Blogging and Instant Messaging Across the Israel-Lebanon Border

The Wall Street Journal today is talking about the amazing situation of civilians on the ground in Israel and Lebanon, unable to talk to each other by phone line even before recent events, carrying on conversations by blog and instant message even as bombs fall.

Unfortunately, the WSJ doesn't allow access to online content unless you're a paper subscriber, so I can't direct you to the whole online article. However, here are some of Lisa Goldman's observations from the thick of things in Tel Aviv.

From the WSJ:

"Bloggers from Lebanon and Israel — some on the scene, others around the world — are providing live updates of their experiences, commenting on each other’s writing and sometimes linking to blogs across the border.

The dialogue is all the more unusual since the populations of the two countries had few ways to interact even before the fighting began. Lebanese law prohibits Israelis from entering the country, and there are no phone connections between the two states."