The Lebanese newspapers, The Daily Star and An Nahar have published summaries of a recent survey on the confessional distribution in 2006 and in the future, 2081, conducted by IiMonthly, published by Information International ( http://www.iimonthly.com/). The survey also considers the question of Lebanon being divided into cantons, referring back to previous plans in 1860, 1975 and today. The full survey can read now by subscribing to IiMonthly.

One of the survey's tables shows the current confessional makeup of the Caza of Zgharta as : Maronite - 85.94%; Sunni - 13.89%; Shiite - 0.17%; Druze - 0.01%

The article by The Daily Star is reproduced on the Full Story page and the An Nahar article can be downloaded from there.
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On Tuesday, 7th November 2006, Zgharta author, Karim El Koussa, will be featured on LBCI's popular pre news slot, "Min Loubnan", (From Lebanon). The national televison programme features an individual from all walks of life, ranging from politicians - authors - artists and so on. It lasts some two to three minutes and is broadcast before the 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. news.

We congratulate Karim for being so honoured and once again it demonstrates that Zgharta Zawie's literati are recognised nationally.

On Sunday, 29th October 2006, Ehden will be on show to the opinion makers of the Lebanese tourism industry. The Zgharta Ehden Municipal Council has organised an " open day" to promote Ehden as a place for tourism, with the Council inviting those working in Lebanon's tourist industry to see at first hand Ehden's many tourist attractions and facilities.

There was a meeting held prior to this weekend at the Council's Ehden office's last Saturday at 5 p.m. to explain the event, attended by the owners of Ehden's many restaurants, patisseries, nightclubs, pubs and hotels. The President of the Council, Gen. Joseph Maarrawi and Councillor Antoine Dahdah attended. The President stressed that it was important the visit was a success for the benefit of Ehden's wellbeing and the locality in general. With this in mind he asked that everyone made sure that Ehden's best face was seen by the visitors on Sunday.

The President explained that originally the event was scheduled for this summer but it clearly had to be postpone. Notwithstanding that the summer season had ended he said that it was felt important to still have the event take place this year. The President said that Ehden's attractions continued throughout the year and was developing its winter season, so there was still much to see and enjoy. He said that he would seek to arrange another event before next summer.

The President also said that he wished to publicly thank once again the rubbish collection company, Sucleen, for cleaning and gathering rubbish in Ehden and Zgharta for the second consecutive year for free. This created a good impression and showed that the community cared for its environment.

The itinerary for Sunday has been cleverly organised so there are two, one for good and another for poor weather conditions, a sensible precaution. Places on the itinerary include the Bnachii Lake, Horsh Ehden, Ehden's historic churches and buildings. At the, Al Midan they will be a display of brochures and information leaflets, where hot drinks will be served.

Lunch will be at the Ehden Country Club at the invitation of its owner, Mr Jammil Mouawad. On the menu will be traditional Zghartawien food such as Kebbe Nayeh, made in the old way, and other local delicacies. Local patisserie's Doueihy, Bechara and Kareh will offer a selection of their fine Lebanese sweets.

After lunch there will be a big screen presentation of Ehden in the summertime.

We at zgharta.com support any initiative which seeks to boost the tourism industry of Ehden and applaud the Council in its endeavour. We have always said that it is vital that Ehden is promoted, especially with those who have power and influence over where tourists visits.

We ask that everyone supports the Council and visit Ehden this Sunday, showing our special visitors that Ehden is a place to visit all year round.

The photograph shows the logo of the Zgharta Ehden Municipal Council, designed by Talal Antar.

NEWS UPDATE:

Due to extremely adverse weather conditions affecting the whole of Lebanon the visit was postponed at the request of the visitors.

The last stage of the Al Midan pavement programme undertaken by the Zgharta Ehden Municipal Council was completed on Friday, in readiness for this weekend.

