Friday, June 08, 2007

Update from Nahr Al-Barid. A Western reporter in Lebanon sent me this message today: "i was at Badawi today filming and interviewing the refugees..I was talking to a group of middle aged Palestinian men from Nahr el Bared after a few questions I asked who they thought had funded Fatah Al Islam and if Hariri money was involved.. suddenly a well dressed man literally pushed his way through the group I was interviewing telling me that he was with Future Youth media relations and why would i ask such a question? the Palestinian men who had been very opinionated and talkative before suddenly went quiet. oh no Mr Hairiri has only ever helped us they said..they all suddenly disbanded except for one man who followed me around the corner and whispered 'I dont like Hariri but everyone here is too scared to speak out or say anything bad about him. People from here have been arrested for this over the last few days.' I dont know if this is true but i do know that last night at the military intelligence HQ's in Tripoli i saw about 80 young palestinian men jammed into a small room as they were held for interrogations. they all looked very scared and were crouching on the floor as Lebanese army intelligence stood above them..."