Follow the Women

Thoughts from the Levant is my story and the story of Follow the Women, a caravan of hundreds of women from all over the world who have cycled together through the Middle East for weeks and weeks, seeking the human face of a region that has become the untiring genitor of endless conflicts…

Quest of understanding for some of us, quest of identity for others, quest of sharing and change, this ride through the cradle of so many illustrious civilizations is also a way of saying that - beyond religion, race and politics - an other Middle East is possible.

Follow the Women in this unique adventure through gorgeous Lebanon, majestic Syria, welcoming Jordan and Holy Palestine…

www.followthewomen.com

Getting ready for the adventure

Thursday May 1st, what a hectic “Labour day”!

After very last-minute arrangements , last-minute must-do pre-travel shopping (as if shopping wasn’t ALWAYS a must), last-minute goodbyes to approximately two hundred friends and relatives, a rushed pedicure & manicure in between, a very tough packing process and an endless speech from dad on security precautions while travelling in the Middle East, I was ready AT LAST to jump in the plane…exhausted but sooooooooooo excited!

The flight was one of the most pleasant I ever had. A little mistake in the seat number while boarding got me a welcome drink and an invitation to visit the pilot cabin, an invitation that I got extended to the whole flight (nothing being nice can't get you!), spending it with 2 incredibly smart pilots, with whom I had a great time discussing, among others, the everlasting Arab-Israeli conflict, the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan (and the Syria/Iran eventual invasion plans), the Moroccan Western Sahara conflict and the many other political issues of the region.

After about 4 hours of what is commonly referred to in pilots’ jargon as “blue-flying” (ie. exclusively over the Mediterranean Sea), a warm voice from Beirut airport control tower welcomed us with an unexpected “Marhaba Habib Albi” (Welcome sweet hearts), which is, as I was told later, a very common way of speaking even to strangers in Lebanon.
Coming from a country influenced by Berber culture of self-restraint, the pilots and I couldn’t help but laugh at this exuberant welcome and mellifluous tone when one of them suddenly pointed the horizon with his finger...
There She was.
Poet Nizar Qabbani’s Lady of the World, the Pearl of the Middle East, the Paris of the Levant, flanked by snow-capped Mountains of Lebanon and generously opening her arms to the Mediterranean Sea and to the thousands of visitors she has welcomed over its 5000 years of existence, shaping its history and enriching its culture.

Beirut…

Founded by the Phoenicians, original inhabitants of Lebanon, who named it “Bérût” (the Wells) and part of numerous succeeding empires - Persian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab and Ottoman - Beirut, in the manner of Lebanon, is an incredible mosaic of people, cultures, religions, and traditions, and a living testimonial of centuries of bustling History.

Beirut…here I am!

Beirut...First Glimpses

To a first time visitor, Beirut unveils its diversity the first second you step out of the airport. The whole city is a patchwork of colours, features, looks, architectures and social categories: fancy cars rushing along side jalopies and scrap heaps about to give up the ghost (but still rushing almost as fast as the first ones!), luxurious buildings and ritzy villas neighbouring tumble-down shacks, Mosques’ minarets greeting Churches’ bell towers here an there and an impressive display of Red, White and Cedars – the Lebanese flag – everywhere, as if the country, with its numerous identities, was constantly struggling to remind everyone that the ONE identity that should remain above all religions, factions, ethnic groups and political tendencies is the Lebanese Identity.

First Police check point.

First of the numerous ones that have spread all over the country after Israel’s attack in July 2006 and the resulting severe destabilization of the Lebanese political system, check points seem to be part of the country’s daily life and my Lebanese friends were almost amused by my surprise and excitement.
This one is a Lebanese Army checkpoint, that one is under March 8th Forces’ control, that other one is under March 14th Alliance’s. Welcome to the kingdom of confusion!

In fact, Lebanese politics is a labyrinth of parties, armed militias, religious groups and ethnical minorities…To make it simple, the 2 major rivals are:

- The March 14 Alliance, named after the Cedar Revolution and known to be anti-Syrian. It is led by the following major parties: the Future Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Lebanese Forces, in addition to 11 other groups (just that!)
(For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_14_Alliance)

- The Pro-Syrian opposition (commonly referred to as March 8 Alliance), including Hezbullah, Amal Movement, Free Patriotic Movement, Armenian Revolutionary Federation and no less than 18 other different parties (!!!!)
(For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_8_Alliance)

Isn’t it amazing how all the components of this chaotic little world manage to fit in 10 000 km²? (When they do…)

Beirut by night..

A quick shower (my own “quick”-standards: 30 minutes), the illusion of a little nap and many layers of Glam Bronze powder later, my best ally to fake a well-rested look, I was ready to discover the Lady of the World by night.

