Lebanon

One and a half years ago I was thinking about going to Lebanon on holiday. I was planning my Christmas holiday as I was leaving CERN in the end of 2004 (I went to Morocco). Although that probably would have been as cold as Morocco, I was kind intrigued by Lebanon, after I'd read a tourist brochure while I was waiting to get my hair cut in Ferney-Voltaire.



I figured that more than a decade after the civil war ended, there'd be some relative calm there — where you could sit under a cedar tree and do nothing, or perhaps swim in the Mediterranean, and visit ancient cities like Tyre and Sidon.

And in hindsight, it seems, I should probably have gone, before Lebanon once again gets shelled beyond recognition, before the shores are scorched — and before everyone there is made into refugees in other countries.

The other day I saw an ad in a travel agency's window: "Beirut från 2800:-"

How sadly outdated.

What is updated though, is the Wikipedia entry on the 2006 Israel–Lebanon Conflict. Not surprisingly it's labeled "The neutrality of this article is disputed." If it weren't then perhaps there wouldn't be a conflict...