Talk:Beirut
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"There are twenty-one universities in Beirut, including the American University of Beirut (oldest and finest in the Middle-East),"
I'd love to see the source for that claim. Could it be more POV? I thought my imaginary university of ballsacks was the FINEST... Isnt finest POV by defenition?
Actually Im just gonna go ahead and remove the word finest. Oldest is something easily verifiable considering, finest is not. Finest as in most slutty girls? Finest as in best architecture? Finest as in wtf? Yep, defenitely deleting it. Sorry for the double edit here tho.
I wasn't sure why it was necessary to specify that Brooklyn is in New York City which is in New York, so I removed the last one. I feel it reads better like that and there is still enough information under the link for anyone who does not know what Brooklyn or NYC is to find out easily enough. I'd be happ to discuss it, however. Nevilley 07:25, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Should the mention of the airstrikes link to the article on the conflict itself? -F.S.O--train--'09 19:20, 23 July 2006 (UTC)
I don't think that you need to put scare quotes around "Hezbollah bunker" -- it's enough to say that the Israelis claimed it was one, which already indicates that it was the claim of one side and not necessarily established fact. But I haven't edited this yet. 24.47.190.74 03:16, 25 July 2006 (UTC)motorneuron
Why does the article mention, under the "Israel airstrikes" section, all the bombardments of Lebanese territory, and not only the ones which hit targets within the area of Beirut itself, as it should be in an article that discusses the mere city?
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I feel that it is unencyclopedic to comment upon allegations made as to the conduct of a war (by both parties) when it is difficult in the extreme to verify these assertions. It is my opinion that the proper conduct for an encyclopedia is to provide a dossier of verified facts, the reporting of current events is best left to the mass media.
The first several paragraphs are clearly biased against Israel. Let's please keep politics out of Wikipedia. There are plenty of other sites where you can let your opinion be known.
[edit] Beirut Coat of Arms & Flag
I added the Beirut coat of arms, taken directly from www.beirut.gov.lb which is the official Beirut municipality website. The picture is in public domain as long as it is used for informational and educational purposes only. I'm sure everyone would agree with me on this step. Ad vitam aeternam (talk) 22:47, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
I also added the flag of Beirut based on the coat of arms and referenced (http://www.flickr.com/photos/councilmembergarcetti/184277133/) Ad vitam aeternam (talk) 12:30, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
Someone keeps deleting the flag, although it respects the rules of fair use. Who is to decide if it is to stay or not?!?!?!?! Ad vitam aeternam (talk) 23:51, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Jerusalem?
Among the twin cities, there's Jerusalem listed with the Israeli flag next to it. I followed the source, it says literally " Jerusalem the capital City of Palestine" with the Palestinian flag next to it.
Now because Jerusalem is not internationally recognized as Palestine's capital, I understand not putting the Palestinian flag, but to put the Israeli flag is utter nonsense. I think the lesser of the 2 evils is to replace the Israeli flag with the Palestinian one. Remember, Lebanon is OFFICIALLY at war with Israel. 89.133.155.193 (talk) 22:18, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Conflict stuff
Yes - we're all concerned about the conflict. Since it is an ongoing, fluid, current event, readers should be referred to the article about the conflict itself. Opinions and facts about the conflict do not belong in the article.
To this end, I have added a "conflict" section to the article and refer interested readers to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict article.
This is the text that I removed:
- The city, along with the rest of the country, is currently experiencing a major humanitarian crisis as a result of the coordinated missile strikes and artillery fire from Israeli aircraft and artillery units. These strikes have so far mainly targeted the city's southern suburbs, widely considered to be Hezbollah's strategic headquarters.
- The stated purpose of the strikes are to destroy the Lebanese Islamic militant organization Hezbollah. However, in reality a policy of collective punishment against the Lebanese population is being executed; a great part of the city's infrastructure, including its international airport as well as most of its major bridges and highways have also been partially or completely destroyed. Indeed, these events are inline with the statement of Israel's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, who said "If the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years." (Source: CNN) Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishment is a war crime. Article 33 states: "No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited."
