Photo by: Virginie Vilar

On the stony road leading to Nahr el-Bared, you find abandoned shoes, torn pieces of clothes and other garbage mingling with the muddy ground. Around these sinuous drives, the North Lebanon Palestinian camp, or what is left of it, sets up as a ruined site. Almost everywhere, junk sets go alongside some buildings that have not been destroyed last year. From May until September 2007, the site was the scene of violent clashes between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam Islamists. These clashes left 400 dead and destroyed two-thirds of the camp. Its reconstruction was launched a year later. Thus, on the occasion of the official launching of works, Press was invited to Nahr el-Bared to report the current state of the site. Around the tent raised by the UN Refugees Agency, the UNRWA, three excavators are functioning and dozens of workers bustle restlessly to clear a part of the ground. The orchestrated aspect of the whole scene catches the attention of all those present, even UNRWA staff. Requesting anonymity, one of those members shows his feelings. "The opening of Nahr el-Bared to media is to show the whole world that the site will be rebuilt within less than four years, but these deadlines are impossible to be met".