Gaza: As He Prayed

Only a day after an indefinite ceasefire was announced, I made my way into Shejaia, a Hamas-dominated neighborhood, to piece together photos of the wreckage. There was destruction everywhere, 'loss' in a heap, a mess, a reflection the hopelessness. But beyond the rubble, the image that caught the corner of my eye made a lasting impression...

We rounded the corner, coming out from the desecrated-house, my fixer pointed to a man just beyond another pile of debris. He was standing in his socks on his prayer rug, bent at the waist. My fixer whispered, “This, this is good man.”

The prayer-rug itself was not pointed toward the direction of Mecca as custom during the Calls to Prayer, there were no Calls to Prayer ringing out in Gaza at the time, it was not even pointed to Israel as if to curse it. Instead, the man’s prayer-rug was pointed toward his home.

Swallowing hard, I raised my camera.

He tried to prop up his wide shoulders, but I could tell they were heavy. His arms at his side, his eyes focused. He dipped to his knees, fell forward to his hands, slowly and brought his head to the mat, prostate in prayer, he lingered before retreating to his knees, rocking forward then back as he prayed. 

I imagine, for the restoration of his home, for the loss to be rebuilt, for the rubble to be washed away, the man prayed. The small village outside of Gaza City was nothing more than crushed stone, glass and burnt metals strewn through the streets. 

The war is not over for them. For those in Gaza who returned to Shejaia or for those coming out from underneath the piles of debris, the war for survival has only begun.

After weeks of raining bombs and rockets shaking through the windows, after the raging battle is over, there is nothing left but to start from the bottom.

Broken stone into dust is a devastating picture. With so much brokenness around them, they will have to find the strength to keep cleaning, keep working through the mess and ultimately find the strength to rebuild.

What is on the outside reflects the inside of a human being. And the pain of bombardment, an abused existence with captors and the desperation to get out of an open cage play into hopelessness.

Still the man prayed. I can only believe he brought his confusion, his pain to the prayer mat seeking an answer, seeking a way to gain the strength he’ll need to wade through the wreckage. 

No significant gain from the Cairo talks, the Palestinian people must find a way to no longer live defeated - and this man, on his knees knows just that. 

He must find the hope survive, to live, to break through the barriers that have kept him in. When survival is all he knows, grieving seems to never end. Insha'Allah Mercy be upon him. 

Kerry's Pressure Visit

KERRY OFFERS MONEY FOR SYRIAN AID,

BUT WILL IT SOLVE LEBANON'S LEADERLESS DEBACLE?

                                  

(BEIRUT) US Secretary of State, John Kerry, arrived in Beirut on Wednesday with intentions of ensuring stability in a country which is anything but stable.

Amid presidential indecision in the Lebanese parliament and Tuesday's Syrian election, Kerry trip is attempting to put pressure in a place which is often overlooked between Middle East conflicts. The weight of the crisis is weighing down the country with over 1 million refugees and the UN says nearly 2,500 a day are being registered, making Lebanon the highest number per capita in the region.

Kerry said, "We cannot decide when Assad will fall, this is up to Syrian people." and stated the elections on Tuesday have "zero meaning." 

Kerry intends to offer 290 million dollars in aid for refugee support in the country, but what he fails to realize he's coming into a highly supportive pro-Assad area, more than in Turkey or Jordan, and a complicated infrastructure, both politically and economically for Lebanon.

Thousands of Tuesday's voters at the Masnaa border were eager to put in their vote for Bashar al Assad, who they say will solve their problems and bring them back home. One man said he believed the vote would propel government forces to put down the rebels and he planned to return to Damascus to rebuild his house. Another man said those ruining his country were terrorists and the US is backing the wrong side, "Our houses were destroyed and we were pushed to leave and what happened to us will happen the same for the West." His analysis is the US and Europe are propping up puppets who will turn on them and for him, Assad is the best defeat. 

Anti-Assad Refugees were scarce on Tuesday. The few who lived in small box-like houses near the border crossing stayed hidden, weren't willing to speak and afraid of being attacked if they went out. One woman, angry enough to shout said she would vote with her crutches, raising them up. Her legs amputated, a nightmare suffered from bombs in Syria, she said Assad voters should, "Go to Hell." When her rant finished, a boy came out of the house, no older than 12, raised the Syrian opposition flag and his fist shouting, "Allah Akbar" as if he'd just thrown a grenade at his enemies. Those against Assad are raging and passionate as their counterparts.

While Kerry recognized the Syrian conflict was a "catastrophe unfolding before our eyes," what Kerry seems to not understand is the the frustration for refugees is beyond Syria now.

They're flight into Lebanon has left them humiliated. Because Lebanon refuses refugee camps, people are left to slum villages on privately owned land, and while the UNHCR is often able to help with initial set up, the landowners carry rights to take it back at any time. And it's up to the Lebanese government to help create room for refugee camps, but even that has caused intense debate among both government officials and those living in the country. With no current or capable structure in Lebanon, fleeing Syrians are often left to fend for themselves, roaming illegally and if they can't get aid money and work is scarce, they become every beggar on every street corner, they are subjected to human rights abuses and easily roped into infighting with other sectarian groups.

The UNHCR is struggling to offer resources and representative Dana Suleiman has said the agency has not been receiving the donations they were before in order to help the people efficiently. Last summer the UNHCR and The World Food program conducted an assessment to determine the level of food aid they could provide for different refugees based on those with the most need and their supply. In March, a refugee woman in Tripoli set herself ablaze after she was turned away at the UN and barely survived, evidence of the refugees desperation.