I need to tune up some formatting at the beginning of the Beirut article and will do so now. --AStanhope 21:00, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Israeli Airstrikes
I propose removing the Israeli Airstrikes section of the article. This information belongs in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict article - not in the article about Beirut proper. Alternatively, an article called 2006 Israeli airstrikes on Beirut or something similar could be produced. Why not? Sounds good! --AStanhope 21:06, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
Here is the entire removed section regarding Israeli airstrikes for use elsewhere:
- On July 12, 2006, Israel attacked dozens of targets throughout the country as part of an operation Israel claimed was aimed at recovering soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid earlier in the day. Critics say this is retaliation for Lebanon's toleration of attacks on Israel, pointing to a prisoner trade offer by Hezbollah. [1]
- On July 13, 2006, the raid extended to the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Israeli jets fired missiles at the Rafic Hariri International Airport, which forced its closure and diversion of flights, as well as damage to Hezbollah's Al-Manar television station, and the destruction of the Rayak Air Base in the Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon.[2]
- On July 14, 2006, over 50 civilians have been killed, and Israeli jets dropped bombs on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. Also, the international airport came under attack once again. [3]
- On July 15, 2006, Israeli warships bombarded coastal targets in northern Beirut, such as the port, lighthouses, and navy radars at the Lebanese army's coastal base. One Lebanese soldier was killed while a few were wounded. But earlier, Hezbollah attacked an Israeli warship killing four Israeli soldiers. Israeli jets also dropped leaflets over the north-western tourism city of Manara Street and the rest of Lebanon. Children and adults ran into the streets to snatch up leaflets, which had a caricature of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a serpent and read: "Is the resistance ... helping Lebanon? The resistance ... is destroying Lebanon!" [4]
- On July 16, 2006, the assault on Dahieh at Beirut's southern suburb resumed as an attempt to destroy Hezbollah targets and kill Hassan Nasrallah of the Shi'ite Muslim radical group. Israeli jets also destroyed the bridge in that area that leads east to Hazmieh. [5]
- On July 20, 2006, seven Brazilians were killed by Israeli airstrikes. [6]. Israel claimed to have bombed a "Hezbollah bunker" in the Beirut suburb, however Al-Manar dismissed this claim and said that the jets hit a mosque in that area. [7]
- Currently, foreigners and Lebanese are trying to flee from Lebanon by sea, to Cyprus and then to their home countries, or by land to Damascus, Syria, either to flee through its airport or stay there as refugees. Warships from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Commonwealth of Nations are still evacuating their citizens to Cyprus, which is critically overcrowded with tourists and evacuees.[8]
- There are an estimated 90,000 Sri Lankan mostly female domestic workers in Lebanon. As Sri Lanka is itself undergoing a rebel attack by the militant LTTE ("Tamil Tiger" terrorist organization), the government is not organizing any exodus for its citizens.
I agree that this is extremely important information however I don't think it belongs in the Beirut article proper. Whoever is behind this, please consider integrating it into the 2006 Lebanon-Israel conflict article or starting a new article on the topic. Thanks! --AStanhope 21:12, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Beirut / tel aviv comparison
i don't see the point of comparing the two cities. you could compare beirut to many other mediterranean cities in turkey or greece or even north africa i say the comparison should be deleted, there's no need for it
[edit] Saifi a SUNNI negihborhood? Hahahaha
'Beirut has both developed and less developed neighborhoods. Its most famous Sunni Muslim negihborhood is Saifi Village at Downtown.' This information is both inaccurate and misleading. Saifi is not even a neighborhood per se. It's barely ten buildings full of non-residential shops. Plus it's population is not remotely exclusive to Sunni Muslims. I know that many Christians and other Muslims have clinics/offices/apartments there. If that info is meant to heightened one group of Muslims over the other, and to make foreigners believe that there is actual segregation between the two Muslim groups, I think it should be removed at once. This is not 'The Truth'. And why allude that downtown is a Sunni neighborhood. We all know that there are many many many Christian properties there (both historical and personal). If you insist on a Sunni neighborhood, why not choose something like 'Malla/ Nazlit el Hoss', 'tallit el khayat' or even 'Verdun', which is a reasonably elegent. --LestatdeLioncourt 20:01, 8 November 2006 (UTC)Bold text
- I've just started looking at this article, and I'm curious if there's even any reason to list the neighborhoods? Are any of them notable? Should they all be listed? Should the entire paragraph just be removed, or moved to its own section instead of the introduction? George Saliba 13:13, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] This article needs sources!!
Hi. I was just glossing over the Beirut article...it is in desperate need of sources. There are several POV statements that I'm about to fix...I thought I would mention it here. I'm going to go at it a little at a time...please feel free to provide thoughts/input/etc...--Xtcrider 15:22, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] To user 213.132.39.22:
You have, on several occasions, inserted lines in this article similar to "of course, this title was self-proclaimed by the Lebanese themselves, and is still stubbornly and pretentiously still being used by some of them" when referring to Beirut's nickname "Paris of the middle-east". Whether you are right or wrong (which isn't the point), your sentence is blantanly POV, unsourced and doesn't belong in an 'encyclopedic' article...if you can reference your sentence (much like I referenced the nickname), please do so...your approach isn't very constructive... --Xtcrider 02:05, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
what are the major transportation iin beirut Lebanon?
[edit] transportations
what are the major transportation iin beirut Lebanon?
[edit] Suburbia
Should I add in information about the suburbs in Beirut (ie Mansourieh, Antelias Antelias, and Mkhallis)? If so, would this make a new section or go under one that already exists? TBL 23:22, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Pictures
I think that the pictures on Beirut aren't enough and are rather unappealing. I think we should place an aerial picture of the Beirut peninsula. God knows there's alot on Yahoo or Google. Im still new here so i have no idea how to add pictures. But i have many awesome ones. Someone show me how to do it..lol
[edit] line removed from opening paragraph
Regarding the sobqriquet "The Paris of the Middle East," one author wrote: "although this was a title the Lebanese self-appointed to themselves, and many Lebanese still pretentiously use this title, despite Beirut being a shadow of it's former glory days."
