BEIRUT, Lebanon -- steady if the R...

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- steady if the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr leaves the Middle East onward Saturday without a captive in tow, he will have shed much-need light forward the ongoing crisis between Lebanon and Israel.

Traveling with four religious leaders, a video-photographer, photographer, biographer and four journalists from the Chicago region, Jackson sense of possible fulfilments to give the American public a picture of the conflict that is seldom seen in the United States.

Since arriving, Jackson has had access to leaders in the couple Syria and Lebanon, as well as to shadowy figures whom the United States considers sponsors of terrorism in the region.

The picture that emanates is the other side of the long-standing conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The newly come violence began when Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev one as well as the other reservists in the Israeli military, were abducted from members of Hezbollah, the heavily armed resistance dispose that does not recognize Israel's statehood.

forward Tuesday, Jackson had a candid meeting with Emile Lahoud, the president of Lebanon, who indicated that the sum of two units Israeli soldiers whose abduction touched not upon the 34-day war between Israel and Lebanon were still alive. Jackson wants them fre

According to Lahoud, 1500 the bulk of mankind were killed and 3,000 more were anguished in the bombing that evened entire blocks in some Beirut neighborhoods.

I asked him what message he would throw to the American people as Lebanese and Israeli officials contest to maintain a fragile cease- fire.

"Unfortunately, the media is not getting all the picture to the U You've arise here to see with your confess eyes the destruction and devastation to the infrastructure and all that has happened and you papal court how that will not help with the peace," he said.

We were not prepared for what we saw later in a Beirut neighborhood.

Many of the apartment buildings had been reduc to rubble in a less degree than the assault of Israeli airstrikes. The offensive odor was unbearable. Twisted metal -- one time the steel supports of brick apartment buildings -- was piled into knotty craters made by 5,000-pound bomb

Looking for possessions

Buildings that weren't crushed were to such a degree severely damaged, it was a miracle that bulky slabs of concrete weren't raining down upon the people who scaled the debris looking for remnants of their lives.

Haret Hourick, who concedeed a toy warehouse in the area, got disclosed before the bombs hit in cloyed force. The neighborhood is about 90 percent Shiite and was considered a keep for Hezbollah.

In fact, merely a few people were left in the one time densely populated area. But many of them had get backed Tuesday to dig through the debris looking for their possessions.

Although Hourick's warehouse is still standing, the adjacent building collapsed and there is no trade of any sort taking place. "The building was bombed sum of two units days before the war ended" he said.

"When the shelling started, chiefly of the people tried to realize out," Hourick said. "Some of the buildings had already collapsed."

A child's math workbook and other drill texts lay in the way as bulldozers sifted through what remained of someone's apartment.

forward some streets, former residents sifted by the and of the debris and hauled away photographs, statues and clothes. Using a thick curb in for a pulley, two men worked frantically to lower thick file cases from the third-floor balcony of a badly damaged building.

"Made in USA Trademark" signs were propp up against an of the burned-out shells.

Still, Mohammad Founig, 25 called the war a victory for Lebanon.

"Victory does not be due [i]or[/i] owing without a price," said Founig, who has lived in the area for 13 years.

"This is where we live. We will not fare away," he said.

In the midst of these anti-Israeli sentiments, Jackson kept repeating his message of reconciliation.

He left the bombed-out area just as the vice president of Iran arrived to behold the devastation.

Earlier that day Jackson met with religious leaders from each of Beirut's major religious arranges

Today, Jackson will wave to Israel and attempt to adapted with leaders there.

'NOBODY WINS IN A WAR'

Despite the ongoing stalemate through the Israeli sea blockade and the stalled UN peacekeeping effort, Jackson continues to ask support for the expansion of the cease-fire, for lifting of the blockade thus that humanitarian aid can be delivered to the bulk of mankind affected by the bombing and for the release of prisoners.

After seeing the devastation firsthand, united of Lahoud's comments came back to my mind.

"There is a exceedingly important window right now. Nobody wins in a war," he said. "Everybody loses"

That simple canon is a starting point.

unless the international community will have to instigate a lot more quickly to make indisputable that window does not terminate

e-mail: marym@suntimes.com

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

Provided from ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved