INTERVIEW-War inflicted $3.6 billion damage on Lebanon

[Englander]

By Lin Noueihed

BEIRUT, Aug 18 (Reuters) - A month of Israeli bombardment has inflicted a "disastrous" $3.6 billion worth of physical damage on Lebanon from which it could take years to recover, the country's reconstruction chief said on Friday.

Al-Fadl Shalaq, head of the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), compared the devastation from the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas to the damage from the 1975-1990 civil war that tore the country apart.

"I have witnessed all the wars in Lebanon but I have never seen a war this fierce and I do not see a response to clearing the rubble of war to match it," he told Reuters in an interview.

"When they say 900,000 people are displaced, that is a quarter of the population. What country can bear having a quarter of its population displaced? Imagine if a quarter of France's 60 million population, or 15 million, were displaced."

At least 1,181 people were killed in Lebanon by the war that ended this week. The Israeli death toll was 157.

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[idontwantaname]

1. this is the better spot for this post

1) http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=4255

Petition wants U.N. reparations for Israel

Pro-Israel advocates launched a petition calling on the United Nations to
provide reparations to Israel for damage caused by Hezbollah.

The petition says the “U.N. Security Council failed to discharge its
obligation. It allowed Hezbollah to entrench itself in southern Lebanon and to spread
its terror to the people of Lebanon.”

As of Thursday afternoon, the petition had garnered more than 34,000
signatures.


2) Editorial in the 8/11 Forward:

Friends of Israel should begin planning now to direct a portion of its fundraising proceeds to Lebanese relief, in the hope that other international relief agencies will reciprocate and direct a portion of their Middle East aid to rebuilding northern Israel.

[4dsc]

2. Make Israel pay for the damages..

EOM!!