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Vision of Rebuilding Lebanon Wanes
In August, Mohammed al-Seyed watched with some pride as tractors driven by Hezbollah men rolled in to begin scooping away the rubble and debris of a month of war with Israel, while engineers and others set to work. This Hezbollah stronghold would soon rise again, the leaders of both the town and the militant groups building arm, Construction Jihad, said defiantly.More than five months later, however, with winter here and Lebanons government enmeshed in political crisis, the tractors are gone, the army of men has disappeared and Bint Jbails town center still resembles Dresden after World War II. They told us everything was going to be rebuilt soon, Mr. Seyed said Tuesday, speaking of town leaders. Theyre not doing anything now. We want to build but they wont let us. They promise to pay us, but they dont. All we want is our homes back and they wont even let us have them! There may be as many excuses for the slowdown in rebuilding in the south as there are political factions in this nation. Some people blame the weather; some say residents living abroad are just taking their time; some officials cite disagreements over the amounts paid to those who have lost their homes. In one rare admission, a senior Construction Jihad official said his group was overwhelmed by the destruction. Our goal initially was to work with our own hands, but we soon realized we werent enough, so we decided to begin reimbursing people, said Abou Ali Bayloun, regional director for Construction Jihad in the southern port town of Tyre. It is natural that the workers in the area will not be enough in the area. It needs a lot of workers to do this. Posted by: ryuge 2007-01-22 |
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