In Gaza as in South Lebanon

Those of us who have lived the 2006 summer Israeli war on Lebanon, claim that we would understand more that any others what the Gazans are going through today. We make that claim, but to tell you the truth, I really don't know. Like most others with a Lebanese passport, I have never been to Gaza, and the few Gazans I know told me very little.

Feryal and Salah, where are you and what are you doing right now? I can't even imagine. Are you taking or offering refuge with/for friends & family? Are you having heated political discussions through long bomb ridden insomniac nights? are you struggling for news of your loved ones and cursing the world and its leaders for allowing this to happen? Are you working on some sort of relief or media effort that might make things better? Are you safe and your houses still standing to start with?

I have nothing to share then guys. We are trying here to reach out and stop the attack you are under. We know it is way too difficult but we really are doing as much as we can, and soon enough, these efforts will produce something. Yet, if worth anything maybe I should share one recent revelation. I was rereading some of my posts on this blog from that dark summer, where I was asking what would ever restore the massive destruction in our spaces and spirits? I thought then, that I and my friends were no longer the enthusiastic spirited women of the "before the war times". When I reread it a few months back, I realized how strong our spirits really were; the Israeli attack didn't break us.. we have managed to put things together (though it did take us some time) and we still are as enthusiastic, as spirited and as resistant. I trust that you guys share an even stronger spirit, and will wait for your emails, at the end of this attack, when despite it all, you will be able to tell us in Lebanon and the world that you too have made it through.