The borders between the Hotel Zakhia and the Drop In restaurant have now been paved, improving both the ambiance and pedestrian access of the Al Midan. There are now parking restrictions in the square, so that there is greater accessibility to the abutting cafés and restaurants. The Council will grant licences to them so that they are able to have table and chairs on part of the pavement during the summer season, café de trottoir le style Parisien.

The pavements on both sides of the road are designed whereby different colour bricks designate partiuclar areas - red for pedestrians ( being one metre wide) and black reserved for restaurant and café use.

The photograph was taken on Thursday, 6th July 2006 showing the pavement being laid near the Drop In restaurant.

To see more photographs of the "new" Al Midan, go to the Galleria- Zgharta Zawie-Ehden - Ehden Today.

We are please to report that Ehden will have a summer festival once again this year.

The Al Midan NGO, formerly known as the Al Midan Society, will be holding its third summer Ehdeniyat during the month of August. One of the highlights of the festival will be the appearance of leading Lebanese singers, Majida el Roumi, and Kazem El Saher.

Such a festival can only be but for the good of Ehden's tourist industry and for the local ecomony as a whole. As more details of the events are released zgharta.com will report them.

The festival will run from 4th to 27th August 2006 and the programme so far known includes:

Bi'iyat (Mountain Adventure Race): Friday 4th, 5th & 6th August.
Tarabiyat: Friday 4th & Friday 18th August.
Herafiyat (Food and Crafts Exhibition): Thursday 10th, 11th, 12th & 13th August.
Bike Competition: Saturday, 19th August.
Georges Yammine Commemorative Festival : Sunday 20th August.
Cinemaiyat: Friday 25th, 26th & 27th August.

The Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, launched on 13th June 2006, their new tourism site, www.destinationlebanon.gov.lb

The Press Release of the Ministry said that " Since its launch as a pilot in April 2004 under the URL: www.DestinationLebanon.com, it has gained popularity as an interactive website that allows prospective tourists to explore Lebanon online and learn about the many diverse tourism opportunities in the country. The website has been accessed by more than 10,000 unique visitors each month, providing important exposure for Lebanon to the worldwide tourism market. SRI joins the Ministry of Tourism in launching www.DestinationLebanon.gov.lb as a cornerstone to achieving the objective of economic growth in rural Lebanon’s tourism industry."

The site features the Horsh Ehden as part of its Nature Reserve Virtual Tours section. The section on Horsh Ehden recommends visitors to see Ehden and its sights.

From the Horsh Ehden section there is a link to the Reserve's own website, www.horshehden.org . We have to say, following the link, we found that: the Reserve's site has not been developed and expanded since its launch; the Activities section has not been upgraded with specific information or explanation; the News section lacks current news. This is both disappointing and indeed alarming to the area as a whole, when the Ministry talks about 10,000 unique (that is first time) monthly visitors. There is no such thing as a second chance when it comes to online surfing. Once again we repeat the need for there to be a dedicated tourist website for Ehden. We are sure that if there was one it could be linked to the Ministry website.

To view the web page for the Horsh Ehden on the Ministry website click here.
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The Rotary Club of Zgharta Zawie, in association with the Zgharta Ehden Municipal Council, are holding a seminar called "How to improve tourism in Ehden and Zgharta", at 5pm on Saturday, 3rd June 2006, at the Milad Ghazel Mouawad Cultural & Sport Centre, Zgharta.

The seminar is open to the public and the organisers have indicated that they will invite contributions on the subject from the audience.

