Photo by: AFP

“This is a war memorial and must remain as it is” architect Mona Hallak told AFP. Hallak struggles for eleven years now to save the building, which is torn open by the bulldozers of greedy property developers, and turn it into a museum aimed to save the memory. She added “Since the war, we are drowning into a collective amnesia. All that is liable to hinder this process must be protected”. The “yellow house” designation is inspired by the colors of the stones. The three-floor building was erected in the twenties by the famous architect Youssef Bey Aftimos. It towered above what was known then by the “green line” zone, otherwise, the demarcation line separating Christian and Muslim factions during the civil war. Lebanese bourgeoisie families lived in the eight apartment of this airy and spacious building, until the war erupted, as Christian militiamen took over it, due to its strategic location. The building served the snipers as an easy-catching-victims point, whether civilians or enemy fighters, and enabled them to target victims from the embrasures that are still present in the second and third floors giving them a clear view of their targets. Although, war is over, snipers never stopped haunting the premises through sandbags, bullets impacts and wall graffiti. “I want to say the truth” says a message left by Begin, a famous sniper from the battlefield and who had himself the nickname of the former Israeli Premier Menahem Begin. “I want to die with Gilbert” notes another message signed by Tarzan.