The Times July 24, 2006
From Daniel McGrory in Beirut
A VAST auditorium being used to house emergency aid in Beirut lay empty last night as relief agencies criticised Britain and other Western countries for their lame response to Lebanon’s worsening refugee crisis.
Lebanese officials told The Times yesterday they expected to have to cope with 1.2 million displaced people — a third of the country’s population — as thousands more families fled their homes at the weekend.
The United Nations will make an urgent appeal today after a warning by Jan Egeland, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, that Lebanon needed $100 million immediately to avoid “a humanitarian catastrophe”.
Fuel and emergency stockpiles of medicine are running low across the country.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2282995,00.html++++++++++++++
If Europe and the U.S. ignore this human catastrophe, the Muslim world will have plenty of resentment. MAny of these people have been displaced in a very short period of time, heeding the warning of the Israelis. Organizations such as Mercy Corps are taking donations here.