Beirut never asks you to come back to it. It entices you to and makes you come back out of your own volition. If Beirut were a person, it would be irresistibly charming, more than anybody you would ever meet. Someone you would keep falling hopelessly in love with, even though you’d always know it would be a tumultuous, love and hate relationship with no future whatsoever. If Beirut were a force of nature, it would be a glorious sunset after a furious storm, though you’d always be left guessing when the next storm will hit, because it always does and stronger than the one before. Continue reading “Ungrateful, Beirut”
“Land of the Cedar”
Note: This is the third in a series of four thematic Lebanon-related posts, based on a conversation between the author and a Lebanese citizen who preferred to remain anonymous. The first post was on politics and the parliamentary elections and the second on the economy.
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Eye on the East (EOTE): I never thought it would take so much time to reconvene.
Lebanese Citizen (LC): Well, you know that I’ve been here. You’re the one that’s always so busy. I hope you’re not going to end up like one of those people who is always soooo busy, but you really wonder what they’re soooo busy with. Continue reading ““Land of the Cedar””
Syrian Refugees in Lebanon: Is Anybody Listening, I Still Wonder?
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?”
Eye on the East 