Things fall apart

摘要

The view from Sheikh Abed's hilltop tomb sweeps over bare ochre slopes that tumble into a broad valley spread beneath the distant, cloudy mass of Mount Hermon. The background, taking in swathes of Lebanon, Israel and Syria, is hauntingly romantic. The foreground is surreal. A shiny chain-link fence slices across the hill, bisecting the long-forgotten sheikh's vault from end to end, like a magician's sword-trick.