Protesters gathered in Place de la République in Paris in support of Lebanon on September 29, 2024. (Credit: Ian Langsdon/AFP)
Muriel never imagined her stopover in Paris would turn into an indefinite stay. The 31-year-old architect from Hazmieh had left Beirut in mid-September for a short-term work project in the U.S. But as she prepared to return home, with a brief layover in the French capital, Israel’s war in Lebanon was escalating.“I find myself in France wondering, ‘Now what? Go back to a country that’s half destroyed?’” said the Lebanese-American young woman, who ended up on her cousin’s couch as she tried to make plans.“I have to rethink what I want to do with my life,” she told L’Orient-Le Jour.With an Italian passport from her mother, she can stay in France indefinitely, where she now hopes to find stable employment and housing in Paris. Before the war, she had considered leaving Lebanon someday, but certainly not now.“I wasn’t thinking of France...
Muriel never imagined her stopover in Paris would turn into an indefinite stay. The 31-year-old architect from Hazmieh had left Beirut in mid-September for a short-term work project in the U.S. But as she prepared to return home, with a brief layover in the French capital, Israel’s war in Lebanon was escalating.“I find myself in France wondering, ‘Now what? Go back to a country that’s half destroyed?’” said the Lebanese-American young woman, who ended up on her cousin’s couch as she tried to make plans.“I have to rethink what I want to do with my life,” she told L’Orient-Le Jour.With an Italian passport from her mother, she can stay in France indefinitely, where she now hopes to find stable employment and housing in Paris. Before the war, she had considered leaving Lebanon someday, but certainly not now.“I...
