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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 2006
Media Contact: Kim Nagy
Phone: 609-439-8667
E-mail: knagy@wildriverreview.com
New Bloggers Join Wild River Review,
Reporting from the Front Line in Beirut
and as a Palestinian Refugee from Nazi Germany
Artist Zena el-Khalil’s blog from Lebanon, “From The Frontlines” provides readers live personal
accounts of daily life from war-torn Lebanon.
Gunter David, a journalist nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and an émigré to Palestine, also joins
Wild River Review with his blog “The Long Road to the Promised Land.”
August 2, 2006 (Philadelphia, PA) — The international online magazine Wild River Review
(www.wildriverreview.com) released two new blogs
last week, one of which is penned by artist
Zena el-Khalil,
a citizen of Lebanon. As the bombs fall around her studio and home, she grapples with the future of her
country along with the fate of her family and friends, one of whom has advanced cancer and cannot leave the
country.
Wild River Review’s other new blogger,
Gunter David, fled
to Palestine from his childhood home in Berlin in 1933. An award-winning journalist, Gunter covered the
Yom Kippur War in 1973. Gunter describes being glued to CNN day and night and fearing for his many relatives
in Tel Aviv. Wild River Review hopes to initiate intelligent dialogue and debate around the most recent
conflict in the Middle East.
In her blog, Zena writes candidly about her observations and intimate thoughts of anger and disgust. But
Zena also describes the wedding in her neighborhood and the birds singing outside her window after a night of jets
and falling bombs.
“Another loud bomb. My heart is racing. I can only pretend to be brave,” Zena writes. “I realized
what was hurting the most was the “UNKNOWN.” What is going to happen tomorrow? When will this all end?
How are we going to start rebuilding again? Are the refugees going to be ok? How are the people in the south? And
why punish a whole country? What is the real plan behind all of this? How much worse is it going to get?”
She also asks readers to spread the word about her and others in her predicament: “tell them about people
like me... who build culture and tolerance. Who work for peace and understanding. Who work to educate. Who work
to promote love and compassion. There are thousands like me here. What about us?”
In his blog, Gunter laments, “It is sad to watch the destruction of portions of the city and suburbs on
television, to see and hear the human cost on both sides. I know what it means to be awakened at night by sirens and
to rush into a bomb shelter... The question is, what options do the Israelis have, when Chezbollah, their mortal enemy,
has sworn to destroy them? And Chezbollah, as has been reported and well documented, uses Lebanon and Beirut as a staging
ground for attacks against Israel. Their missile launchers are hidden among the civilian population.”
Editor-in-Chief Joy Stocke comments, “By posting their blogs, Zena and Gunter welcome comments
and opinions from readers around the world. War brings out the rawest of emotions and the strongest opinions. It is our hope
that their blog will begin a real dialogue on all sides of the conflict.”
Wild River Review updates content throughout each month. The publication continually searches for and offers
high-quality inventive voices, experimental themes, diverse subjects, and riveting images from around the world. It
is the creation of a team of professional writers and artists known as the Wild River Gang.
Contact Kim Nagy (609) 397-5458 or e-mail knagy@wildriverreview.com
Click here to download this Press Release
in Microsoft Word format.
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