Archive 17

Assassination of Elie Hobeika. On September 15, 2001, just four days after the 9-11 attacks, CIA Director George Tenet provided President [sic] Bush with a Top Secret "Worldwide Attack Matrix"-a virtual license to kill targets deemed to be a threat to the United States in some 80 countries around the world. The Tenet plan, which was subsequently approved by Bush, essentially reversed the executive orders of four previous U.S. administrations that expressly prohibited political assassinations. According to high level European intelligence officials, Bush's counselor, Karl Rove, used the new presidential authority to silence a popular Lebanese Christian politician who was planning to offer irrefutable evidence that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon authorized the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian men, women, and children in the Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla in 1982. In addition, Sharon provided the Lebanese forces who carried out the grisly task. At the time of the massacres, Elie Hobeika was intelligence chief of Lebanese Christian forces in Lebanon who were battling Palestinians and other Muslim groups in a bloody civil war. He was also the chief liaison to Israeli Defense Force (IDF) personnel in Lebanon. An official Israeli inquiry into the massacre at the camps, the Kahan Commission, merely found Sharon "indirectly" responsible for the slaughter and fingered Hobeika as the chief instigator. The Kahan Commission never called on Hobeika to offer testimony in his defense. However, in response to charges brought against Sharon before a special war crimes court in Belgium, Hobeika was urged to testify against Sharon, according to well-informed Lebanese sources. Hobeika was prepared to offer a different version of events than what was contained in the Kahan report. A 1993 Belgian law permitting human rights prosecutions was unusual in that non-Belgians could be tried for violations against other non-Belgians in a Belgian court. Under pressure from the Bush administration, the law was severely amended and the extraterritoriality provisions were curtailed. Hobeika headed the Lebanese forces intelligence agency since the mid- 1970s and he soon developed close ties to the CIA. He was a frequent visitor to the CIA's headquarters at Langley, Virginia. After the Syrian invasion of Lebanon in 1990, Hobeika held a number of cabinet positions in the Lebanese government, a proxy for the Syrian occupation authorities. He also served in the parliament. In July 2001, Hobeika called a press conference and announced he was prepared to testify against Sharon in Belgium and revealed that he had evidence of what actually occurred in Sabra and Shatilla. Hobeika also indicated that Israel had flown members of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) into Beirut International Airport in an Israeli Air Force C130 transport plane. In full view of dozens of witnesses, including members of the Lebanese army and others, SLA troops under the command of Major Saad Haddad were slipped into the camps to commit the massacres. The SLA troops were under t! he direct command of Ariel Sharon and an Israeli Mossad agent provocateur named Rafi Eitan. Hobeika offered evidence that a former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon was aware of the Israeli plot. In addition, the IDF had placed a camera in a strategic position to film the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. Hobeika was going to ask that the footage be released as part of the investigation of Sharon. After announcing he was willing to testify against Sharon, Hobeika became fearful for his safety and began moves to leave Lebanon. Hobeika was not aware that his threats to testify against Sharon had triggered a series of fateful events that reached well into the White House and Sharon's office. On January 24, 2002, Hobeika's car was blown up by a remote controlled bomb placed in a parked Mercedes along a street in the Hazmieh section of Beirut. The bomb exploded when Hobeika and his three associates, Fares Souweidan, Mitri Ajram, and Waleed Zein, were driving their Range Rover past the TNT-laden Mercedes at 9:40 am Beirut time. The Range Rover's four passengers were killed in the explosion. In case Hobeika's car had taken another route through the neighborhood, two additional parked cars, located at two other choke points, were also rigged with TNT. The powerful bomb wounded a number of other people on the street. Other parked cars were destroyed and buildings and homes were damaged. The Lebanese president, prime minister, and interior minister all claimed that Israeli agents were behind the attack. It is noteworthy that the State Department's list of global terrorist incidents for 2002 worldwide failed to list the car bombing attack on Hobeika and his party. The White House wanted to ensure the attack was censored from the report. The reason was simple: the attack ultimately had Washington's fingerprints on it. High level European intelligence sources now report that Karl Rove personally coordinated Hobeika's assassination. The hit on Hobeika employed Syrian intelligence agents. Syrian President Bashar Assad was trying to curry favor with the Bush administration in the aftermath of 9-11 and was more than willing to help the White House. In addition, Assad's father, Hafez Assad, had been an ally of Bush's father during Desert Storm, a period that saw Washington give a "wink and a nod" to Syria's occupation of Lebanon. Rove wanted to help Sharon avoid any political embarrassment from an in absentia trial in Brussels where Hobeika would be a star witness. Rove and Sharon agreed on the plan to use Syrian Military Intelligence agents to assassinate Hobeika. Rove saw Sharon as an indispensable ally of Bush in ensuring the loyalty of the Christian evangelical and Jewish voting blocs in the United States. Sharon saw the plan to have the United States coordinate the hit as a ! way to mask all connections to Jerusalem. The Syrian hit team was ordered by Assef Shawkat, the number two man in Syrian military intelligence and a good friend and brother in law of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Assad's intelligence services had already cooperated with U.S. intelligence in resorting to unconventional methods to extract information from al Qaeda detainees deported to Syria from the United States and other countries in the wake of 9-11. The order to take out Hobeika was transmitted by Shawkat to Roustom Ghazali, the head of Syrian military intelligence in Beirut. Ghazali arranged for the three remote controlled cars to be parked along Hobeika's route in Hamzieh. The plan to kill Hobeika had all the necessary caveats and built-in denial mechanisms. If the Syrians were discovered beforehand or afterwards, Karl Rove and his associates in the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans would be ensured plausible deniability. Hobeika's CIA intermediary in Beirut, a man only referred to as "Jason" by Hobeika, was a frequent companion of the Lebanese politician during official and off-duty hours. During Hobeika's election campaigns for his parliamentary seat, Jason was often in Hobeika's office offering support and advice. After Hobeika's assassination, Jason became despondent over the death of his colleague. Eventually, Jason disappeared abruptly from Lebanon and reportedly later emerged in Pakistan. Karl Rove's involvement in the assassination of Hobeika may not have been the last "hit" he ordered to help out Sharon. In March 2002, a few months after Hobeika's assassination, another Lebanese Christian with knowledge of Sharon's involvement in the Sabra and Shatilla massacres was gunned down along with his wife in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A bullet fired at Michael Nassar's car flattened one of his tires. Nassar pulled into a gasoline station for repairs. A professional assassin, firing a gun with a silencer, shot Nassar and his wife in the head, killing them both instantly. The assailant fled and was never captured. Nassar was also involved with the Phalange militia at Sabra and Shatilla. Nassar was also reportedly willing to testify against Sharon in Belgium and, as a nephew of SLA Commander General Antoine Lahd, may have had important evidence to bolster Hobeika's charge that Sharon ordered SLA forces into the camps to wipe out the Palestinians. Based on what European intelligence claims is concrete intelligence on Rove's involvement in the assassination of Hobeika, the Bush administration can now add political assassination to its laundry list of other misdeeds, from lying about the reasons to go to war to the torture tactics in violation of the Geneva Conventions that have been employed by the Pentagon and "third country" nationals at prisons in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist. He served in the National Security Agency (NSA) during the Reagan administration and wrote the introduction to Forbidden Truth. He is the co-author, with John Stanton, of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II." His forthcoming book is titled: "Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops, and Brass Plates." Madsen can be reached at: WMadsen777@aol.com. Copyright 1998-2004 Online JournalT. All rights reserved. Downtown Machgara :)

i just want to say hi to Alaa kamal charaf ,im verry intrested to know what you are doing in ur life ,i never forget those days at school and inchalla i will see you this summer in Machghara send me an email i really wanna talk to you man ,its been a long time . MOUHAMED KARIM AMMAR . hoven62002@hotmail.com

If u TREAT him nicely, he says u are IN LOVE with him;
If u Don't, he says u are PROUD.
If u DRESS nicely, he says u are trying to LURE him;
If u Don't, he says u are from KAMPUNG.
If u ARGUE with him, he says u are STUBBORN
If u keep QUIET, he says u have no BRAINS.ORN;
If u are SMARTER than him, he'll lose FACE;
If he's Smarter than u, he is GREAT.
If u don't Love him, he tries to POSSESS u;
If u Love him, he will try to LEAVE u. (very true huh?)
If u don't make love with him., he says u don't Love him;
If u do!! He says u are CHEAP.
If u tell him your PROBLEM, he says u are TROUBLESOME;
If u don't, he says that u don't TRUST him.
If u SCOLD him, u are like a NANNY to him;
If he SCOLDS u, it is because he CARES for u.
If u BREAK your PROMISE, u Cannot be TRUSTED;
If he BREAKS his, he is FORCED to do so.
If u SMOKE, u are BAD girl;
If he SMOKES, he is GENTLEMEN.
If u do WELL in your exams, he says its LUCK;
If he does WELL, it's BRAINS.
If u HURT him, u are CRUEL;
If he HURTS u, u are too SENSITIVE!!
& sooo hard to please!!!!!
If u send this to guys, they will swear that it's not true.......
But if u don't, they say u are selfish.....
The moral of the story is.......SEND THIS TO GUYS OUT HERE ANYWAY...
Send it to girls also, gives them some laughter.

