66 Thais In Lebanon Expressed Interests In Returning Back To Thailand

[Jai Dee]

66 Thais in Lebanon expressed interests in returning back to Thailand

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Chitchai Wannasathit (ชิดชัย วรรณสถิตย์) revealed that 66 Thais in Lebanon has already informed Thai authorities their interests in returning to Thailand. gen Chitchai further stated that the Thai government has been in touch with the Lebanese government in caring for the welfare of the Thais residing in Lebanon.

He informed that Foreign Affairs Ministry has reported on the progress of evacuation plan for the Thais living in Lebanon. He said Thailand’s government has called for the cooperation with the Philippines Embassy to look after Thai residents. He said that the Lebanese government is looking into ways to evacuate the Thais out of the country as airports, roads and various infrastructures have been destroyed.

Gen Chitchai said that there is no Thai Embassy stationed in Lebanon; therefore, he has assigned Foreign Affairs Ministry to pay sepcial attention to the overseas Thais.

Source: Thai National News Bureau Public Relations Department - 17 July 2006

[Jai Dee]

Thais evacuated from Lebanon

Thailand began evacuating its nationals from Lebanon yesterday amid an escalation of fighting in the region as an Israeli offensive continued.

About 15 of some 100 Thais working in Lebanon were evacuated by land to the Syrian capital Damascus yesterday, the Foreign Ministry said.

More evacuees are expected to follow today, but some Thais have decided to stay on in the besieged capital of Beirut, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kitti Wasinondh said last night.

“Fifteen Thai nationals have left Beirut, with eight already reaching Damascus and seven more expected to arrive soon,” Kitti said.

“We have encouraged all Thais to evacuate but some are not prepared to move out, although we expect more to come [today].”

Earlier reports that some 50 Thais had already been evacuated were inaccurate, he added.

Most of the Thais in Lebanon are employed as chefs and goldsmiths, with four Thais also working with the United Nations Interim Force.

Thailand has no embassy in Lebanon but the Thai ambassador to Saudi Arabia has been sent to Damascus to oversee the evacuations, Kitti said.

A further 25,000 Thai nationals are working in Israel, mostly as laborers and farmhands. The Foreign Ministry said plans were being developed for their possible evacuation if the Hezbollah militia steps up its retaliations to the continuing Israeli offensive.

“There are about 1,500 Thais working in northern Israel and what we are trying to do is to relocate those 1,500 further south, and we have received very good cooperation from the companies there,” Kitti said.

“But most Thais working in Israel do not wish to be evacuated, and the situation there is still safe.”

The Foreign Minister formally opened an operations center yesterday to monitor the situation in Lebanon and Israel around the clock.

The Thai embassy in Tel Aviv said it had been in contact with many of the Thais working in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon.

Hundreds of laborers have been told to temporarily stop work by their employers but many have refused, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Labour Ministry said yesterday that a 100-million-baht fund had been set up to help pay for the evacuation of Thais from Lebanon to either Jordan or Egypt.

The government was also considering chartering a plane to fly Thai nationals back to Thailand, Labour Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said.

The Hezbollah militia have fired hundreds of rockets into northern Israel in the past week, killing 12 people, eight of them in the city of Haifa on Sunday.

In Lebanon, more than 130 people have died in Israel’s broad offensive across the country.

Israel began attacking Lebanon after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a border raid last Wednesday.

Source: ThaiDay - 18 July 2006

[Jai Dee]

All Thais safely evacuated

All 100 Thai nationals living in Lebanon have been evacuated to safe areas, while a Thai citizen in Israel was injured in a Palestinian missile attack, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Eleven workers had moved out of Beirut and had arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus late on Tuesday, the ministry said following talks with Suvat Chirapant, Thailand’s charge d’ affairs in Saudi Arabia.

Thailand has no diplomatic presence in Lebanon and has asked its mission in Riyadh to facilitate the evacuation. Thailand has also requested assistance from the Philippines.

Fifteen Thais have been in Damascus since Monday while 74 have been moved to parts of Lebanon unaffected by the Israeli strikes.

For an eighth consecutive day, Lebanon was pummelled by Israeli rockets from jets and gunboats in response to the kidnapping of two of its soldiers last week.

A Thai national was being treated for a shrapnel wound after a missile strike on southern Israel by Palestinian forces, Thai ambassador to Israel, Kasiwat Paruggamamont, said via radio link to Bangkok yesterday.

