How a small Lebanese town became a haven from Israel’s war
Al Jazeera
The people of Bar Elias say it is their moral duty to host newcomers uprooted by Israel’s invasion.
Bar Elias, Lebanon – When Israel began carpet-bombing Lebanon in late September, Shifa struggled to console her three young children.
Her eldest, 12-year-old Raneem, was so frightened she couldn’t eat or sleep. She sobbed throughout the night as Israeli warplanes and drones thundered and buzzed over their home, Shifa said, huddled in her black abaya.
Sitting on a plastic chair, she spoke to Al Jazeera with Raneem next to her, while her two other children played behind them.
Leaning forward, Shifa recounted that, on September 25, Israel bombed the building across from their house in Ali el-Nahri, a village in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, about 35km (25 miles) from the capital, Beirut.
The blast shattered the glass in Shifa’s apartment and blew the doors off their hinges.
