BEIRUT, 17 October 2006 — Dozens of Lebanese sit at tables piled with Mediterranean appetizers, puffing on sleek golden water pipes and tapping their feet to an Arab pop singer.
This typical Ramadan night scene at crowded seaside cafes and restaurants in central Beirut suggests that at least some Lebanese are determined to enjoy themselves despite the recent ordeal of Israel’s 34-day war with Hezbollah.
The war that ended on Aug. 14 cost the lives of about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, in Lebanon and about 157 Israelis.
Beirut’s Mediterranean Corniche seafront is gridlocked with traffic and parked cars at night as families bring out their water pipes and plastic chairs and socialize until dawn during the holy month.
“People have been feeling bad and want to get out of the mood of the war. But it’s great that the place is crowded like this now,” said Noura Shaar, 21, at a Ramadan-themed restaurant at the Sea Rock hotel in the Raouche coastal district.
“We really were not expecting that Ramadan would attract that many people to socialize outdoors but it’s so crowded that we can’t come here without reserving,” she said over the din of a singer backed by an electronic piano.
The exuberant mood does not extend to the city’s Shiite southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold where Israeli bombing devastated neighborhoods and made thousands homeless.
“From the financial side, Ramadan is very hard. We’re spending our money to rebuild our homes and we haven’t seen a speck of sugar or any other type of aid,” said Um Mahmoud, 50, whose home was partially destroyed.
But elsewhere, many Beirutis seem anxious to escape their cares after a summer dominated by the fighting, keeping up a tradition of resilience honed during the 1975-90 civil war.
“When an Israeli ship was on the coastline, I went in and swam anyway. We’re a people who enjoy life and we don’t give the enemy any importance,” said Yousef, a jewelry trader, as he waited in a hotel ballroom to attack a two-meter (six-feet) long buffet.
“If the war had happened in any other place except Lebanon, it would not have bounced back as quickly as Lebanon did,” said law student Samar Yamak, 26.
Across the Middle East during Ramadan, Muslims break their daylong fast, often entertaining friends or relatives to lavish “iftar” meals.
Muslims are also encouraged to have a meal, or suhour, before dawn to set them up for the next day’s fasting and this meal, in many Arab cities, takes on a social life of its own. Lebanese restaurants and hotels often offer Ramadan suhour programs of meals in the early hours and entertainment by singers for a clientele that in past years included many Gulf Arabs.
The war wrecked Lebanon’s promising tourist season and it is not clear how many Gulf visitors will return for the Eid Al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan later this month.
Some youngsters in central Beirut are keen to throw off the summer’s bleak memories and celebrate during Ramadan.
“To me, the war was a certain period of time. The war ended and we continued our life,” said Rasha Ammache, 20, a student who was playing cards with her friend at a restaurant.
One of the restaurant’s co-owners said business was booming this Ramadan, though people were not spending as much as usual.
“The new generation is not influenced by the war. They have nothing to do with it and they just want to get away from the depression,” said Badr Aboulhasan.
“Everyone was so bored ... everyone had just had enough.”