Puey Chareonying, a plantation worker from Buri Ram, was one of 1,559 Thais living in northern Israel. There are 25,000 Thais living in the country, most of whom are in safe areas, Kasiwat said.

Source: ThaiDay - 21 July 2006

[bina]

jai dee i thought i wrote a post yesterday listing all the

moshavim/kibbutzim evacuating their thai workers but here again, in case anyone has thai relatives working in that area up north:

the specific towns: avivim (where the majority of the really heavy fighting is happening, margaliot, cerem ben zamira, and those moshavim and kibbutzim near by...) although by now, like many of the residents of the other moshavim/kibbutzim the thai workers have learned when its an incoming missile and when its an outgoing (ours) missile by the sounds; and what to do when there is BOOM BOOM...

the thai consulate has sent a bus to evacuate those thai from avivim due to the very heavy fighting there and no israelis stayed on that particular moshav (town).... they can either be transferred or go home...

and in the southern areas moshavim/kibbutzim (close to shderot and ashkelon) thai workers are still complaining that they dont have suitable bombshelter/bomb rooms and the consulate has visited and promised to pressure these towns to provide for the workers but due to lack of budget and lack of pre fab bomb shelters, its not happened yet...

i think also it looks worse on tv then it is (for us, not for the labanese) and the thai dont seem to really know too too much about geography in the middle east so we are getting tons of calls from worried mothers/wives in thailand

for once, jerusalem area is the safe place to be.......

bina

israel

[astral]

I got out on Tuesday morning through the northern border to Syria.

Damascus is packed and I ended up staying with a Syrian family.

I hope the Thais get out safely.

I fear for all my friends who are still in Lebanon and do not have other nationalities.

Don't believe all you see on TV about this being against Hezbollah.

Innocent Lebanese people, businesses and the Lebanese Army also being targeted.

We had to divert round a crater where there used to be an army security post.

The port in Tripoli has been bombed, despite the naval embargo.

Also see the TV footage of milk factories being destroyed.

The Israeli actions are out of all proprotion to the original action, and the support by the USA is disgusting.

If the USA put half the support into the Arab world that it puts into Israel it would be a very different situation.

[Steely Dan]

I got out on Tuesday morning through the northern border to Syria.

Damascus is packed and I ended up staying with a Syrian family.

I hope the Thais get out safely.

I fear for all my friends who are still in Lebanon and do not have other nationalities.

Don't believe all you see on TV about this being against Hezbollah.

Innocent Lebanese people, businesses and the Lebanese Army also being targeted.

We had to divert round a crater where there used to be an army security post.

The port in Tripoli has been bombed, despite the naval embargo.

Also see the TV footage of milk factories being destroyed.

The Israeli actions are out of all proprotion to the original action, and the support by the USA is disgusting.

If the USA put half the support into the Arab world that it puts into Israel it would be a very different situation.

I'm glad you got back safely and hope the same applies to all civilians fleeing Lebanon. In terms of proportionality I would ask what you would suggest being proportionate for dealing with a terrorist organisation which infests the Lebanese body politic like a cancer and proceeds to fire rockets, send suicide bombers and use kidnapping as a bargaining tool for the entire six years since Israel pulled out of Lebanon? The U.N even passed a resolution calling for the disarming of Hizbollah, this didn't happen and so now the Israelis are doing it by proxy, and now the U.N are talking of sending in a peacekeeping force. Doh!

[bina]

sorry guys but not here to discuss politics, just thai stuff...

i dont do politics....

theres a wonderful thai lady here that is spending most of her awake time dealing with phone calls and going to various places in the north to talk with the workers.... she should get a medal for this.... She says that most of the workers are being relocated to other moshavs/kibbuztim such as mishmar hayalon, etc... which are more south/central but not far south ; this way they can keep getting their so very important monthly salaries that their families are relying on...

when i visit thai workers i also go with a map to show them what s happening and where; also, when their bosses start getting called up they now understand what the army uniforms really mean, and why the boss isnt at work for a few weeks....

astral im glad youre ok; i've been thru 4 wars here; saw two sons of friends buried after last lebanon war; and one more two yrs ago in jenin; had my daughter almost blown up twice (she missed her bus thank god each time, and it blew up, in jerusalem),sat in bomb shelters with my babies wearing gas masks,etc etc etc.... im really tired of being in a constant state of semi alert... and my personal opinion is all these men from all sides can sit in a room together and play computer war games and let the rest of us humans get on with real life....

now, NO MORE POLITICS!!

bina

israel