As the system is now, it is creating animosity with the Lebanese people who feel over-run and government officials disagree on how to handle Syria. Hezbollah has long supported Syrian regime efforts. The Interior Minister attempted to alleviate numbers by trying to restrict voters from coming back into the country after their vote. However, Lebanese sympathizers arrived in Masnaa on Tuesday with photo-copiers and generators in hand to help pro-Assad voters make copies of their passports. The idea was they wouldn't receive a stamp-out of the country in their passports with the paper version to offer and Lebanon's security forces obliged.

To top it off, the complications in choosing a president are far beyond an easy solution in Lebanon. This is a country with a long history of sectarian leadership and sectarian rule, who after the civil war made a government coalition that only appears to work, but in actuality is a group trying to make a deals for their perspective groups. The internal politics has a dizzying effect on even the most educated citizen.

In his press conference, Kerry told reporters it was an "important period to show support" for Lebanon's government and they need a "fully empowered president" who can govern and obtain more "assistance from the international community."

Kerry's efforts, however, will not likely bring the solution he hopes.

The refugees, in Lebanon, need more than promises of Western aid; they need to know they will be able to go home. They need to feel safe, they need to have a probable winning outcome and meantime, they need to survive, have access to healthcare, education opportunities and their daily needs. The refugees experience is ever more being driven by feelings of abandonment. Western countries have not advocated on their behalf, for many of them; the West has only helped fuel the fire as the battle continues into a fourth year.

Extremists are already taking advantage of the war torn country and they're looking for new recruits, Syrians and foreigners alike who can help them achieve their goal - which is, make the West look bad and their system more appealing to those too helpless to fight any longer. Lebanon doesn't have their own conflicts contained, let alone being able to effectively contain those bleeding over the borders from Syria.

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What difference Kerry will make is yet to be seen, and chances are immediate help won't be visible. If the Lebanese government isn't willing to lead or choose a strong leader soon, the cyclical cycle will continue. No amount of money will improve it.

Lebanon: Syrian Self Immolation

**TO VIEW VIDEO PKG example, please download following LINK** 

SYRIAN REFUGEES IN LEBANON RESORT TO DESPERATION AS THEIR NUMBERS GROW WITH DECREASING ASSISTANCE 

by: Ashley Gallagher Photographer: Melinda Trochu 

(screen grabs from Video PKG)

(TRIPOLI) The Lebanese army and security forces implemented new plans for increased security, more troops are patrolling the border as sectarian violence breaks out and more refugees are pouring int. Clashes in the region have been common among sectarian groups coming from Syria into the country. 
Refugees in Lebanon reached one million late last week and the situation is getting more desperate. Taking over nearly a quarter of the population, Syrians have gathered in a country no bigger than the size of Connecticut. 

 The government does not allow official refugee camps to be set up and refugees are often left to small villages on privately owned land, which could be repossessed at any time. 

At a hospital in Tripoli, Miriam al Kahwli lies helplessly with nearly 70% of her body burned after she set her self on fire two weeks ago. She went to the UNHCR, seeking food and aid for her four children. 

But when they turned her away, her husband, Ahmad al Kahwli tells us, she felt ashamed and bought fuel to ignite her own body. Ahmad says the UN stopped giving them aid "six months ago." They were living in a small village in Tripoli and he is not able to work. "They didn't tell what the reason was, just that there isn't any aid," Ahmed's frustration is evident, "I am from Syria, I have nothing, what am I supposed to do?" 


Miriam felt she had been "burned" on the inside by the UN and was desperate to feed their four children. Refugees in Lebanon understand Miriam's plight. 

They know her story and they feel sorry for her. They too are struggling to survive in make-shift camps and feeling neglected by aid groups. 

One woman, Alia says they feel abandoned by the entire international community,"Why don't they want to care about what the Syrian people are suffering? Those inside Syria are dying, those outside of Syria are being humiliated." 

Another man said two months ago he went to a hospital - his 2 year old daughter had cancer, diagnosed before he left Syria and when she got sick, he sought help. But he says, the hospital turned them away and his daughter died. 

Dana Suilamen from the UNHCR says there just "isn't enough to meet every single need." Last summer, the UN and the World Food Program conducted research analysis to show those refugees most dire and had to reassess who would get food, medical and financial aid. 

But it doesn't mean they've been forgotten says, Suilamen, "If people are excluded based on this vulnerability assessment of food assistance it doesn't mean it doesn't mean they've been crossed out of the UNHCR" 

Suileman says refugees can still go to their protective services and seek out shelter and basic medical care, they can petition and still get some help.  

Aid groups in Lebanon are struggling for support. The Lebanese government does not have programs to assist them. Recently Foreign Minister, Gibran Basil requested help from other Arab neighbors for tighter security along the Syrian border. The government is afraid of shifting the sectarian balance. 

The land the Syrians live on is owned privately and while the UN is able to help Syrians set up temporary living, private owners could repossess the land. Alia tells us "no one collects rent," but it is a hard life - and they are afraid they will be kicked out. 


Meanwhile, Ahmad al Kahwli waits while his wife suffers, struggling to breathe, speak and survive. Ahmad says the UN shut the door on this wife and now with Miriam's body burned so badly - and no money to pay for surgery and treatment, her road to recovery will be much longer. 

Nurses care for her the best the can and say she will need multiple surgeries. But where will the money come from? The Nurses who care for Miriam say they hope donors will help, but they are skeptical. Meantime, there is only so much they can do. 

 Ahmad says the only thing he can do is pray, "God will help us."