Snow in the Middle East

(December 12, 2013)

Where do you think this picture is from? Could anyone think that it is of the forests of fir and spruce in Sweden?

It is really a photo from Jordan, on the BBC Arabic. I did not know that coniferous trees exist in the Middle East.

Here is a better shot of the pine needles. The caption says: "The struggles in Syria. The cold something something to the long suffering endured by hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees." (Though some of these photos are actually of Jordan.)

Here's a Christmas tree on the streets of Palestine.

Here are Syrian refugee camps in the south of Lebanon. I guess they only got rain here, not snow.

These are Syrian refugee camps in a different part of Lebanon. Their tents are provided by the UN.

All the spokespeople for UNHCR were out in force on the BBC Arabic, saying that they have not received enough funding and supplies to make sure all the refugees stay warm.

Laundry in front of the UN tent.

Pretty in pink.

This person is trying to clear the snow off of the UN tent flaps.

This is a young Lebanese man describing how he and his fellow youths are trying to gather clothes and other supplies to help out the Syrian refugees.

The BBC Arabic moderator then interviewed an official from Lebanon's government: how do you feel when you see Syrians out in the snow, with only tents to protect them, and your government isn't doing anything about it?

The Lebanese official said: well, we don't have any money, and where is the rest of the world and why don't they give us money?

Part of the news report mentioned how Lebanon won't build any camps for Syrian refugees until they have some kind of guarantee about something, or something.

I once saw a video on the UN youtube website about an Egyptian lady living in Lebanon. I think she was born there, or otherwise moved there at a very young age. Her dad had died, and she had no family in Egypt, and it was just her and her mom in Lebanon. Even though she'd lived there forever, she could not get Lebanese citizenship. There's no naturalization process like there is in all the "evil western countries." Because she didn't have Lebanese citizenship, she couldn't get a job anywhere. Nice, right?