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Article: New battle of Beirut rages over how it should be rebuilt. (Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- January 8, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BEIRUT, Lebanon _ The ancient taxi driver pulls over beside the Ottoman arches of old city hall, its elegance not faded but ravaged.
Before him, beyond the sundered shell of a centuries-old mosque, stretches the future: a broad plain of dust and dirt, Beirut's downtown. Much of what had remained standing after the long civil war ended was laid low by the bulldozers of Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri last year.
Yet another dump truck rumbles past. One load closer to the planners' dream of a new city of glass and steel.
Solidere, the company established by Hariri with his own money to reconstruct the downtown, laid its cornerstone in the fall. But the ...