Informed Comment

Blair and the Rhetoric of False Equivalence

The techniques of propaganda were on full display during the joint news conference of George W. Bush and British PM Tony Blair on Friday. Blair began by saying,

‘ What is happening in the Middle East at the moment is a complete tragedy for Lebanon, for Israel and for the wider region. ‘

Note how by calling it a “tragedy,” Blair takes the onus off Israel for launching a total war on the Lebanese infrastructure and population. A hurricane is a tragedy, Mr. Prime Minister. This is a war. It is a war launched by specific persons, including especially Ehud Olmert and Gen. Halutz. It isn’t something that can be put into the passive voice.

Moreover, Blair further obscures reality by making the “tragedy” cover ‘Lebanon, Israel, and the wider region.’ 50 Israelis have died, 33 of them military. On the order of 600 Lebanese civilians have been killed, with over 400 bodies recovered. Hizbullah’s rockets have damaged some buildings, but the scale of destruction in Lebanon by far dwarfs that in Israel. The Israelis have targeted residential apartment buildings, bridges, roads, telecom towers, internet servers. They have made 750,000 Lebanese homeless, out of 3.8 million residents of Lebanon.

It isn’t a “tragedy” and its effects haven’t been the same everywhere.

Here is more of Blair:

‘ And the scale of destruction is very clear. There are innocent lives that have been lost, both Lebanese and Israeli. There are hundreds of thousands of people that have been displaced from their homes, again, both in Lebanon and in Israel. And it’s been a tremendous and terrible setback for Lebanon’s democracy. ‘

His rhetoric attempts to lump together Israel and Lebanon with regard to the “scale of destruction.” And, even if it were true that “hundreds of thousands” of Israelis have been displaced, which I doubt, the fact is that very few of them have lost a home or suffered serious wounds, compared to the thousands and thousands of Lebanese who have. There is not any equivalence, of the sort Blair pretends exists, between the suffering of the Lebanese and the suffering of the Israelis. There certainly are Israelis suffering. But their number is tiny in comparison to the Lebanese who have.

I could go on, but it is pretty clear, I think. Even the British cabinet is unhappy with Blair over his performance.

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Islands in Arabia

Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut:

‘ Islands in Arabia

Sitting on my balcony staring down at the Sea Gate of the American University of Beirut, and to the Mediterranean beyond, I am in no danger. The bombs are in the distance. The fighting is in the south. In Tel Aviv, Israeli citizens are staring at the same sea, in perfect safety. The missiles are landing in Haifa and farther north. And those following this war from living rooms around the world are in utter cocoons of safety. Most of us are separated from the violence that under girds our world and its order. But are we safe from fear? And does our fear make us wish for an order more and more strongly under girded?

AUB, like the State of Israel, is an implantation on the Levant from the West. Israel’s unilateral attempt to disengage and repair behind its enormous wall, as if it were an island in a sea of Arabs, reminds me of New Orleans dreaming of safety behind its levees. But New Orleans is an artificial island that is actually below sea level. Is Israel below sea level as well? AUB has evolved in a very different direction with regard to its surroundings. Might the Israelis learn something from its experience?