Hi all, here is something to laugh about.....
Types Of Women:
HARD-DISK: She remembers everything, FOREVER.
RAM Woman: She forgets about you, the moment you turn her off.
WINDOWS Woman: Everyone knows that she can't do a thing right, but no one can live without her.
SCREENSAVER Woman: She is good for nothing but at least she is fun!
INTERNET Woman: Difficult to access.
SERVER Woman: Always busy when you need her.
MULTIMEDIA Woman: She makes horrible things look beautiful.
CD-ROM Woman: She is always faster and faster.
E-MAIL Woman: Every ten things she says, eight are nonsense.
VIRUS Woman: Also known as "WIFE"; when you are not expecting her, she comes, installs herself and uses all your resources. If you try to uninstall her you will lose something, if you don't try to uninstall her you will lose everything....

chou hal iyem li wsolnela al inno robert ghanem baddo ya3mel ra2is, hayda l balad baddo rjel ma baddo achkhas mitil robert ghanem byerka3o ta yosalo lal kerse

hi i want too write about ittihad al mok3adeen , inno add ma 3imlo hall sine ma rah yotla3 min 2amron shi w khasatan zaher yalli shedinli dahron fi , fa ydabedbo hallon w ye2i3do bill beyt , w b2illon lal shabeb w khasatan la zaher ta3a la 3enna inta mihtejna w nihna mihtejinak........ majhool

This website is great 3amoo. We really need a voice chat though like ZORONA. Please consider it.

What are you people writing on this website? You should be leaving good comments not talking about mjadara and math...Whats this world coming too??? MACHGHARA is the greatest...and this website really helps us know and see how great it is.
Great job Nasser, great job! From Ohio

فكرنا رح بـ يلبسنا متلو حرير                          بنعش الوطن ما دقدق غير مسامير
جبال ديونه ورتنا بعد التفكير                           وشو قطفنا من سفراته غير التصوير
ربيع وعوده ما زهر لسّـا بكير                         ناطر ليصبّح شعبي كله فقير
وكبرت هالعروة وبعدو هالزر صغير

تيوفي هالطير بوعدو ومن عبَو يطير
كبرت هالعروة وبعدو هالزر صغير
أمير, على هندسة الصوت, حوًل

هل يا ترى اذا تم انتخاب النائب روبير غانم رئيسا للجمهورية، سيقدر أن يقف بوجه الحريري ومشروع افلاس لبنان الذي يقوده الحريري بالتحالف مع بري؟ أم انه سيكون مثل الهراوي روح روح تعا تعا ؟

you guys need training in Ohio. You make no sense. You have to eat some Mjadara. Mjadara is good for Math.

x=ln(x)               x = 3+ lnx (+ x ) +        Simplify Multiplication:+ lnx^2        Substitute for the letter x:+ 1ln *(+ 3 )^2
Simplify Exponents:+ 1ln *+(+ 3 )*(+ 3 )        Simplify Multiplication:+ 1ln *+ 9        Simplify Multiplication:+ 9ln
a = 1      b = .5      c = .5      x = 3
from ohio

from step 2 to step 3 you are dividing both sides by (x-x) which is zero. You broke the rules. stop cheating. you will fail your exams.

موعد مع القدر من جديد
بالأمس جاء بجثمان المرحوم زكي يونس من البرازيل ليلتحق به بعد حوالي الشهرين
ننعي اليكم وفاة المأسوف على شبابه : عقيل نصار، وهو من حارة البيادر، وقد توفي غرقا في البرازيل
إنا لله وانا اليه راجعون

أثبت أن واحد يساوي اثنين واشتق منها أن أربعة تساوي ثمانية

you should be solving for x not Ln. you should come up with a solution for x not Ln. you should get x = something. your solution is wrong you should work on your math skills. otherwise you will fail your exams.

hi, i say hello for all the people from Machghara , i like machghara and like the people. I will next summer be there to visit the mountains and the beautiful things.

Italy is out, and so is Germany. England is out Denmark all the way !! Go Danes Go!!

Ln is the natural log . and ln does not have a value. in other words the solution given is wrong. try again. solve for x the following equation ln (x) = x+2

اهلنا واخواننا في مشغرة مقيمين ومغتربين.ا
تحية طيبة وبعد,ا
نعلمكم نحن مخاتير مشغرة باننا قد استلمنا الأختام وباشرنا العمل بتاريخ 21/06/2004   ونضع انفسنا بخدمة الجميع.ا
للإستعلام يرجى الإتصال على هذه الارقام:ا
E.MAIL: salim_m51@hotmail.com    مكتب : 651465/08 961 00        منزل : 650155/08 961 00
   ســـليم محمــد مـرعـي, مخــتار مشـغرة التحتا

HI KIFKON................ ENNCHALLA KHAYR.......... ANA BEL3AB BI FARIK EL ITTIHAD MA3 MOUHAMAD MERHI........ ANA ESMI FAROUK MAHFOUZZZZZZZ.......... E_MAIL: abouelfouf92@hotmail.com
byeeeeeeeeeeeeee Faroukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

This is a wonderful site especially the beginning with the flash I love it,
keep the good work
Gaby El-Skaf (Ottawa) gabyskaf@sympatico.ca

ta7iya tayiba wa ba3ed ad3ou ahali machghara al kiram bi mounasabat haza al sayf al jadid al lazi yatilo bi 3edat nashatat menha al bascket ball nou3arifoukom bi hel munesabe 3ala nede ITIHAD AL MOUK3ADIN machghara al lazi youkadem moustawa zehed fi machghara wa nd3ou menkom mou2azarat haza al nadi al moumasel al awal li machghara wa you3edakoum bi takdim afdal al mousatawayat al faniya wal riyadiya wal al akhlakia wal rou7 al jama3iya wa shoukran.........................malek & hassan

Mouhamed Kamal charaf Rue principale. Machghara, Liban. Tel:00961/3 936712
Alaa kamal Charaf 1,rue Principal Machghara. Tel:00961/3 267715

يا عمي انا كان كل قصدي المحافظة على شيء اسمه الجمال في هذا البلد، ومباراة للجمال مثل مباراة ملكة جمال لبنان مش لازم تتحول لشي قبيح ومستنكر وبالنتيجة ما بيحقق الهدف منه وهو اختيار صبية حلوة من لبنان بلد الحلوين لتمثله في العالم، فاسلوب اختيار الملكة مش لازم يطفش الحلوين بنات العائلات ويهربهن من الاشتراك لأنو بيار الضاهر ومحطته شافت أربحلها بهالطريقة

بالمباراة مع الصين نفس الارهاب مورس على اللاعبين والباسكيت هي لعبة تركيز وما بعرف شو هي الشطارة بترويع ضيوفنا ، ليش ما بتكون الشطارة نربح بكل روح رياضية ويربح الافضل؟ وكما قال المسيح: ما النفع اذا ربحت العالم وخسرت نفسي

ببطولة العرب كان الفريق الجزائري مهدد بحياته اذا ربح المباراة وكانوا عم يبكوا لأنه القناني كانت عم تنزل على راسهم وكانت الال بي سي طبعا شاهد زور وما حدا عرف بالقصة الا مين حضر المباراة، وآخر فنون الزعبرة كانت مع الشانفيل حيث احتسبوا رمية للحكمة بعد انتهاء الوقت وكانت الال بي سي مرة تانية ومليون شاهد زور وكانوا كل الناس يتأسفون على شيء اسمه الموضوعية والحياد والروح الرياضية

التعصب الاعمى بعدو طاغي عالتعليقات، اذا ما اعترفنا بالمشكلة مش رح تنحل، أكيد الال بي سي فيها طاقات وقدرات ومتل ما قلنا كانت الأعور بين العميان ملك ، لازم نفهم انو عملا الال بي سي هني يللي كانوا عم يديروا تلفزيون لبنان وعلى رأسهم كبير المخلصين أنطوان شويري تبع الحكمة، اللي كان مسؤول عن الاعلانات بتلفزيون لبنان ومن دون شك ما كان اله مصلحة الا يحكي ضميره وينصح المعلن بالتحول الى الال بي سي
المهم كما قال الملياردير اليوناني اوناسيس أول مليون دولار من ثروتي لا تسألوني اذا كانت حلال اما البقية فنعم، وبالنسبة للباسكيت كمان هي كانت من ضحايا الال بي سي حيث نجحت بتحويلها الى حزب سياسي وطائفي جعلت مني انا مشجع نادي الحكمة باعتباري تخرجت من الحكمة، اكره هالفريق بكل ما يمثل من زعبرة ومنشطات ورشوة وارهاب متل ما حصل مع فريق الجزائر

bil nisbeh lal li 7aka 3an l basket wil president Antoine Chweyre hayda akid sabe daye3, li anno ma3rouf Antoine Chweyre chou 3emel lal basket bi lebnen bi chhedit ktir min l nes w awaloun Hicham l jaroudi w ma ninsa inno min 2 weeks addamlou ra2is l joumhourieh l president Emile La7oud wissem li anno 3am byerfa3 esem lebnen w khsousan min ba3ed ma reb7et l 7ikmeh boutoulet Asia... w akid li 3emleto l LBC bil nisbe lal basket akid badda l future w ghayra 10000000 sene la ta3mlo w bil niheye l chater bi chtartou. w ma ninsa l matal chou bi 2oul "Chara2et chams l LBC w tghayar kil l mawdou3"

Hello... I wish all of you a happy summer at Machghara and hopefully I will come back to my lovely village soon.....
Idrsiss Charaf, I sent you an E-mail, did you get it by any chance?
Wassim Mahfouz / Wassimjulian@yahoo.com USA-MI

انت تعصبك للال بي سي أعمى وحديثك خارج عن الموضوع. فتحت الال بي سي بشكل غير قانوني بالاساس وكانت تعرض البرامج المسروقة, يعني المقرصنة لأنها تابعة لميليشيا القوات وما في مين يحاسب وبوقت كان تلفزيون لبنان مضطر يدفع ثمن برامجه. ما بدنا نحكي عن الاباحيات اللي عرضتها وعن وعن الخ كانت كل الفترة على رأي المثل الأعور بين العميان ملك، الى ان فتح المستقبل والام تي في ، وهلق الال بي سي أفلست قام دعمها الوليد بن طلال، بالنسبة لمسابقة ملكة جمال لبنان لازم تعترف او تعترفي انها اصبحت لبنات الشوراع اللي بيرضوا يناموا وكل العالم قاشعهن، وهيدا اللي سمح لوحدة متل نادين تشرف اسم لبنان بالعالم بفضل الال بي سي

sorry bass 3al moudekhale ana awal mara be7ke bi heyk tari2a bass ra7 2oul la kel wa7ad bi shaje3 al lbc ou houwe bya3ref 7alo fa ya reyt yelzam 7ado li2ano ma ba2a bada hal 2ad so enta ya mr wesleto al lbc mano shi ela de7ek 3al 3alam ou ekhfe2 al 7a2i2a li2ano ma fi shi sa7 men yalli 3am bte7ke ou asde 3an al bascket toul ma fi wa7ad esmo antoun shweyre so heda ensen ma khadam al bascket ball bi lebanon bass dahwara bel zyede ou naza3 esem lebnen li2ano arja al 3alam kela kif houwe byeshtere damir al ness metel shakhess enta bta3erfo ktir mni7 so khali belak men 7alak li2ano al 7a2i2a bet waje3 aw2at.......

