Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We hired a taxi for the day to take us from Beirut to Baalbek and then on to Damascus for our final night, before flying back to the UK.
Baalbek is in the Bekaa valley, the wine region of Lebanon. Passing through strip towns up the valley, the valley is a wide plain framed between two snow covered mountain ranges. It must be about 20 kilometers across and is clearly the agricultural heartland of Lebanon. The produce looks fantastic with all sorts of crops and the valley is worked and ploughed year round. Vineyards can be seen and having drunk some of the Lebanese red wines from this region, they are of a great quality - like I'd know!
The key reason to go to Baalbek is to see the Roman ruins here. Apparently this temple was one of the largest and most grand of temples anywhere in the Roman empire, including Rome itself. So it has a reputation to live up to....and it delivered! The stones used in the base of the Temple to Jupiter are reported to be the single largest stones ever used in any construction made by man (of course we know that the pyramids were made by aliens...but even those stones are pebbles compared to these babies!) ...they are absolutely massive, weighing in over 1000 tonnes according to my guidebook.
The Temple of Jupiter now only has 6 of its original 54 columns still standing - the massive survivors of a series of earthquakes and war. But these columns, are also the largest columns ever made at some 30 meters tall I am told they are the largest in the world. They are pretty impressive when you stand under them. Well, we spent 45 minutes or so wandering around here. Lonely Planet has all the historical details which is pretty fascinating, with the role of Alexandra the Great here, as well as Julius Caesar and Constantine and other notable names from our history who visited and had an impact on this place.
Today, Baalbek is the political administration centre for the region and home for the Hezbollah. The town streets are bedecked with the yellow and green flags of the Hezbollah. Today is a "day of wrath" called for to protest the situation ongoing in Gaza. As we walked the ruins, we could see the main street being blocked off as a march of thousands with whistles, chants and drums marched in protest. With a strong military presence and several hundred Hezbollah militia looking types dressed in all black bringing up the rear, we gave it a miss and studied ancient rocks instead.
You cannot avoid the politics here in Lebanon. It is palpable, and always simmers below the skin. Even as we walked the short distance from the ruins to the waiting car, we had people either wanting to sell us "Hezbollah souvenir tee-shirts" or asking us to make a 'donation' to the Hezbollah. Well, I know that Hezbollah are a legitimate political force in Lebanon regardless of what the US says, but with a stated aim of the annihilation of Israel (in among building hospitals etc) we declined to but said souvenir or make donation. We don't want to fund a bullet for anyone - thanks very much.
I said it gets political in this part of the world so its important to both have a view and to be open to hearing and considering the views of others. The environment here is raw and not so sterile that you can cruise through life, if you lived in this place, without having a decided view. So here's ours, for what its worth...
In the actions of Israel in bringing poverty and economic dependence to Gaza and now through military invasion, Israel seeks to create and world view of Gaza as being a "humanitarian crisis" - which it is on the brink of becoming. Notions of statehood, independence and legitimacy fall aside once a humanitarian crisis is created. It seems that the current thinking in Israeli politics has no intention of allowing a separate Palestinian state on its borders (1967 or otherwise) or to allow the Palestinian people to experience a notion of equal statehood in their lifetimes.
I do not understand why the world allows the US to lead here and allows Israel to continue to live off the credit of the world's collective guilty conscience to advance claims that were illegitimate at birth. Resolve this fundamental issue by a two state solution (security and statehood) and the world will resolve the cause of much grief and conflict and allow what has until now been a massive resurgence in middle eastern political moderation from the shores of Northern Africa through to the gulf of Arabia, with few notable exceptions, to continue and prosper in time. Status quo of continued support for conflict and moving away from a model of two state solution will fuel tensions, giving cause to extremists (state and non state) and cause fledgling improved regional relations with Israel to stall.
The irony here of course, is that Palestine or rather the "occupied territories" held full, free and fair elections in 2005 - regardless of the result, there was opportunity to make significant progress then. There is little opportunity now.
Israel, is nuclear armed and threatening, willing to use subterfuge, murder, assassination, economic blockades, and consistently break and ignore both UN resolutions and International law. Israel deliberately seeks to create dissent and division in the political process of other neighboring countries (notable Lebanon which was close to succeeding as a democracy, along with Palestinian affairs) - it is a rogue nation and should be called to account, with use of blockades and economic sanctions to force compliance if required - much like Iran.Israel, in terms of its international relations, is no better, it simply has better propaganda machinery.
Hamas rockets are deplorable, wrong and must stop also, no question. The big difference however is that these rockets are a symptom, a lethal one, but not the cause of the current, past or future issues, as Israel would portray. The scary thing I think is that most people do not have a view at all, or much of a care one way or the other so Israel is not bought to account.
Hmmm...my soap box is a bit wobbly I realise, but that is how I feel today. So, from here we go to Damascus for our final night and onto London tomorrow.
Good night.
- comments