“At one a.m. the children of Qana were sleeping like angels, and they were killed in the most brutal way. And self-defense is still spoken of? What is the world still waiting for?” Michelle is 26 years old; she is upset while she demonstrates in front of the United Nations. It happened again. Again at Qana, as in 1996. At one a.m., the gunfire of Israeli aircraft struck the UN base, where hundreds of Lebanese civilians had taken refuge. The tally is very heavy: at least 60 dead, among which are 37 children.

 

The news comes to Beirut and to other Lebanese cities. People go out into the streets: they aren’t afraid of other attacks; they have the singleminded desire to shout and demonstrate. They gather near the seat of the UN in the center of the beautiful downtown of Beirut, where united nations’ flags are trampled and small trash cans set on fire. The UN buildings are attacked and damaged, but no wounds are reported. The demonstrators carry signs and banners: “On behalf of our dead children, thanks to America for its intelligent bombs,” can be read on one of the signs.

 

Hassan, 21 years old, is there with some of his friends. “People are tired. They no longer believe anyone…. I say thanks to the USA and Israel for its ‘elegant bombs,’” he said. Ziad, 26 years old, comments in this way: “Perhaps the Lebanese children are supporters of Hezbollah and have to die for the new democracy in the Middle East that Bush has promised the world.”

 

Ibrahim, 26 years old, comes from Nabatiya: “I am part of the civil service. For a little while after the bombardment we couldn’t see anything—it was all destroyed. What I remember are mothers with dead children in their arms. They had hidden the children there because they considered it a safe place, but, just as in 1996, it wasn’t.” April 18, 1996, at Qana, the buildings of the interim force of the United Nations in Lebanon (Unifil), where at least 800 Lebanese civilians had sought refuge, were struck by Israeli artillery. In the attack at least 106 civilians were killed, the majority women, children, and old people. The government of Tel Aviv said that it was an error. The report of the United Nations on the tragedy instead concluded that it was “improbable that it was a technical or procedural error.”

 

Mona, 23 years old, responds to the accusations of the government of Tel Aviv: “Hezbollah does not use civilians as shields. This is what Israel says in order to be able to defend itself on its crimes. They have also said that they didn’t know that there were civilians at the base. I answer them: “Wallahi? Truly?” A man carries a sheet of paper in the form of a bomb, above which is written, “Thanks, the message has arrived.” It refers to the photos that have traveled around the world of Israeli children who write and draw on the bombs. Another banner, in English and Arabic, says, “American tax money is killing us.” Maher also is 23 years old: “We are tired of suffering. We are an extension of the suffering of the Palestinians. People say that we aren’t united. It isn’t true. Sayyed Nasrallah has never been loved as he is in this moment. Thanks, Hassan, because you worry about us.”