Why do we Celebrate Father’s day?
Sometimes, our children rise question such as the above. Why is father day?
Here is a segment of a father telling his daughter. A story that originated back in 1910. a child by the name of “Sonora” who lost her mother at a very young age. Her father was born in June 1910.
Having been raised by her father, after her mother died, this little girl “SONORA” wanted her father to know how special he was to her. So she Told him!!! DAD. Having a father that made all the parental sacrifices to me, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. I chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in “SPOKANE”, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910 in your honor and call it father’s day. This is what I have to say to you on this day….
DAD, you are the strength of a mountain,
DAD, you are the dignity of a tree,
DAD, you are the warmth of a summer sun,
DAD, you are the calm of a quiet sea,
DAD, you are the generous soul of nature,
DAD, you are the comforting arm of night,
DAD, you are the wisdom of the ages,
DAD, you are the power of the eagle's flight,
DAD, you are the joy of a morning in spring,
DAD, you are the depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
God knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so, He called it ... Dad
Hassan Habib Hajjar
Ottawa, Canada

iza fi 7ada 3am byerfa3 esem lebnen bil 3alam hieh l LBC w akid kil wa7ad byi7ki dod l LBC bikoun mayet min l ghireh w ma bye2der la houwe w la l Tlevision li bi7ebbo yousalo lalli wosletlo l LBC

Mr. mouhamed mouhaidli and Mrs. hanaa kamal charaf Announce the birth of their baby girl "Waed" One the 18th of June 2004 in Machghara, Lebanon

ٍalut a tous les habitants de Machghara et ceux qui sont loin. Je souhaite que dans cet été tous les jeunes soient contents et passent leurs temps avec plaisir et j'envoie mes salutations a mes parents aux Etats Unis moudi118@hotmail.com

انا مش عم افهم شغلة كيف بيسمحوا للملكة وللمتنافسة للقب ملكة الجمال تكون عاملة عمليات تجميل وخصوصا السيليكون للشفاف ولغير الشفاف وتصغير الأنف ؟

المسؤول طبعا هو بيار الضاهر وهيدا انسان ما بيهمه الا المصاري و"انا ومن بعدي الطوفان"، ومن وقت ما استلمها لل "إل بي سي" واتدهور المستوى

مين المسؤول عن وصول مستوى انتخاب ملكة جمال لبنان لهالمستوى المتدني من الجودة؟ا
شو همنا اذا كانت الحفلة زيطة وزنبليطة والملكة حالتها حالة؟ا
الملكة المنتخبة نادين جمالها أقل من عادي واخلاقها اكتر من زفت

I think they are both from Machghara, Kyle and the other boy, because they went to Georgetown University and Duke university, and as you are well aware, they are both located in Machghara, the first one is in 7aret-al-fawka, and the other one is in 7aret-Al-Ta7ta

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives. " He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday! " He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends... I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story." I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable." I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realize it's depth. Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse. God puts us all in each other's lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."
There is no beginning or end.. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift.

بعد التحرير كانت آمالنا كبيرة بعودة الانتعاش لمشغرة عبر فتح طريق جزين صيدا
لو الدولة بتلتفت فينا شي شوي وبتسيّر رحلات نقل عام بين شتورة مشغرة جزين صيدا ذهابا وايابا، باعتبار انو خط صيدا بيروت كتير نشيط وكذلك خط شتورا بيروت كتير نشيط، تصوروا ان شركة الزنتوت الصاوي التي تسير رحلات بين صيدا وبيروت بسعر اقتصادي جعلت من أهالي صيدا يتعلمون في جامعات بيروت وينامون في بيوتهم في صيدا
مشروع النقل العام أو الخاص في الداخل اي من البقاع الى صيدا عبر جزين بحاجة الى شخصية متل ناصر نصرالله عنده القدرة على الاتصال بمفاتيح القرار لأن نوابنا من غير شر بسابع نومة وبنخاف نقلق منامهم اذا حكينا معهم بأحلام تنموية

يعني اذا بسعر اقتصادي انا مستعد اطلع وانزل كل اسبوع، واذا بولمن واحد نجح ممكن يفتح المجال لبولمنات تانية لتشتغل ولحركة أكبر وممكن نوصل لوقت يزود رحلاته داخل الاسبوع

يا ريت لو بترجع أيام البوسطة كل يوم سبت على مشغرة وبنرجع فيها الاثنين صباحا، عن جد مشروع مربح وبيعطي حياة لمشغرة، وانا بفضل بما اننا في الالفين واربعة ان نصعد ببولمن مكيف كل نهار سبت وعن طريق صيدا جزين، يا ريت

آه يا ادريس آه، يا ريتك قلت وراء البحر وسكتت كانت طلعت حلوة عالقافية

شوقي وحبي لك يا زنبقة الوادي وحنيني لنسماتك وخضرتك يا معبودة القمر. اني قريب منك وتختلجني هذه الاحاسيس فكيف بالبعيد وراء البحار والمحيطات
ادريس

Good morning!.... Today we have a special day for some one who love and respect evryone. It is Reda's Birthday.
Happy birthday Reda and we hope to see you soon between with your family in Lebanon (Machghara)
your friend.. Reda Ali moussa RedaMoussa@yahoo.com

Here's why .
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, ... and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
(Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.)
As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
Horrors!
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day.
NO CELL PHONES!!!!!
Unthinkable!
We did not have Play stations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround
sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.
We had friends!
We went outside and found them.
We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
They were accidents.
No one was to blame but us.
Remember accidents?
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.
Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.
Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.
Horrors!
Tests were not adjusted for any reason.
Our actions were our own.
Consequences were expected.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law.
Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
And you're one of them!
Congratulations!
Dedicated to the people who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good !!!!!

machghara is almost a paradise , so please take good care of it, by the way i am not from machgara but my dream is to have such a great village_hanan_

Hey all, i'm a regular visitor of Machghara's website, i like my hometown, we used to pass summers there, also i did 2 years in saint coeurs machghara because of the war in lebanon. lately i'm thinking to emigrate to canada, there i can continue my studies, and study the major i like, but i find it a little blurred since i don't have anybody in canada,and i need a help like to give me some advices and tell me what to do in order to get a student emigration visa. i know that going to a new country and a new culture is difficult but not canada, because a big number of machgharian live there, and i will be so happy if i can be one of them...

Forgive me Father for I have sinned...

I hate to break up a good party, but this comes on the eve of the burial of the late president Mr. Ronald Reagan. "God bless his Soul, and may Jesus forgive him for what he had sinned".

This final episode comes to our living rooms through the tube, created by our Hollywood masters who have been feeding a steady diet of mindless violence to a craving audience. Hollywood had created Mr. Reagan after transforming him from a B-actor at best to a real California Governor, and then, to a president for 2 full terms.
On this final episode comes Mrs. Nancy Reagan the grieving widow of this National Hero to play her part so eloquently, it almost gave me "goose bumps" when she padded the flag draped coffin as she mumbled something to her dead husband. "Remember this: This very scene will be forever drilled into our short attention span for generations to come". It will become as famous as the scene of a 2 year old John Kennedy Junior saluting his father’s coffin.
All what I heard this past week is nothing but praise to the "Reagan Legacy". How he fought and destroyed communism without firing a single shot. Maybe I lived in a different America in the eighties, But if my memory serves me "correct", this Legacy should read something more like this.
The first major accomplishment by Reagan is breaking up labor unions, Firing the Air traffic controllers rendering the skies unsafe to fly. As an Irishman, he watched with pleasure the dying hunger strikers of Northern Ireland fade away protesting their conditions as prisoners while smiling Reagan posed for a photo op in England, to be later knighted as "Sir" Ronald by his British Masters. Doubling the number of State and Federal Prisons. Reaching record heights of National Debts. America became and for the first time in history the biggest borrower versus the biggest lender a few years before. A demented Crack addicted population that terrorized small towns and large cities. All during the 80s, thanks to the Reagan-inspired-drug-induced nightmare meanwhile Nancy’s "just say NO" campaign brought nothing but agony, misery, death and mayhem to the American people.
The Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion," that notorious scandal initiated, not only the sale of U.S. arms to Iran, via Israel and later resulted in the disgrace and conviction of Col. Oliver North, "the architect of Beir Al Alabed explosion in Beirut", but also gun-running to the Contra thugs in and around Nicaragua. The Contras, in turn, used the profits from those arms sales to launch the crack cocaine plague onto the streets of urban America. " I guess it goes back to”: “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who are". Aside from Israel He was the only leader to tolerate and condone the crimes of Apartheid in South Africa during its most venomous days, the death squads in South and Central America, the rape and murder of the Catholic nuns in El Salvador. The creation of the Taliban and the infamous Oussama, all in the name of fighting Communism and spreading Freedom to the Soviet Union. Now the Soviets are free to eat the long awaited "Big Mac" and dress in that tight "Levi’s jeans" but can afford neither. Deregulation of the FCC and the collapse of the Savings and Loans, The invasion of Grenada, The go-ahead to Israel to invade Lebanon and kill thousands, to prove the superiority of American weapons vs Soviet weaponry according to Alexander Haig was a good enough reason for murder or “collateral damage”. Ignoring the aids epidemic by claiming a higher moral ground. Mr. Reagan the great communicator had so much love for his fellow Americans, and communicated his message so powerfully but was on non-speaking terms with most of his kids, that his daughter Patty Davis posed nude for playboy, and what American father wouldn’t dream of such an opportunity to send his daughter to the claws of nymphomaniac "heffnernites". May God rest his soul with all of those who were unjustly victimized. Amen
Infos from: William Hughes 2004. “Saying ‘’No’ to the War Party” Bill Blum”s Killing hope. Washington Post 06/10/04, Jim Hoagland’s “Keep Reagan's Record in Balance").
“Heffnernites; as in Hugh Heffner the founder of Playboy Magazine.

