The Green Line in Beirut was a strip of wild vegetation that pushed through pavement and physically divided the city into Christian and Muslim sectors during Lebanon's 15-year civil war. Today newly planted palms stand in front of delapidated buildings on the Green Line.
According to Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, in the future Beirut's flattened Central District will be transformed into a financial, commercial, and cultural center for the Arab world.
—Text adapted from “Beirut Rising,” September 1997, National Geographic magazine
(Photograph taken on assignment for, but not published in, “Beirut Rising, ” September 1997, National Geographic magazine)