The American missionaries who first arrived in the eastern Mediterranean in 1820 were inspired by the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening. As historian Ussama Makdisi puts it, they sought “to evangelize the world in order to facilitate the Second Coming of Christ.” They also saw themselves as representatives of the most enlightened, most advanced, most modern of civilizations—the truth of their religion being the centerpiece of this superiority. They founded schools because Christians needed to read the Bible. They introduced western medical practices and what later became the standard Arabic script. When they founded Syrian Protestant College in 1866 (later AUB), they hoped to attract students by teaching them about medicine, agriculture and the arts. The entire enterprise was a failure in terms of its goal of gaining converts: there were hardly any. But their inadvertent philanthropy had a profound impact. Many Arabs embraced the modern notions they learned at the college. In 1882, a huge controversy erupted when the Presbyterian Board of Trustees in the US forbade the teaching of the theory of evolution, and eventually dismissed two promising Arab scientists who had dared embrace modernity more thoroughly than the university’s trustees. As years passed, the university’s mission became increasingly secular and its faculty and administration increasingly Arab. In 1920, it changed its name to the American University of Beirut. John Munro, who has written a history of the university, suggests that the word “of” in its name became more and more representative of reality. The university played an important role in the revival of Arabic literature and Arab nationalism. Partly because of AUB, most Arabs held favorable views of the US, at least until the 1967 War. Even during the horrors of Lebanon’s long Civil War, all sides spared the AUB campus and hospital. The University has walls and gates, but its guards do not carry guns. Its walls serve to designate it as a particular place where students from all of the region’s religions and ethnic groups can openly debate and pursue knowledge. As AUB student Randy Nahle put it in his prize-winning Founders’ Day essay in 2004, the university provided “an open forum where Occidental and Oriental streams of thought could meet and debate and reshape each other.” When AUB’s Center for American Studies and Research that I direct decided to offer a course called “The Holocaust in American Literature and Culture” last semester, we were aware that, though our decision was not without controversy, AUB was a free and open space where even this topic could be approached in a scholarly way. Instead of remaining an isolated island, AUB has continued to evolve. If it is an American institution, it is not because it slavishly serves the agenda of any presidential administration, but because it openly embraces ideals that have motivated the most admired of US achievements.

Can Israel evolve and become a country “of” its region rather than an island “in” it? A country where people of all religions have absolute equality? A country with “liberty and justice for all”? If so, both Israel and its neighbors have a great deal to gain.

In the Levant, endless empires have come and gone. Living here naturally turns one’s mind to the long view. In July of 2006, the American University of Beirut may seem vulnerable and Israel invincible, which is more likely to exist in 500 years? Perhaps now is a time to think about these most basic issues. What kind of island is likely to persist: one with open gates, or one with high walls? One that is a meeting place of cultures, or one that strives for cultural purity?

Patrick McGreevy ”

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Israeli Air Strikes Kill 15 Civilians:
Hizbullah Fires longer range Missile, Misses

The Daily Star reports:

‘ Israel’s powerful war machine pounded Lebanon for the 17th day on Friday as Hizbullah launched new, longer-range wepons on settlements in northern Israel . . . Israeli planes and warships hammered Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley . . .

‘At least 15 civilians, including a Jordanian, were killed by Israeli raids Friday and several others wounded, including four children, while a church was demolished in Safad al-Battikh . . .

“The Israeli bombing wounded one French journalist in the Southern town of Ainata and another media convoy was bombed on the road leading to the Southern town of Rmeish,” the report added. The French journalist was identified as Paul Quatier from France’s Channel 2. ‘

Pictures

Lebanese in the south, mainly Shiites are turning to Hizbullah in a big way.

The UN is calling for a three-day aid cease-fire, so that food and other necessities can be delivered to suffering Lebanese civilians. The Israelis at the moment are only authorizing aid convoys on an ad hoc basis, which means they are constantly in danger of being attacked by the Israeli army.

Many Indians are upset about what is being done to Lebanon. I would guess that there are nearly 5 million Shiites in India (they are about 5 percent of the Muslims, who are 11 percent of India’s more than 1 billion persons.

What about the country’s executive? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh articulated the country’s feelings when he addressed parliament on Thursday:

‘ While condemning the Hezbollah abduction of two Israeli soldiers, which triggered the Israeli onslaught, Manmohan Singh took Tel Aviv to task: “The virtual destruction of a country which has been painfully rebuilt after two decades of civil war can hardly be countenanced by any civilized state.” ‘

If the US Congress is going to earmark millions for the Lebanese army, wouldn’t it want to ask the Israelis to stop bombarding it first?

