Glad you made it in and out okay. Call me, we'll do coffee (across ten time zones).

Welcome to Beirut
I hope you liked it
I hope you saw that Arabs are normal loving people, I will read more of your posts
I can see that you stayed mainly in East Beirut, any specific reason?
I see also that you went to the University I studied at, the American University of Beirut, you know the picture you have of the administration offices opposite the main gate, thats where once the American President of the University was assassinated by right wing assassins
I hope that all Israelis can visit Beirut, not as invaders but as tourists, and Damascus and all Arab cities, because only then can they understand taht they have to make peace with the Arabs if they want to co-exist in the Arab East, and this can only happen when Israelis free themselves from the mentality of the "tribe" in their own oasis "Israel" and decide to rectify the horrors of evicting Palestinians from their land
We can all live peacfully together, lets solve one problem at a time
but first lets acknowldge each other and the sufferings

Me, A Palestinian Refugee who grew in Lebanon
Can I come and visit and be a tourist in my own country? Palestine? what foreign nationality do I need,
Will you be my guide in my own country?

Your photos have put me in touch with an Israel in a way no words could. I decided after the war last summer that my first vacation abroad (if I ever get one) will be to Israel, and your pictures have only made my decision more resolute. Keep safe and continue the fine work.

Velcome back, darlink! Missed you so much! Fabulous pictures! Coffee, yes?

Thanks, cherie. ;) Coffee tonight, yes?

You should do a book, Cafes of the Middle East.

D'you think it would sell? :P

Oh no flicker please please, the idiots re-blocked it here.
I know I'm a pain ... a sweet pain though ;)
Glad to know you're back safe and sound :D
*Hugs*

I wish I knew why they kept blocking Flickr! Very annoying... ;) I will find a way to upload the photos to another site. Big hug to you...

I can't wait to hear your stories.

yeah yeah whatever.. u never went to beirut.. thats telaviv

:p

Believe me, I had the same thought several times per day... ;) The similarities are striking.

Welcome back.

Question: you posted a picture of a Yoga place in Ramallah, then of a Yoga place in Beirut. What's the deal with the Yoga fetish? Or do you find it incredible that Arabs do Yoga like the rest of humanity...? :-)

Hey Sharvul -

The yoga fetish is actually a kind of joke. You have to read Leila's post to understand. Link here.

Basically, the idea is that there is normalcy everywhere - or at least the striving for normalcy.

The underlying assumption is that those who practice Yoga are normal... BIG assumption :-)

Careful there, mister. You're on dangerous ground... ;)

re: the yoga: I see a few layers of humour/irony here, namely that yoga in its exported form is most commercially popular in the west by people who seek sanctuary from their stresses. The irony: what could be more stressful than life in the middle east?
shanti.
everyone is looking for a little corner to breathe deeply and stretch their limbs.

No wonder Allison was worried. Relieved to have you safe and sound where you belong!

So glad you're back safely! Can't wait to hear all about it. Back in two weeks xox

Glad to have you back, Lisa!

I just spent the good part of 30 minutes going through all the Beirut pictures. Needless to say, that stuff touches me at a very personal level, perhaps more than most of your readers. It was both a joyful and emotional journey, I found myself taking with you, through the pictures, in a land that looks very different than how I remember it, yet very much the same, in many ways.

And there's a little part of me that feels an immense sense of pride, looking at those pictures, and thinking "I wish the whole world could see what Lebanon has to offer, what it's really like". In a world where most of us are forbidden from seeing each other's beauty (or at the very least, discouraged) and constantly fed negative images and horror stories by the media, it is extremely heartening to be able to see something like this unfold.

Bravo Lisa, from the bottom of my heart. And I cannot wait to hear all the stories!

Aw, BV - thank you so much for that beautiful response. Beirut was wonderful - now I understand why so many Lebanese love her so much - and I hope I will be able to describe its complexity and seductiveness in my upcoming posts. I hope so much that one day I will be able to visit the city openly, driving up the coast directly as "Shai" dreamed...

Very cool, hope you had an excellent time.

