Urban legend

While Israel continues its vicious assault on Lebanon, what, asks Jailan Halawi, do we tell our children?

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Clockwise from top left: Israeli children writting a message of "love" on missiles fired against their Lebanese counterparts; Lebanese child in protest; Lebanese family moving away from the rubble

Since the Israeli war on Lebanon it's been hard to wrench oneself away from the TV screen -- striving to make some sense of the absurd killing of civilians. No one, least of all Hizbullah, could have expected that the abduction of two soldiers would result in such large-scale brutality on the pretext of self-defence. Rightly, the world community has condemned Israel for excessive use of force, but, notwithstanding human rights and international law, nothing has been done to stop it. Nor have Israeli claims of "wiping out" Hizbullah stood up to scrutiny: for almost a month now, the militants have given Israel a most difficult time. Never mind images of Israeli children declaring their love for their Lebanese counterparts on the very missiles that were fired against them: said counterparts are dying en masse by the day. Thus the question of how to explain such "love" to our own children arises with unprecedented force.

According to an informal electronic survey conducted by this writer, the war has revived a sense of Arab nationalism: whether for or against Hizbullah, Egyptians, adults or children, can only rally against a common enemy. Hazim Kandil, a lecturer at the American University in Cairo (AUC), for one, stresses the need for military power: "I can only teach my children that politics is about might, not right. Nothing stands in the way of power, be it law, ethics or anything else. We have to be strong, and strength means operational military power -- we can't wait for others to fight our battles for us. From what's going on in the region, it is evident there is no such thing as a world community to count on. We need to teach our children that success is not coincidental nor a matter of luck -- it must be earned. Power resides in taking life seriously, engaging in the collective good -- education, work, and keeping our culture intact -- and it is through the lessons of history, telling lies apart from facts and registering our own potential as opposed to that of our enemy, that we become aware of such power." It is through state-endorsed misinformation that a pro-Lebanon stance comes to imply indulging in war as if there is no other option. Likewise with the lie about Israel's military "invincibility", Kandil adds: "We are giving up on our own potential by embracing what amounts to no more than an urban legend very far from the truth." In a book entitled The Iron Wall, Israeli historian Avi Shlain confirms this notion, spreading the idea that Israel is surrounded by hostile neighbours who can only be controlled by generating the feeling that Israel lives behind an impenetrable iron wall. "Hizbullah has demystified this notion," Kandil explains, "we need to realise that we are strong, and that the enemy is this huge, dumb giant without the intelligence not to bomb civilians. [Hassan] Nasrallah is our Che, our Saladin -- he loses some battles, wins others: our hero."

For his part child psychiatrist Hisham Adel asserts that, while it is harmless to expose children to the news, they should be spared the gore; they should be told who is who and what is going on: "The mass destruction of Lebanon will leave a lot of trauma in its wake. Our children should understand that they are part of this, that it is their duty as Arabs to offer what support they can." This, he says, can be a chance to make children aware of their position that they might work hard to build resources and deploy their full potential. By the same token they should be shown the ugly aspect of war and its hideous outcome.

Watching the news with her nine-year-old daughter, accountant Nadia Ibrahim responds rather more emotionally: "Once again Israelis are committing atrocities against an Arab country; they hate us; they don't respect our humanity; our blood is cheap. That's what makes them our enemy, and we must resist them. I tell my daughter how a small group of believers, through resistance, can defeat a hugely strong and terribly aggressive army. I urge her to believe in her potential and never to give up her rights. The Israelis have always believed they could overcome any Arab resistance -- now they have been humiliated." History just goes to show that, regardless of Nasrallah, Israel has never respected the sovereignty of Lebanon, Ibrahim adds, repeatedly violating its air space for no reason. Yet there were those, like marketing manager Wesam Reda, who begged to differ, blaming Hizbullah for "dragging innocent people into an unfair war". Hizbullah, according to Reda, is far from victorious; rather from soldiers of God who will win the holy war, Hizbullah are but "extremists" bringing destruction and possible occupation on their country: "Going to war requires a vision, whereby you win a round and then negotiate for gains -- the same scenario that the late President [Anwar] El-Sadat put into action. He was a true believer who drove his nation to victory with a divine vision. That," he concludes, "is what I teach my son." Reda supports Egypt's policy of resorting to diplomacy as a core player in the Middle East: "I love and respect our president for having the wisdom to keep our country in a state of peace." Much as he feels sorry for the Lebanese, Reda blames Hizbullah for providing Israel with a pretext: "I cannot help wondering what gains Nasrallah has achieved out of such haphazard, uncalculated behaviour except death and destruction -- I see nothing holy in that."

Medical doctor Hussein Gohar agreed, criticising Nasrallah for trapping Lebanon in a war in which it will have the greatest share of casualties and economic losses. The massacring of innocent civilians is unjustified, but it was Nasrallah's "paranoia" that gave Israel the signal to go ahead with them. Gohar insists that the way to the future is education: "We need to raise a generation economically independent, with a will of its own, and politically aware. We need to explain to our children that life is not about aggression and violence, nor holy war and inserting religion into everything we do, but rather about how much we invest in ourselves to become productive individuals working for the well-being of our society." For school teacher Hanan Atef, more simply, the new generation should be made aware of its history: "I teach my children who our enemy is, our history, our boundaries, the wars we've engaged in and the lessons we've learnt. We need to understand our history to learn how to avoid our past mistakes." Grief aside, the war is a lose-lose situation: "War means destruction, on every level -- and whether you end up a winner or a loser, you have lost something somehow. We need to teach our children peace and love, how to be productive instead of destructive. It is our duty to expose them to the atrocities of war and to raise a generation keen on knowledge, love and prosperity, aware of the horrors of bloodshed and destruction."