What do the Lebanese think about all this? They have revenge on their minds and most support Hizbullah’s actions, even a majority of the Christians. Christians make up 40 percent of the voting-age population, and hold the presidency and a number of cabinet posts, as well as many positions in the officer corps.

The percentage of Lebanese in a recent poll who think that the US is an honest broker and has a place in Lebanese affairs has fallen from nearly 40 percent last January to 10 percent today. Lebanon was supposed to be the Bush administration’s success story. All has turned to ashes.

As for the Israeli hope of getting the Lebanese to turn on Hizbullah, that doesn’t seem to be working out very well. 87 percent of the Lebanese expressed support for Hizbullah’s retaliatory attacks on northern Israel. 70 percent supported Hizbullah’s capture of Israeli troops to force Israel to release Lebanese prisoners. Support for this move actually rose to a clear majority even among Christians. Only
the Druze among Lebanese ethnic/religious communities mostly disapproved (they are 6 percent of the population). 63 percent expect Hizbullah to be victorious over Israel.

As for suffering in Israel, which is widespread and worrisome: The bad news is that Hizbullah was able to fire a missile a little bit south of Haifa on Friday. The good news is that they don’t appear to have been able actually to hit anything.

There is another dimension, besides the deaths, wounded and psychological trauma, to the damage Hizbullah’s illegal and criminal targetting of civilians is doing, which is the economic.

AFP on the damage the war is doing in Israel to Haifa’s economy.

‘ Haifa port, the Jewish state’s second-largest, is closed. So is the railway line north of the city. . . According to a recent study by the Israeli Association of Manufacturers, just a third of enterprises in Israel’s north are functioning normally. Thirty-five percent have closed completely and another 35 percent are not operating at full capacity. The conflict is costing Haifa 300-500 million shekels ($68-$113 million) per day, the study estimates. ‘

Tourism is dead, and some restaurants have suffered a 90 percent fall-off in business.

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Israeli cabinet rejects masive reliance on troops.

The Israeli war with Hizbullah is going badly for the Israelis. Some generals think the problem is too few troops. But the Israeli cabinet rejected that way of thinking, Thursday, sticking to its current mixture of air power and light infantry.

Air strikes in the south will continue.

Bloomberg reports that the the Israeli assault on Lebanon may have much strengthened the hand of Shaikh Hassan Nasrullah.

Mitch Prothero in Salon.com on the myth that Hizbullah hides among civilians.

‘ Throughout this now 16-day-old war, Israeli planes high above civilian areas make decisions on what to bomb. They send huge bombs capable of killing things for hundreds of meters around their targets, and then blame the inevitable civilian deaths — the Lebanese government says 600 civilians have been killed so far — on “terrorists” who callously use the civilian infrastructure for protection.

But this claim is almost always false. My own reporting and that of other journalists reveals that in fact Hezbollah fighters — as opposed to the much more numerous Hezbollah political members, and the vastly more numerous Hezbollah sympathizers — avoid civilians. Much smarter and better trained than the PLO and Hamas fighters, they know that if they mingle with civilians, they will sooner or later be betrayed by collaborators — as so many Palestinian militants have been.

For their part, the Israelis seem to think that if they keep pounding civilians, they’ll get some fighters, too. ‘

A Christian Bishop in Jerusalem would get a better hearing among American Christians than would non-Christian leaders, right? Wrong.

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32 Killed, 151 Wounded in Karada Strikes

Sunni Arab guerrillas used a combination of car bombs and mortar strikes to kill at least 32 persons in the upscale, predominantly Shiite Karada district on Thursday, while wounding 151.

The explosions took place near the home of Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi, and this area generally supports the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). That is, the Sunni Arab guerrillas were targeting the Shiite bourgeoisie this time, not the poor of Sadr City. SCIRI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim also leads the United Iraqi Alliance, the largest party in parliament.

Photo Courtesy KarbalaNews.net

Some 19 bodies were found in the capital, killed execution style, the victims of faith-based reprisals. In East Baghdad, 5 traffic policemen were kidnapped.

