News and ideas with the end of the year: -In the Middle East Airlines plane to Beirut, the trip is once again a social occasion and not just ordinary travel. While I knew that colleague Salim Nassar would be my companion on the flight, we both came across a large enough number of common friends [aboard the plane] to greet and chat with, and in no time found ourselves landing at the Beirut airport. - Lebanon is full of Lebanese expatriates returning to spend the holidays at home in addition to Arab visitors, and I tried with family and friends to have lunch together last Sunday following a spur-of-the-moment decision. However, we did not find any free table in all the restaurants that we visited. After two hours of touring, we went back and had sandwiches at the hotel. But at least, the reason behind this is a good tourist season, and not because the restaurants know that I am thrifty when it comes to tips. - At ten past six pm Beirut time, I heard from my hotel room the evening call for prayer from the mosque and the church bells at the same time, and this reminded me of the dreams of the poets of the Renaissance; I may return to their poetry regarding this subject at a later time. - Travel gives me extra time to read, and I read in many newspapers a news story about Israel regarding its government's decision to remove illegal settlements. However, there is nothing called legal or illegal settlements, as all settlements are illegal. Israel itself is entirely an illegal outpost, until the independent Palestinian state is established with its capital in Jerusalem. Israel will thus never become legitimate until the Palestinian original owners of the land bestow such legitimacy upon it, and I hope that in the meantime, we avoid the pitfalls of using the Israeli political lingo in what we write. - I went to Beirut to share some happy occasions with family and friends, but life, alas, is not all happiness. I thus visited with friends the Mar Mitr church cemetery in Ashrafieh, in the fortieth anniversary of the death of a dear friend. However, I suddenly found myself standing in front of a grave bearing the name of Gebran Andraous Tueni, with a poster of the martyred journalist Gebran Tueni plastered on one side of the grave. After taking another path back and out, I came across another grave bearing the name of Said Fraiha, one of the most prominent names in the Lebanese press in the twentieth century. - Another part of Beirut Souks has been opened, which includes Souk Ayas and Souk al-Tawileh. However, these souks have nothing in common with the souks that I knew in the past, except for their names. These souks now boast many a luxurious store and foreign names that were not there before 1975. Nonetheless, the souks are very appealing, and I have no complaints. - I walked in Souk al-Tawileh, the 21st century version, and could not find the famous fountain in the middle, or the jallab and pine glasses on top. I also remembered the old Dar al-Nahar, before moving to Ras Beirut then returning to the edges of Martyrs Square now. I used to climb the stairs to the second floor when I was a teenager, hoping that I would see one of al-Nahar's senior editors. From one room in that modest building, Kamel Mroueh launched Al-Hayat in 1946. At least, the L'Orient Le Jour building still stands facing the end of Souk al-Tawileh, but Al-Ajami restaurant has since disappeared. - The press is not all made of princes such as Kamel Mroueh and Said Fraiha, may he rest in peace, or Ghassan Tueni, may God grant him long life, but is also made of “foot soldiers” like us; then there are others. I heard once in a session about a former colleague who was admitted to hospital, with the person giving this account saying that the colleague may have swine flu. One of the people sitting with us said: this person cannot possibly have swine flu because he is a donkey. When I objected to this obscenity this person challenged and said: For God's sake, what use is this person? I thought, then said, that he can be used as an example for people to warn their children not to become like him. - Al-Arabiya aired some scenes of Christmas celebrations which included scenes from Lebanon. One of the first shocks that I received in my early life was when I was less than ten years old: I went to a big store in Ras Beirut which announced that Santa Claus was giving away presents. However, he left his seat before I could receive my own present, and hence I decided to follow him. I found him in the toilet without his mask, and he turned out to be an ordinary man smoking a cigarette. It is since then that I became suspicious. - A man we know left Lebanon during the war. After peace returned and the situation became stable, he heard that the country is “loose” and that women are dancing on top of tables. In the end, he decided to return and was shocked that all the women he saw and met had graduated from convent schools. The last thing I heard about him is that he requested “sexual asylum” in Ukraine. Shame on you, man; you have long lost all your “qualifications”, that is, if you ever had any to begin with.