We have to question however the timing of the seminar, being held almost at the start of another summer season. What time is available to put into effect any suggestion which may be made? There was a major conference on the subject last year, which we reported, Blueprint for Ehden's Tourism, and we wonder how many of the recommendations will be repeated as "good ideas" on Saturday. As we said in our article " Many of the ideas put forward at the Conference appear to be extremely sensible and could be the blueprint for developing Ehden’s future tourism. Clearly some need the support of Central or Regional Government and also financial funding." As the expression goes ,"Action speaks lounder than words ",

On zgharta.com this year we have promoted some of the ideas made at the conference and others. Top of our list are

1. A Bank at Ehden during the summer.
2. A bus service between Ehden- Zgharta- Jounieh - Beirut, during the summer.
3. A dedicated tourist office promoting the area on a worldwide basis throughout the year.
4. A dedicated website for tourism.
5. Keeping out of the headlines for the wrong reasons.
6. An inclusive & unqiue festival.

Many of these things need advance planning, perhaps best done in the winter months, rather than in the sunshine. It is one thing to have improved roads, lighting and the like but another to get non-zghartawien tourists coming to see them in the first place. To date we have only heard rumours of summer activities but nothing has been splashed across the mass media announcing them. Maybe we are still in the mind set of the bad old days when nothing was certain and last minute huried arrangements were the norm.

A note of warning to our overseas visitors. It may surprise some of our overseas readers to learn that a "bounced" cheque is a criminal offence in Lebanon. The Lebanese newspaper, The Daily Star, today has the following report, which highlights this. It seems somewhat back to front that the Lebanese Parliamentary Justice Committee is suggesting that the crime stays but the drawer's credit rating is not to be adversely affected.

Lebanese banks are required by law to report bounce cheques to the Central Office for Bounced Cheques (Centrale des Chéques Impayes - CCI ) where a customer has not honoured a bounced cheque within 15 days of presentation. Where a customer requires a chequebook the bank must consult the CCI to check if the customer is "blacklisted", before issuing a chequebook. For a customer to remove him/herself they have to make good the dishonoured cheque and once done the bank notifies the CCI. For a first time offence the customer is removed from the list after six months, eighteen months for a second occurrence and thirty-six months for the third time. The blacklist is updated monthly.

THE DAILY STAR ARTICLE

"Justice committee modifies law on bad checks"
"The administrative and justice parliamentary committee, presided over by MP Robert Ghanem, held a session on Monday to discuss modifications in law pertaining to writing bad checks. The committee decided that the crime would remain punishable but that writing a bad check would no longer affect the perpetrator's credit. The committee decided to drop the public's right to prosecution for the crime as soon as personal prosecution is dropped. The committee approved of a system in which a check remains a means of payment, not only a line of credit."

The Lebanese Minister of Tourism, Joseph Sarkis, was reported saying on Friday, that Lebanon expects to attract 1.6 million tourists this year. For the first four months of 2006, there were 350,000 tourists, a 30% increase from last year.

The Minister's only caveat was that any adverse change in the security and political situation of the country would affect such hopes.

We at zgharta.com hope that some of those expected tourists, other than those who will come regardless because of family connections with Zgharta Zawie, will feel able to come and visit the area. Ehden's tourist industry need a period of calm and good community relations to avoid the wrong sort of news headlines, which will frighten people away. We want Beirut hotel concierges to be able to suggest to their guests a day out to see the sights of Ehden and the Horsh Ehden.

Also, we hope that at least some of the recommendations, made at last year's conference in Ehden on tourism, will be implemented. We wait to learn whether Ehden will have any summer activities this year and who will organise them.

The Kuwait News Agency. KUNA, has put online today an article about the importance of the web in promoting Lebanon's tourist industry. The article echoes what zgharta.com has said before, of the need for Ehden to have its own dedicated tourist site. It highlights the point that using the web, cuts down the "cost in promotion and adverts and contacting customers".

Although our own site promotes Ehden whenever it can, this is not the same as having a "holiday brochure" type website aimed purely at tourists. Tourists do not want to read articles on sewerage and tree regulations! To gather information about Ehden's tourist attractions online, takes time and some knowledge where to look. It is a case sometimes of stumbling across a photo or text in the hidden corners of the web. Last year we supported, www.discoverlebanon.com in preparing its page on Ehden, writing the promotional text and showing the proprietors the sights of the area. There is also the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism own site, www.destinationlebanon.com , which as we have reported before, has online travel guides, including Ehden, and eco-tourism tours including the Horsh Ehden.