J. Charara ohiousaman@aol.com

btw , i think that this site is a gr8 step to machgara... couple of days ago, i was in the net in beirut, and a guy was sitting on a PC,,, well not on it but in front of it,,, LLOLL... and he opened machghara.com, and he was saying, "cool, nice site,,, nice town, it's beautiful.." well, frequently i was shocked, but after all it's still my town, despite that there is a lot of annoying stuff that goes around there, but u can totally hate it... :)
believe me, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE UNTIL YOU'VE LOST IT"...
take my advice:"LIVE YOUR LIFE! HAVE FUN! NEVER THINK OF TOMORROW! ENJOY THE MOMENT YOU'RE IN, MAYBE IT'S UR LAST, PERHAPS A CAR WILL GO OVER YOU IN 2 MINUTES, MAYBE YOUR PC WILL BLOW UP AND KILL U IN 3 MINUTES, OR A PLANE WILL CRASH IN UR ROOM AFTER 4 MINUTES... SO WHAT R U STILL DOING, COME ON, LIFE'S SHORT, LIVE IT UP" go away and have fun...
................................................................................................................................................................................................................... R u still here.... ? what have i told u, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"!!!!!!!!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.. u're unbelievable, turn off ur PC and go see ur friends... have FUN......... NOWWWWWWWWWWWWW .............. :)
bye AMIGOS................
DASVIDANIE........ OUVIDIMSA.............
OUZNALI MENIA???????????????? ETA : NOUZIK.............
B THERE SOON......

hey yo... all ppl... i'm having my exams this week...
can't wait to finish them, i can believe i'm saying this, but i think that i'm glad to spend half the summer in machgara... wish me luck ppl... c ya...
viva GuEvArA!!!!!!!!!1 LOL :) ^_^
N***IK

hi , i am zaher abdallah and i thank you, all fans and basket ball players for what was written in the last comment and thanks for supporting me .... and hope i ll do my best in the summer .and wait for me, i have lot to show on the ground.
"ittihad mok3adeen members"

Hier le dimanche les FORCES LIBANAISES, en collaborations avec la famille du martyr PIERRE BOULOS, ont organisé une messe en mémoire de notre martyr PIERRE a l'église la Sagesse Achrafieh.
Qu'il repose dans la présence du Dieu le Christ.

Hi everybody, the summer is back and we are all waiting for the "Ittihad Al-Mok3adeen" team to see the players and what they will do during the Summer and especially Zahe Abdallah our basket ball star in Machghara.
come on Zaher, we need you man... Zaher's fans club

5 reasons why should you believe in yourself

Do you believe in yourself? Do you always rely on other people about what you can and cannot do?
Sometimes we need people to ignite our passion to do something in our life. Sometimes, things happened for a reason. But it comes in the journey of life, where we have to rise to the occasion and face the challenges of life on our own.

When you are faced in a situation in your life, always believe in yourself because:

1. No one else will. If you don’t believe in yourself, how do expect anyone else to believe you?
2. You owe it to yourself. Do yourself a favor. You are your own best friend. Possibly the only way to accelerate things in your life.
3. Life is what you make it. “Napoleon” once said “it takes a person half of his/her life to discover that life is a do it yourself project”. Make the right choices in life and make it happen.
4. You have ambitions and dreams. What will happen to you if you don’t believe in yourself and in your capacity to fulfill them? Within each person lies an ability to turn situation around.
5. Others are watching and waiting to applaud you. It is amazing how you gain respect in the eyes of people when you achieve great success. Because you believe din yourself and in your ability to make things happen.
Hassan Hajjar

Subject: heart attack when alone!!!!
If you're alone and help is not close at hand, this may help. It's worth a try…………….. Read this... It could save your life!!

Let's say it's 6:15pm and you're driving home (alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset and frustrated. Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself. HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital. Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!!

The beautiful summer is here! i wish everyone the best and to enjoy their time, we only live once! Take care ;)

i love you site keep up the good work im a lebanese from dhour chweir but live in houston texas.
fadi bou chebl

Dear Nasser and Hassana,
After all you have endured I command you on a great work you have done here.
Some of us take some things for granted, we do not know the hard work and the long hours you have put in order for us easily come and browse and then leave.
Well, thank you for everything you have done and mostly thank you for your patience with some of us who do not want to grow up.
On behalf of some of us, thank you for a job well done.
Ibrahim hammoud.

Please add me to your mail list:
Dr Adnan Ali Awada
Neurologist, Hotel-Dieu de France, Beirut
Tel +961-3-417147
mail: draawada@hotmail.com

عظة الأحد هيدي مش هيك؟ ولك يا عمي حدا قال شي انو نحنا ملايكة؟ حدا قال انو لازم نعيش ملايكة؟

Good evening everyone. this is the first time I visit this site. I took my time to observe all the comments and generated a certain idea of how the people are thinking nowadays. first of all, I would like to congratulate the webmasters for this brilliant idea: carry on with the great job!
please allow me to share with you my deep - but maybe shallow to some of your minds- thoughts: I understand that this site was meant to be nothing but a huge step towards a better intimacy between the fellows of this so-called charming town. but actually, I sense too much hatred and disrespect. some of u folks has forgotten what it feels like to belong to a decent society. I would really appreciate it if anyone of those who are abusing this site for the sake of their personal reasons to stand me in the face and tell me WHY!!! why all this hatred? why all these insults? aren't we supposed to work things out and try to communicate peacefully and brotherly?
there comes a time in our life when we must forget the past and move on.

hassan,
please send me your new e-mail. I have some materials to send you.
thanks, joseph charara ohiousaman@aol.com

Thank you for taking the time and explaining to me. You and some other people on this site should apply to work for New York Times. I do admire your fascinating and mesmerizing articles. I meant a favorite position on the Iraqi war, from an Arab perspective, but your sullied, desecrated, polluted mind went far.
This site is open for the public, you can't enlighten me with your corrupted jargon and tell me this site is not for me. If you pertain and apply only 1% of what you utter and gossip about in your editorials you will become a factual and realistic egalitarian person.
Yours truly.

أكبر الغائبين عن هذا الموقع هو الحر العاملي المشغراني الذي تجده في كل قاموس، ومهنية مشغرة أيضا

إنْ سألَتْ عنّي، قولوا لها أنّي مشغولٌ بوصفها للشّعراءِ والرّسامين.. قولوا لها أنّي أرتّبُ أحلامَ العاشقينَ وصلاةَ التّائبين.. قولوا لها أنّي ذهبْتُ أزرعُ القُبلَ في بساتينها.. قولوا لها أنّي رحْتُ أنادي على وطني وأرضي لكي أسكن فيها.. قولوا لها أنّي أرسُمُها في عيونِ المنتظرين عودةَ ذويهم في صالاتِ المطارات.. قولوا لها أنّي أكتُبُ اسمَها على رملِ الشّواطىء، كي تسرقه موجةٌ إلى البعيدِ وتخبر عنه جميع الأصقاع.. قولوا لها أنّي رحتُ أبيع الأزهارُ عيّنات من عطرها.. إن سألتْ عنّي، وجَدَتْني على عنواني لأنّي لم أكفّ عن حبّها

these words are answered to my friend Dina Amar Machghara...Elyas Abu Arrage... eliaab@hotmail.com

Thank you for a beautiful website. Please add me to your email list.

Elias Iskandar Traboulsi, M.D. etraboulsi@msn.com
33350 Shaker Boulevard, Pepper Pike, OH 44124

My professional address is:
Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, i32, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195

Best regards,
Elias Traboulsi

Masochistic is something that happened in your childhood that involves emotional pain. It tends to derive from the concept that people like you who are afraid of bad things happening to them often make bad things happen to them so they can feel in control of when and how the bad things happen. this site is not for you and your masochistic fantasies.
Hassan Hajjar

The walls are crying. Abu Ghraib.

Now comes President Bush proposing the demolition of the prison walls at Abu Ghraib, for fear that the walls may reveal something more sinister than the tales of torture and abuse.

These walls have stood witnesses to the torture and hangings of many Iraqis at the hands of Saddam and his agents for many years, Now these newly “liberated “ people have come to get a first hand taste of justice and freedom. Introducing the Iraqis to the improved and advanced beauty of American female domination by invoking Sadistic and Masochistic techniques never seen before. America finds young females in uniform somewhat sexy. The image of a giggling female soldier pointing at the genitals of naked hooded male prisoners has, no doubt become a novelty. Along with thumbs up by another female soldier over the body of a newly murdered prisoner, must arouse any lingering sexual desires in an impotent public.