Great photos! Glad you're back.

glad yer back. lookin' forward to reading about it.

hi lisa,

i happened upon your blog while searching for pictures of beirut, but i actually have a question totally unrelated to lebanon: do you have any idea where i could find out more information about the actors in the film "paradise now"? (also, is it true that kais nashef is married? if so, this is tragic.)

thanks and take care,
maria

Hi Maria -

Last time I checked, Qais Nashef definitely had a girlfriend. I'm not sure that they're actually married, though. They live in my neighbourhood in Tel Aviv and I sometimes see them at the local cafes. I've spotted Ali Suleiman around the 'hood too, but I think he lives in Nazareth. What kind of information are you looking for - beyond what you can find via Google?

hi lisa,

thanks for responding. i just haven't been able to find any extensive biographical information for the actors, or any particularly good interviews. i was wondering if there were some israeli websites i was missing out on. do you know if the actors are working on new films at the moment?

thanks very much, and i look forward to reading about your excursion to beirut.

:)
hope you liked it.

I liked it very much. :)

Lisa,
glad you're back "saine et sauve".
I looked through the pictures you've taken, and must say they are beautiful and amazing. They could document actually any western city ( where it is sunny and warm, not hte case in Geneva at the moment...). I'm looking forward to read more about your trip.

Glad you're back safely, but if you were nabbed by some unfriendly faction while cafe-hopping in Beirut how many prisoners do you think Israel would have had to release to get you back? In 2004, Israel released hundreds of prisoners to secure the return of Elhanan Tenenbaum, a drug dealer. How many prisoners would need to be released to get back an upstanding citizen like yourself? I'm glad it turned out for the best and that you had a good time but next time think of the rest of us before you put yourself in a position to become a bargaining chip for the release of Samir Kuntar and others who've killed and maimed Israelis.

Okay Mr. / Ms. Anonymous reader - enough. Just FYI, I am not the first Israeli reporter with a second passport to visit Beirut. Ron Ben Yishai had himself photographed in the Dahiyeh (southern suburbs - i.e., Hezbollah Land) on 16 August 2006 - two days after the ceasefire. That photograph was published on the front page of Yedioth Ahronot, and the only response I know of was "Wow, what a cool guy."

Elhanan Tanenbaum was lured to Beirut by terrorists who convinced him he could make a lot of money by trading in illicit drugs. He does not have a second passport, so he obviously entered Lebanon illicitly. I did not. Nor did I go to Beirut for nefarious, avaricious reasons.

I also know of at least two other Israeli reporters with second passports who have visited Lebanon quite recently.

I did not travel on my Israeli passport, so I was not the responsibility of the Israeli government while I was in Lebanon. Furthermore, I did not go cafe hopping in Beirut. Like most people, I need to eat at least once each day. Since I was staying in a cheap hotel that did not have a dining room, I ate my meals in cafes - and I photographed those cafes, because I wanted to document as much as I could of normal, daily life in Beirut.

I chose to publish your comment because I noticed you - or someone with the same self-righteous, ignorant attitude - published a similar comment on Allison's blog. But for future reference: If you are going to leave aggressive, ignorant comments, at least have the courage and dignity to leave your real name and contact information.

Wow. These pictures are amazing. I really like your aim to capture "normalcy." The Lebanese Tourism Ministry should hire you!

Heheheh, you haven't talked much about Lebanese men (or women, I am not really aware of your sexual orientation lol)... Any escapades?!?!;)

Wow, Lisa, way to go!

(Lisa was the main feature today in Israeli channel 10 news)

Hii lisa, i'm Georges, lebanese from beirut and i really like your visit to lebanon like many many lebanese. and i'm glad that beirut have many ressemblance with tel aviv. and i really hope that we'll have peace forever and i hope that u israeli' people will elect politicians who want really peace and love without any occupation. Lisa i want really to watch your video trip in beirut with english subtitles plz...will u upload it in youtube? plz send us the link with the translation...thx...'Shalom from Beirut'

Hello Lisa,
am lebanese living in Beirut. i am very touched by your report. i hope that oneday you will be able to braodcast live from beirut. we love you, we are praying for you. God bless you...

there is nothing wrong with visiting an Arab country. you are welcome if you are going to present the truth of what happened during the war in July 2006. I was there aiding the IDPs. what I saw was a crime against humanity and the Israeli leaders should be arrested and sent to The Hague.
I'd like to ask you, as a journalist, to be fair. your trip was more like a show off that you could enter Lebanon. remember, you did not dare to do this as an Israeli.
hope we meet one day.


citizen of the world.