(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[online dialogue] Several bloggers note how good it is that there are "sensible people" on the "other side", and describe a new trend. "Lirun", an active, 30-year-old Israeli blogger who lives in Tel Aviv, tells Ny Tid that the comments have changed in the last week.
- People come with news, facts and views more to discuss, less to bombard each other with propaganda. Many of us blog with peaceful intentions, says Lirun, referring to a discussion he had with a Lebanese where they negotiated a peace agreement.
He blogs at www.emspace.blogspot.com and has great faith in blogging:
- We challenge each other's news and reflect each other's sad stories – together it becomes a much more balanced perspective, he says.
Raja Abu Hassan, a Lebanese resident of the United States, is an active blogger at Lebanesebloggers.blogspot.com. He tells Ny Tid that just the fact that Israelis and Lebanese talk to each other is an achievement.
- There are also dialogues between Iranians and Israelis in my blog, he says.
- Right now there are very passionate debates. The loudest are the most negative, and they just keep posting. Unfortunately, they scare others away.
- What role do you think blogger dialogue across borders can play?
- A minimal role, but it exists at least. There is a lot of bad blood, but fortunately people talk together, says Hassan.
The first Webtifada
[net] The Internet has become an important weapon in wartime. Moroccan hackers calling themselves "Team Evil" have already destroyed nearly a thousand Israeli websites, and Israel has taken revenge. The Moroccans sympathize with the Palestinians, calling their fight "web tifada".- As long as you kill Palestinians, we will kill your servers, the group must have stated.
Other web users use the word "webtifada" more peacefully and hope online protests can end the misery.
- I think the word is cool, writes the Lebanese artist Mazen Kerbaj in an email to Ny Tid.
He says the war is becoming increasingly modern on television, but that the web can offer something different, like real people's personal stories.
- The definition of a real webtifada for me would be to gather a billion people on a website at the same time. The most important thing now is to get people to listen – and to see Lebanon. We do the best we can, says Kerbaj, who himself lives in Beirut and comments on the war with drawings he posts online daily.