Guerrillas opened fire on Georgian troops at a checkpoint near Baquba on Thursday. No word on casualties.

Reuters reports other casualties in the ongoing civil war violence.

Tony Karon on how the Lebanon War imperils Bush’s policies in Iraq.

Blackwater and Falluja– did the mercenaries mess up the US effort in Iraq?

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Criminalizing Civilians

Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut:

‘ Criminalizing Civilians

In the days before the US-commanded forces unleashed the second siege of Falluja in November 2004, a quarter million women, children and old men fled the city, but males between the ages of 15 and 45 were denied passage. They were essentially criminalized and forced to remain in a zone upon which hell was about to descend. These poor souls were condemned to a legal category that philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls hominus sacres, those without rights who can be killed without it being called the murder of a human, homicide.

Israeli leaders have a decision to make. After the IDF’s devastating losses at Bint Jabeil on Wednesday, the Washington Post Foreign Service reported this statement from former Mossad officer Yossi Alpher: “I dare say, based on what we’ve seen so far, these may be the best Arab troops we’ve seen so far.” An Nahar today reported that, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon proclaimed: “Everyone who is still in south Lebanon is linked to Hizbullah, we have called on all who are there to leave.” He then suggested that “maximum firepower has to be used.” As justification, he cited the meeting in Rome, from which “we have in effect obtained the authorization to continue our operations until Hisbullah is no longer present in southern Lebanon.”

Look at this logic: since Israel has asked civilians to leave, any that disobeyed have forfeited their status as civilians. Because the United States and its British followers have blocked the resolution to stop the killing, Israel will continue until Hezbollah “is no longer present.” But remember Hezbollah has been redefined to include all those “still in south Lebanon.” This crude logic renders all the people of southern Lebanon hominus sacres.

A serious war crime may be imminent. The responsibility to protect civilians does not end when an invading army asks them to clear out. An Nahar also reported that hundreds of people were trapped in southern villages. Moreover, there is evidence that some who tried to flee north in cars have been targeted.

On his web log informedcomment.com, Juan Cole argued on Monday that since Hezbollah fighters cannot effectively aim their rockets, and since they must understand they are most likely to hit civilians, they are therefore guilty of war crimes themselves. Hezbollah leaders would undoubtedly respond that they are not intentionally targeting civilians. From the beginning of the war, Israeli leaders have justified the deaths of Lebanese civilians by claiming that they also never target civilians; it is simply that Hezbollah fights from civilian areas and there is a lot of collateral damage when they are targeted.

All of this is bad enough, but what may be in store if the frustrated IDF begins to treat all people in south Lebanon as enemies will be a war crime of a different magnitude. In most past wars, the victors had the luxury of telling the story, and prosecuting the war crimes. In this war, the eyes of the world are squarely fixed on what is about to happen. Israel’s powerful alley may be able to prevent prosecutions of its decision makers, but all will know what decision they made. Most importantly the Arab World we know, and will not forget. Israel has a decision to make. ‘

Patrick McGreevy
Beirut’

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Boston Benefit

Boston Performing Artists for Peace Present:

A Benefit Concert
for Civilian Victims of the
Israeli-Lebanese Conflict

Including participants from the following area organizations:
(organizations named for identification purposes only)

American Repertory Theater — The Boston Camerata —
The Boston Philharmonic — Dünya Turkish Music Ensemble Emmanuel Music — From the Top — Sharq Arab-American Ensemble — Voices of Black Persuasion

Anne Azéma — Joel Cohen — Jeremy Geidt — Kareem Roustom —
Mehmet Sanlikol — Craig Smith — Benjamin Zander

And others!

8 P.M. August 7, 2006
at Emmanuel Church, Newbury St., Boston

All proceeds to be forwarded to nonpartisan humanitarian relief

FREE ADMISSION, donations requested

Contact: Yasmina Kamal
yasminakamal@verizon.net

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