The latter earned him a kicking from US marines and a few days in jail. They had tried to scare him by locking him up overnight with Iraqi resistance fighters. This plan failed when they arrived the next morning to find him merrily chatting away and sharing food with his cellmates. He is dead pleased at the opportunity to put up his art without being banged up for it. Hizbollah think he is bonkers but they love his stuff.

The street in Dhayiya where he is painting has been put aside for artists to express their feeling about the war. A recently graduated student called Racha is painting an exquisite oil composition of the candle lighting in Martyrs Square. Her graduation was delayed by over a month due to the bombing, her college and studio home to dozens of refugee families. Now she is doing what she loves again and her bit to bring something positive from the Israeli aggression. Throughout the war she was caring for refugee children in a nearby school.

Further down an established Lebanese artist is working on a vast installation of 33 door-sized collages each representing a day of the war. The imagery is lurid but an honest depiction of what went on. There are plenty of political caricatures on hand as well; my favorite being one of Condaleeza Rice as a demon with enormous fangs. As I leave this cultural oasis and head back through the devastation I cant help thinking that this flies against the image of Lebanese resistance shown on CNN.