The small Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil has in recent days been the scene of much violence between Israel and Hezbollah. However, in times of peace, this town is quite picturesque. Bint Jbeil also has a web site. It is a surreal place to visit these days. Its opening page simply has the word "Resisting!" in bright bold letters. The web site has a guest book that is now littered with a war of words instead of what one would normally expect in a small town’s guest book. There is also a list of all the families that until recently had lived in this town of just over 15,000 people.
Here are some pictures from Bint Jbeil from more peaceful times:
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The war destroyed this beautiful place. It also damaged the prospering tourist industry in northern Israel. It had 6 blooming years. Some politicians in Israel say that one of the reasons that prevented responses to previous Hizbullah provocations was the tourist industry. I don’t know if it’s true.
The economic damage on both sides, especially in Lebanon is terrible. I don’t think that anyone began calculating it.
Yohay, it was surreal finding a web site for this town that is so much in the news now. Its odd how violence can completely transform a place. We see pictures of Beirut, Tyre and Haifa in the news here all the time. But we only hear about this small town.
I was reading, I believe in Haaretz, that Haifa in particular has turned into a ghost town. The economy in Northern Israel has completely screeched to a halt. Its remarkable what a pshychological and terror weapon an unguided rocket can be.
Though its not the same in terms of scale, I was reminded of how two snipers a few years ago paralyzed the Washington DC area. I remember how the randomness of the shootings brought so much fear to the people here and started to impact the local economy.