The war taking place in Lebanon and northern Israel is of course big news around the world. However, it is all the news here. In the past five days, the Jordan Times has published 53 stories on the war, with 14 of those coming yesterday. Every little shop or store with a television is turned on to war coverage almost continually. Homes probably are too. Annamarie was visiting a Jordanian friend the other night, and most of the visit was spent talking about Lebanon and watching the television for news footage. Also, television stations from around the region are broadcasting footage of the carnage in Lebanon set to Islamic and patriotic music--think MTV on a totally different level.
Other signs attest to the importance of the story in the region. For example, cedar tree decals--the cedar tree is the national symbol of Lebanon--are starting to appear on car windows as a show of support for the country. Also, a local cultural festival held for 25 years in the spectacularly preserved ruins of the 2000 year old Roman city of Jerash was recently postponed because of the war. With the Lebanese flag sharing space with the Jordanian flag at the top of the online announcement, the website for the month long event pronounced it was being held off "due to the current circumstances in the region."
During this time, many people have expressed their concern for our safety, with war waging not far from where we live. This is a common concern people have whenever a new explosion of violence occurs in our region. We are in no danger as far as our physical safety is concerned, however. Just as with the war in Iraq, though, we experience the impact that the war in Lebanon has on others through our day to day experiences here in Jordan.
For instance, we have an Arab Christian friend here whose family owns and operates a company that produces tissue and toilet paper, among other products. Several days ago their factory in Beirut was bombed by the Israelis and completely destroyed. Also, while standing outside of a travel agency a few days ago we overheard an American sounding man on a mobile phone telling someone that "bombs were falling all around" his car as he tried to escape to the Syrian border, on his way to Jordan. Inside, a travel agent told us she had been inundated all day with people who had fled Lebanon. A friend returning from a trip to Syria told us that it took her four hours to cross the border into Jordan because of the many Lebanese coming into Jordan through Syria. Finally, a recent article in the Jordan Times discussed the rising hotel occupancy rate in Jordan due to the influx of people fleeing the fighting in Lebanon. It reported that Five Star hotels here are now 90 percent full. Of course these hotel occupants represent just a small fraction of the people running from the fighting, as current estimates put the number of people displaced by the war at 500,000.
For our own part, we have been to Beirut, as well as some of the other areas in Lebanon being bombed, so it is a shock to us to imagine places and people we have visited being reduced to rubble. Two days ago came the news that an upscale Christian area of Beirut was unexpectedly bombed. We visited that area in 2000, and we went to a Starbucks there, which was a special treat after being in Jordan for a year and a half or so. I ordered a mocha, but they were out of mocha. Annamarie successfully argued for a free refill on coffee by saying that such refills were standard policy in America. Lebanon was a wonderful place to vacation, and we have good memories of our time there. There are long, beautiful beaches, snow-capped mountains, ancient ruins and modern pleasures and amenities, all wrapped into one, tiny country. It saddens us to think that some parts of that country are now modern ruins.
We are heartbroken to see the people of Lebanon suffer and we ask that everyone pray for this conflict to come to a peaceful end for all involved. We pray for those who have lost loved ones--both Lebanese and Israelis--and for those who are now refugees fleeing their homes.
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