Region | Lebanon
Israeli offensive leaves Christian enclaves untouched
In this mountain village, once a stronghold for Christian militiamen who fought in Lebanon's bitter civil war, the woman strolling past fruit stands and cafes looked out of place.
- By J Michael Kennedy, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
- Published: 23:33 May 3, 2009
Bikfayah: In this mountain village, once a stronghold for Christian militiamen who fought in Lebanon's bitter civil war, the woman strolling past fruit stands and cafes on Saturday looked jarringly out of place.
She was a Shiite, wearing a light blue head scarf. In years gone by, she would not have dared to enter Bikfayah, where the afternoon air is cool while Beirut, the capital, swelters 10 miles below.
But the Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon has made for a new order, at least for now. In this tiny nation so used to war, the lines of what is safe and what is not are being redrawn.
The appearance of the hijab in a Christian enclave only added to the surreal feel of the Lebanese capital and the hills that embrace it.
The southern part of the city, nothing more than a long walk down the coast toward the airport, is a wasteland of shattered glass and twisted metal.
Yet to the west and the north, mom-and-pop shops and international fast-food outlets were open for business on Saturday. And as the road climbed higher into the hills above the city, there virtually was no hint that anything was amiss down below.
Slums targeted
Much of this is a matter of history and geography. The area to the east and north, as well as many of the towns in the mountains, are populated by the Christians of Lebanon.
West Beirut is an old part of the city where Christians and Muslims live. But the south is largely poor, and the slums have long been a place that breeds discontent.
The area has been an Israeli target from the days when the Palestine Liberation Organisation made its headquarters there. Now it is the stronghold for Hezbollah.
So now the Lebanese live in a much tighter space where the bombs have not yet fallen. And with Israel insisting that a full-scale invasion is not in the offing, they have begun to adjust to their new territory, mindful that it could change at any moment.
Swathes of the southern suburbs are in ruins after 11 days of Israeli attacks. The main road from the south is bombed out and impassable. The main road to Damascus, Syria, is knocked out. Hotels have emptied out. Electric power comes and goes.
But the main shopping street of Hamra in West Beirut was jammed with cars on Saturday morning. Stores were open, at least for a few hours, even clothing shops that sold no clothes.
Empty streets
"Now is not the time to be buying clothes. Now is the time to buy food," said Fouad Naim, the manager of the Antonio Baldan men's store.
"But some who have been wearing the same thing for the last 10 days have come to get something new. You can smell them when they come in."
The newly-built centre of the city, with its fashionable shops and banking centre, was eerily empty, save for a smattering of people in what few cafes were open. The tourists who made it one of the busiest parts of the city have long since gone, either by sea or overland to Damascus or Amman, Jordan.
But on the main highway going north up the coast, more stores and restaurants were open, including fast-food standbys like Hardees, KFC, Subway and Burger King.
On Saturday afternoon, the road was jammed with cars as it passed the port and headed north, past modern shopping malls and other developments that are a part of the rebuilt Beirut.
A turnoff to the right leads to the mountains above. Virtually all of this territory is home to the Christians of Lebanon, who allied themselves with the Israelis during the invasion of the country in 1982.
In Bikfayah, the roads were more crowded than usual, because this is one of the routes to the Syrian border now that the main highway has been knocked out by Israeli jets.
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