R:

We are all fine and good. Things are very tense still...well who expects more than that.

Here are more parts to the story. The group Fatah al Islam is not only supported by Hariri, but last month when they went to Hariri's bank to withdraw their usual "salary", they weren't given anything and so they turned around and robbed the bank, took refuge in the camp and then slaughtered the army which guards the entrance/exit of all the camps in Lebanon (which was part of the US deal to disarm the PLO many years ago i.e. that they would be "supervised" by guarding but forbidden from entering).

So there you go. I don't know exactly what the US has to do with this other than it provides an excellent opportunity to push for the "settlement" of the Pals here in Lebanon. Problem is, there is no where to settle them and no resources to do it with. Oh man what a mess.

Whatever. We are just going to lay low though and wait and watch. Down here in the South it is very stable but that can change rather quickly. They are reporting that an Al Q group posted a threat to the Lebanese Army and the Christians here which means that if it is a valid video, Al Q plans to start suicide missions here in the Levant.

What to do? The food is, as you remember it, fabulous. We had okra stew yesterday and the day before we roasted meat and kafta outside on the grill. Every morning it is the usual cheeses, eggs, olives and tea.

The house is almost completely repaired but needs to be patched and painted on the outside where the shells laid it wide open. I am really awestruck at what Umi did. Mel tells me that the combined donations to the Southern Lebanese people from Iran/Hezbollah exceeded 1.5 billion USD. Wow.

Bint Jubail is in ruins as are many towns. Here in Haris, the old town square is flattened and gone and all the poor who lived there displaced to surrounding villages. The bridges on the highways are rapidly being repaired but a couple of them were massive structures and will require years and mucho dinero to replace.

I wonder, when will the US and Israel be billed for this war crime? What scum.

(Now...I will post that letter on the blog because I am on a very slow server and if I want to write for the blog I might lose it and the server might go down...hope you don't mind.)

All our love and don't worry