As the conflict between Israel and governmental and militant
Lebanese Islamic group Hezbollah heats up, UCLA students traveling
and studying in the region have experienced the violence and
uncertainty of the past week firsthand.
Violence between Israel and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization
based out of Lebanon, soared last Wednesday when Hezbollah entered
Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. Casualties on both sides
have been piling up ever since.
Hezbollah has sent missiles into northern Israel, while Israel
has been bombing areas of Lebanon that have strategic importance to
Hezbollah, such as bridges and the group’s headquarters.
Both parties involved in the conflict have used strong language
to condemn the actions of the others, making a cease-fire seem like
a distant possibility.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, declared
“open war” against Israel on Friday and Israeli Defense
Minister Amir Peretz said Israel “intend(s) to break this
organization.”
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said there will be
“far-reaching consequences” for Hezbollah’s
attack on Haifa, an Israeli port city in the north that has been
the target of bombings for the past several days.
Nasrallah said his guerrillas have “complete strength and
power” despite Israel’s five-day bombardment.
Samer Araabi, a fourth-year business economics and political
science student, is studying at the American University of Beirut
in Lebanon, and has found himself in the middle of the
conflict.
“Southern Beirut … is just a few miles from campus, and
you can feel every bomb they drop. It shakes the whole building,
and when it’s real close it looks like the windows are about
to pop,” Araabi wrote in an e-mail Saturday. “On a
clear day, you can see smoke from the airport, and at night we
watch rockets fly overhead.”
The violence had killed more than 150 in Lebanon and 30 in
Israel as of Sunday.
Despite the school’s close proximity to the conflict,
Araabi does not know if American University will close anytime
soon, though other universities have. As of Saturday, he was still
taking classes.
“My classes are going on as scheduled for now, but who
knows what they’ll decide on Monday. Nothing here is really
certain anymore,” Araabi wrote.
Outside of the university, the disruption caused by the conflict
is even more apparent.
“It’s been really disconcerting, and everyone here
is really on edge. Especially out in town, everyone is hiding away
so the streets are abandoned and dark,” he wrote.
Trevor Klitofsky, a second-year political science student, has
seen the other side of the conflict. Klitofsky traveled to Israel
on a planned trip put on by his fraternity, and stayed an extra
week traveling throughout the country.
About four or five days before Hezbollah started bombing,
Klitofsky was in the north in the spot where Israelis were
killed.
“I was right near Tiberius, where bombs fell, which is
kind of scary,” he said in a telephone interview
Saturday.
He is currently just outside of Tel Aviv, but that area is no
longer safe from Hezbollah bombs.
Most houses in Israel have safe rooms that are reinforced
because of experience with previous bombings, he said.
The government announced that Hezbollah bombs are able to hit
Tel Aviv, so people are not sure what to expect in the next couple
days, he said.
“People are a little bit down but they have to go about
their daily lives,” he said. “They’re used to
this uncertainty.”
And while Klitofsky is leaving Israel on Tuesday, Araabi’s
exit from Lebanon is much less certain.
U.S. security teams arrived in Lebanon on Sunday to start
planning the evacuation of American citizens in the country.
“I registered my travel with the embassy once the fighting
started. Since then, they’ve been e-mailing me with periodic
updates,” Araabi wrote.
He said he does not want to leave, but the evacuation might be
the only way out anytime soon, as the Beirut airport was hit with
missiles on Wednesday.
Araabi wrote that the Lebanese are used to such attacks from
Israel, but not to this extent.
With reports from Bruin wire services.