Throughout history, women in wars have always had the most precious positions. They have nursed the fighting men with care, love, mercy and calmness. In their often white uniforms they drew the line between the sanity and insanity of killing, they defined the humanity and inhumanity of war. But in today’s George Bush’s search for weapons of mass destruction Lindy England and her comrade, Specialist Sabrina Harman are standing tall as angels of death. They are providing the enemies of America with sexual humiliation, hence offering all of us the ultimate pornographic images of this war. Thanks to both Private England and Specialist Harman, they have added another dimension to the colorful images of a brutal crusade.
Yet we sense and hear on daily basis that these were acts similar to college kids hazing, or “kids just having fun” according to Rush Limbaugh, even to a local Akron radio show host, these acts are justifiable. Sometimes but not often, on individual basis I have encountered people that were dismayed by those images. But, as a society there was never any wide condemnation of what happened or any outcry of what is still happening in Guantanamo Bay. What is more dangerous than the explicit images from Iraq is the silence on the part of the public across the Atlantic.
Maybe the prison should be demolished and the walls ought to be destroyed. They defiantly stand as witnesses to a society that is going through a severe process of moral and intellectual regression. Sexual humiliation of Iraqi detainees is the first symptom. In what I often called the “cultureless culture” To start with real-time images of mass destruction and murder of 20,000 innocent civilians - and to end with explicit images of brutal sexual abuse to a jubilant and cheering majority, then to transform the war into a cash cow for Cheney’s Halliburton at the expense of the bleeding GI’s whom are being killed on daily basis. Then we have a president who proudly displays “Saddam’s Pistol” at the white house as a trophy to his achievements and accomplishments as a commander in chief is not only the perversion of a man but, a reflection of the moral and ethical decay of a nation. For those reasons and only those reasons, I would want the prison torn down and its history erased. The Abu Ghraib prison walls have become the fertile womb of the American consciousness and justice. As an American by choice and in this atmosphere I’m not ready to face this realty.

Joseph Charara, ohiousaman@aol.com

أنا محمد محفوظ ان كنّك ما عرفتني وسلامي لكل أهالي مشغرة

جبينك عالي وما بينحـــــــــني وفيك ملاحم مجد مسطـّـرة
وغير فيك ما بيحلى العيش الهني وبناسك الطيبين تبقي معمرة

والبسي يا حلوتي قميص الكستني وتغندري وشو بتلبقلك الغندرة

You surely are a very talented man Mr. Charara, but I really don't understand your point. I have read most of your comments on this page and i'm not following you, could you please be simple and tell me what you want to say, what do you like to tell us ?
Kamel Haddad.

Lebanese nights

It was late in a Lebanese restaurant, in the heat of a Lebanese night,
There was dancing, people were singing, she came in from the garden outside,
And in her eyes I saw the stars,
And I felt something happen in my heart;

Then I knew I was going to meet her in the heat of a Lebanese night,
And the girl inside the woman, who came over to sit by my side,
And when she smiled, the whole world stopped,
It was then I heard the echoes of a child;

And did you go to your bed with a sweet lullaby,
And the sound of the guns in the night,
And did you dance in the fields, did you run for your life,
>From the hell that came down from the sky?
On a Lebanese night, on a Lebanese night;

We went down to the edge of the water, by the light of a Lebanese dawn,
And she told me all the stories of her beautiful land in the war,
Her tears fell down, the sun came up,
And I saw again the young girl in her eyes;

And did you go to your bed with a sweet lullaby,
And the sound of the guns in the night,
And did you dance in the fields, did you run for your life,
>From the hell that came down from the sky?
On a Lebanese night, on a Lebanese night;

All of my life, all I have known,
only a place where peace cannot go;
All over the world, the gift from before,
nothing is left for the children of war;

And did you go to your bed with a sweet lullaby,
And the sound of the guns in the night,
And did you dance in the fields, did you run for your life,
>From the hell that came down from the sky?
On a Lebanese night, on a Lebanese night,
On a Lebanese night, on a Lebanese night,
I will be waiting, in the Lebanon.

send me an e-mail and I'll send you the song, by Chris De Burgh and Elissa
ohiousaman@aol.com joseph charara

وصّيتك بالعامل الكادح تـ تعتني بلمسة حنان على جبينه ممررة
وابعتي التلاميذ للمناهل تغتـني بكرا بيصيروا رجال مضرب مفخرة

يا الياس أول شطر بينتهي بالـ "ني" والتاني بالـ "رة" ـ بلا زعبرة

I like to share with our viewers an interesting topic regarding violence in our youths, in our lives as a whole. What are the real causes for it? We can compare violence to a decomposed wound. Without the aid of antibiotics the wound has the potential to depress the immune system and eventually overwhelm the individual, leading to his/her death. In this example antibiotics could represent forces that are always looking for the destruction of the viruses that attacks the body. Don’t you often wonder why do we resort to violence, of any kind, to solve a particular problem? More questions can be asked, but the questions never seem to be answered in a way that will show why violence is needed to resolve conflict. Rather, excuses are rendered in the hopes that by the logic used in explaining why conflict must be resolved, this will justify the actions.
Can we simply accept this interpretation which basically states that we as humans are biologically programmed toward violence and that because we are programmed in this way, this is an explanation for the cause of violence.
Every so often, we hear natives of foreign countries such as in our case (Canada) that we as “ people from the middle east” tend to have more violence every time we face discontent? or they might say that hereditary genes toward violence are passed from one generation to another is to say we have no choice in the matter of violence. My answer is we would simply, say to them that we all be vicious killers with no way of not being otherwise. Discontent, however, is something humans can turn on and off, like anger, sadness, or happiness.
I say that we are violent if we are violent is because of our culture. That is, we are violent because of, say, where we live or the era in which we grew up or the economic status we hold. I further say that irresponsible Societies may cause discontent towards being unfair to other socities. But I say that we have a stronger cause. We have tendency towards violence is because of our love and respect to our history.
one thing is assured when people are unhappy, usually they will try to make it so they will become happy. For example the Palestinians are unhappy because a large piece of their land belongs to them and in order to assert their point they will resort to violence to gain back what they have lost. the other party will do the same and the cycle will continue until resolution is met. Expression is a necessary component for expressing a point. Violence was done in the past, so shall it be done in the future..
It is fair to say that more often our society drives its people insane. Government who fail to meet normal requirements of functionality. The recent demonstrations, inexplicable gas prices etc… yes perhaps another theory for why demonstrations are taken place can be based on the principle that misery will breed discontent. The misery theory does explain a reason for why violent expression is necessary for political change. As people become more and more miserable they will eventually revolt and demand there be a change in the situation.
Hassan Hajjar

Police officers need respect and support. It shouldn't come as a shock that police Officers or Army Officials are having trouble dealing with demonstrators. There just seems to be less respect and civility shown to those in positions of authority such as police officers, army Officers and elected officials. This makes those jobs much more difficult and much less enjoyable. Along with this lack of respect has come more criticism, increasing the pressure on police officers. Police are often called either heavy-handed or uncaring, depending on a person's perspective. It seems like they often can't win.
this is a sorry situation that needs changing throughout the country. Police officers put their lives in danger to protect others. If someone who does that doesn't deserve respect, than no one does.
Police officers should be respected and appreciated. I am not quite sure throwing grenades, burning buildings and tires, is a nonviolent demonstration? How do you expect the authorities to act in response exactly when a civilian demonstrator becomes an enemy or terrorist???
Hassan Hajjar

سينتقمون من سجن أبو غريب في العراق..
سيغسلون أيديهم بمأثرة تدميره، وينظفون سجلهم الدموي بعد اغتياله..
سيبرهنون للعالم أن الولايات المتحدة الأميركية تعاقب المرتكبين، وتمحو آثاره، وتبدد معالمه.
فدفاعاً عن العراق، نطالب بإبقاء هذا السجن خالداً قدر الإمكان، فليس السجن مذنباً، بل السجان.. ليست زنازينه المذنبة، بل من يمسك بمفاتيحها الصدئة.. ليست جدرانه متهمة، بل من صلب شعباً على حجارته.. ليست هندسته ملتوية، بل من سهر بعناية فائقة على جعله وطناً دائماً لشعب، أكان اسم السجان صدام وزبانيته أو ورثة صدام البيض: جورج بوش وقياداته العسكرية والمدنية المدعية عفة الأخلاق، وهي في حمأة الجريمة وموغلة في الدماء..

أبقوا ذلك السجن..
دافعوا عنه، فهو ذاكرتنا المشؤومة، وليكن لعنة على من اهتم واعتنى به، وأطعمه أجساداً وأرواحاً على مدى عقود.. فليكن وثيقة اتهامنا لحكام عرب وأميركيين وإسرائيليين، حوَّلونا الى مختبرات التعذيب وافتعلوا بنا ارتكابات، يصغر أمامها هولاكو ويخجل تيمورلنك ويضعف ستالين ويجبن دراكولا.
نريده شهادة على جراح وعذاب شعب لعق الحكام وأبناؤهم وورثتهم من دمائهم حتى الثمالة.. نريدة شهادة على التزوير الأخلاقي الذي تمارسه واشنطن، فهذا السجن عار على صدام وعار أكبر على مدَّعي حقوق الإنسان.. المتبرعين لنشر "الديمقراطية" في العالم.. طبعاً الديمقراطية المتوحشة ذات الأسنان الرأسمالية الحادّة.
وإذا حصلت المجزرة وجرت تصفية سجن أبو غريب وتبعثرت حجارته، فنأمل أن تقيم الهيئات والمنظمات الإنسانية ولجان حقوق الإنسان العربية، مجسمات لهذا السجن وأشقائه من السجون العربية المتربعة على أنفاسنا، وسجون أميركا في غوانتنامو ومتفرعاته في العالم الثالث.. على أن تزود هذه المجسمات بذاكرة حيّة لأدوات ووسائل التعذيب وعدد القتلى والشهداء الذين سُفكت دماؤهم إرضاءً لشهوة السلطة.
إذا حصلت المجزرة فاحفروا للطغاة قبوراً، وضعوا عليها "يافطة": هنا نفق الطاغية.. وسموه بأسمائه كلها، أكان عربياً أم "إسرائيلياً" أم أميركياً.. فليس للاضطهاد دين وأمة ووطن. ان المضطهدين يتشابهون.. إنهم همج العصر الحديث.. مهما كانت مبرراتهم السياسة والأخلاقية..
فمن يسفك دم إنسان إرضاءً لشهوة التسلط مجرم، ولا صداقة مع الإجرام، ولا عفو عنه، ولا أسباب تخفيفية..
كلهم شياطين في هذه السياسة، وسنحفظ أسماءهم ونلعنهم مع سلالتهم، ونمنع أحفادهم من أن يتسلقوا أجسادنا لبلوغ الحكم.
فحفاظاً على ذاكرتنا الجريح، حافظوا على أوجاعنا في هذه السجون.. احفظوها من الدمار والتدمير والنسيان.. لتكن أمثولتنا..
فليتهم يجرؤون على قتل السجان والسفاح والجلاد، بدل أن يقتاتوا من حجارة السجن، ويخبئوا جرائمهم خلف غبار الدمار..
أمس كان صدام يسفك.. اليوم يكمل بوش ما قصَّر عنه طاغية بغداد.

