Returning to Beirut

After the ceasefire began on 14 August 2006, people in Lebanon started returning home. Families who had taken shelter in schools and hotels travelled back to the south and Beirut’s suburbs. The UN estimated that around a million people had left their homes during the fighting; in the first days after the ceasefire, most returned home or stayed nearby.

The war began on 12 July when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack. Israel struck targets in Lebanon, including Beirut’s airport and residential districts; Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel. On 11 August, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1701 calling for a halt to hostilities. When the firing stopped, homes and roads across many districts were in ruins.

On 15 August, the second day of the ceasefire, Getty Images photographer Spencer Platt was working in Beirut’s southern suburbs. He photographed five young people in a red Mini Cooper convertible. In February 2007, the image won World Press Photo’s top award. An early Getty Images caption described the people in the car as affluent Lebanese who had come to look at the destruction. Some press coverage called them war tourists.

After the award was announced, journalist Gert van Langendonck met Jad, Bissan, Nour and Liliane. Tamara, the fifth person in the car, was not at the meeting. Lana El Khalil, who had lent them the car, also took part. Their interview and a group portrait appeared in NRC Handelsblad on 19 February 2007.

They said that four of the people in the car lived in the southern suburbs, while one lived in neighbouring Shiya. During the war, they had taken shelter at a hotel in Hamra. There they met Lana, who was helping people forced from their homes. Jad, the driver, explained that on 15 August they had driven with the roof down because there were five of them, it was hot and they all wanted to see what had happened to their neighbourhood.

Their account did not end the disagreement. In a 2016 commentary for TIME, Platt said that the people in the car had falsely told reporters they were refugees. He recalled that the press reaction had made him want to leave the profession. His accusation conflicts with the subjects’ account published in 2007. The photograph alone cannot establish their wealth or verify where they lived during the war. World Press Photo’s current catalogue describes young Lebanese returning to Haret Shreik to check on their homes.