A NEW children's computer video game that enables youngsters to re-enact last year's Hizbollah-Israeli war, is being sold in Bahrain, it emerged yesterday. Special Force 2 is being sold in Bahrain for BD6 and can also reportedly be purchased at stores in Lebanon, Syria and the UAE for around $10 (BD3.78).The GDN phoned around 12 stores yesterday and found Al Mustafa Bookshop in Jidhafs to be the only one in possession of the game.
Shop salesman Ebrahim Al A'ali said they were the main suppliers of the game.
He said the shop received the game on Saturday and yesterday obtained a licence from the Information Ministry to sell it at the store and to other shops in the country.
The bookshop will be selling the game to other shops from today, he added.
Release of the game in Bahrain has sparked mixed reactions, with some people rushing to the shops to purchase a copy and others criticising the promotion of violence to children.
The new 3-D war game, designed by Hizbollah computer experts and lauched last week, is a sequel to 2003's Special Force, which also featured conflicts between Hizbollah and Israeli forces.
Special Force 2 is based on the key events of last year's 34-day conflict.
It enables players to take on the role of a Hizbollah fighter, or Mujahid and collect points and weapons by killing Israeli soldiers.
Hizbollah reportedly killed 158 Israelis, mainly soldiers and 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Lebanon.
"This game presents the culture of the Resistance™ to children: that occupation must be resisted and that land and the nation must be guarded," Hizbollah media official Sheikh Ali Daher is quoted by Reuters as saying.
"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 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."
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) president Mohammed Al Maskati disagreed with the game being sold in Bahrain, saying, it was teaching children that violence was an acceptable way to solve a situation.
"Fighting and war equals violence - this game is teaching children how to be violent, whether they are Israeli or Hezbollah," he told the GDN.
"It is a problem if it is sold in Bahrain, children especially between 12 and 18, behaving violently is equal to drugs.
"Why sell these games to the youth and family? We have more problems from all these wars in Iraq, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon."
Mr Al Maskati said the game was also against human rights because such violations had happened in Lebanon and Israel.
"This tells people we can't make peace in the world. It is telling them you must stay in the war," he explained.
"If there is no peace, then there is no democracy or freedom."
Mr Al Maskati said he was against any game that promoted violence and war, because it wasn't teaching anything positive.
"Only you will fight or do war with someone," he said.
"If we give our children this game we shouldn't be surprised if they get into fights at school."
Although Mr Al Maskati is against children playing Special Force 2, he said it was important for the younger generation to be aware of the rights and wrongs of the conflict in Israel and Lebanon.
Bahrain Society Against Normalisation with the Zionist™ Enemy member and former chairman Mohammed Hassan Al Aradi praised Hizbollah for designing the game, saying he would be buying a copy for his family.
He said for a long time children had been playing war games in which the winners were always Americans or Europeans and the losers were Arabs and Asians - and it was about time this changed.
"This move from Hizbollah is changing the picture and giving us different victims," Mr Al Aradi told the GDN.
"It (the game) will help change a lot of public opinion in kids and they will play games they like."
In other games, for example some featuring western forces fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, Arabs are the victims, said Mr Al Aradi.
He said Arab children played this games and in order to win, had to "kill" other Arabs.
"Now it's changing and I'm very happy about it. You can choose the name of the person you want to be (from last year's conflict), you can see them, know them and see the places of war, it keeps you in the war and the issue alive," said Mr Al Aradi.
He said children in Bahrain watched the war last year on the news and therefore seeing violence was nothing new for them.
"It's a good programme for us. You will see places you have heard about and you will keep the picture in your mind, it's also good for adults.
"It's (the conflict) a part of life that children should understand and kids have seen it on satellite, minute by minute, you can't keep them away from it.
"They watched what was happening in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon when they were eating, it's not something new.
"And this game shows what actually happened, it's not spreading lies."
Information Ministry publications and Press director Jamal Daoud said he was unaware of the game being sold in Bahrain, but would look into it.
becky@gdn.com.bh