by Yara Zgheib
Beirut, Lebanon. August 14, 2006.
I don’t remember the war ending.
There’s a lot I don’t remember. Facts mostly.
For instance, I keep saying the war lasted 33 days, although in reality, it lasted 34: July 12 to August 14. But nothing happened on the 14th. It was a Monday. At eight in the morning, the rockets stopped falling on both sides of the border and the war ended. Many people were still asleep. By the time they woke up and turned on the news, there was no more war, although on that last morning, in those final hours between midnight and the ceasefire, hundreds of rockets did fall, the highest number since it all started, and 40 people were killed.
More facts I can’t keep track of: 1,200 dead, 5,000 injured, 60,000 homes destroyed — and roads, bridges, ports, factories, the electricity and water networks, hospitals, the only airport — 1 million displaced . . .
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