The Other Lebanon. Today was a crazy day in Lebanon, and I don't want to think about it now. It was disturbing to watch Jumblat's audience cheering for a civil war. I want to tell young people that civil wars scar you, but you only discover that years later. I still have difficulty watching war movies, and the sound of loud explosions still bothers me a great deal. Personally, I would like to talk about a delightful book by a Lebanese physician that I just finished reading. The book is "Takeoff and Landing" (Iqla` wa Hubut) by Munir Shamma`ah. He died a few years ago. He was the first to diagnose my father with an ulcer years ago. I only dug the book out because I remembered that he attended medical school with George Habash and Wadi` Haddad at the American University of Beirut. He was a roommate with Habash for four years, and said that prior to Nakbah, Habash was not political at all. They used to discuss school and music, and said that Habash used to sing. He said that Habash was changed after 1948: that he would repeat to him: "O Munir. I am from Lidd, and I want to go back at any price. This is a simple right for any human in his homeland." (p. 35) He said that Wadi` Haddad "was the most sincere and most noble men" he had known. Shamma`ah worked for a while in Saudi Arabia and talks about the racist segregation that was imposed by American companies inside the kingdom. Shamma`ah would later become a physician for kings and princes, and he reveals in the book that he would secretively fund raise for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He talks about Ras Beirut, but not in the obnoxious, classist, and sectarian way of Samir Khalaf. In 1985, religious fanatics--I am trying hard not to use bad language here--kidnapped Shamma`ah and Yusuf Salamah (the latter also wrote a beautiful memoirs which I recommend). Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah later arranged for their release after three days in captivity. I hope that i never meet those captors ever, whoever they were. Shamma`ah was active in civic affairs: he led a secular movement in 1975-76, and was one of the people who urged the elimination of sectarian affiliation from Lebanese state identity cards. The autobiography included some personal information but was interesting and honest, especially about love and sex. I hope that his wife did not read the book as he admits that he has no love or lust for her.
PS I am glad to be informed that Munir Shamma`ah is very much alive.