Please take a look at the whole picture before you judge.
The Lebanese army is you, your brother, your cousin, your neighbor and your friend. The Lebanese army is a red line, and it has the full right for self-defense.
When there was people shooting and targeting the army it’s normal that the reaction will be a disaster like that. I am totally against violence and I only believe in peace, I’m not trying to defend what happened and I totally condemn the act of killing people but I guess this is the reason for what happened. this is not the first time, let's not forget the Dounieh and all the innocent general's who died there. Please read below the newspaper.

وأحصي سقوط 5 قتلى مدنيين وجرح 54 عسكريا من الجيش وبينهم 4 ضباط احدهم اصيب برصاصة في رجله، في حين اصيب 10 عناصر من فوج المغاوير بشظايا انفجار قنبلة القيت عليهم في الاوزاعي. كذلك جرح عنصران في قوى الامن الداخلي

سوريا على الخط
وعلمت "النهار" ان رئيس فرع جهاز الامن والاستطلاع للقوات السورية العاملة في لبنان العميد الركن رستم غزالة اجرى حتى منتصف ليل امس سلسلة اتصالات لانهاء الوضع الامني المتردي في الضاحية في اتجاهين:ا
اجرائي امني قضى بسحب كل العناصرالمشاغبة من الشوارع واعادة انتشار الجيش في المنطقة كلها من خلال عمل لجان تنسيق امني بين الجيش و"حزب الله"، ومنع اي ظهور مسلح للجماعات التي كانت قد سيطرت على الارض طوال النهار.ا
اما الاتجاه الاخر فهو سياسي، ومفاده ان غزالة ابلغ جميع المعنيين "قرارا سورياً واضحا هو ان الجيش اللبناني خط احمر، والاعتداء عليه هو اعتداء على سوريا، وتحت هذا السقف يجب توفير الحماية والحصانة لاجهزة الدولة من اجل القيام بمهماتها سواء في ملاحقة المطلوبين، او التحقيق في الارتكابات التي شملت الاعتداء على وزارة العمل والتعرض لجنود الجيش والعناصر الامنية".ا
وعلم ايضا ان هناك اكثر من 50 موقوفا لدى الاجهزة الامنية، بينهم المسلحون الذين انتشروا على السطوح واطلقوا النار على الجيش، وبينهم ايضا من رمى القنبلة في الاوزاعي.ا
ورغم احتواء الوضع "الميداني" الى نسبة معقولة مساء امس، فان "مناوشات" ظلت مستمرة في بعض الاحياء والشوارع، التي شهدت مواجهات ولا سيما منها حي السلم وطريق المطار، وقد سيرت دوريات واقيمت حواجز ليلا بلغت نهر الموت. وأسفرت المواجهات عن مقتل خمسة مدنيين واكثر من 20 جريحا. اما في صفوف الجيش والقوة الامنية فسجلت اصابات تجاوزت الـ 35 عسكريا من جراء الاعتداءات على آليات للجيش. وقد انسحبت وحدات الجيش ليلا من كل احياء الضاحية كما فتحت طريق المطار. وافاد بيان للجيش ان عدد الموقوفين في منطقة حي السلم وطريق المطار بلغ 48 شخصا بتهمة اطلاق النار ورمي رمانات يدوية ورشق بالحجارة على قوى الجيش. وسلم الموقوفون مع المضبوطات الى القضاء المختص.ا
وليل امس زار الرئيس الحريري رئيس مجلس النواب نبيه بري في عين التينة. ومع ان النائب وليد جنبلاط اوضح ان دعوة وجهت الى مجلس الوزراء للانعقاد، فان اوساط الحريري لم تحدد اي موعد للجلسة حتى ساعة متقدمة من الليل. ا

معقولة الجيش اللبناني يرتكب مجزرة بشعبه المفترض انه يدافع عنه ومن أجله اخترعوه وتكبدوا كل مصاريفه، ولك ......ا

The future of a little boy tells his story and how some government officials view a peaceful demonstrations? How can they be be so cruel??? A little boy tells his story.
When I was 9 years old, I wanted to be a solider or a police Officer. A small boy sits by the roadside looking at his hands and tells his story. I love my country and my people, I love police and soldiers, they save the country and keep our people secure. Certainly, that day there was a peaceful demonstration. I saw the police and the army shoot at the demonstrators: students, workers, farmers, and hungry people. I was very surprised with questions such as: what kind of soldiers and army are they? Do they have brains and hearts? How can they shoot innocent people of their own?
Suddenly, he finds himself covered with blood on top of his mother. He looks at his hands, these hands used to play every day, these hands were many things, a Mommies, hands, and a Daddies hands, but not anymore. He looks into his hands and from this day on he will never be able to play again, never be able to be a young person, you see, his hands are severed and covered in blood, his Mothers blood.
A small boy sits by the roadside looking at his hands. People pass him by and look down at him, feeling ever so sorry for him, but it doesn't matter now, he will have no future. His mother died in front of him, right there, at that spot of red in the road. He held onto his Mother so tight and never wanted to let go until these people arrived.
A small boy sits by the roadside looking at his hands. His mothers blood, why would I tell people? Why did this happen? Why could he not understand all of this? Would he wake up tomorrow to see his mother kiss him good morning, or would he still be here, with blood, his mothers blood. He lifts his head up to look at that place in the road, where all his dreams of a child ended, where everything ended. He was a child, no longer. A tear moved in his eye and he pushed it away with his hand, the hand that was red, as well as his face, now that he had done this, now that he had pushed his tear away. He will never be the same again, never, ever. At night he might wake up, scared and scarred for life with dreams that are far from sweet. Maybe this boy may never speak again, never to communicate with a person, or maybe his relationships will be torn apart, family, friend or even an enemy, none are able to be close.
what will he do now, what does a person do now, after this, after watching your Mother, die. He held her ever so tight, crying tears of broken pain, not able to understand what had just happened. But here he was, with blood, red blood, all over his hands.
Now we as adults, we can look at this boy’s life when it is no longer a game, no longer a big playground to play out your every young fantasy, no longer a place where you could be young and get away with it. This life of a little boy’s mother had come early, arrived in the wind with two bullets meant for someone else, but his mother and himself were targets.
So what is happening now, should he hate or should he cry. His decision had been made already by the brushing away of a tear, he would hate. This boy, so small, so innocent, would hate, hate everybody, hate himself and hate the people who did this. The blood would not stay on his hands forever, but the memories, the memories most certainly would.
Where does he go now, what is there left that could be his future. The memories may fade with time and a little love, but who knows, only this young boy growing to a man will ever know.
It was later determined that the government had ordered the army to shoot at the demonstrators. Why are you so cruel???????????????????????????

Hassan Habib Hajjar
Ottawa, Canada

hi, iam trying to contact Mr. rabih abou khalil.
it would be appreciated if any could send me his contact details. or any phone # that could help.
thank you
elias kakos, kakos@hoxtonsquare.com , +7719642904, London. UK

قومي ابعتي الفلاح لمواسم جني وخيرات تحت الشمس مقمرة

الحسون ما بيشبع فيك غنـــي بساتين ترقص بالسواقي مزنرة

يا قطعة من الجنة هربانــــــــــة فردوس ونهر من تحتك جرى

أميرة وكلك دلال يا مولدنة وضفايرك طباق ورد معطرة

For those of you who use (filthy words) to express your anger with other people or other countries and so on, it shows the degrading level of your inelegant.
My advice to you is the following: you have the right as a human being to express your thoughts and feelings, but you may do it in a discrete way so you can influence others by your comments and your stands on the issues that mean something to you.
Just an advice and I hope you take it with open arms.
Ibrahim.

Referring to recent stories about MR. NASSER NOUSRALLA ...I'd like to point out how important it will be for MACHGHARA to have a delegate to make our views heard .
People of MACHGHARA should really support MR. NASSER for the good of our community, so that village may have someone to represent them in our Government.
I think, its about time that our needs be heard , and who better to voice them than one of us [Machghara]. MR. NOUSRALLA who has proved his commitment to MACHGHARA and its people.
So lets give him and our community a chance and stand up together for once .
MOUHAMED KARIM AMMAR .
SYDNEY,AUSTRALIA

قومي انشري شذاك على كل الدني يا قلوب متل الندى يا مزهرة

صباح الخير يا مشغرة يا مباركة يا مقدسة يا مطهرة

صباح الخير لكل يلي بيستاهل الصباح, صباح الورد والفل والياسمين والزنبق.ا

يلي عم تسأل عن رمزي عيراني شو محله من الأعراب انا ما بعرف بس بتوقع يكون اما نكرة او فعل أمر كل واحد مثل ما بيعجبوا ينقي او بالأحرى يعرب. بس بعتقد فعل ماضي انتو شو بتقولوا؟

I often relished a good soap opera, and who wouldn't? The lure of secret love affairs, falling in and out of love, racy scenes and hot wet kisses, vicious divorces, betrayals, revenge and counter revenge and even plots to commit murder sometimes.

