About this ebook
It is about the struggles, sufferings and hopes of the people of South Lebanon during the period 1976 to 1986. The author outlines the troubles the people of this area lived through. He discusses causes and effects of cooperation between Lebanese and their Israeli neighbours. He takes us on a journey from East Beirut to the Jezzin area of Mount Lebanon as it would have been undertaken during the years 1984 to 1990. The narrative starts at the Port of Beirut and follows the sea route to Nakoura in South Lebanon. It then proceeds across the mainland through various villages and towns, covering the geographic and historic diversity of the population and the problems they faced.
This is a story of a society living in a part of the Holy Land, the land of the Good News. It outlines a continuous struggle to survive, a search for a long-lasting peace and a background worth considering in a Middle East filled with hatred.
We can, by reading between the lines, understand how terrorism developed in this area and later expanded to the whole world. Some of the questions and concerns the author raised in 1999 were answered at the Twin Towers, the chaos in Paris, the attacks in the U.K. and Spain and, unfortunately, on and on.
About the author
Charbel Barakat is a retired Colonel in the Lebanese Army. He was born in South Lebanon in a house which had witnessed three successive generations of Village leaders (Moukhtars). He lived in the area for 40 years and therefore knows about the people and their problems and ambitions. He graduated from the Lebanese Military Academy with a Masters in War and Military Science and obtained a Bachelor of Political Science degree from the University of Beirut. He is particularly interested in History and Civilizations and has written many articles on these subjects. Col. Barakat (Ret) has been invited twice to testify before the U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on the Middle East and South Asia. He writes articles on the Web and for some Arab language newspapers about the Middle East in general and Lebanon and Israel in particular.
