picture in bourj al-shemali camp

picture of an old palestinian woman holding her israeli ID card in the bourj al-shemali camp in southern lebanon. (NOTE: I did not take pic of the woman, I took the picture of the original picture that was tacked up on a board in the center.) 

Land Day in Shatila

Jal al-Bahar

This is a Palestinian refugee "camp" in southern Lebanon. It actually isn't recognized as a camp, but a "grouping" of over 1,000 Palestinian refugees who live along the sea just north of the city of Tyre. The homes are similar to those in the camps. Palestinians, since they don't own the land, are prevented from building or fixing their homes. We spoke with a few people here, one of whom was very cynical towards everyone who claims to be fighting for Palestine. Living here, can you blame him? Jal al-Bahar, another element of the conflict that MUST be addressed before there can ever be peace. 

Razans picture

I am plagiarizing.

Razan and her pics

Driving north

Ok, so I guess uploading vertical images doesn't work from the phone. Oh well, Im just gonna leave it since it seems that blogger doesn't really make it possible to perform the very complicated action of rotating an image 90 degrees. It's hard for photos to make it in the text-dominated world of internet blogging. 

Photo exhibit at the american university of beirut

Photos by myself and great self-taught Syrian photographer, Razan Ghazzawi. Pics about Nahr al-Bared, stop by over the next couple days if you are in Beirut. 

The hajj praying in his new home

These are in the new "barracks" prefabricated metal homes in Nahr al-Bared. The next day the hajj, Abu Mahmoud, traveled to the Abu Dhabi to work on a pipeline. He won't return for at least one year. 

Nahr al-Bared mothers day 3

Nahr al-Bared mothers day 2

Nahr al-Bared mothers day 1

A great photographer

I didn't feel like posting a picture yesterday, on the fifth anniversary (when the world demonstrated on March 20 2003) of the US's war on Iraq that has destroyed that country and will leave it that way for years to come. Bush and the others talk about it all like it's a game, and they know exactly what they've done. It's really really really not hard when you look at Baghdad to see how one can hate the US. Another country that the US destroyed was Vietnam. And one of the reasons I became a photographer was because of the images from Vietnam taken by Philip Jones Griffiths. He passed away on March 18 at the age of 72. Griffiths images of Vietnam showed the ugliness of what was happening there, and what was happening there even after the war ended. Like Iraq has become today in the US press, not one of the more "interesting" news topics, even years after people forgot about Vietnam, Griffiths continued to get his work out there showing the brutality of the war. 

From out of a taxi in sidon

I really have no idea what the point of this mural is. It's a dock alone in the sea (not connected to a beach) with Lebanon sinking, or, off on the horizon, really not sure. Anyway, I love Sidon, it's beautiful. 

Look at what just got in season!

Was very surprised to see my favorite fruit sitting in the local veggie shop today after what seemed like a 100 year hiatus! There were prettier ones than this one too, but I only got the idea to take a picture for the blog when I got down to the last couple. This week isn't very exciting since my colleague is our of the office and I'm putting in overtime on the computer. Maybe tomorrow I will take a picture of my bathroom. This pic was taken on my lovely balcony by the way, im sitting out on it now in a tshirt, ahhhh, Beirut can be so enjoyable when one forgets about the 7 American warships a few km off the coast.... 

It takes a long time to purchase a ticket

I really like the guy who works at the office, he's older and just genuinely kind, something you don't find much these days. But I know when he was processing my ticket he was wondering why I was taking pictures of his desk. 

Waiting at alitalia office

Reflection of the lights off the desk.

My exhibit

This is a [bad] picture of a little exhibit I have up at ta marbuta cafe in beirut. It will be up for a couple weeks. It's about Palestinian refugees, duh.

Nakba film

An outstanding film from Japanese photographer and videographer, Ryuichi Hirokawa. The film is just being released now and is premiering at different film fests around the world. Hirokawa at age 23 went to live on a kibbutz in 1967 just before the start of Israel's occupation of the territories. Soon after he would join the Israeli leftist group, Matzpen. He said that when he discovered the kibbutz was built on Palestinian land he had to go and find the people who then, had been forced to leave their land two decades earlier. He has spent a lot of time since in Palestine and Lebanon documenting Palestinian refugees and their villages that were destroyed by the Zionist armies in 1948. He is a very talented and well known Japanese photographer. Quite a contrast from most American/European photographers and journalists, who even if they do understand the injustice of the Palestinian tale, are scared to go anywhere near it in their work.

Vegetables beiruti

I almost ran into these

I was driving in the north up a hill. This truck in front of me was going slow so I tried to pass him. When I went out from behind him I had to stop for a cow that was just wandering in the middle of the road. On the way back there were a few in one spot so I decided to stop and take their picture. At least one started staring at me and that's when I noticed horns on his head! Could he have charged at me? I might have made him think I was a threat since I stopped there on my bike facing them. 

Palestine and Marlboro

When I first went to Palestine, I asked a Palestinian friend in Chicago what I should bring folks as little gifts or something. He told me get them cigarettes. I bought a carton of Marlboro lights from the airport duty free. When I tried to give them away to some friends I made later, they wouldn't take them because they boycott everything American. 