However this is not the same as having ones own site, providing everything a tourist wants to know in one place - what to see, how to get there, where to eat and sleep. zgharta.com is ready and willing to help in such an exercise.

To read the KUNA article, click on the Full Story tab.
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Good news this weekend for Salam Zgharta. Having won 1-0 over Al Raiyan on Sunday, 30th April 2006, they moved up to sixth place in the First Division of the Lebanese Football League with seventeen points.

Although not all teams played this weekend in the 17th Leg, those to play next Sunday are already in higher positions.

Racing Beirut Club, having lost their match his weekend, stand tenth place with eight points, and will relegated at the end of the season. They were promoted at the beginning of this season with Salam Zgharta to the First Division.

Last weekend saw two winter snow competitions on either side of Ehden and Zgharta's football team, Salam Zgharta, competed, down the mountain, in Tripoli.

On the other side, the Cedars ski resort was hosting the 19th Lebanon International Week of Skiing.

On Sunday, 12th March 2006, at the ski resort of Faraya, the 2006 Lebanese Snowmobile Championships were held. Our community was represented by Anthony Bassim, Joe Dahdah, Bashir Ghazale, Chafic Ghazale, Zouzou Ghazale, Ayman Gitany, Joseph Kartabany, Lias Rehban and Antoine Yammine. Save for Ayman Gitany who had mechanical problems, all completed the race. The team was accompanied by Philippe Antar, the team's administrator.

The photograph shows: From right to left :Chafic Ghazale,Antoine Yammine,Philippe Antar, Anthony Bassim, Lias Rehban, Joe Dahdah (In the back),(Second row) Joseph Kartabany, Bachir Ghazale and Zouzou Ghazale. To see more photos of the Championships see Chafic Ghazale Portfolio - Skido- Lebanese Snowmobile Championships 2006

Since 1963 the Lebanese Ski Federation has organised International Weeks of Skiing in Lebanon. The first thirteen Weeks were held at the Cedars, stopping in 1975 because of the Civil War. It began again in 1999 when the Faraya- Mzaar slopes were host to the event. Since then the Cedars and Faraya- Mzaar have played alternate hosts.

There is still no word from the Zgharta Ehden Municipal Council as to what stage has been reached in regard to the Ehden 3000 project, which will give Ehden a ski resort. The last zgharta.com heard was what we reported in October 2005 when the Council's President, General Joseph Maarrawi was quoted in the magazine, Lebanon Opportunities, as saying that the project was undergoing a study phase where "some technical studies are carried out and might be subject to changes to conform to certain criteria, concerning, amongst other things its ecological impact".

On the playing field and in front of an Lebanese television audience on Sunday, Salam Zgharta lost against Al Ansar, 4-1, in the thirteenth leg of the Lebanese League, in Tripoli. Salam as a result, dropped one place to eighth position in the League's First Division with ten points. Now only two teams are below them, Tripoli Sporting Club with eight points and Racing Club Beirut with six points. League leaders, Al Ansar have thirty-four points. Salam's sole goal came in the 70th minute which put the score 2-1, not an insurmountable position against the League leaders. However, the next two Al Ansar's goals came from penalties in the 77th and 88th minutes.

The Horsh Ehden Nature Reserve is celebrating its 14th Anniversary on Thursday. Fourteen years ago, on 9th March 1992, Decree 121, the Reserve came into official existence. On the occasion of the Anniversary, as part of its advertising campaign, the Reserve has erected banners and posters in Zgharta. It is said that they will also hand out leaflets on Thursday.

