The Jews of Lebanon Project

AUB students divided on perceptions of Lebanon’s future

By Zoe Holman
Special to The Daily Star
Friday, September 28, 2007

BEIRUT: The events of this week have done little to dispel widespread doubts clouding the presidential election. With the country’s future in limbo, another academic year began at the American University of Beirut (AUB). The Daily Star took a walk around campus to find what effects the broader political picture had had on the university level.

“Of course the election could have an effect on our academic year, but I think it will go smoothly,” said Marielle, 17. “I think they will find a consensus president.”

Asir, 18, agreed with her friend. “We have always managed until now” she said, “so I think - God willing - it will be okay.”

Where older respondents tended to be more pessimistic, many at AUB perceived a peaceful resolution as a realistic outcome.

“I’m staying optimistic,” said Sitar, 19. “I think things will get better. We just need a candidate who everyone can agree on - not someone from a certain political party.”

Other were more worried about the academic ramifications of national affairs.

“Everything here depends on how smoothly the election goes,” said Omar, 21. “Looking at the last few years, all the assassinations really disrupted the academic year. We had our exams pushed back two or three days, and they mixed up all the students’ performances.”

For many, therefore, political uncertainty translated into scholastic uncertainty.

“I just don’t know,” said Yasmine, 19. “If something happens, the college will close and if not, we’ll come. I think they’ll find a peaceful solution, but if something interferes, they won’t be able to.”

In this climate of prevailing doubt, it seemed that many were committed to simply going on with their lives.

“Either they’re going to work it out or it’s going to get really bad,” said Lina, 21. “It can’t stay like this. Hopefully everything will be okay here because this is my last year and I really want things to go well. I just want all the killings to stop.”

Some respondents held strong convictions about who could be blamed for the state uncertainty.

“Now everything depends on the security,” said Omar. “It depends on how - I don’t want to start blaming people, but I’m going to say - Syria decides to keep the situation, whether they decide to keep it calm or not. There might be more assassinations or their might not. Anything’s possible now.”

Many students are choosing to study abroad.

“I’m leaving the country for a year because of the situation of Lebanese politics,” said Karim, 21, who has decided to study in Germany. “It’s terrible here and I’m worried this year is going to be hard. Hopefully there will be no more big problems, but events have shown that it’s not going to be easy.”

Others were able to shrug off the situation.

“We don’t know if there’ll be more violence or not, but it won’t have too much effect,” said Hamid, 18. “They’ve always had elections, and there’s normally no effect.”

Lama, 17, had taken an example from her pedagogical experience. “AUB teaches people not to look at things too politically, so hopefully people won’t take it into consideration too much here,” she said.

Regardless of the direct repercussions, many saw political violence affecting their university lives in more subtle ways.

“I don’t think there will be much effect on the academic year,” said Ali, 19. “But with respect to relations between students in the university, I think so. It might make some students change their thoughts. It affects their relations with each other.”

For Madonna, 18, political events also, had direct personal implications. “Of course there will be problems, but I don’t know if the effects on the university will be negative or not,” she said. “It definitely will have effects on people. It affects how people move, whether they’re more alert. Like right now I’m afraid to come here from home and about where I park my car.”

Moneer, 20, was unable to emulate the optimism of many of his peers.

“I hope for peace, but it’s hard to expect peace nowadays. I hope for a nonviolent solution - we always hope for that,” he said. “Ever since the [Rafik] Hariri bombing [in February 2005], it’s always had an effect on us. I remember whenever we had a final, I just spent the night before watching the news to see if a bomb had just gone off or something. I think all the parties all despicable. There are bigger entities at work here and they’re all too caught up in whole game of it to look at the bigger picture.”

To our esteemed registered members and hundreds of daily visitors, we have been receiving many inquires regarding contradictory information about the Lebanese Jewish community between information found through this website and other websites. It is our intention to provide factual, objective, and truthful information about this community. However, we condemn the evident bias and propaganda aimed at distorting this community’s history and its very existence in Lebanon today. The Jewish experience in Lebanon is not reflective of the Jewish experience in Europe or in any other Middle Eastern state. It’s by no mere coincidence Lebanon is the only Arab state whose Jewish population increased after 1948- however its regretful that dozens of websites and venues documenting Jewish history overlook these truths and generalize the entire issue within the greater Middle Eastern context. It’s repulsive many coreligionists and even individuals from across the religious spectrum with political motives flaunt hollow and false statistics that Jews number less than 50 or 100 individuals in Lebanon today.

We don’t adhere to a policy of counter-propaganda, we believe in transparency and honesty. In the prelude to the upcoming Presidential elections in Lebanon, the entire nation clings on to hope and as per discussions with the Jewish Community Council in Beirut, this project and our very lives may be contingent upon those results.

This truth we hold so dearly and the barriers we have battled from the onset have only reaffirmed that without hope, we hold no future. For too long we have marginalized different communities for different reasons in Lebanon; we must understand and truly believe that our existence is contingent upon the existence of the other and Lebanon’s only salvation is through the unity of its people- we’re one family. Today in Lebanon, we have witnessed eight political assassinations within just two years, we watch Lebanon exploited mercilessly at the hands of foreign schemes and agendas and each day more and more youth are forced to immigrate for lack of opportunity, for lack of security, and sadly, for a lack of hope.

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We would like to wish everyone a blessed and happy Rosh Hashanah, and we hope that the beginning of this Jewish New Year will be a turning point for the Lebanese Jewish community as we progress with this endeavor armed with only our love for mankind, through tolerance and religious coexistence. Lebanon’s salvation is through the unity of its people. Let this coming year be a year of reflection, happiness, health, and prosperity to all- L’Shana Tova!