Burlington Free Press-Young Lebanese-American's views on the conflict

[caduceus111]

Interesting read.


Young Lebanese-American's views on the conflict

Published: Saturday, August 12, 2006
By Yasima Kamal

I am a 20-year-old Arab-American from northern Vermont, with family in southern Beirut. I have grown up in appreciation of the wide spectrum of America's political views and community values. I am a child of ethnically mixed parents and have had the fortune of exposure to a rich variety of cultures and religions. Living as an Arab-American in this country's largely misinformed and divided political and cultural climate, I have experienced empathy, insults and everything in between in regards to my ethnicity.

I have many close Jewish and Israeli friends, and this past year I lived with an Orthodox Jewish host family while I worked on my music internship in Boston. In light of the most recent crisis in the Middle East and its impact on my personal life, I feel compelled from within to voice my own views of the bloody conflict. Since I have many close friends on either side of the issue, and grew up in a largely rural area with very little racial diversity, I understand many people may not have considered what is happening from a nonviolent Lebanese-American perspective. I cannot, in good conscience, remain silent during this critical battle in my father's homeland.

My Lebanese family, entirely unaffiliated with the terrorist group of Hezbollah, lives in the southern region of Beirut in neighborhoods inhabited by the Shiite, which serve as potential hideouts and headquarters for Hezbollah leaders. Their area has been shelled steadily for more than five days now, and we here in America watch the live footage from Beirut with dread, waiting to see members of our family racing through the crumbling streets or being carried away on ambulance stretchers.

In my opinion (and the opinion of many around the globe), the United States is at fault today for not using its powers of leadership to intervene -- we are the only country who has any real influence over Israel (we sent them some $2.22 billion in military aid last year); Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora was in tears (as I have been, for days), appealing to the United States, Israel, and the members of the G8 summit to do something to restrain the Israeli army from targeting Lebanese civilians. And yet President Bush and his administration have tried to block the G-8's plan to call for a ceasefire. Of the eight countries in the G-8 summit, he was the only head of state to oppose a peaceful resolution for both sides.

...

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060812/OPINION/608120324/1006