Moving to al-Bared

10 months later. The Palestinian refugees from Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon pack up their things at the UN schools where they've ben living and head back to Nahr al-Bared. With their homes destroyed, they now have to move into UNRWA built one-room corrugated tin housing until a plan is in place to rebuild their homes. It was a joyous day to return to al-Bared, but many were visibly upset that their community is being changed and will split for the second time in less than a year.

Kids waiting while the grown folks carry everything into the trucks. That first boy in the picture was so frikin' cute! He did not stop laughing for like 20 min straight! He probably went on after I left too!  

Driving

I really want to get a camera that I can attach to my helmet somehow. driving in lebanon, can be quite an adventure. actually, I think that in most Mediterranean countries people don't drive very well because they're too busy looking at the sea. but lebanon, it's different. of course i think everything in this country is the way it is because of the civil war, and driving is certainly no exception. people do not stop, slow down, give right away, USE TURN SIGNALS (which i didnt think was a big deal in the states to make turns without them, but here where nearly everyone loves to cut across at least two or more lanes of traffic to turn they could really be helpful) it can all make one extremely tense. for me as a foreigner, i forget about the ideologies of the political parties, and I usually just check whichever car pisses me off that day for any signs of their political affiliation and for the rest of the day promise to wage a war against everyone who supports that party. (There are a few dozen active political parties here, so in a week or busy day I might wage war against all of Lebanon.) I'm sure that if people started to work together more when driving, then everyone could focus their energy not against each other but rather against something important like the US warships off the Lebanese coast.

In mo ali's shop

Tariq al-Jadide building

just so people know, taking pictures in lebanon is not easy. pretty much everywhere I go I get stopped by one of the political parties that controls the area, or the army or police. sometimes, when im on my bike, ill pull over and snap a pic and take off real quick. when i do that i always drive away real fast like I did something wrong. it's just innocent pics for my blog! I love the tariq aljadide area, and the buildings and life that exists on the street and above on the balconies of the buildings. most buildings have a shop on the ground floor, or if not in the building then one next door. so when people need stuff they have a bucket attached to a long rope that they can drop down, put money in, and shout to the shopkeeper with their order. then, the guy takes the money and puts their order and their change back in the bucket. it makes sense because a lot of people live up on the 8th floor or higher. and it's a pain in the ass to go down and up (especially when the electricity is out and elevators don't work) just for a pack of cigarettes or couple of eggs. 

March 11

Noticed this today, a new billboard for the March 11 coalition. March 11 falls in between March 14 (government - hariri, jumblatt, phalangists) and the opposition March 8 (Hizballah, Aoun, Amal). Not really sure what they're all about or who is behind them, but they say they're trying to bridge the gap between March 14 and March 8, good luck! 11march.org in case anyone wants to do the research.

The mosque next to my house at dusk

USS Cole out at sea

Look, on the horizon, the USS Cole!!! Oh wait, that's a guy fishing. Anyway, it, and other US warships are out there off the Lebanese coast in order to keep "stability in the region." You know, like how in Iraq the frequency in which bombings happen in crowded markets has become pretty stable. (by the way, it's not easily visible here, but many of those rocks in the sea are still stained with black from the spilled oil that happened after Israel's bombing of seaside power plants that really polluted the Mediterranean sea everywhere north of where it happened. Coincidence that they knew the oil would only flow north and not south to the beautiful Haifa beaches? I don't think so.) 

beiruti stairwells

I love Beirut, I think it's the most beautiful city that I've ever been to (after chicago of course). One thing that really attracts me to it is the architecture. The older buildings are so beautiful. Most have very high ceilings, simple pale colors, and the stairwells, I don't know but I love the stairwells. In my building the light in the stairwell has been broken, so we have to walk up using our cellphones to light the way. Friends tell me that during the civil war (before there were cell phones if you can imagine!) people used to walk in the stairwells with lighters flicking them on constantly - if you've ever tried walking with a lighter you'd know that it doesn't work since the flame will get blown and burn your hand. Most stairwells don't allow in much light making them pitch black at night and during the day very dramatic and beautiful. This is at a friend's place. 

beirut art fair

Some friends had work in this and hence I went. The pieces pictured arent theirs, but I like taking pictures of art with people in them, especially when they're yawning. 

Gaza protest

Near the Arab League office in Beirut. 

beirut's central park

This is Beirut's Sanayeh Gardens, I'm lucky enough to live across the street. In 1982 the PLO gathered here before leaving Lebanon, the gardens I've heard were bombed by the Israelis and many Palestinians were killed. In the summer 2006 war, Lebanese from the south who fled the Israeli bombing lived in the gardens until they were able to return to their homes when the fighting ended. It's a nice place, the only part that I don't like is that it's surrounded by a big wall and they close the gardens early around sunset. But during the day it's filled with a lot of families, young couples in love, pigeons and old guys playing chess. The gardens (and my flat across the street) are one of the reasons I really love this city.