Under Siege XVI: Hope at Last?

Dom and I have been to Qana twice. We went with Jo and James to see the site of Christ's 'water into wine' miracle and saw carvings in the rock that were around 2000 years old, and are attributed to the first disciples. We have also been with Vicks and Judith to the site of the 1996 massacre where 120 people, mainly women and children, who were sheltering in the UN were bombed by the Israelis. Last night Qana was again in the news for reasons of war, not peace. At the time of writing around 60 civilians, about half of them children, were killed when the Israelis bombed the building they were sheltering in.

I went to the demonstration held in central Beirut today that was called to protest about this atrocity, and against the lack of international support Lebanon has received so far. The demonstration was largely peaceful - there was a period of about 15 minutes of violence when young men attacked the UN building and suceeded in breaking in for a short time - but the vast majority of the crowd were certainly peaceful and even applauded the military when they marched in to impose order on the demo. So don't believe everything the media tells you about it. Even when I was quite close to the centre of the demonstration I didn't feel under threat and when it looked like getting out of hand I leapt (well, was helped - I was wearing a skirt) over a bollard and was back in the safe zone.

There has been a breakthrough of sorts now in that Condaleeza Rice has now called for a cessation of violence. Apparently, in these mealy mouthed times, heavy with nuances of meaning, this is slightly different from an immediate ceasefire. Blair is also now saying that this violence cannot continue. Hopefully this will inject a little more urgency into proceedings but it really isn't good enough. I am also confused as to why there cannot be a ceasefire at the same time as working out the 'longer term solution' that Blair and Bush are keen to see put into place. I too am obviously keen for a longer term solution, but why not plan the solution while having a ceasefire? Are these people unable to multi task??? Is it somehow easier to continue to fight while negotiating peace deals?

One piece of news I did like today however is that the Lebanese PM told Condaleeza Rice that she wasn't welcome back in Lebanon until there was a cessation of hostilites. Good on Siniora! Shortly afterwards Rice made her statement. And then released a statement saying that she had decided not to visit Lebanon...

In Walshe-James news I am pleased to announce that Series one and two of Sex and the City have arrived, been unwrapped and are starting to be enjoyed. Dom does not like SATC and so is rekindling his favourite series, Spooks. Sydney is looking even more bored about the hatching than we are. We've had a relaxing weekend and are back to work tomorrow. Me to ascertain how many Brits are left in the country, and Dom to start planning the reconstruction of the country.