I Grew Up in Lebanon’s Civil War. Violence Doesn't Lead to Peace

Courtesy of The Economist.

Last Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET, my WhatsApp buzzed with a voice text from my best friend in Beirut. It was 3:30 a.m her time.

“We’re being bombed,” she said, her voice shaken. “I woke my daughter up, so she can get out of her bed and sleep on the couch where it’s safer.”

Those words echoed in my heart like a dagger. I had heard them growing up—night after night, day after day—almost four decades ago. The only difference was that I WAS the daughter being awakened by her mother, so we could run to the shelter and hide from the bombs raining down on the city.

I left Lebanon in 1988. Since the end of the Civil War in 1990, the country has tried to rebuild its infrastructure and economy, hoping to lure its citizens back home, but unfortunately the threat of war continued to loom large.

Lebanon spans 10,452 sq. kilometers (4,036 sq. miles). (Michigan is almost 97,000 square miles.) It is sandwiched between Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Over the years, religious and political groups have gnawed at Lebanon’s core, growing angrier and more extreme after each peace accord. They bide their time until they gather enough money to buy ammunition, build alliances, and plan coups. Each time, Lebanon finds itself in the crossfire of these feuding factions, unable to defend itself and its borders.

Some say war is necessary to eliminate terrorism, especially since diplomatic solutions failed. Here’s the problem: the serpent can be temporarily tamed by cutting off its head, but like the Hydra, it regrows. For each severed head, two more appear. Those diplomatic efforts have gone on for centuries, yet they have failed. Each time, they favored one side over the other. The cycle of wars, ceasefires, and peace accords continues. Rinse and repeat.

History reveals that using military force in the Middle East increases, rather than eliminates, extremism. Deep-seated hatred persists, as the conflict is driven by religious extremists who view death as a path to honor and a place in heaven. War cannot overcome such beliefs; instead, it fuels their resolve.

Celebrating the fall of the Iranian regime or supporting Israel’s attempts to defeat Hezbollah contributes to renewed hatred among a new generation of mujahideen, as seen when the Taliban rose in Afghanistan.

Case in point, almost 40 YEARS AGO, I stood in bread lines for hours, hid from bombs, and wondered when I could return to school. I still feel the fear of standing in the corner of my bedroom, away from the windows, as rockets lit the night sky, watching my mom grab her blue duffel bag containing all our necessary paperwork before we ran into the shelter.

Today, there are many little girls like me waiting and watching in fear, wondering why their lives were upended, wondering when things would go back to normal.

When I asked my friend if there was a shelter nearby they could go to in case things got worse, she replied that after the Civil War ended, most shelters had been demolished or turned into underground parking lots, because the country hoped it would never be at war again. Because Lebanon never instigates wars, but it always becomes its victim.