The talk began with a discussion of Operation Defensive Shield, an incident in 2002 in which the Israelis were accused of massacring hundreds of innocent civilians. In response to a suicide bombing in Netanya that killed 29 Israelis during a Passover meal, Israel commissioned its army to uproot the terrorist infrastructure in Jenin.
Dallal explained that once the fighting in the region escalated in intensity during the first week, the military barred reporters from Jenin as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of the reporters. As a result, the emerging news was comprised of inconsistent claims by both the Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinians claimed there were hundreds of deaths, while the Israelis asserted that 100 Palestinians had died. The United Nations report about the conflict later indicated greatly divergent numbers, smaller than estimates by Palestinians and Israelis alike-52 Palestinians deaths and 23 Israeli deaths.
Once Jenin was reopened to reporters, Dallal led the first group of reporters into the area. As a result of Operation Defensive Shield, Dallal stated, Israel learned several important lessons about involving the press in its affairs. He explained that the main problem in Jenin was that the area was hermetically closed. "When an area is closed to the press, you create a vacuum, which creates rumors that are multiplied and spun out of control," he said. "The lesson from that for us is … to get good, accurate real info from the field and … always keep everything open to the press. We have nothing to hide."
Since the incident in Jenin, Israel has sought to employ the media to properly represent its position; however, this requires the good fortune of having cameras in the right place at the right time. One such instance occurred in March 2004 when a 16-year old boy with a bomb strapped to his chest was caught at a checkpoint outside of Nablus.
Dallal also explained that the Palestinians typically strike from heavily populated areas, making it difficult for Israelis to respond without injuring civilians. "The terrorists use technology as a weapon on their side because they know that the Western world won't tolerate pictures where there's military activity in populated areas for humanitarian reasons," he said. "They know that and manipulate that. The visual images are often not in our favor."
Fortunately, the media has had fewer incidents to record over the past few years. In 2002 there were 55 suicide bombings; there were 26 in 2003; and in 2004 there were 14. Dallal attributed this significant reduction to the security fence, which is being constructed along the Green Line of 1967. No attacks have occurred in northern Israel since that portion of the fence was completed. "In 2002, 63 people [were] killed on one main road," said Dallal. "In 2004, zero people [were] killed."
Dallal described the terrorist situation once unique to Israel. "It's like a war, and it's not like a war," he said. In the traditional sense, there is no war against a visible opponent. Terrorists surface from the population and do not solely attack opposing soldiers. In the past four years, over two-thirds of the victims of the more than 120 terrorist attacks have been civilians. Through the attacks, Israel must "stop terror and prove that nothing is accomplished through terror," Dallal asserted.
Through the terrors of repeated bombings, Israel's greatest achievement is that it "maintained itself as a society … daily routines not interrupted … spirits not broken," stated Dallal. "We prevailed."
The lecture was followed by a question and answer period where several of Dallal's claims were challenged. Physics Teaching Fellow Noah Charney '02 challenged Dallal's assertion with one of his own by arguing that the IDF was wantonly injuring and killing innocent Palestinian civilians. Charney had additional comments after the lecture. "I felt like the talk was propaganda to gloss over Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians," he said.
The majority of those present at the lecture expressed opinions consistent with Dallal's and found the lecture interesting. "I think this was an important opportunity for students to expand their understanding of this complicated conflict," said Grinspoon Intern Chris Pochon '07. "Captain Dallal was a persuasive speaker. We brought him to raise awareness of the myths circulated in the media about Israel, and he has accomplished just that."