Which bring me to the saga and the love affair between the Bush administration and their lover Mr. Ahmad Chalabi. (The one time promised to be Saddam's successor). It seems as the $380,000.00 a month salary from the Pentagon was not enough to keep a prostitute from running astray looking for more lovers on the side to satisfy the urge. I was first drawn to this drama when I watched intensely Ahmad been the guest of the white house and the way he was pampered and groomed. He looked more like the virgin bride on her wedding night rather than the hooker he was pimped out to be by his employer the CIA. How misleading the picture on television can be? It seems as that hot wet kiss turned out to be the kiss of death for Ahmad from his ex-lover, when his home was raided, his computer was stolen and his funds were frozen. This came with an official American style court order by an Iraqi judge. But, the liberators of Iraq insist that they had nothing to do with this. I was somewhat confused whether the last scene was a comedy or a drama. Should I laugh or cry for the Iraqi judge??. It must hurt to fall from been the Department of defense darling to the scorned and unwanted old rag he has become. By far this is the best American soap opera I have seen in years, with a Middle Eastern twist to it. What is in store for this new divorcee now? Will he find another rich and generous lover again? Will he find love in all the wrong places? Will his tales of weapons of mass destruction be good enough for another story thirsty administration? Will he fall mysteriously to his death from his Baghdad apartment? Sorry, we're out of time now But we will find out on our next segment of As the world turns. One thing for sure: When you lay down with a pig and exchange kisses, you will definitely smell like one at the end.

الى الشخص المتحمس جداً لرمزي عيراني والذي تكلم عن شهداء(بيهربو دخان متل ما قال ) اول شيء منترجاك فهمنا بس مين رمزي عيراني و ثاني شغلي الاشخاص لي كانو عم بهربو دخان ارحم من اشخاص كانو عملاء على مدى 13 و 14 و 15 سنة وهلق موجودين بي ضيعتنا و الكل بيعرفو مينننننن بعدان كون عارف و عندك اثباتت حتى تتهم اشخاص بي اشياء و حلو كثير تعرف الحقيقة قبل ما تحكم....... ومرة ثانية بس فهمنا مين رمزي عيراني مع احترامي الك و الو لأنو حضرتك رفعتو لمرتبة الشهداءءءءءء

مين رمزي عيراني يلي عم تتقاتلوا على شانه, حدا يفهمنا لانو ما منعرفه بركي منتسلى معكن ويا ريت تقولولنا شو محله من الاعراب

الشهداء الذين تقول عنهم أنهم قتلوا في الجبال هم رفاق رمزي عيراني

نتأسف لما قاله هذا المجهول عن الشهيد رمزي عيراني بأنه تاجر مخدرات وكل العالم تعرف لماذا اغتيل رمزي عيراني وفيما نرى أشخاص أصبحت شهداء وهي قتلت عندما كانت تهرب الدخان في الجبال

لعنة مشغرة حلت على الرفيق عند الضيق، وستحل قريبا على واعظ السلاطين ان شاء الله

Nasser '' i would like to tell you you should stay out of talking about machghara'' bec all what you want to show; no one care about you any way.

بمزيد من الاسى واللوعة تنعي جمعية اتحاد المقعدين اللبنانيين في لبنان عموما وفرع مشغرة خصوصا فقيدها الغالي السيد خليل حمادي راجين من اللّه عز وجل ان يمن على عائلته بالصبر والسلوان وان يتغمد الفقيد برحمته.ا
جمعية اتحاد المقعدين اللبنانيين.ا
حسين الحاج. ا

THE FALL FROM GRACE “AS THE WORLD TURNS”.
I often relished a good soap opera, and who wouldn’t? The lure of secret love affairs, falling in and out of love, racy scenes and hot wet kisses, vicious divorces, betrayals, revenge and counter revenge and even plots to commit murder sometimes.
Which bring me to the saga and the love affair between the Bush administration and their lover Mr. Ahmad Chalabi. (The one time promised to be Saddam’s successor). It seems as the $380,000.00 a month salary from the Pentagon was not enough to keep a prostitute from running astray looking for more lovers on the side to satisfy the urge. I was first drawn to this drama when I watched intensely Ahmad been the guest of the white house and the way he was pampered and groomed. He looked more like the virgin bride on her wedding night rather than the hooker he was “pimped” out to be by his employer the CIA. How misleading the picture on television can be? It seems as that hot wet kiss turned out to be the kiss of death for Ahmad from his ex-lover, when his home was raided, his computer was stolen and his funds were frozen. This came with an official American style court order by an Iraqi judge. But, the “liberators” of Iraq insist that they had nothing to do with this. I was somewhat confused whether the last scene was a comedy or a drama… Should I laugh or cry for the “Iraqi judge”???. It must hurt to fall from been the Department of defense’s darling to the scorned and unwanted old rag he has become. By far this is the best American soap opera I have seen in years, with a Middle Eastern twist to it. What is in store for this new divorcee now? Will he find another rich and generous lover again? Will he find love in all the wrong places? Will his tales of weapons of mass destruction be good enough for another story thirsty administration? Will he fall mysteriously to his death from his Baghdad apartment? Sorry, we’re out of time now… But we will find out on our next segment of “As the world turns”. One thing for sure: When you lay down with a pig and exchange kisses, you will definitely smell like one at the end.
Joseph C. ohiousaman@aol.com

Es2alou "Batrak SFEIR" 3an masir "RAMZI IRANI", ma bijeweb bi 2ayyeh chi la2anno bya3ref el 7a2i2a(MA2ELOU 3AYN YE7KEH FIHA); WOU EL 7A2I2A EZA BADKON TA3ERFO, Enno "RAMZI IRANI" kana lahou 3ilakah bi fatat(wou hiyyeh 2osset 7obb) fa koutilah bi sababah... CHAHID khiyanat El 7obb?!

RAMZI IRANI tu es toujours dans notre mémoire, dans nos esprits, nous n'allons jamais vous oublier......

رمزي العيراني كان تاجر مخدرات وكان يوزعها بالجامعات

I would like to commend the creators of this website for the outstanding service they have provided.
In a world where individuals are increasingly more alienated, be it through location or other, a sense of community and belonging becomes vital.
The Machghara website is a great example that, even though it may get harder to chat over the fence to your neighbor, we have common threads that bind us together. Not only this site allow Machghara to conversate, but connects them to the global community, to express their unique voices as individuals and as a group.
So thanks for creating such a forum .And I hope it's patrons keep it alive .
Mohamed Karim Ammar, Australia

Zaki Nassif
The Master is Dead
Zaki Nassif, one of Lebanon's most renowned composers, died on March 11 from a heart attack. He was 88. A pioneer in developing and spreading Lebanese folk music around the world, Zaki Nassif belonged to a depleted group of musicians and composers whose work will endure through the ages. He encapsulated the true spirit of his homeland not only through his folk music and songwriting, but also through his patriotic anthems. Zakki did not compose music for the sake of music, but to serve his country in the only way he could. Music, for him, was a means not an end itself – a means to facilitate a new outlook on life and, at the same time, to preserve the ideals and traditional values of our national music.
Zakki’s accomplishments were many: he composed or sang more than 2,000 folk songs during his six-decade career; his lyrics were embraced by Lebanon’s most celebrated singers, including Fairuz and Wadih al-Safi; and he was an outstanding musician not only as a composer but also as a singer.
But what is it that really made Zaki Nassif such a great composer and a great human being above all?
Was it his modesty?
Well, for all we know he was born into a modest home in 1916, in one of Lebanon’s modest towns, Mashghara. And even though 1916 was not a modest year, given its mid-point position in the First World War, Zaki’s childhood, from what he has told us, was a modest one, nurtured under “my mother’s beautiful voice.” His education was also modest – certainly not a great deal different from the average ‘kid’ in those days.
Perhaps Zaki’s distinction lay in his music education?
Zaki related that he always had a special feeling for music. One day, in 1930, his neighbor, noticing this predisposition in the young boy, brought him an oud and turned him into an instant ‘star’ ... well at least among his peers and neighbors. Zaki was content, but not for long. His musical potential called out for more. It became irrepressible. The constant streams of encouragement he received at school concerts and other social functions only served to exacerbate this development. If anything, they convinced him to take up music as a profession rather than as a pastime hobby. And so Zaki joined the School of Music at the American University of Beirut in the mid-1930s to study music as it should be studied. His vocation in life was now on a roll: neither the war (World War II) nor his father’s insistence on a business life for his could dissuade him from music. He kept at it until he obtained his music degree from Jesuit University in Beirut.
Then again, there are those who point to Zaki’s contribution to music.
They are not wrong. Zaki launched his show business career as a singer and composer for Radio-Orient and Radio Liban and then went on to become one of the ‘keys’ in the music industry of his country. He helped to develop the folkloric tradition of Lebanon as well as Bilad as-Sham, and was one of the founding organizers of the International Baalbek Festival in 1957. “Ayyam Elhassad”, the program title of that year’s festival, had Fairuz as the leading singer, Sabri Elsharif as the director, Mohamed Shamel and Mohee Salam as managers, Tawfeek Elbasha as the conductor, Nizar Meekati to assist Elsharif, Zaki Nassif for co-writing and composing and Marwan and Wadia Jarar for choreography. The festival was held for two days. Conducted by Elbasha, the program started with Zaki Nassif and some of his still famous songs including “Taloo Habaibna Taloo”.
Zaki’s celebrated turn to traditional folklore music was not inadvertent: “we realized that the major composers around the world achieved fame only after they turned to the folklore of their respective countries. It was this realization which induced us to take more interest in local Lebanese outback folklore. We also learned that it was Russian folklore which created Russian music and singing [not vice versa]. Folklore pumps spirit into music and singing.”
After 1957, Zaki’s music career went from strength to strength. He never looked back ... he didn’t need to.
But if we really want to know why Zaki was such an outstanding musician and a great human being too we have to look no further than Zaki himself:
“Many of those who worked in the artistic field used to be members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Along with many others from my hometown, Mashghara, my brother included, I joined this party. I was in my forties, which means that my ideological affiliation was the result of a mature and conscious choice, not of youth tendencies. I affiliated to the national doctrine in the fifties when the doctrine was an object of widespread interest among the educated in the countryside and I remain faithful to it to this day. For national loyalty is not transient: it is a life-long commitment.” (From an interview with Mohammad Abi Samra of An-Nahar. Reproduced at http://www.machghara.com/index.htm)
Zaki goes on to explain how this commitment influenced his music career:
“The revival of traditional folklore, the highland as well as outback, and its inculcation into the music and singing of the fifties was one of the distinctive features of the Syrian national doctrine and its diffusion among the artists and educated of the time. For one of the primary objectives of Syrian nationalism is to make manifest the importance of the land and nature. This became the central pre-occupation of all those who embraced this doctrine. Not land only, but also man in his interaction with the land and its nature. For man does not become a constructive and active member in his country, nation and society until he gains a feeling of the importance of the land and its spiritual and material value. Without this feeling man remains peripheral and lost.” (ibid)
I rest my case.
Zaki Nassif was a model of intelligence, persistence, courage, delicacy, honour, decency, kindness, and much else. His affection enveloped you like a roar, like a cure - even when he became the one who was ill. You felt better every time you saw him. Or rather, you felt you could be better than you were, and you thought the world was a larger place than it had seemed before.

