Facing new hardships, Lebanese weigh safety vs. ‘living this life’
The tragedy of a capsized boat of asylum seekers en route from Lebanon to Italy last Wednesday is reverberating still in Lebanon and the Arab world, with entire communities in mourning.
One hundred men, women, and children – Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian – drowned, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Eastern Mediterranean.
It highlighted not only the widespread desperation in a country whose capital, Beirut, was once coined the “Paris of the Middle East,” but the lack of legal pathways for people to emigrate, and the mortal dangers facing those who try.
And yet Beirut vendor Mohamed, like many, is eager to take the same route.
“It is a tragedy and a catastrophe that has touched every one of us,” the 29-year-old says via WhatsApp. “But the only chance for a dignified life is to leave Lebanon. Rather than
