This is Beirut

'An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind' Mahatma Gandhi

This is a text that was sent to me by my dear friend, Maya Rizkallah.

This is a call for human beings.

The war in Lebanon started on the 13th of July, and the world has been following it up on television like another action movie. So far, the count climbs to over 130 victims, without counting the wounded and displaced families. Massacres are going on, touching civilians, mostly women and children. Among them we can mention the Marwaheen massacre where 22 civilians died as victims of targeted bombing on their pick-up van while they were trying to escape from the attacks targeting their villages. The Tyre massacre that happened on the 16th of July counted dozens of victims, and was described by the eye-witnessing television reporter as a living disaster.

I am sitting in a Beirut neighborhood. The country is surrounded, military planes are constantly roaring above our heads and throwing bombs somewhere every half an hour. The edges of Beirut are on fire, and so many Lebanese cities are nothing but total destruction. We are simply sitting here and waiting, expecting the worst. Foreign embassies are doing everything possible to evacuate their civilians, while all Lebanese civilians can do is wait. Every morning, as I wake up to the massive bombing sound, I wish all of this was just a nightmare, and it is not.

I could tell much, much more. For five days now, destruction has not stopped. Destruction of human lives, homes, infrastructure, roads, bridges, communications. This war is the biggest disaster that has ever happened to Lebanon This is not the time to look back and cry, this is the time to do something because that kind of violence should not even be mentioned in the chore of the 21st century. Too many wars have preceded it, and the whole world has witnessed the absurdity of violent actions, and yet the United Nations still think there is time to discuss whether to stop this or not.

This is not the time to discuss. Radical action is needed. We are asking for a cease fire. At this point, we don't care who is right or wrong because it is pointless. Anyone can find enough arguments to prove that he is right and that his opponent is wrong. Anyone can apologize for the slaughters that are happening under the excuse that it was not intended. Words are very easy to manipulate, talks can last endlessly, but talking is the last thing we need to do right now.

At this point, we are not addressing Lebanese, French, Americans, Israeli, Canadians, or whatever. Nationalities are the last thing that counts. After all, our nationality is only a matter of what land we were born on and what kind of ideas we were exposed to since our early age.

We are addressing human beings. We cannot sit back and watch all the suffering that is cumulating every minute, while the people who can actually make a difference still believe there is time to wear suits, shake hands and have very deep and serious conversations whether to stop murdering human beings or not. The answer so obvious… Shouldn't human well-being be our first and foremost concern?

This is a call for immediate action.

Please wherever we are, let's get into action. Petitions, manifestations, sit-ins, whatever is possible. Right now, passiveness is the biggest crime. It is human life we are talking about, and all human beings are part of us, whether we accept it or not.