More than two months after the end of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, people are trying to put their lives back together even amidst growing internal strife that threatens to tear Lebanon apart.
The current challenges come following the assassination of Christian politician Pierre Gemayel. This comes amidst Pro-Syrian factions led by Hezbollah being in a power struggle to gain more authority in Lebanon’s government.
All of this comes in the wake of a 34-day conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in July and August, a clash that left South Lebanon’s infrastructure, in particular, crippled and the whole country emotionally traumatized.
According to the official figures there were 1,287 persons killed, 4,054 injured and 1,200,000 uprooted (25% of the total Lebanese population). 15,000 houses and apartment buildings were completely destroyed and thousands of shops and other constructions severely damaged or destroyed. Basic services such as roads, bridges, energy plants and water were also severely affected. The entire agriculture sector was affected as transport of goods became impossible, export has stopped and most foreign labor escaped because of the shelling. To this should be added the ecological disaster due to the shelling and leakage of around 15,000 tons of fuel oil to the Mediterranean Sea leaving fishermen jobless and without any source of income.
According to many experts, economic damages and losses go beyond several billion US dollars. In agricultural fertile villages, especially those subject to Israeli attacks (in the South and Bekaa), farmers lost the harvest season, representing all their annual income because they could not irrigate and harvest. The entire agriculture sector is affected as transport of goods is impossible.
Infrastructure loss is estimated at $3.6 billion, daily direct economic loss 15 million US dollars, daily export loss 8 million US dollars, daily indirect loss of the State $100 million, daily cost for the displaced, over and above all losses above mentioned is $50 million. Over all cost estimated at $10 billion to date.
Since the cessation of hostilities on Aug. 14, the challenge has been ensuring the safe return of those displaced, while ensuring that shelter, food and medical supplies can continue to be provided to those unable to return due to irreparable damage to their homes and villages.
In addition to all this is the presence of more than one million cluster bombs and more than 100,000 unexploded ordnance are currently on the ground in Lebanon, all of which pose a daily threat to unsuspecting people.
Continued Threats to Peace
“We have had enough!” said Suad Hajj Nassif, director of the Inter-Church Network for Development and Relief (ICNDR), the arm of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) that carries out humanitarian relief in Lebanon. A member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, MECC is an ecumenical body that represents several Christian denominations.
“The first thing that comes to people’s mind is the war,” Nassif said, referring to this summer’s conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. “We don’t want to live in tensions and in worries all the time.”
The expectation is “that this will bring something else, something bad, because people will react to this,” said Nassif, whose staff has been actively responding to the aftermath of the Israeli-Hezbollah crisis. “We are afraid that this will lead to internal problems.”
“Now, the situation is critical,” she said.
Mary Mikhael, president of the Near East School of Theology, located in Beirut, is equally as concerned.
“Of course, whenever somebody dies like this it is a loss for the Christian community and for the country,” she said. “The sense of loss is there, but also the sense of fear and anxiety.”
“Every time something happens, we think this is the last time, and then it is repeated again.”
“It is very frustrating and very sad,” said Mikhael, whose school is an interdenominational institution within the Protestant community.
