Lebanese
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora never visited southern Lebanon to see what
happened during the war. "Instead he went on holiday to Jordan. Is it
possible for a prime minister not to know or care about his own
country?"
Rather than funding from the Lebanese
government, Bint Jbail is being rebuilt primarily with money from
Qatar, and with some help from Hezbollah, which was first on the scene
with funding and relief supplies for the residents.
Others are angry with the local government.
"The local municipality isn't letting us rebuild our homes the way they
were," Bilal Hussein Jama'a told IPS. "They want to build a bigger road
and more modern housing units, but this could affect my house as I had
before."
Jama'a, who had stayed in the conflict-ridden city for the first
17 days of the war, is also up against both the Israeli military and
the Lebanese government.
"They
can bomb us one day and we'll rebuild the next because we are not
afraid of them," he said. "But the rebuilding is on our own, with the
help of Qatar and Hezbollah and Iran, but not from our own impotent
government."
Jama'a said he supported "100 percent" the
continuing sit-in near the parliament in Beirut led by several
opposition parties.
Residents are angry that there is no support from the government, but
that the government steps in to regulate construction paid for by
others.
Hussein Ayoub, now rebuilding his house in the border village Maroun er
Ras, said a rich Kuwaiti was financing reconstruction of several houses
in his village.
"The man wanted to pay directly, but Siniora forced him to pay through
the Lebanese government," he said. "We're not getting our rights and
the government is responsible, so we must protest to demand our rights
now."
He added, "I'm disgusted with state interference with how I want to
rebuild my home. They send people to come check how I'm building it,
but with no assistance whatsoever."
Amnesty
International stated after the war ended that many of the attacks on
Lebanon's civilian infrastructure were collective punishment, and not
the "collateral damage" that Israel claimed.
United
Nations Development Programme spokesman Jean Fabre had estimated in
August 2006 that economic losses to Lebanon from the month-long war
amounted to "at least 15 billion dollars."
According to the Lebanese government, more than 1,100 civilians were
killed during the war. Also, 43 Israeli civilians died from rockets
fired by Hezbollah.
The fighting is over but tension continues to hang over the region. A
Lebanese soldier at a border post who asked not to be named told IPS
that Israeli warplanes have been flying into Lebanese airspace nearly
every week in violation of the UN-brokered ceasefire agreement.
"We see the drones (unmanned espionage aircraft) nearly every single
day," the Lebanese soldier added. This IPS correspondent too observed
an Israeli warplane overhead in southern Lebanon, and at least one
military drone.
Writings 
Starting from within hours of the ceasefire, about a million people who had fled southern Lebanon began to return, many to wrecked homes. One of the towns almost completely destroyed was Bint Jbail, less than 5km from the Lebanese-Israeli border.
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