Driving from Ramleh El Baida, a residential neighbourhood south of Beirut, all the way along the seashore, through Boulevard du General De Gaulle, and passing by the famous American University towards the Downtown area and the Hamra neighbourhood, I could capture a touch of Paris here, a bit of Amman there, a glimpse of Venice further, an air of Barcelona in between and a striking similarity with Tanger - Morocco’s northern Pearl - in many regards, particularly the Corniche area, the high Mediterranean-style buildings, the multiple floodlit mounts surrounding the city and the tiny up and down hills streets here and there.

Police check points again.

The lovely downtown area - little architectural jewel of French Mandate-era and Art-Deco buildings - has been divided with barbwires and ugly massive concrete blocks into 2 distinctive zones, defacing the area and blemishing the gorgeous façade of Al Hariri Mosque.

Hezbullah militias camping on one side.
March 14 Alliance on the other side.
And the President’s seat empty for 18 months now...

The cleavage is obvious… and the growing tensions perceptible in the way both militias screen out the very few walkers that still continue to hang out in this area. Not that it is closed or forbidden but most Beirutis abandoned its fancy boutiques and stylish restaurants and pubs for friendlier and safer areas in the city. And the once Beirut’s most fashionable and trendy street,Maarad St,has become a sort of deserted no man’s land between 2 rival little states, inside a bigger - very weakened - one. Only one restaurant decided to ignore the political situation and remained open. We decided to have diner there; a colourful méli-mélo of yummy Lebanese mezze and delicious Lebanese wine; before heading to “Le Prague”, a cosy pub in the fancy pro-March 14 Alliance Hamra neighbourhood, a few blocks from the American University of Beirut.
Le Prague reminded me of St Germain pubs in Paris: a very chilled out atmosphere, loads of students, beers everywhere and “reading corners” improvised here and there with piles of French classic novels and… Asterix and Obelix comic books!

The pleasant soirée goes on late…From politics (unavoidable in any conversation that lasts more than 5 minutes in Lebanon) to literature (unavoidable in the homeland of Khalil Gibran and May Ziada) to fashion (also unavoidable, though for no reason) I was happily familiarizing with my first Middle Eastern host country, and getting a deeper understanding of all the dynamics of Lebanese society and politics.

Morning Beirut!

I hate alarm-clocks! They’re the perfect party-pooper after very little time in Morpheus’ delicious arms and some inauspicious consequences: a combination of morning headache and dramatically deep dark circles. Thank God, an other combination - Paracetamol magic little pills and my beloved Glam Bronze powder - did a pretty good job and, boosted by a sip of Turkish coffee and by the excitement of meeting my hundreds of cycling mates, I was fairly presentable (I think so…)

What a beautiful sunny day!

Beiruti joggers have already invaded the Corniche and some lucky folks are even swimming. Couples in their fifties hand in hand, HOT fashionable athletic guys (that I could obviously spot miles away), trendy girlies with the whole jogging-must-gear (Sports hair strip and wristbands, mini Evian water bottle and I-pod), kids in bicycle or running kites and a few dog-walkers here and there, I started feeling less miserable about my waking up early :-)

Brand new luxurious condos are wildly mushrooming all over the coastline but from time to time, an old building scattered with machine guns’ shots would rise, reminding Lebanon’s decades of war and civil unrest.

Cycling Beirut

Being the only one from Morocco is quite intimidating…It seemed to me that all the other participants knew each other from diapers-days and thinking about the last time I had approached a woman to socialize, I found myself looking for memories close to diapers-days too…Not that I am not the socializing kind but socializing with the opposite sex is just way easier (probably because it is way more practiced). I was thinking about a nice/catchy/ womanish conversation subject (ie. Pads vs. Tampons while cycling, recommendations on sunscreen protection factor – yeah I know, so “cliché”) when I heard a “Hey! What’s your name?” behind me.

My first cycling buddy - a young woman my age - is from Barcelona and shows off proudly, along with her team, her belonging to Catalonia, which is no big surprise, given Catalonians’ propensity to clearly mark their cultural difference with the rest of the peninsula. Followed the introduction to the other lovely Catalonians and my official adoption - a few minutes later - by the team :-)

My bike!

Having one woman choose a bike (or anything else) can be very challenging...Now, getting 250 WOMEN to try different sizes of bikes and make sure the one they pick works fine is a true CHAOS but looooooooooots of fun :-)

I think that our "MEN" (Beirut by bike team) deserve a special tribute. You guys ROCK!

I could, somehow or other find my way to my companion for the upcoming weeks and, size-checking and cycling-testing processes done, I couldn’t wait to start the journey!

Once upon a time Sabra and Shatila...

Some names are engraved in Arabs' collective memory with fire letters…


"Sabra and Chatila" is one of them.

Often described as living witnesses of the numerous atrocities perpetrated by the Israeli Army during decades of occupation, they have become - along with Deir Yassin (1948), Khan Yunis (1956), Abbasieh (1978), Fakhani (1981),Al Aqsa Mosque (1990), Hebron (1994), Qana (1996 and 2006), Jenin (2002) (those are the most famous only, the list is obviously not exhaustive) - the symbol of our own version of Jewish people sadly famous device “We shall remember”.

