Education for Peace??

We are used to seeing excerpts from the children’s programs on TV in the Palestinian areas which advocate jihad and the destruction of the State of Israel. Now the children of southern Lebanon are also being indoctrinated through the use of computer games.

A local TV news program reports that a new computer game allows the players to raid Israel to capture soldiers, battle tanks in the valleys of southern Lebanon and launch Katyusha rockets at Israeli towns -- the game puts players on the frontline of war with the Jewish state. "Special Force 2" is based on last year's 34-day conflict between the Lebanese guerrilla group and Israel.

"This game presents the culture of the resistance to children: that occupation must be resisted and that land and the nation must be guarded," said a Hezbollah media official. But the Israeli Foreign Ministry responded by saying: ''It should come as a surprise to no one that Hezbollah teaches children that hatred and violence are positive attributes.''

Designed by Hezbollah computer experts, players of "Special Force 2" take the role of a Hezbollah fighter, or Mujahid. Weapons and points are accumulated by killing Israeli soldiers.
The game, launched on Thursday, recreates key phases of the conflict, which was triggered when Hezbollah forces raided northern Israel and captured two soldiers, saying they wanted to negotiate a prisoner swap.

Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group backed by Iran and Syria, declared the outcome of the conflict a "divine victory." "Through this game the child can build an idea of some of ... the most prominent battles and the idea that this enemy can be defeated," the spokesman said.

The 3-D game forces players to think and use their resources wisely, reflecting the way Hezbollah fights. "The features which are the secret of resistance's victory in the south have moved to this game so that the child can understand that fighting the enemy does not only require the gun.
"It requires readiness, supplies, armament, attentiveness, tactics."

And this is the way forward to peace???