Middle East series goes on
By Dennis Zhou
Nov. 28, 2006 9:00 p.m.
As’ad AbuKhalil, a professor of political science at
California State University, Stanislaus, spoke on campus Tuesday
about the current state of Lebanese politics as part of a series
dealing with the current situations in the Middle East.
The series, titled “The New Middle East: Five Years After
9/11,” was presented by the Center for Near Eastern Studies
to help explore and explain recent events in the Middle East,
particularly to students.
“I think it’s informing them of serious problems
facing the country,” said Leonard Binder, the center’s
director and a UCLA political science professor.
This summer fighting erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, an
Islamic organization based out of Lebanon, after the group entered
into Israel and captured two soldiers.
The program invited AbuKhalil as part of an aim to present
specialized knowledge of a variety of sources from the Middle
East.
“We try to get a variety of points of view from different
institutions and different disciplines as well,” Binder
said.
In his presentation, titled “The New Old Lebanon,”
AbuKhalil spoke not only of the turbulent history of Lebanese
policies but also its relevance to the summer war between Hezbollah
and Israel.
He maintained that Lebanon is on the brink of civil war between
the current government and Hezbollah. This conflict, he added, is
primarily between Shiite and Sunni Muslims despite the presence of
other factions composed of groups such as Christians.
Born in the city of Tyre in South Lebanon, AbuKhalil said he has
had a personal interest in studying the country extensively, even
interviewing Hezbollah leaders during the 1980s.
AbuKhalil is known for his commentary on the Middle East, having
served as a consultant for Western outlets such as NBC News and
frequenting Arab outlets such as Al Jazeera.
He said his experiences have led him to have a distaste for
certain aspects of Western media.
“Not all foreign affairs can be reduced to soundbites.
This is why I was frustrated. One time I was on
“˜Nightline’ and they said they would give me a long
time: four minutes. Then I was on Al Jazeera where they told me
that time would go by fast. They gave me 90 minutes. Here you have
to make everything into cut or uncut soundbites,” AbuKhalil
said.
Based on experiences, AbuKhalil said Western media does not
always give the full picture when reporting events.
“I believe that the media woefully reports foreign
affairs,” he said.
But AbuKhalil said war might not erupt in Lebanon despite
continual friction between Hezbollah and the current
government.
“It has remained on the verge for a while, but that
doesn’t mean that there will be a civil war,” AbuKhalil
said.
Amanda Rizkallah, president of the Lebanese Social Club, holds a
similar view of Lebanon.
“I think he is partially correct in saying that the
Western media doesn’t do an adequate job of always portraying
the situation in the Middle East and Lebanon accurately. There are
details that are sometimes left out and it is difficult to really
understand the situation, and the motivations of people
aren’t explained in Western media. People get a picture of
violence without understanding why it’s going on,”
Rizkallah said.
