"Today, Lebanon is being forced toward total ruin. If Israel's intent is just to destroy Hezbollah, then why are they bombing Christian and Sunni neighborhoods and towns? Why did Israel wait until July 15 to bomb Hezbollah's headquarters in Beirut, making sure to first bomb power plants, bridges and roads throughout the entire country? Israel's clear intent is to trash this entire country, smash everything that makes Lebanon a modern nation, and demolish all of the work the Lebanese have done over the last fifteen years to rebuild their country." Ramzi Kysia writes an impassioned article on the current campaign of urbicide in Lebanon. (via)
12 Comments
Other perspectives worth reading:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1215417,00.html?cnn=yes
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1214951,00.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=739075
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/739080.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13863247/site/newsweek/
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277243,00.html
Other perspectives worth reading:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1215417,00.html?cnn=yes
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1214951,00.html
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=739075
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/739080.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13863247/site/newsweek/
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277243,00.html
i hope one day america stops backing israel, the one nation probably more aggressive than us in the world. israel should have to pay to rebuild lebanon just as we in the u.s. are paying to rebuild what we've destroyed in iraq.
not having an enemy and having peace with all the neighbors and palestinians would probably be disasterous for israel. the fundementalists in israel would have a civil war with liberals. i think it is awful that war and self defence becoming unifying elements for a nation continuosly.
same goes for so called mullahs ruling hebollah. without israel and with peace and secular systems, they would be reduced to ordinary imams attending to daily prayers of their communities.
Dear Members and Colleagues from Lebanon and Palestine,
Architects for Peace would like to express our outrage at the bombardment of your country or territory, the death and the destruction of cities and infrastructure.
This attack emphasises the need to create a consciousness across the international community. Please help us to do this by using the website to express your voice - you have this right and Architects for Peace exists for this purpose - peace and social justice.
Architects for Peace condemns these attacks and shares the view of the European Union, who has declared Israel's attacks as "disproportionate" and has urged for both sides to show restraint. Disproportionate attacks result in disproportionate human misery and destruction.
We feel for the victims of these attacks, whether in Palestine, Lebanon or Israel. We hope that reason can prevail and peace can be achieved.
There may be dissenting views, contrary views, annoying views! Any view is better than our silence.
In solidarity,
Beatriz C. Maturana (Architects for Peace president) and the Architects for Peace's Committee of Management
Find this letter: http://www.architectsforpeace.org/
what a load
6 of us intensely studied Beirut for a design studio at RISD. we came to know this beautiful city like the back of our hand even though we were unable to visit due to the cancelation of our planned trip and the Hariri assassination. my heart breaks every morning when i hear the latest news. shame on Israel and Hezbollah for destroying the hope and promise of this proud country. how much more pain must be inflicted on civilians and foreign guests! with so many projects in progress in Beirut, how can the design community sit back and watch this destruction continue?
And WhyTF is the Bush admin. giving Israel "another week" before acting? They make me sick.
I don't think that any of you understand to political climate of the middle east well enough to only criticize Israel. It is true that Beirut is a beautiful city and the Lebanese have done an amazing job rebuilding over the last few decades.But...
The fact of the matter is that the Lebanese government has done nothing to stop the Hezbollah millitants from fighting a border war with the Israeli army for years, and they still refuse to send their miliray to the south to stop Hezbollah from launching rockets, which along with the return of the two soliders who were kidnapped is all that Israel wants. The bombing of infrastructure and Beirut is an attempt to stop the Hezbollah leaders from communicating with those on the front line and those in Iran and Syria supplying them. Israel could not fold to the demands of the Hezbollah or else every nation in the Middle East that doesn't want a Jewish state in the region (all of them) would kidnap citizens for the release of hundreds of criminals. Just imagine that you or someone you knew was kidnapped by a militant Canadian group. I find if hard to believe that you would expect the US government to release a few hundred prisoners for your return. Or if one of those soliders was your brother/father/son.
There are tensions in the middle east between people of different lands and religions who have laid claim and fought for their "right" to the land for hundreds of years. The truth of the matter is that Israel, Palestine, Hezbollah, and other other group or nation that solve problems through violence and destruction are wrong, but you should all first reasearch what it is that you are talking about and understand that the design community, which I am happy to be a part of is a very small percentage of people that make up the world.
to frankllyodmike: the us went into Iraq for no reason and destroyed all infrastructure that we now need which is why we are paying to rebuild the country. (in addition to the fact that the various ethnic groups in that country will never be able to work together). Israel on the other hand is defending its country and two of its soliders. Just think about this: Germany was forced to pay and rebuild Europe after WWI paving the way for the country to fall into a depression worse than the "great depression in the US." The poverty and resentment by the German people is what allowed them to be brainwashed by a madman who started another war. Which the German people were not responsible for rebuilding after the war, and no offense but I know that more monumental architecture and infrastructure was destroyed all over Europe and never reconstructed that there is in Beirut.
it doesn't matter how monumental any of the architecture or infrastructure destroyed was, but how necessary it is for the continuation of a civilized society. you try to make parallels of two very different situations. either israel or lebanon will have to pay to rebuild, and it should be the aggressive invading nation. lebanon must control hezbollah or at least its militant wing, but they can't kill hundreds of civilians over two fucking soldiers. don't forget that israel already had this plan in place and was waiting for the right "opportunity" to execute it. the resentment that will result and that has already resulted from this conflict is that of the lebanese people, the rest of the arab world (and oh yeah the UN!) for israel's aggression and will only increase if it does not mend fences by at least offering assistance in rebuilding lebanon's civilian infrastructure. israel never offered peaceful assistance to help disarm hezbollah, but jumped to military invasions and occupations time and again.
and don't be so full of yourself to assume that you know more than everyone else. none of us know enough to comment on this, but here we are.
more writing on comparisons with Guernica.
Why is this question about knowing/ not knowing? The US government says they know. But does this knowledge (which time and again justifies “mistakesâ€) make them any more humane in their approach?
Whether this war on civilians in Lebanon and Palestine has history or not – some of which I know by the way – is not the issue. Israel has destroyed a country, its civilian infrastructure, and assassinated children, Red Cross workers and now UN workers. Are they above international justice? Above minimum notions of humanity?
This is not a historical contest, this is an humanitarian violation: http://www.uruknet.info/?l=e&p=m24876&hd=0&size=1
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.