Waad Project restores people’s hope

Dahia was the area hardest hit by Israel in 2006. It suffered 934 bombing raids, according to the Lebanese army. Much of the neighborhood was reduced to rubble.

Three years later we saw none of that. In the hardest hit areas of Dahia we saw endless reconstruction, new, modern apartment buildings, bustling neighborhoods and new hospitals. We saw a vibrant and alive community rebuilding itself.

Beirut Cardiac Hospital in Dahia, built with funds from Iran. WW photo: Joyce Chediac

Before Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, this tightly packed Shiia neighborhood was called the “Belt of Misery.” The Dahia, or southern suburb of Beirut, was long the city’s most disenfranchised area. There were no social services until Hezbollah began providing them. Now once again, after the bombing raids by Israel, the neighborhood is on the move.

We felt the enthusiasm and experienced the friendliness and openness of a people who had overcome a man-made disaster and were coming out on top.

When Israel bombed this poor neighborhood, it followed the infamous policy of all occupiers: carry out collective punishment of the population to turn the people against the resistance movement. This massive retaliation against the population was even named by Israel as its “Dahia Doctrine,” defined by Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz as a plan to “use disproportionate force and cause great damage and destruction” in order to “turn the clock back 20 years.” (www.electronicintifada.net)

What Israel and its backers in Washington did not count on, however, was the response of Hezbollah, the leading resistance group in Lebanon. Hezbollah announced the Waad Project, a reconstruction plan for the complete restoration of this neighborhood.

Dahia becoming a showpiece

In fact, Hezbollah is building the hardest-hit areas of Dahia into a showcase, with new workers’ housing much improved from what it was before the Israeli bombing. Far from being turned against the resistance, Hezbollah has drawn the people of Dahia even closer with its response.

The Lebanese government is providing an average of $53,000 in compensation for families who lost their homes in the war. Most agree this is far from being enough to buy an adequate apartment in Beirut. The Waad Project gave people a choice: rebuild your own apartments with the compensation funds or give the Project the money and let it assume responsibility for reconstruction. Hezbollah promised to cover whatever extra was needed to build higher standard housing.

Each building held a vote—the overwhelming majority voted to put their trust in Hezbollah and its project. The Waad pledged to rebuild about 280 destroyed and damaged buildings in Dahia and make them even better than before. From everything we saw, the Waad is making good on its promise. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.

According to the Project’s design, the newly rebuilt areas have “more lighting and open spaces, traffic reduction through improved roads, new parking lots, and gardens to give the streets and buildings a greater sense of place and character.” People are even being given a choice of countertops and other variables for their new apartments! This is happening in an area that was once the poorest and most run down in all of Beirut.

We witnessed the fruits of this commitment. In addition to spanking new apartments under construction, we saw shops, offices, warehouses and schools. There was a cardiac-specialty hospital donated by Iran. We were shown a large restaurant which served traditional Lebanese food at low prices for working families. “Come to Dahia if you want to shop,” we were told, “things are cheaper here.”

People’s struggle defeats ‘Dahia Doctrine’

Hezbollah and the people of Dahia have turned around this U.S-Israeli “Dahia Doctrine” of destruction and despair into its very opposite—a victory for the people and their liberation struggle. The U.S. and Israeli policy of collective punishment has backfired here, as it has backfired throughout history—in Vietnam, in Algeria, in occupied Europe and elsewhere.

What has been the response? The U. S. government has labeled not only Hezbollah a “terrorist” organization but also the reconstruction project. It has frozen any assets held by the Waad Project that are under U.S. jurisdiction and U.S. citizens are barred from having any transactions with Waad.

Backed by the U.S., Israel has also threatened new terrors against Lebanon if Hezbollah takes part in the Lebanese government which is now being formed. Don’t the Lebanese people have the right to defend their homes?

In Dahia we saw a population teeming with new confidence and pride in their organization, Hezbollah, and in themselves for what they have accomplished. The people of Dahia are hopeful for the future and confident that they can successfully defend its hard-won gains and sparkling new neighborhoods.