… How inane and morally, emotionally, and politically bankrupt can you be. Do you really think you can bomb your way out of this? You dare talk of democracy and freedom when our lives are your dregs, our children your targets, and the whole world your shooting range? How dare you, you little sorry episodes of conceited spiteful despicable existence. Go on, keep churning the ground and sowing the seeds of hatred and anger. For soon the crops will grow, and it will be time to harvest. And the harvest will be plentiful, and I hope I will live long enough to see the day.
Images from Qana here and here (not for the faint hearted) as well as images of the reaction of the Lebanese to this incidence were published by the Lebanese Blogger Forum.
Photos of demonstration against the war were published by Z.
Sophia describes her visit last year to Qana
where the famous biblical wedding took place, symbolises the endless suffering of both Lebanese and Palestinians. Israel knows very well what it is doing by bombing Qana. It is making sure the wounds will never heal ! But Israel can be sure that as long as the wounds are open and even when they will heal, if they will heal one day, there will be no forgiveness to Isarel's war crimes and to their immoral backing by Bush, Blair, Rice and Collaborators !
Michael Totten makes the following political observation which he sees is the result of the attack on Qana:
The (second in a decade) attack on Qana that killed scores of civilians has all but cemented the Lebanese public and Hezbollah together.
Cable news reports that 82 percent of Lebanese now support Hezbollah. Prime Minister Fouad Seniora – whatever his real opinion in private – is now closer to openly supporting Hezbollah in public than he has ever been.
The March 14 Movement (the Cedar Revolution) is, at best, in a coma if not outright dead.
And in the midst of all this Firas advices us to keep a level head:
Let's not victimize ourselves. I think that the question is not how we feel about this or who to blame, but rather what can we do to maintain our existance as sane, dignified and productive people. We need to keep a level head when we deal with this, and not lose track of the fact that the IDF's actions are providing us with more and more moral clarity about our country's plight and unity. We will win the peace by being rational AND by not losing touch with our humanity.
Ahmad posts a long list of atrocities and massacres committed by Israel which he says is by no means exclusive.
Abu kais post the entire statement that Human Rights Watch issued blaming the Israeli Defense Force for the civilian death in Qana.
Doha starts from the war going and ends with the shattered dreams and lives of the Lebanese youth, describing how it has affected some of them:
Yet another massacre in Qana. 57 dead among them 27 children…and counting.
And if this is the story in the south, then the rest of Lebanon has many shattered dreams to gather and rebuild.
Many bygone and shattered dreams. This is what war does. Israel's war on Lebanon has impacted all of Lebanon and all of the Lebanese.
As there are fighters facing up to the Israeli war machine, there are also youth issuing their passports to head out, head out to the unknown, to save the day.
I'll recount some stories, close to home.
Mustapha attempts to answer some of the tough moral questions the Lebanese are facing in this post.
Anarchistian blogged on the air strikes during the first 24 hours of the announced 48 hours of air strike cease fire plus the expected shortage of fuel and its repercussions on the daily lives of Lebanese:
The country is almost out of fuel, and we might not have electricity at all in a week’s time. But life goes on, and we all find ways of adjusting to this “new” life. First and foremost it reminds us that we take some things for granted and fail to understand what life without these could be like. When I was in Toronto in August 2003, a power blackout brought much of the city to a halt, and caused such widespread panic and chaos. Here in Lebanon we’re not at that level of taking things for granted, but we are at a rather high level, and things like these make us think about and be all the more thankful for what we have.
Prof A. A. Khalil received a letter from Israel which states:
I live in Israel and I am a Jew. We don't all support the policies of Olmert or the policies of the Labor party either. And many of us grieve for the loss of lives in Lebanon and Palestine just as deeply as you grieve for those lives. I am sorry that this is happening to your country and I hope and pray that your family and friends will be safe and I hope that not one more Palestinian must die for the crimes of the state, the Israeli state.
Finally EDB posts on hedonistic life style going on elsewhere in Lebanon as the war continues.
I did not hear any news; there were no TVs blasting Al-Manar or even Al Jazeera; not in homes, not in bars, not at the pool, not at the club. Up there, you cannot hear the bombs, you do not see the smoke. My only exposure to the outside world came from a Spanish girl baking in the sun at the side of the pool. She occasionally retrieved news summaries from her cellphone, careful not to spoil her freshly manicured nails, and read them out loud: Ooh, Isra-ayl wizdrooh fram Bint Jbeil…”
Followed by, “Ooh, I zink I got sahnbernt. Let's dreenk Vodka Toneec. It's foh o'clock. Heppi hour!”