Big Isle student gains insight from witnessing carnage
Witnessing the devastation caused by Israeli bombing of Lebanon has strengthened Big Island native Marisa Dabney's resolve to work for peace in the Middle East.
"I'm not glad that what happened to Lebanon happened," Dabney said yesterday from her dorm at Trinity University in Washington, D.C., "but I'm glad I was there when it happened. I never realized before how one-sided the U.S. press is."
Dabney noted that when she left Lebanon on July 23, media in that country were reporting 600 dead in Lebanon and 47 dead in Israel.
"The American press always talk about number of people killed in Israel like it's such a huge atrocity," Dabney said. It is, yet there are many more people -- almost entirely civilians -- being killed in Lebanon, she said.
"Just a couple of days ago, an entire family was killed trying to leave the south (of Lebanon)," Dabney said. "There was another incident where a bus full of women and children was blown up."
The 20-year-old graduate of St. Joseph High School in Hilo was studying Arabic at the American University in Beirut when fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah July 12. She hopes to work for the U.S. government after receiving a master's degree.
After being evacuated on a ship to Turkey on July 23, Dabney had to wait a week at a Turkish air base for a plane back to the United States. She arrived in Atlanta on Sunday and Washington on Monday, she said yesterday.
"People were mostly glad to be leaving," Dabney said.