so there i was, cycling from marina to kaslik, when lo and behold i come upon this...

it appeared surreal, children playing in a public playground, lots of children playing in a public playground, with their families, happy, without entrance fees, without noise, just the noise of children playing in a public playground...

in all my years in lebanon, i've never seen this before.

here's the video:



tags: beirut, lebanon, lebanese, children, playing, playground, see saw, swing, football, la creperie, kaslik, public, family, video, film, clip, blogging beirut, blog, atcl, marina

Ticket #5! that's gotta be a collector's item

We were waiting for the official launch of Beirut's parking meters (Nov 1, 07), to show you the machines undressed, and the printed tickets in hand, but the New York Times one upped us, and published this article last week:

Due to popular demand, and a general interest in the welfare of the Lebanese Judicial System, not to mention the welfare of the character and soul of Beirut, I'm posting a documentary once aired on the now defunct MTV Lebanon, along with a Legal Analysis of the St George Hotel & Yacht Club VS Solidere Case.

Part One (1/4)



Part Two (2/4)



Part One (3/4)



Part Two (4/4)

The past month has seen a significant increase in BLOM Bank's share price, much more so than what could be attributed to growth and earnings reports, and so rumors ensued about negotiations on BLOM's buyout...

Initially it was Arab Bank.

Followed by official rebuttals of said Buyout.

But the stock price kept on climbing, until today, when a 5 point jump to 87$ was preceded by talk (even a newspaper mention) of the sale of BLOM Bank to Sheikh Zayed for 167$ a share...

Official or not, there's something brewing in BLOM's high echelons.

tags: blom bank, lebanese, beirut, lebanon, sheikh zayed, sheik zayed, dubai, uae, emirates, buyout, rumors, arab bank, finance, stock price, beirut stock exchange

Stop Solidere: Press Conference
October 10, 2007
LBC & OTV News Coverage










Press Release by Fadi El-Khoury

Peace & War

I am not here to bore you with my problem.
Nor to make war with Solidere or anyone else contrarily to what they are saying calumniously
I am here once again merely to defend the St George Hotel and its Marina
Would I fight a monster? The lock ness? That terrible thing that used to haunt a Lac in Scotland.
No one has ever seen it.
But Solidere is all over the place everyone has seen it.
Everyone has seen this amazing peace of work of a wall 3 storey high.
They say it is aimed at protecting St Georges from tsunamis! While they build a hotel right on the sea opposite!
If they want to protect St George Hotel and its Marina all they have to do is leave it alone!
After the tragic accident I have made peace with Mr Nasser Chammaa )The President of Solidere(
I have accepted to meet with Solidere’s board of directors in their offices and have exposed as nicely as possible the situation.
I have begged them to leave the St Georges alone.
I have explained with pictures the importance of the St Georges for Beirut and Solidere and the need for both to have friendly neighbourly relations.
The only proposal I ever got from them is a request:
That we relinquish our rights first and discuss later.
Solidere knows it has no right over the water front.
Solidere knows that its aggression is flagrant and illegal.
Solidere has been putting pressure against the St Georges to force it out.
Solidere is still aggressing the St George Hotel and it Marina everyday and is using its entire means and might to stop the St George Hotel and it Marina from existing.
I personally have not said a word for nearly 3 years now.


Aggression

Ropes

All summer Solid has purposefully installed ropes along our border to stop people from arriving to the St George Beach

Attack Guards by night

A few days ago Solidere attacked our guard during the night
Why would they come like thieves in the night if they were doing something legal?


Hariri & Me

I told the late President Hariri
There will be a disagreement with Solidere.
He said I have to agree with Nasser.
This was my only disagreement with him.
I wanted him as a referee and judge.
I did not want him as an opponent.


Construction of the Hotel

We would like today to build the St George Hotel to be a candle of remembrance for Mr Hariri too, and for my friends who have died, five of them, whom I have spent a life time with.
I call upon those who care to stand with us and unite for justice to prevail and not allow an employee from some company to take us both for a ride.
We believe Solidere is not a good thing.
But some consider it as positive
Let it be so, but
Why not the St Georges?
Why should we sell it to them?
Why the hate and war against St George Hotel?
How can they attribute to Solidere the reconstruction?
It is merely a site which is what was left after the war destroyed Beirut!
Solidere destroyed what was left standing and covered up ruthlessly all the vestiges of the past and all the history behind it! What is one or 2 streets where people go to play?
Where is the city, the city of Beirut?
I have nearly died during the explosion on 14 Feb 2005 and have decided
to hand over the management of the St George to a trust who will continue to protect this land mark long after I have gone and make sure it will be built one day!
Why not now?
Let those who knew it see it again and project to the young some of Beirut’s nice history


Corruption & Justice

Politicians

A lot of politicians are corrupt they want either power or money that is all.
Very few care about justice for the people.

Justice

Has anyone seen justice prevail much in Lebanon lately?
Anyone who knows about justice having been done. Please stand up and tell us about it.
The problem is that a lot of people do not stand up for their rights for one reason or another.
I will not be here to stand up for ever!
Please help us stand up together.
Not to talk politics.
Let us talk about justice for all human kind!
Let us talk about peoples rights!

