UEFA Cup and Beirut Politics

The Italians wore blue. The Dutch wore Orange. The referees wore yellow.

But what some viewers of the UEFA Cup in Beirut saw on Monday 9 June was Lebanese politics.

"Ahhh, the Aounniye are beating Mustaqbal," said one observer noting that the Dutch team, wearing the colors of Lebanese Christian opposition figure Michel Aoun, scored two goals in the first half while the Italians scored none, despite wearing blue uniforms, the color of Saad al Hariri's Future (Mustaqbal) Movement.

Another woman responded, "What do you expect when Hezbollah sets the rules." Hezbollah's color is yellow, and the party has a "Memorandum of Understanding" with Michel Aoun.

The current fury over football reminds locals that sport is as much of a Lebanese passion as politics. Beirut's downtown came alive in 2004 when the Greeks won the European football competition. In June 2006 Beirut's streets turned to utter chaos with World Cup fever.

One longtime Beirut residing Dutch observer walking through Beirut's downtown noted, "It's as if everything that happened between the end of the World Cup 2006 and the UEFA Cup 2008 did not take place. It's as if nothing happened."

For all the revelry surrounding President Sleiman's election and the first conflict free summer, there are still violent acts occuring throughout Lebanon. Sunday night, a battle was fought between Hezbollah supporters and Future supporters in the Bekaa. A skirmish also took place in the Chouf mountains between rival Druze factions.

The security situation has not improved. The Palestinian camps are entirely unregulated, and strange stories routinely crop up about unknown individuals living in the camps becoming involved in violent activities.