Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. Florida student trapped in Lebanon as violence in Middle East worsens
By Sanam Dolatshahi
Independent Florida Alligator (U. Florida)
07/18/2006

(U-WIRE) GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The conflict in the Middle East is not only hitting Americans at the gas pump; the violence is also affecting some University of Florida students.

Amira, a Lebanese pharmacy student at UF, went to Lebanon for Summer break and is now stuck in the conflicted area. Amira's friends did not provide her last name.

"I don't know when she can come back to Gainesville," said Diala Dandach, Amira's friend and a Lebanese building construction student at UF.

The Lebanese borders are closed, and communication is difficult, Dandach said.

She has to call home at least 10 times a day to reach her family, because the landlines are damaged.

"When you don't get lucky to talk to your family, you really start to worry," she said.

Dandach reads the news constantly through the Web site Tayyar.org, which updates every three minutes with the news about the crisis. She cannot concentrate to study and complete her assignments.

"You don't know what is happening next. I sleep at 3 a.m., when it's 10 a.m. at Beirut. When I wake up at 9 a.m., so many things have happened back there. It's really frustrating," Dandach said.

Her parents and siblings live in Beirut. When her 22-year-old brother went out to buy groceries, the bombings started. He had to return home with an empty basket.

"They are bombing everywhere. When the North was bombarded, I had to call my friend who lives there to make sure she's fine. We keep calling everybody," she said.

Hare'l Amir, an Israeli political science and philosophy student at UF, calls his relatives in Israel every day to make sure everything is OK.

His relatives live near the Gaza Strip and are relatively safer in the south, away from the Lebanese border, Amir said.

It's not the kind of war you see Americans fight, but it might soon escalate into such a war, he said.

In case of an emergency, Amir will go back to Israel to join the army and defend his country.

"If we have to go back because of war, it will be for a long time, and we won't be able to come back to school," he said.

Amir works at UF's English Language Institute and has many Arab friends there.

"You don't want to talk about these issues (with them). The emotions will go up, especially with friends. You don't want to alienate each other," he said.

He watches the news through Israeli satellite channels continuously to get the updates.

"The U.S. media try to make stories out of something clear-cut. It's biased. It doesn't show everything. The Israeli channels are more accurate," Amir said.

Hicham Elzabadani, a Lebanese computer science doctoral candidate at UF, watches the news through Arab satellite channels.

"The media here are not taking a neutral position," he said. "They are pro-Israel."

Elzabadani, whose parents, brother and three sisters live in Beirut, watches the television 15 hours a day. He said world governments should help stop the killing of civilians.

"If they don't do anything about this, it means they are partners to this."

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