Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Civilian casualties: Part of Hezbollah's plan
By Erol Yayboke
Daily Texan (U. Texas)
08/04/2006

(U-WIRE) AUSTIN, Texas — Disturbing. Awful. Excessive. These are the words widely used to describe the Israeli response to Hezbollah's provocations in northern Israel.

As the carnage continues, the international community grows increasingly weary of the conflict and mounting civilian death toll, much to the delight of Hezbollah. The Islamic militants know that only by winning over the international court of public opinion will Israel stop the offensive, a goal that can be achieved only through widespread images of death and destruction at the hands of the Jews.

Most upsetting is the number of people, including children, caught in the crossfire; at least 29 people died last Sunday in Qana, Lebanon, after Israeli bombers destroyed an apartment building containing mostly refugees from the conflict.

But who is to blame for this tragic loss of life? It was an Israeli plane that destroyed the building acting on orders from Israeli central command stemming from Israeli intelligence — therefore Israel must be to blame, right? Although these statements are all true, to place sole blame would be narrow-sighted and incomplete.

The Israeli military crossed the border into Lebanon last week, launching a limited ground offensive that could expand to a full-scale invasion, much as it did in the early 1980s. The militants, left with an identity crisis following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, now have a rejuvenated sense of purpose. The Zionist threat to Islam is now as alive as ever in the eyes of the militants, even if the military might to repel it is not. Fortunately for them, this is a more a battle of wills and of public perception than of bullets and shells.

Modern warfare has changed. Gone are the days when the longest spear prevailed or the most accurate projectiles crippled the organized opposition. The new soldiers fight from caves, apartment buildings and amongst women and children. Alongside Katyusha rockets that comparatively do little more than symbolize persistence and resilience, Hezbollah uses images of death and destruction to invoke sympathy and rage from the international community.

Self-proclaimed mortal enemies of the West, it is the western media that is now its greatest ally. The images are real and often graphic. But they are also more valuable than any Iranian monetary contribution could ever be. Hezbollah knows that the images of destruction will eventually bring an end to the conflict and a psychological victory over the hated Israelis, ostensibly making it the hero of the Arab world.

Innocent lives are lost when they are present in areas of conflict. Despite continued warnings from Israel and an open humanitarian corridor to the north, non-combatants continue to be in harms' way. Hezbollah's leaders know that they cannot win the ideological war without the help of their women and children, whose deaths are deliberately used as weapons against Israeli aggression.

The tactics are working. Arab citizens are rallying behind the anti-Israel cause, and many in the international community, although not the United States, are calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Whether they forcefully keep them there or convince them to do so willingly, Hezbollah treats Lebanese civilians as shields. The militants walk, live and launch rockets at Israel from their midst. They do not wear uniforms, often conceal their weapons and make no concerted effort to keep civilians out of harm's way. Hezbollah understands the strategic need for such casualties in the battle for international public opinion and reaps tremendous benefit from each death.

No, Hezbollah did not kill the children in Qana. But one has to wonder to what lengths it would go to garner the support of the Arab world and paint Israeli generals as reckless "war criminals." To what savage lengths would it go to regain regional power and influence by defeating mighty Israel?

Ultimately it was the forefinger of an Israeli pilot that caused the destruction, but ask yourself: Who is truly to blame?

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