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A Lebanese co-pilot of a Middle East Airlines (MEA) airbus waves the Lebanese flag from the cockpit upon his arrival at Beirut airport.
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BEIRUT —Israel's decision to end its air and
naval blockade did little to lift the gloom from Beirut's streets on
Friday, September 8, with many Lebanese saying they will not feel
secure as long as Israel is lurking in the shadows.
"This is an enemy that you can't feel secure
with. They are known for their crimes," Wael Samaha, a
28-year-old who works at a transport company, told Reuters.
Asked about his reaction to the blockade's end,
Samaha said he was indifferent.
"It is a foregone conclusion. It is our right
and the Israelis are not doing us any favor by doing this."
A Lebanese airliner touched down in Beirut on
Thursday, August 7, to mark the lifting of Israel's crippling
eight-week air blockade amid intense international efforts to underpin
a UN-brokered ceasefire.
A flight from Paris by national carrier Middle East
Airlines landed at the country's only international airport at
precisely 6:00 pm (1500 GMT), the hour Israel announced it would start
to lift restrictions.
Israel said the naval blockade will continue until
an international naval force is in place.
Israel slapped the blockade on Lebanon and bombed
Beirut's airport runways on July 13 -- largely isolating Lebanon from
the world -- a day after launching a massive month-long war on Lebanon
under the pretext of releasing two Israeli soldiers taken prisoner by
Hizbullah in a cross-border operation.
Lebanese officials had blasted the continuing
blockade as a violation of Resolution 1701 that brought an end to the
conflict in which more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160
Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed.
The blockade restricted the movement of people and
goods to and from Lebanon. Finance Minister Jihad Azour said it cost
the country around $45 million a day in lost trade activity alone.
Lost
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Annan said as many as 5,000 international troops would be deployed in southern Lebanon by mid-September. (Reuters)
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When news emerged that Israel was set to lift the
embargo, Dania Atrouni did not know how she felt.
"I am lost like many others," the
25-year-old who lost her trainee job at a bank after the war erupted
told Reuters.
"I hope this means the war is over in Lebanon
... but I no longer have faith that nothing (bad) will happen,"
she said as she walked through a commercial district in western
Beirut.
But Mohammed Zarour, a 45-year-old taxi driver, was
among the few people who painted a rosy picture of the future.
"Today, God willing, everything will start
improving again," said Zarour, who lives in Beirut's southern
suburb
"There will not be another war. Israel will
think 1,000 times before going to war in Lebanon again," he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told German
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier Friday that Israel intended
to complete its army pullout from Lebanon within two weeks.
In talks with the visiting German diplomat, Peretz
said the army's withdrawal from Lebanon depended on the arrival of
international forces.
UN chief Kofi Annan, who had piled the pressure on
Israel to lift the embargo during a tour of the region, said Thursday
as many as 5,000 international troops would be deployed in southern
Lebanon by mid-September, allowing an Israeli withdrawal to take place
in line with a UN-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect on August
14.
Under Resolution 1701, the UN Interim Force in
Lebanon (UNIFIL) is being expanded to up to 15,000 troops to bolster
the truce and back up the Lebanese army which is deploying in the
south for the first time in almost four decades.
The United Nations said Thursday it hoped to
finalize "as soon as possible" maritime rules of engagement
for UN forces in Lebanon that will enable Germany to deploy naval
forces under UN command "within two weeks."
Steinmeier said that all formalities had been
fulfilled for German naval units to help Lebanon patrol its
territorial waters.
Confusion over the role of Germany, which has
offered to lead the naval component of UNIFIL, arose after Lebanese
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora failed to formally ask the United Nations
for German help. The request was expected at the weekend.
But Steinmeier told a press conference in Beirut
Thursday that Siniora had indeed written to UN chief Kofi Annan
saying, "Lebanon accepts that Germany will take charge of aiding
the Lebanese authorities supervise its territorial waters, and we have
agreed to do it."