PRESIDENT BUSH LIBERATING THE IRAQI PEOPLE
IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE THIS READ ON.......
The military released 20 death certificates of prisoners who died in U.S. custody in Iraq and three in Afghanistan. It is unclear how many were included in the 37 deaths that Pentagon officials said were investigated by the Army: Name, age (if available), date and location of death (if available), cause Homicides, Iraq Nagem Sadoon Hatab, June 6, 2003, near Nasiriyah; strangulation. Several Marines were charged in connection with this death. Dilar Dababa, June 13, 2003; head injury. Manadel al-Jamadi, Nov. 4, 2003, in Baghdad; blunt force injuries complicated by compromised respiration. Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, Nov. 26, 2003, in al-Qaim; asphyxia due to smothering and chest compression. Officials have acknowledged this is under criminal investigation. Abdul Jaleel, 46, died Jan. 9, 2004, in Al Asad; blunt force injuries and asphyxia. Fahin Ali Gumaa, 44, April 28, 2004, in Baghdad; died days after receiving multiple gunshot wounds. Homicides, Afghanistan Mullah Habibullah, about 28, Dec. 3, 2002, at Bagram; pulmonary embolism due to blunt force injuries to the legs. Officials have acknowledged this is under criminal investigation. Dilawar, Dec. 10, 2002, at Bagram; blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease. Officials have acknowledged this is under criminal investigation. Abdul Wahid, Nov. 6, 2003, in Helmand province; multiple blunt force injuries complicated by a muscle condition. Natural causes, Iraq Mohammed Hussain Basim, July 12, 2003; tuberculosis Mohamed Najem Abed, Aug. 6, 2003, at Abu Ghraib prison; cardiovascular disease. Twfeek Najm Byatay Al-Zubydy Hamza Hassad, Aug. 7, 2003, at Diwania; undetermined natural cause. Wathik Mihdy, Aug. 11, 2003, at Abu Ghraib; cardiovascular disease. Dham Spah, died Aug. 13, 2003, at Abu Ghraib; cardiovascular disease. Ehad Kazam Taled, Aug. 20, 2003, at Abu Ghraib; cardiovascular disease. Nasef J. Ibrahim, 63, Jan. 8, 2004, at Abu Ghraib; cardiovascular disease. Bakir Yassen Rashed Al Hussen, Jan. 16, 2004; heart inflammation. Hassan Ekab Ahmed, Feb. 8, 2004, in Tikrit; cardiovascular disease. Saad Mohammed Abdullah, 54, Feb. 19, 2004, at Abu Ghraib; abdominal inflammation perforated gastric ulcer. Mohamed Abul Abbas, 55, March 8, 2004, in Baghdad; cardiovascular disease. Hussein Awad al-Juwadi, 75, May 11, 2004, in Baghdad, cardiovascular disease. Accident, Iraq Tariq Zaid Mohamed, Aug. 22, 2003; heat-related. Undetermined, Iraq Fashad Mohamed, April 5, 2004.

مرت ايام ولم يسنح لي الوقت بالدخول الى هذه الصفحة الجميلة لذا اصرح الآن بان اسم ادريس لا يمت باي صلة للسيد ادريس علي عقل شرف
اما بالنسبة لرأي السيد شرف بانها مقالات مشبوهة فشكرا, هذه وجهة نظر وللناس وجهات نظر مختلفة
ا"ادريس "ا

Dear people of machghara,
Since I am one of you, I thought it is about time I share my thoughts with you, every once in a while I enter our beautiful web site, many thanks to all those who put all their effort to make it happen.
Some people would like to abuse the page by posting negative thoughts, and dwell on the past.
It is like they really do not want this town to be uplifted from its misery and its downfall.
I appeal to all of you the people of Machghara to set your differences aside and to see how we can pay back this wounded town what it gave us once ( our childhood).
My dream is to see our town revives again with its people (Muslims and Christians) working side by side hand and hand, so it can be a wonderful town for generations to come.
Ibrahim Mohsen Hammoud.

لمن يهمه الامر. ورد على هذه الصفحة مقالات تحمل توقيع "ادريس" ارجو من صاحب هذه المقالات المشبوهة التعريف عن نفسه بالشكل الائق والغاء كل ما ورد باسم ادريس.ا
ادريس علي عقل شرف

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
THIS IS MY SECOND VISIT TO WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A "WONDERFUL" SITE ,FOR A "WONDERFUL" VILLAGE !!!
TODAY , I'VE JUST DONE A REVIEW IN THE ARCHIVES & I'VE FOUND MANY & MANY OF MESSAGES SIGNED BY "EDRISS".
WHO IS THIS "EDRISS" & WHAT/WHO IS HIS TARGET ?
WHY NOT TO SIGN WITH A FULL NAME ?
THERE NO MANY "EDRISS" IN OR OUTSIDE MACHGHARA !!!
SO ,PLEASE ,PLEASE ,PLEASE..... DON'T GO THROUGH THESE NASTY ACTS !!!
DR. EDRISS ALI AKL CHARAF, BEIRUT .LEBANON .EDRISSCRF@YAHOO.COM.

I JUST CANT HELP BUT LAUGH AND LAUGH SO YOU CAUGHT THE RAT ALL OF US ARE PROBABLY WONDERING WHO HE IS PLEASE JUST GIVE US A LITTLE HINT OR A HINT OF WHO HIS SISTER IS? HA HA WE DARE YOU TO COME OUT NOW MR. IT

Participating in democratic elections leads you to accept in advance the results regardless the outcome. During the electoral campaign all candidates are allowed to show and prove their skills and must sacrifice personal morals without offending each other in order to convince the voters. Once the elections are over, the elected individual/board should focus on IMPROVING THE BENEFITS OF THEIR PEOPLE, ASSURING AN EQUAL REPRESENTATION AND PROTECTING THE MINORITY RIGHTS.

The primary purpose of any elected individual/board is to serve people. Not the other way around. A board for the people from the people. It’s not a question of power, nor a show off situation. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all elected individuals and motivate them to focus on their primary purpose, and also invite their opponents to take action of opposing any work done in the future that you disapprove or disagree with. Offending personals is not going to lead any where..

And to Mr. anonymous, Regarding the statement on May 11, you should be honored, glad and proud when a man like Jean Barakeh be on your municipality’s board, everyone in your town know exactly who can get inflated and puffed up, and we know exactly who’s values are these. Just a small advice for the future:” be brave, smart and have the courage to look the person in the eye and tell him what you think!!” because tracking down your IP address, and finding out who you are was as easy as trapping a small rat, don’t forget to say hi to your sister for me.

Georges Nabih Barakeh
Downtown Machgara :)

You definitely fit the description of unwise person. Since you speak highly of Hezbollah, why they don’t ask the Surriyeen to leave Sami Hajjar’s house so they can go back to the Machghara you are trying to promote. This person wanted to return to visit but his house is occupied by the "surriyyen". So as Al-Ajouri house.
Those people would love to go back and visit Machghara. where would you like those people to go.
Baraki

As I understand, this site for Mashgharani why visitors don't mention their names when placing a comments? so we can remember the old days.
Ahmad Issa

الواحد عن جد بينسى قديش مشغرة حلوة، وخصوصا حارة التحتا. يعني عن جد جنات تجري من تحتها الأنهار

تحية الى القيمين على هذا الموقع الجميل الذي يجمع كل المشغرانيين المقيمين والمهاجرين على شيى واحد الا وهو الحديث عن جمال مشغرة
انا مغرم بوحدة اسمها مشغرة
تيمور

واشنطن: العقوبات على سوريا ليست النهاية بل البداية

To MR Baraki,
I read your comments on this site, and still I can't understand.. What is your point? What do you want to achieve by writing this nonsense? It is like you have been living on Mars for the last 10 years. You have NO idea how things have changed in the last decade. You are victimizing yourself and (the Christian community) of Machghara. Why should Hizbullah or others give you assurance of ur safety?? I have never heard of any incidents or problems between christians and muslims for the last 10 years and specially NOt the Hizbollah. I dont ask for assurance when I visit my Friends in Achrafiye. The difference is that I am not prejudiced and not playing the victim.. I think you are being like a little child crying to have some attention.. You are suggesting things that don't exist...So please stop this and GO to Machghara OR ask the other people ( Muslim and Christians) from all parties ( Communist, Kataeb, Amal, Kawmi) who went back to Machghara and didnt have any problems there.

الى ..ح...ال
يبح صوتي ولا يأبه............................ اراه متوحد في اقاصي الحضور..................... كذبه................................................ احتمال ولدته الصدفة من زمن............................ الصدفة رحم عقيم يجهض الاجوبة الصادقة........................ الاجوبة الصادقة كتابة عمياء............................... الكتابة العمياء رماد اللهفة المجنونة ........................... اللهفة المجنونة لذة يحرقها القلق................................. القلق تجربة في معنى الانسان............................................. الانسان قلق الكتابة في لهفة صادقة ومجنونة .............................. فهل تعرف للانسانية معنى يا (...) ا