Beirut was known as a dangerous and violent place

Of course that's all unfair and out of date, but I couldn't help reflecting that before it helped to push the Israelis out of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah was chiefly known for kidnapping Westerners, and that Lebanon is still not a country where you are quite sure who is in charge.

On the way back from our appointment, we passed a bored-looking soldier sitting on a barrel outside an empty theme park called Fantasy World.

It's a useful point to be made to visitors... this land too once had a conflict that seemed unending and beyond hope

There were plenty of flags with two stars rather than the Lebanese cedar motif.

This we were told was part of the Syrian military presence, that keeps the peace around here.

But I'm jumping the gun - the fact that we were on our way home at all means, obviously, that we had passed through Hezbollah territory safely.

In fact we could not have been shown more courtesy and kindness by bright young men who staff Hezbollah's information centre, helpfully signposted just above a popular bakery among the dingy apartment blocks of west Beirut.

New image

There is something faintly surreal about an organisation with such a tough and uncompromising image, occupying a suite of offices, with a reception desk and a bank of telephones.

Hezbollah remains an influential force

But Hezbollah, under its current leader, Shaikh Nasrullah, is a group of great influence and no little power in this part of the world, and its officials - at least the ones we met - would not seem out of place in the boardroom of a major oil company.

They fit in with a Beirut that has taken a decade to dust off the debris of the civil war, but is now busy adjusting its tie and polishing its shoes as it puts on an Arab League summit.

It's on display and it's taking every opportunity to impress - enthusiastic students are everywhere, guiding delegates through the shiny new airport and sitting cross-legged filling press packs for journalists.

And it's a useful point to be made to visitors, especially those gathering this week to discuss the seemingly interminable and insoluble descent into violence between Israelis and Palestinians - this land too once had a conflict that seemed unending and beyond hope.

And though much of the old world - Syrian troops, Hezbollah, Palestinian refugee camps - remains, Lebanon has found it is possible to live in peace.