The Hezbollah War, which took place in the summer of 2006, raised several important issues.
The goals of this unit are:
• To give an overall picture of the causes and chronology of the war and to underscore that the alleged Sheba Farms dispute was not the cause of this war.
• To underscore Hezbollah’s use of human shields and civilian structures and the difficulties their use posed to Israel (for military operations and media coverage) and to raise issues about how the international community can compel nonstate actors to comply with international humanitarian standards.
• To examine the issue of media bias which was a serious problem in journalists’ reports on this war. For example, the press claimed that Israel had destroyed Beirut, when, in fact, Israel had targeted a tiny suburb of Beirut where Hezbollah had its headquarters (see map on p. 30). |
The Hezbollah War (2006)
1. Who launched the attacks against Israel in July 2006? Was it the Lebanese government? Read the italicized comments on p. 28 and p. 30. What do they suggest about Hezbollah’s relationship with the Lebanese government and people? What was the role of Iran?
2. How did this war fit into the larger pattern of Arab-Israeli wars? How was it different?
3. Hezbollah used human shields to protect its positions during the war. What should the international community do to prevent nonstate militant groups from repeating this war crime?
4. Given that Israel had unilaterally withdrawn from its security zone in southern Lebanon in 2000, how do the
Hezbollah kidnapping, rocket attacks and arms buildup affect your views about the wisdom of future unilateral withdrawals?
5. It has been said that the Arab-Israeli war has been fought on two levels: on the ground and in the media. Judging from the information in Israel 101, how true do you think this is of the Hezbollah or Lebanon II War?
6. Why is the issue of the Shebaa Farms so important? How does the Shebaa Farms issue fit into the larger pattern
of the Arab-Israeli conflict? (To the teacher: Hezbollah justified its attack by claiming it was liberating Lebanese territory from Israeli control.)
Media Bias
7. When should one suspect media bias–i.e., consistent lack of responsible checking of the facts or one-sided reporting? Have you had any experience with the media misreporting–or accurately reporting–events that you have known about personally? How did the misreporting or accurate reporting happen? (Answers should include when reporters are in a country where it is common knowledge that they are
threatened if they report against what the regime wants them to say.) |
