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Tragedy in South Lebanon: The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006

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From far away, people in the United States get their information on the ongoing wars of the Middle East from news sources. These invariably emphasize what has changed and what is new about the situation. But what hasn't changed is the suffering of the people who are caught in it and their determination to live their lives while audaciously working for peace.

They are the voices of Cathy Sultan's new book, "Tragedy in South Lebanon: The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006". The geo-political forces that rain down on them examined not as if the region was some kind of chessboard, but as a power struggle involving real people - including the United States. Cathy doesn't let anyone off the hook as the misery, death, cultural genocide and determined hope of the people are all placed into a context that anyone with a heart and a brain can understand.

Cathy Sultan raised her family in Beruit and has been actively pursuing peace as an Executive Board Member of the National Peace Foundation. This personal connection with the situation shows in "Tragedy in South Lebanon" through her delicate yet direct touch with her sources and interviewees. She isn't a journalist, she is someone who cares deeply about Lebanon and the desperate need for peace.

With its myriad political, cultural, and economic force, the Middle East can be difficult for outsiders to understand. "Tragedy in South Lebanon" not only explains this situation clearly and concisely, it's also an excellent read. Most importantly, you'll never read a dry, analytical news article about the region again without remembering that these are real people struggling with the situation. That's the transformative power of "Tragedy in South Lebanon", and why it's a must read as the United States finds itself deeper and deeper into a region so few of us can relate to.

In July of 2006, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, sparking a war between the Israel and Lebanon that victimized civilians on both sides of the border. In Tragedy in South Lebanon, Cathy Sultan, an American married to a Lebanese man and who once had lived in Lebanon, attempts to tell another side of the story, one neglected by the Western media.

The book recounts the history of the complex relationships between the United States, Israel, and Middle Eastern peoples such as the South Lebanese and the Palestinians. From that complex history, the book examines the events that led to the July 2006 war, the direct and indirect impact of the violence upon civilians on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border, and the longer term concerns of government viability in Lebanon.

The book is filled with first-person accounts of Lebanese and Israeli citizens directly impacted by the violence of the missile attacks. These help to transform war from an abstract concept into a series of real impacts, especially for those who have never experienced this kind of violence firsthand. The book also offers a perspective on the events that were completely missing from the mainstream media coverage of the events. Sultan dissects and explains who Hezbollah is and what they mean to the people of South Lebanon, softening the edges of a group viewed solely as a terrorist organization in the West to a much more complex, multi-faceted political and social service entity helping to meet the basic needs of average people in South Lebanon.

Despite all the book's good points, it does seems Sultan cannot quite help but fall victim to the very thing she criticizes in the mainstream media: a biased telling. Perhaps, since each of us comes to every situation loaded with our own histories, no human being can avoid such bias in storytelling, and the impetus falls on the reader to explore as many sources as possible to create as unbiased a picture as possible. In that case, Tragedy in South Lebanon commends itself by offering up a side of the story heretofore untold to Western readers.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Lebanon has not been the most peaceful place in recent decades. "Tragedy in South Lebanon: The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006" is the story of the citizens of Lebanon, residents of a region in constant turmoil, with a focus on the conflicts in 2006. Pointing fingers at the policies of the Lebanese government, Israel, and the United States, "Tragedy in South Lebanon" touches on the political aspect but remains focused on the personal stories of the soldiers, mothers, and other common people who were affected most by all the conflict. "Tragedy in South Lebanon: The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006" is highly recommended for community library International Studies collections.

"Tragedy in South Lebanon" tells the history of Israel and Lebanon leading up to, during, and after the The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006. This book left me feeling frustrated because it kept slipping from a fair and balanced view of the situation to one-sided reporting, finger-pointing with no supporting evidence (or contradictory evidence given later in the book), and unrealistic expectations. For example, the author often blames the USA for everything wrong in the region and thinks the USA virtually controls every move made in the Middle East. Yet she later gives details about the situation that prove this not true.

The first 29 pages were the worst. The section about the 2006 war (lasting 30 pages) included several excellent interviews from people on all sides of the conflict. It was the best section of the book. The remaining sections often slipped into giving only one side so that the actions of the USA and Israel seemed completely baffling as well as deliberately unethical. (In reality, probably some of those decisions were unethical, others poor judgment or mistakes due to poor information, and some would have made sense if the reasons were given.) I also found it annoying that she often told the reader what value judgments to make about the facts instead of letting the reader come to their own conclusions.

So why was I so frustrated? If the author left out the bias, gave the full picture, and let the facts (from both sides) speak for themselves, then I think the facts would have convinced many people into taking action. Instead, I was left wondering how accurate her view of the situation was due to the frequent obvious bias in the information she gave.

And, though she used many excellent sources, the number of newsletters and newspaper articles she used as sources for her facts only increased my concern about the accuracy of her information. I've been interviewed by newspaper reporters before and know how inaccurate newspaper articles can be. I was left wondering if she double-checked the information with other sources.

So this book has useful information, but it doesn't give the full picture. The black-and-white maps were very easy to understand, and the author was not anti- one faith or the other--faith played little role in her analysis. However, the only people I think would thoroughly enjoy this book are those who think the USA is responsible for all the world's woes and that all modern war is the equivalent of terrorism.