Meanwhile in Sinai...

"Ibrahim Akeel has an axe hanging over his neck. Along with his fellow farmers in the southern Lebanese village known as Sinai, the elderly man has little control over his fate and that of his children.
Like countless peasants across Lebanon, he lives in fear that in the not-too-distant future, a change in heart from one of the four absentee landlords - who own almost all the agricultural land available to the villagers - will destroy their way of life. A complete lack of government protection for smallholder farmers means that there is little Akeel could do if this were to happen.
Traditional family farmers risk losing their livelihoods, especially as free trade unfolds in Lebanon. With the agricultural industry gearing up for export, the current system of land tenure gives many of them virtually no rights over land that in many cases they have been farming for generations. "

I'm reposting the article by Yasmine Ryan. This one, published in Scoop, has a picture and no typos.