But the case of Sabra and Shatila is different, because the responsibility - massively devolved upon Israel by the public opinion - is in reality shared (not to say mainly born) by Christian Phalangists, who were almost totally spared the brunt of the condemnations…

So what happened that day of September 1982?
After a thorough research through Lebanese, English and Israeli resources, I have put together the following summary, hoping you won’t get lost (as I did so many times!). I would also love to hear different perspectives and opinions

Sabra is a poor Shiite neighborhood in the southern outskirts of West Beirut, which is adjacent to Shatila UNRWA refugee camp set up for Palestinian refugees in 1949. Over the years, the populations of the two areas have mingled, and the name "Sabra and Shatila camps" has become usual.

1982.

The Lebanese civil war is at its height, opposing Palestinian refugees and Muslim Lebanese factions (allied with Syria) to Christian Phalangists (supported by Israel), in various shifting alliances, and killing each other in an endless whirl of massacres competing in cruelty.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Yasser Arafat, had been using southern Lebanon as a base for attacks on Israel, and Israel had been bombing PLO positions back. A failed attempt to assassinate the Israeli Ambassador in London on June 4 by Abu Nidal’s organization (a Palestinian left-wing front that has always refused to negotiate with Israel and that had split from the PLO in 1974) gave the Hebrew State the perfect excuse to invade Lebanon.
Obviously, the UN condemned this violation. But obviously nobody cared..
After 2 months of US-mediation, the PLO agreed to leave Lebanon under international supervision and Israel committed not to advance further into the country, but its military troops remained stationed in the southern region.
On September 14, Lebanese President Bachir Gemayel (part of the Israel-friendly Christian Phalangist party) was assassinated by Syrian Intelligence agent Habeeb Shartuni, who confessed the crime. Though Palestinian and Muslim leaders had no responsibility in the murder, Israel’s Defense Minister at the time; Ariel Sharon and Prime Minister; Menachem Begin decided to violate the US-agreement and re-occupy West Beirut, surrounding the Sabra and Shatila camps and setting hermetic check-points in all entrances and exists. In fact, the President’s assassination gave Israel the so-expected opportunity to re-enter Beirut and get rid of the few remaining PLO activists. It didn’t do it itself though, it invited Phalangist allies to “cleanse” the area under their control. We all know the rest of the story…

1500 Phalangists armed with guns, knives and hatchets entered the camps late in the afternoon and began raping, slitting throats and shooting blindly…
Women, children, old people, youth…No one was spared…

3 days later - 3 endless days of massacres later - the Phalangist militias left the camp, leaving behind thousands of mutilated bodies (3000-3500 according to Israeli journalist Amnon Kapeliouk), from newborns to elders, scattered all around the camp…

As the news of the massacre spread around the world, accusations started pouring down on Israel mainly, the role of the Christian Phalangists being kept under hat and seldom mentioned. Today, if you google “Sabra and Shatila”, you will find that most sources point at Israel as “THE” responsible of the genocide, but to my opinion, though the Hebrew State had definitely a responsibility in this tragedy as they sealed off the camp and “invited” the Phalangists in, making it an exclusively “Israeli crime” is hiding part of the truth and leaving many murderers unpunished. Until now, 26 years after the massacre, no concrete action at the national or international levels has ever been taken against any Phalangist leader or member of Saad Haddad’s “Free Lebanon Forces”, who also took part to the genocide…

Menachem Begin’s first response to the accusations was the everlasting discourse of “Anti-Semitic blood libel against the Jewish State”. But as the controversy grew, voices from inside Israel rose to demand explanations and a few weeks after the massacres, 300 000 Israeli citizens (literally 1/10 of the Israeli population at the time!) gathered in Tel Aviv, in one of the biggest protests of the country’s history, to ask for clarifications.

A Commission of Inquiry was established, led by Supreme Court Judge Kahan and known as the “Kahan Commission” and investigations concluded that “Israeli military personnel were aware that a massacre was in progress without taking serious steps to stop it”, for which Israel bears part of the “indirect responsibility”.

Furthermore, The Kahan commission found that Ariel Sharon "bears personal responsibility" and recommended his dismissal from the post of Defense Minister, stating that:
“It is our view that responsibility is to be imputed to the minister of defense for having disregarded the prospect of acts of vengeance and bloodshed by the Phalangists against the population of the refugee camps and for having failed to take this danger into account when he decided to have the Phalangists enter the camps. In addition, responsibility is to be imputed to the minister of defense for not ordering appropriate measures for preventing or reducing the chances of a massacre as a condition for the Phalangists' entry into the camps”

With as much hindsight as an Arab could have in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, I think that this commission was a great tribute to Israeli democracy,as highlighted by Henry Kissinger, who claimed that "a few governments in the world would have undertaken such a public investigation of such a difficult and shameful episode."

However, even though the Kahan Commission concluded that Sharon "should not hold public office again", he was elected Prime Minister in February 2001…

What kind of Prime Minister could a mass-killings' aficionado become?

The response has an other fire letters name: Jenin...2002...