Earlier this year, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published a map plotting the distribution of Syrian refugees throughout Lebanon (Eye on the East commented about it here: https://eyeontheeast.org/2014/05/13/syrian-refugees-in-lebanon-is-anybody-listening/). I can only imagine how that map has evolved since, but at the time: Continue reading “Syrian Refugees in Lebanon: Is Anybody Listening, I Still Wonder?”
“Fighting for the Right to Party in Beirut”: Fighting for the Right to Stop this about Beirut
Just because we are a bit of a hot-blooded bunch and have been through more wars than we care to admit; and just because Lebanon is in a region that is usually not associated with hedonistic tendencies (mostly because of people’s ignorance) and pictured as an inherently threatening place (mostly because of media-fueled misconceptions) doesn’t mean we can’t have a good party. In fact we do. And the best. Now deal with it and please, please get over it. Continue reading ““Fighting for the Right to Party in Beirut”: Fighting for the Right to Stop this about Beirut”
N for Nasrani
During a trip to Jordan in 2008, I visited the site where it is believed that Jesus Christ was baptized. As I headed to the banks of the Jordan River, a group of women solemnly made their way back from the pilgrimage. They were clearly Christian, given the particular headscarf they wore and prayers they whispered. They prayed in silence but with a passion and fervor that was hard not to notice. Continue reading “N for Nasrani”
Three Years and Counting: Looking Back and Looking Ahead, in Pictures
It has been three years already: Eye on the East has still not run out of things to say because Lebanon and the Arab World has never been so full of things to talk about. But since 2011, it has been each and every one of you, the readers, followers and supporters that have helped in keeping this going and made it worthwhile…. And for that, I thank you all.
Continue reading “Three Years and Counting: Looking Back and Looking Ahead, in Pictures”
All hearts with Iraq, all eyes on Baghdad
Maybe this wasn’t meant for us…
In 1949, George Orwell gave us a glimpse of what would become the fate of millions, to be ruled by the cruelest of dictatorships the world would see in the years to come. Sadly, 1984 became more of a manual for the world’s most ruthless dictators, rather than a guidebook for people to navigate through and fight the control and oppression. Continue reading “Maybe this wasn’t meant for us…”
Will he Stay or Will he Go?
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai isn’t one to shy away from controversy. Even before becoming patriarch, he set the bar very high, once threatening anybody who criticized or slandered the church and its leadership with excommunication. With the recent announcement, and his own personal confirmation, that he would accompany Pope Francis during his upcoming visit to Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territories, Rai is back in the headlines. Continue reading “Will he Stay or Will he Go?”
“I never imagined that Libya would follow Lebanon”
“I think your readers are probably more interested in other countries in the Middle East than my dysfunctional lawless homeland..!” is one of the first things he said when I offered the pages of Eye on the East for a guest post on Libya. But when was dysfunctional and lawless exclusive to only one country in the Arab World? Continue reading ““I never imagined that Libya would follow Lebanon””
Tunisia: Back to Where it All Started
Perhaps the Arab Revolutions weren’t such a dream after all…if only in the country where this now long-forgotten dream first started. Continue reading “Tunisia: Back to Where it All Started”
Burying the Butcher, not Burying the Hatchet
In my part of the world, Ariel Sharon was known as the “Butcher of Beirut.” Even though his bloody legacy began to be built decades before he led the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 – through years of killing Palestinians in British-controlled Palestine prior to the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 – he will still be primarily remembered for the responsibility he bore for Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila Massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp of the same name. Continue reading “Burying the Butcher, not Burying the Hatchet”
Eye on the East 