As you are probably aware, a cease fire has been agreed to in the war between Israel and Hezbollah. As we wrote before, this short war--which may or may not actually be over--dominated the news here, and from what we have seen on the internet and satellite television, it was big news around the world too, as it should have been.
Despite my obvious interest in the region, though--since I live here--I am left somewhat amazed at the intense level of interest and amount of news coverage that the war generated. This is not meant to minimize the very real suffering that people experienced and continue to experience because of the war. After all, around 1000 people were killed, and many parts of Lebanon were simply destroyed. That is big news, and beyond that, it is obviously very sad.
However, from my point of view--and it seems almost like heresy to admit this if this part of the world is one of your great focuses in life--I think the war received a disproportionate amount of interest, news coverage and attention from the United Nations and various governments from around the world. Actually, maybe it is better to say that it received the appropriate attention, but in comparison, other conflicts do not. For instance, an estimated 400,000 people have died since 2003 in the war in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Another 1.8 million are said to have been displaced. It is also said that around 500 people continue to die every day there, which means that in two days the number of dead about equals the total number of deaths in Lebanon during the nearly 40 days of fighting there.
One would think that a war in which the number of monthly deaths is equivalent to the population of the town in which I grew up would garner a lot of attention. However, I don't think the average person is really aware of what's going on in Sudan. News stories are scarce, and I can't remember when I last saw a televised report on the situation. I think it's also safe to say that diplomatic activity to end the war could be more intense. After all, the conflict is over three years old now. In contrast, I am guessing that nearly everyone with a TV or a computer knows at least something about what's been going on in Lebanon. While the fighting went on, BBC Television--as well as the American stations we've been able to see on satellite--led nearly every newscast with the war, the local newspaper here devoted basically the entire front page to the war and governments around the world fell all over themselves trying to negotiate an end to the fighting. In fact, the negotiating continues, as just today, after days of wrangling, the European Union agreed to send 7,000 troops to help police the cease fire.
Now, this is not meant to be a game of numbers. I was stunned when I heard Israel had bombed the Beirut airport, and I continued to be stunned and saddened as Israel bombed and destroyed cities and villages in southern Lebanon, as well as parts of Beirut. I live near Lebanon and Israel, and so I care immensely about what goes on in this region. I don't want people to ignore what goes on here. I am just amazed that a three year old war in which 400 times as many people have been killed doesn't receive the same amount of attention. My hope is that we continue to carefully watch the situation between Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah, without forgetting the trials and tribulations of the rest of the world too.
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