LOCAL CONNECTION
Lansdale couple has ties to city wracked by massive explosion
LANSDALE » A tragedy half a world away has hit home for a pair of local residents who are known for their involvement in one of the area’s biggest events.
Michael and Marcia Binder Ibrahim, who readers may know from years of involvement with the Lansdale Public Library’s International Spring Festival.
“When you talk about Lebanon, people think Lebanon has camels, has deserts, has people who wear the headdress, and so on,” Michael said.
“People forget that Lebanon is a nation that the entire country is the crossroads of many, many civilizations,” he said.
On Tuesday, Lebanon’s largest city of Beirut was devastated by a massive explosion in the city’s harbor, which killed hundreds and is believed to have been caused by thousands of tons of chemicals stored in a warehouse, according to The Associated Press.
Michael, who emigrated from Lebanon in 1974 and whose parents followed a decade later to run “The Oasis” restaurant on Main Street in Lansdale, said Friday that he found out about the explosion within hours, largely via photos and video sent by friends and family through international texting app WhatsApp.
“As far as my family and friends, nobody was in the general area. However, having said that, the relatives of friends were killed, and it did not differentiate,” he said.
“There were some apartment complexes where whole families vanished, the moms or dads or two children or grandmother just vanished. This kind of explosion cannot discriminate.”
The Reporter readers may remember Michael and Mar
cia via several ways: her immigration law practice is based on Broad Street in Lansdale, while he helped establish the library’s International Spring Festival in the late 1980s, and both received Lansdale’s Business of the Month award in January 2019 for running “The Oasis” on Main Street since 1985.
Ibrahim said Friday that he believes this week’s explosion was the result of longstanding conflicts between Iran and Israel, and said Lebanon has a long history of being a battlefield for conflicts between other countries.
“When you go there, the whole nation is a natural museum, for the Crusaders, the Greeks, the pharaohs of Egypt, the Romans, and so on and so on,” he said.
“It’s a very fertile land, and it combines the beauty of parts of Florida and the beauty of parts of California,” he said.
The country is roughly the size of New Jersey, and offers skiing in mountains less than an hour away from beaches on the Mediterranean Sea, according to Michael. Their family usually visits once or twice a year, most recently in 2019 before travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
He said the country’s reputation internationally used to be very different decades ago.
“Since the civil war there back in 1974-75-76, that lasted about 20 years, a lot of the cruise lines stopped going there. The cruise lines treated Lebanon as the pearl of the entire Mediterranean Sea,” he said.
“Many people in our nation here, the elderly people, when I went to school (in the 1970s) and they found out I was from Lebanon, they would always say ‘Oh, that’s the Switzerland of the Middle East,’ or the Geneva or Paris of the Middle East,” he said.
Famous names whose heritage is Lebanese include comedian Danny Thomas, poet Kahlil Gibran, actor Tony Shalhoub, and singer Shakira, Ibrahim said, but most headlines out of the country recently have been connected to the ongoing conflict between the Shi’ite and Sunni branches of Islam, backed by Iran and Saudi Arabia respectively.
“When I first arrived here as a foreign student, the population (of Lebanon) was probably 50 percent Christian and 50 percent Muslim. Now, it’s probably 70 percent or more Muslim, and 30 percent or less Christian,” he said, due partly to the ongoing conflict, differing demographics, and partly due to emigration elsewhere.
“It is where Israel and Iran fight, with their differences and their hatred and their conflict. It is where the Saudis, the people and the government, and the Turkish government fight their differences,” he said.
“In the past, it’s where the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein, and Hafaz Assad of Syria, fought their differences. Syria and Egypt, in the past, fought their differences. The cost to the nation is massive: it’s in terrible shape, because they continue to allow the foreign forces, and foreign governments, to play a big role,” he said.
Tuesday’s massive explosion damaged a critical area of the country’s infrastructure: the port in Beirut, the country’s largest city, where nearly all of the country’s imports arrive and are processed, Ibrahim said, but the damage could have been much worse.
“Having the coronavirus probably has saved the lives of many people. Otherwise, who would be there now? Especially in July and August? A lot of fashion shows: the famous big names in fashion, in Hollywood, are all Lebanese,” he said.
What should local readers know about Lebanon?
“It has a massive variety of fruits and vegetables, fruit trees like pears, persimmons, dates, avocado, the olive trees — you see banana trees, combined with apples and oranges, all in one small, tiny little country,” he said.
“That tiny little country that’s in trouble all the time, is full of beauty.”
As of Friday afternoon, Michael said, he has seen most relief efforts for the victims of Tuesday’s explosion run through the Lebanese branch of the International Red Cross, and European countries including France, Italy, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Greece have pledged millions in aid.
What can residents of the Lansdale area do to help? Besides donating to international organizations, Michael said, they can attend events like the International Spring Festival, which helps build bridges between different cultures and religions — and which Ibrahim said is sure will be back and better than ever in 2021.
“The children learn a lot more than the adults at that kind of event, but the adults really enjoy the music, and food, and the bands that they have never seen before,” he said.
“If you go to any kind of event like that in Philadelphia, you’d have to pay $40 or $50 or $60 for it, and here all of that is free, parking is free, bathrooms are everywhere — where else can you find something like this? Only in Lansdale.”