New York, NY (PRWEB) July 19, 2006 -- Electronic Lebanon, the latest project from the award winning Electronic Intifada team, is currently bringing voices from on the ground in Beirut, Lebanon, and other beseiged Lebanese cities.

The website -- found at ElectronicLebanon.net -- has published over one hundred articles, including diaries, opinion, analysis, and development-related information since Israel's war against Lebanon began on July 12th.

"At the sound of the first bomb that hit quite close to our home," wrote Rania Masri on July 16th, "my cousin's youngest son, in mere seconds, went from his strong boyish bravado-demeanor to that of a frightened little boy. He threw his ice cream cone away, and got strong stomach pains. At the sounds of the next bomb, he ran and hid under a table. I wondered how the children in the south and in the southern district of Beirut and in Ba'albeck and in Gaza were withstanding the constant noise and terror."

"I hear it from my neighbours and friends," wrote Maha Damaj from Beirut on July 16th, "from phone calls coming in from loved ones abroad. I hear it inside my own head. We all just feel so helpless. How exactly does one face indiscriminate attacks from the air, land and sea? A sense of claustrophobia overcame me when all routes out of Lebanon were being cut off, one after the other. I wasn't even thinking of leaving, but their moves succeeded in making me feel trapped. My solution? Call a friend living abroad - how trapped can I be if I can still communicate with the outside world? As trite as that might sound, it worked. The magic of psychology."

Electronic Lebanon represents the latest in a 10-year continuim of alternative news projects by members of the EI team to bring voices from Middle Eastern warzones to an international audience.

EI's Nigel Parry headed the Birzeit University team that published the first alternative news website from within a warzone in history, from the Palestinian West Bank town of Ramallah during the September 1996 Clashes: nigelparry.net/news/cooleh-war-report.shtml

During Israel's "Operation Defensive Shield" in March/April 2002, the Electronic Intifada team presented the only reports from residents within Ramallah when it was put under Israeli closure, even to the press. CNN's Michael Holmes was literally the only mainstream journalist inside the town during its closure, making EI's contribution unique:
electronicintifada.net/v2/article442.shtml

And finally -- in the alternative news moonshot -- EI launched Electronic Iraq in February 2003 at electronicIraq.net to offer reports from peace activists and independent journalists in Baghdad reporting through a satellite modem during "Shock and Awe": electroniciraq.net/news/1.shtml

In 2003, the ADC ("the NAACP for Arabs") "Voices for Peace" award was presented to EI and eIraq "in recognition of its commitment to bringing the concerns, voices, and experiences of the Iraqi and Palestinian peoples to audiences the world over via the Internet."

Electronic Iraq and The Electronic Intifada have received requests for archiving from both the Library of Congress and the British Library (the UK's "Library of Congress").

EI has seen more than 323,000 visits and over 1,228,000 page views* since the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza on June 27th, and Israel's war against Lebanon on July 12th. Since July 12th, EI's website has seen over 127,000 visits and 511,000 page views. On July 17th alone, the site saw 29,000 visits to the site and 124,500 page views. Prior to the current crisis in the Middle East, visits to the site have tended to average at 10,000 visits daily and 40,000 page views.

Visit Electronic Lebanon at ElectronicLebanon.net to hear voices from on the ground.