Although we applaud anything which promotes the Reserve and consequently Ehden, we question the focus and need of the advertising campaign as mounted. The raison d'être of the campaign appears specifically to be the 14th Anniversary as it is blazon on the banners, admittedly not on the posters. Organisations usually promote themselves by celebrating their anniversaries in cycles of five years - 5th,10th,15th and so on. So we find it odd that such an anniversary is being given centre stage, indeed mentioned.

It is not known how the banners, posters and leaflets were funded; or if they were from the grant given to the Friends of Horsh Ehden by USAID, last year. As zgharta.com reported in October 2005, USAID signed an grant agreement with the Friends of Horsh Ehden, providing $29,000 to enable them to produce signs,brochures and maps to promote eco and rural tourism.

Putting all this to one side, what we question is the need of such a campaign in Zgharta. It is not as if the Reserve needs to convert the local community into supporting it. zgharta.com believes that both the Reserve and Ehden has to focus more on the outside world to attract eco-tourists from all over the world.

The Reserve has its own website, www.horshehden.org , which should be the window for the outside world to see the Horsh Ehden as well as being a tool for its promotion. This is where the Reserve's promotional focus - both time and financial - we believe, should be directed towards. Today*, notwithstanding the celebration in Zgharta, the site makes no mention of it, nor the campaign itself or indeed the history of the Reserve. So who will know of the Anniversary or the campaign other than those living in Zgharta or reading this article ? A website is an ideal resource to inform and to connect with its target audience. What's posted can reach hundreds of thousands of eco-tourists.

To read more about the Reserve and see photographs of the banners and posters, click on the Full Story tab.
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The Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, through its website, "Destination Lebanon", has introduced online booking, for a selection of Lebanese holidays. They are currently promoting four tours, including a six day tour called " Discover Lebanon Nature Reserves", which includes a morning visit to Ehden and the Horsh Ehden, with a lunch break before going onto the Tannourine Cedar Forest. It is unclear where will be the venue for lunch.

The site also mentions that it is seeking " accommodation suppliers", which may be of interest to Ehden hoteliers and other accommodation establishments.

This new means of booking a holiday, which is becoming more common these days, reinforces our belief that Ehden should have a dedicated holiday website of its own. The site would act as a "holiday brochure", so that tourists could view Ehden's attractions and check out where to stay and their prices. zgharta.com, would be interested in developing this idea and would welcome hearing from anyone who is like minded. In the meantime we are happy to publicise anyone who offers holiday acomodation on our site.

The "Destination Lebanon" website has Arabic, English & French versions. To view the English version use this link : http://booking.destinationlebanon.com/DL/default.asp

An article by guest writer, Chafic Ghazale.

Modern life brings many benefits but also it has many hidden dangers. In today’s global village many risk losing their heritage and place in the world. What makes us belong to a town, village or community can be lost in one or two generations.

It is with this in mind, that I propose that this summer, Ehden, seeks to remind itself of its past. What I propose is that this summer, Ehden, goes back in time for a whole weekend.

My thought is that during these two days, people, old and young alike, will dress up in old style clothes, enacting their forebears daily life, say 100 years ago. Men can wear their sherwal and tarboush and women their old style dresses. In the, Al Midan, there can be a "living" tableaux, with old table and chairs, tools and elements used in those times, people playing old fashion games, horses and farm animals, with the making of Kibbeh in the old way, using a mda2aa and geren, and other foods. In the evening the 2al7akawati (teller of stories) can recount the history of Ehden and of Ehden Batal Youssef Beik Karam and have the 2awliyet (events told by song) sing the old folkloric songs and poems.

Such an event will I believe join the two worlds, of the past and of today: reminding us of our heritage, who we are and the cherish memories of our ancestors; as well as encouraging tourists to visit Ehden, for the benefit of the present generation.

Clearly such an event needs the whole of Ehden to be involved and joined together and I suggest therefore that the, Zgharta Ehden Municipal Council, takes the lead in organising the event. I will contact the Council with my idea and would welcome your support.