Besides the redundancy and awkwardness of the phrasing "self-appointed to themselves," and the unnecessary inclusion of an apostrophe in the possesive "its," the entire sentence is highly derisive of both those Lebanese who chose to refer to their city by this title and the state of the city itself. The sentence is utterly inappropriate for a Wikipedia article, which has rigorous standards of formality, impartiality, and clarity. Before contributing to Wikipedia any further, the author must consult Wikipedia's style guidelines at length. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.232.207.175 (talk) 09:10, 5 January 2007 (UTC).
[edit] Deleted external links
External link or links have recently been deleted by User:Calton as "horrible Tripod pages which add little information, are full of ads, and fail WP:EL standards." No better external links were substituted. Readers may like to judge these deleted links for themselves, by opening Page history. --Wetman 15:02, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] History
Beirut is more than 5000 years old and this should be mentioned at the begining of the history section. The current first paragraph implies that it dates back to 15th century B.C. which is wrong.
Excerpts from http://www.middleeast.com/beirut.htm
Historical Heritage
Beirut stands on the site of a very ancient settlement going back at least 5,000 years. Its name appeared in cuneiform inscriptions as early as the 14th century B.C. In the first century B.C., Berytus, as it was then called, became a Roman Colony and under Roman rule was the seat of a famous Law school which continued into the Byzantine era.
> >
I added it
[edit] Wow
The whitewashing Zionists have so greatly absolved themselves of responsibility that the "History" section of this article mentions a "war" without referring to the 1982 attack on Lebanon by name. This is getting ridiculous. Alyoshenka 12:38, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] European Port?
I have removed the category of European Ports since Beruit is not in Europe. Should anyone feel this is incorrect, please comment here. --KNHaw (talk) 06:30, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
Then I suggest Lebanon should not be present in all European maps as usual, unless a royalty fee be paid.89.133.139.252 (talk) 20:36, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Gay life
NPR just did a story on how gays and lesbians are tolerated in Beirut, moreso than elsewhere in the Middle East: Gay Community Thrives in Lebanon. This article doesn't have a culture section per se, so I'm not sure where to add mention. -- Beland 05:55, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
- It probably belongs in the LGBT rights in Lebanon article. — George [talk] 06:35, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Steps for making Beirut a Featured Articke
Hello everyone. I just had a word with one of our moderators, tariqabjotu, and he stated that the lists under "Districts & Neighborhoods", "Colleges and universities", "Public Spaces", and "Famous Births" need to be replaced with prose or removed altogether. Also, he had a point pointing to other FA cities like Jerusalem, New York City, Mumbai, and others found under Wikipedia:Featured articles#Geography and places. We should also have an well-sourced article made up almost entirely of prose. (I will also address the members at WikiProject Lebanon directly at the WikiProject talk page as well.) - Omar 180 17:51, 11 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Ya Libnan, Plagiarism, & Original Content
Either get rid of Ya Libnan, or stop deleting Blogging Beirut. Blogging Beirut is majority (90%) original photojournalism, whereas Ya Libnan is nothing more than a portal that aggregates other sites' stories. How is it that plagiarism of the first degree is allowed but real, original, unique photojournalism isn't? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.229.104.3 (talk) 02:42, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] GA Review
Unfortunately, this article is not ready for Good Article status at this time. I have several concerns about this article, including:
- It needs quite a few more references. In some places, entire sections are unreferenced.
- There are multiple "citation needed" tags in the article.
- References must have at least a title, publisher, accessdate and url. If available, the author and date should also be stated. I strongly recommend {{cite web}} templates.
- The article needs to cite reliable sources, and I'm not convinced that some of the ones used are considered reliable. 999beirut doesn't have any information when I click on the link. And wikipedia is cited multiple times, although it cannot be used as a reference for other wikipedia articles.
- The article has too many pictures, in my opinion. It's at the point of overkill.
- There are many choppy paragraphs in the article. Single-sentence paragraphs should not be used. A lot of the prose would flow better if it was joined into well-developed paragraphs. Much of the article reads as a list right now.
- The "Neighborhoods" section is a list, although two post above this review is a message from November stating that the list should be made into prose.
- More development is needed in some areas, which will help with the short paragraphs. I find that a lot of the information is mentioned briefly, but no real detail is given about it. There is a lot of "Beirut has this. Beirut has that.", but the reader doesn't learn much other than that these things are located in Beirut.
- "Arts & Fashion" and "Famous Births" don't follow naming conventions in the Manual of Style. The & sign should be replaced, and only the first letter in the section header should be capitalized.
These are some of the items that stand out to me. I believe it will take a while to get the referencing and copyediting done so that the prose flows well and is thoroughly referenced. I am failing the article for now, and I encourage you to address these points and preferably place the article for peer review before renominating it. Best wishes, GaryColemanFan (talk) 20:48, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
- I removed the gallery, which was overkill, as some of the images there were already in the article. This section[9] seems problematic too, and at least two images should be removed from there, so we could align the remaining two to either the right or left. Funkynusayri (talk) 12:59, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Silk
Silk does not grow! Silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm. belissarius (talk) 18:33, 21 May 2008 (UTC)