Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Conflicts in Middle East only deja vu
By Caitlynn D'Angelo
The Gamecock (U. South Carolina)
07/31/2006

(U-WIRE) COLUMBIA, S.C. — With a U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Middle East has proven to be a focal point in foreign affairs and national politics.

Kenneth Perkins is a history professor at the University of South Carolina and an expert on the history of the Middle East. The current fighting between Israel and Lebanon is deja vu for Perkins.

Already a volatile region, the kidnappings of two Israeli soldiers in mid-July sparked a new conflict to add to the growing crisis in the Middle East.

Hours after the kidnappings, heavy bombing was issued from Israel in retaliation.

Since then, steady bombing has ensued from both groups with an estimated loss of life nearing six hundred.

"If you look at Israel's dealings with other Arab nations, they seem to believe force is the answer, and seem to think the only thing our enemies understand is brute force," Perkins said.

The overwhelming response to the kidnapping by Israel has led to many Lebanese to fully support the actions of Hezbollah.

Tension and violence between Israel and Lebanon goes back as far as the early 1980s. In 1982 Israel invaded the southern portion of Lebanon in an effort to push Palestinians out of Lebanon, Perkins said.

As a result of that invasion, the political group Hezbollah, now the target of Israeli attacks was formed as a two-part group. Its two halves include social reform for the Shiite people, primarily schools and hospitals, and a military wing of "Islamic Resistance" to fight against its opponents, primarily Israel.

By 2000, Hezbollah became very popular with the Shiites when Israeli ended its occupation of Lebanon, Perkins said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has declared plans to enable peace between these two countries. However, recently the United States vetoed a ceasefire for these two groups, explaining that a more long-term solution was needed to resolve the problem.

While this is the United States' position on Middle East peace, people have presented other solutions, with peaceful discussion being the primary ideal.

Perkins explains his position, "The first thing to be done is the fighting must stop and talking must begin. Hezbollah should be disarmed, not dismantled, and the Israeli soldiers should be returned."

"The only way a situation can truly be reached is if each group attempts to find a completely just solution for everyone."

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