Police

The police, instead of busying them selves to uphold security and stop crime have for years had a continuous presence in the St Georges to stop us from upgrading just one swimming pool!
Every beach owner in Lebanon is allowed to repair and upgrade his premises!
Not us!


Road Closed

The road was closed for 2and a half years in front of the St George Hotel there was nothing we could do to open it and it only did harm to the St George Hotel no one else.
I said once: Is it acceptable to have the road closed for ever?
Someone answered: Mr Hariri was an extraordinary man!
But he was a man! And we are all men!


Indemnity

A committee from the army has evaluated the damage to the property and an indemnity was submitted for payment!
The prime minister has always had a positive attitude towards us!
I am sure that he would like to help the St Georges Hotel!
Can Solidere stop everyone from helping us?!
The fact remains that the prime minister has done nothing about it!
However we all know that millions of Dollars have been paid to everyone in Lebanon every were and is still being paid but not to the St George Hotel.


Greatness of St George Hotel

I think everyone has probably forgotten me.
This will happen any way.
But no one will ever forget the St George Hotel.
If I don’t talk about it you won’t know about it!
If you knew someone is beating your daughter or your son or your sister or brother or someone you love would you stand aside and watch?
Someone is beating the St George Hotel everyday and has been for 14 years.
It is Solidere!
No one else.
St George is a must for Lebanon!
St George symbolises a golden age which Lebanon once had and that solidere was unable to bring back!
St George is a light house that tells the world where Lebanon is!
St George has been loved by the east as well as the west!
St George has no religion it is Lebanon we want to see rebuilt!
I am not here to burden people with my problem!
My problem is I am getting old… God will look after that!
The St George Hotel is a quest it is history
History does not start with Solidere
It starts with Lebanon
It starts with Beirut
It starts with what’s underneath Beirut of ashes, people who have died, stories that our fore fathers have left for us.
Solidere is trying to put a veil over all of that!
St George Hotel is a flame burning that can’t be extinguished by Solidere.
No one can extinguish it!
St George has become more important than martyrs place.
It represents courage!
Continuity “Soumoud” “Moukawamat”
The essence of a country!
We call upon the Lebanese people to come to the St George to shake hands for peace and friendship!
This was the heart of Lebanon this is where the Lebanese loved each other.
Here is where they became enemies for one instant.
Here is where they should remain friends and love each other again for ever.
The French have given up the St George Hotel in 1958 and my father has continued its quest.
We ask the Lebanese people to join us in the St George Hotel’s quest.
Even Nasser Chamaa President of Solidere invited people to leave Lebanon after he has invaded its capital and erased its history.
Lebanon must not stand still in front of such a crime!
The St George Hotel & its Beach & Marina are still here for Lebanon like Baalbek and the Chabrouh and Litany Dams it will remain open for Ramadan and Christmas together and will marry sons of kings of Arabia and presidents of countries around us.
That is what it did and is what it will do!


Greed & Money

Believe me if my aim was to make money out of the St Georges’ misery I would have listened to Mr Chamaa who said once to me:
Do you want the St Georges or do you want to make money?
As if they had any intention ever to pay for anything they acquire.
When someone is used to take what is not his by force or politics, one looses the habit of paying.
They want me to betray This institution and Beirut and Lebanon!
Is this acceptable?
Do you accept that I do that?
Does anyone accept such تصلبط تعسف و استهتار


Message to President Bush

We have heard you spell the name of streets in Beirut in some of your speeches.
It has pleased our ears and warmed our hearts to know that you care.
Your father, Mr President has stayed on the terrace of the St George Hotel.
It is a famous landmark of peace and democracy and has been the meeting place of the West and the East.
Friends and enemies must unite for freedom here!
It has been subjected to imprisonment without enticement!
For 14 years now we are the prisoners of greed not war it is much worse!


Investors

I have been educated in England and when I was 15 which is a long time ago I thought of Lebanon as a village.
It is obvious today that our politicians have failed to make a country of it!
We live in the time of globalization and yet we are still worrying about our petty differences!
I have come to Lebanon and my parents before me to spend our money in this country and not to take money out of it like others have done.
Solidere has lost money for many years and now that it has began to make some it is taking it away from the country and the shareholders and the Lebaneese people.
Is this not a crime?
But
La hayata liman tounadi


Hotel & Marina

The St Georges has had a marina for as long as Lebanon has existed as a state.
It is on all the international navigation plans.
It was the first and only pleasure boat marina in Lebanon long before the Automobile Yacht Club in Jounieh
The president of ATCL Cheikh Fouad El Khazen has described us to the international community as a competition and an illegal marina!
He has fought for Solidere against St George Hotel although he is part of The CAT organisation which belongs also to us. He is also the President of The Compamie du Port who is a shareholder in St Georges Hotel.
Can anyone believe that?!

(arabic text after the jump)