Cyber war brings true picture home

The Intifada has taken on a new dimension, the bitter struggle has been extended to cyber space. To some extent, the Internet has created an alternative medium, something which the Palestinians have come to know and use better over time to advance their plight. This became more intensified with the second Intifada, the Al Aqsa Intifada of 2000.

As with any conflict, information warfare becomes an integral part of it. This has always been the case throughout history. Many times, the success of a military campaign is partly determined by how well information is used or how a campaign of misinformation is carried out.

Images of a Palestinian child's bullet-ridden stomach, a demolished house, a burnt or uprooted landscape, all make their way to millions of Internet connections, evoking the human conscience. Hence, it is well established that in the age of total connectivity through the Internet, the Intifada too is taking advantage of it.

In resisting occupation, the Palestinians have opted for numerous measures to fight Israeli aggression. Taking up arms was one way; the other is in accordance with an electronic age. This is the age of cyber wars.

The first of such cyber wars in the Arab Israeli conflict began with the second Intifada, the Al Aqsa Intifada of 2000. As the casualty toll rose, Palestinians opted for cyberspace as a ground where they could voice their suffering.

Many Arab sites have presented comprehensive information and updates on Palestinians casualties. The Internet was not used only as means of connecting the Palestinians, but also building a bridge of communication to the outside world. This was not a battlefield where guns and bullets ruled. Rather, it was a ground where the reality of facts was relayed.

But facts are usually met with resistance and many Arab and Palestinian websites were repeatedly hacked by Israeli or pro-Israeli groups. Nevertheless, such actions did not lead these websites to close down. Palestinians continued with a determination to offer the world a glimpse of their survival, what a day in their lives looks like.

The cyber wars or virtual wars became an effective measure to counterattack Israel's misleading and biased campaigns of misinformation as these sites offer links to historical facts, maps, statistics, analysis and background.

The power of the media facilitated by the advance of technology could not be more pronounced than in the latest Israeli onslaught against the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

For one thing, the Israelis made sure that members of the media were kept far enough so that they are not given the opportunity to become witnesses to violations and atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers. This is simply because one person's eyewitness account could turn the whole world into witnesses as well, via satellites and fibre optics.

In today's media world, swaying public opinion is a crucial aspect to winning a conflict. Though this has always been the case, its role took on greater importance with the advance of technology.

With the ongoing Israeli onslaught against the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, such virtual wars have also gained relevance. The Israeli army ensures that the media is in total darkness on the atrocities committed against Palestinians.

They have succeeded to some extent, but the fact is we no longer live in isolation - the world, in fact, lives at our doorsteps. What is hidden today, will eventually surface tomorrow.

For instance, many sites have started posting 'diaries'. These are listings of events that take place on a daily basis. Many have participated in writing them. During the first few days of the Israeli re-occupation of the Palestinian cities, the diaries descried the shortage of food and water and the killings of civilians as the Israeli army advanced.

Palestinians have written these diaries as well as others of different nationalities, who happened to be in the West Bank, when Israeli troops marched in. Some even have been able to post photos of the destruction brought to Palestinian towns.

Perhaps, what the Palestinians have benefited most is the sense of community, as they were able to communicate with each other and come closer to each other. The Internet not only connected them, but also brought them closer to other supporters of their cause.

Palestinians have always been sidelined from decision-making in the world of politics. They were excluded on many occasions from discussions that had direct effects on their lives.

But if politicians have opted not to listen to their plight, the Internet offered an alternative.

Reaching out to world public opinion meant that the politicians were being reached too, but in an indirect way. With the Internet, information and the world are just a click away.