A billboard in Beirut. I borrowed the photo from one of my favourite Lebanese blogs, Free Cedar

AM, a Lebanese who lives in Dubai, wrote a post that touched me so much - and not only because she linked to my blog. ;) She expresses with rare honesty the emotional upheaval so many of us - Lebanese and Israelis - experienced during the war. Now that the fighting has ceased a lot of us are starting slowly to examine our feelings.

"The most severe outcome on the long run however, is the roller coaster of emotions people in both countries were subject to during the war and its effect. I myself juggled repeatedly between sadness, anger, hate, confusion, control, failed control, blind support, despise of the entire world and pride. Mind you, my family was not affected directly by the war and each is still getting a half-month salary to go by life. The more I converse with people around me, the more I realize how difficult and how long it will take for the hate and indifference that were nurtured during this war to disappear if ever they do, for the notions of acceptance and respect of the other to settle back."
                                                                                      Read the rest here.

Lebanese blogger Bad Vilbel has been a voice of sanity in the Israeli blogosphere. His comments are reliably thoughtful, but he saves his best stuff for his blog. Toward the end of the war I had quite a few bad days when I felt overwhelmed by the cacophony of hate, rage and recrimination. Then I'd surf over to BV's space for a dose of sanity - like the following excerpt from his August 21 post.

"Ideologies that glorify triumph of arms must be broken through military defeats. I agree. And that is why it is my opinion (as stated in a previous post) that a just peace must be imposed FIRST, for hatreds to melt away. When people are forced to live in peace with their neighbors, the old hatreds start to fade, as people focus on leading normal lives, and pursuing normal goals and aspirations. I’d like to use both the Germans and Japanese cultures as examples here Both highly proud and militaristic cultures, that were forced to live in peace with their neighbors post-WW2.

This is why, in my opinion, it is extremely important to spread democracy in the Middle East, one way or another. This is why countries like Israel and Lebanon must be nurtured side by side."


Me, I'm still unwinding. Everyone I know is sad-and-depressed-but-hopeful-and-getting-on-with-life. In this article, Haifa University Professor Fania Oz Salzberger (Amos Oz's daughter) writes that it's healthy to wallow in the post-war depression.

"People here are sad, and scared about being so sad. But the depression is not only natural and understood, it is also a stimulus for mental and practical repair – in the army, local and national government systems, and public discourse. Less arrogance and more insights. Meanwhile there are reasons to be sad, and that's completely legitimate both for individuals and for the national mood.

Perhaps, as Arab-Israeli author Sayed Kashua noted recently, Israeli Jews seem more human and likeable when we're depressed and failing somewhat. At the end, the Europeans may even start to love us again. On second thought, let's not go overboard with the depression."
                                                                                               Read the rest here.