Arab World Riveted by Coverage of the 'Sixth War'

One viewer, Hassan Husseini, a Saudi oil consultant based in Bahrain, called al-Jazeera's coverage gory but said the network was still his favorite because it was not afraid to discuss controversial issues.

"It has been very painful living the war with the Lebanese," he said. "I wake up exhausted, I have headaches. It's the stress of being so close to so much violence. But what kills you is the frustration of not being able to do anything about it."

In the Arab narrative, the fighting is only the latest round in a conflict that began in the spring of 1948, when the state of Israel was created on what Arabs believe was their land. Al-Jazeera calls it the Sixth War in a reference to the five previous Arab-Israeli wars.

"In the eyes of the Arab world, it's all connected," said Samer Shehata, assistant professor of Arab politics at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. "Israel's attack on Lebanon, its occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land, it's all part of the same story."

During a recent segment on "Voice of the People," an al-Jazeera call-in program that usually hosts an Arab celebrity, Kuwaiti actor Daoud Hussein, in a live feed from Kuwait, praised Hezbollah's leader, Hasan Nasrallah, and prayed for his victory against Israel.

"If there was just one Nasrallah in every Arab country -- one person with his dedication, intelligence, courage, strength and commitment -- Arabs would not have had to suffer stolen land and defeat at the hands of Israel for 50 years," he said.

"We have suffered a hundred Qanas at the hands of Israel," Abu-Hassan al-Otaibi said in a call from Saudi Arabia, referring to the death of at least 28 civilians in an Israeli airstrike on a Lebanese town last month. "Our leaders are weak and impotent."

Sitting in front of one of the dozens of crescent-shaped desks in al-Jazeera's huge newsroom this week, Iraqi producer Muhanned Almaadidi said that since the beginning of the war, the station has been overwhelmed with callers wanting to participate in their shows.

"We can't air all the calls we get, otherwise it would be viewers speaking the whole day," he said. "And usually what they want to do is criticize Arab leaders."

At the al-Jazeera editorial meeting, set off from the main newsroom, producer Assef Hamidi went through the day's top stories: the death of 15 Israeli soldiers, strikes on a Beirut suburb and the Bekaa Valley and the replacement of an Israeli commander.

"This is the first time the Israelis replace a high-ranking military officer in the middle of a war since 1973," during the Arab-Israeli war, Hamidi said. "We need to note that."

A young man in a suit and glasses raised a hand. "Israeli claims that they're deep inside Lebanon are wrong. The fighting in Alam, where Israelis are picking up dead soldiers, is right near the border," said reporter Mohamad Rammal, who is from southern Lebanon where the fighting is taking place.

"Fine," Hamidi said. "In your breakdown tonight, use graphics to show the areas where they are actually fighting so that it reflects the actual progress of the Israeli troops."

As the producers walked out of the glass-walled conference room, multiple screens in the newsroom broadcast live footage from Beirut with correspondent Katja Nasr reporting on a missile strike near a funeral procession.

The camera moved erratically, trying to find the site of the strike, when suddenly plumes of dense smoke mushroomed at the end of the street where Nasr was standing.

"The people were taking part in a funeral procession for the martyrs that fell from Israeli airstrikes yesterday on a residential building," said Nasr, holding a finger to her ear to block the noise. "More than 30 people were killed, one-third of them children. Entire families were killed in the strike, including a mother and her two children, a family of six."

The camera showed a crowd of men and women walking in deep rows, some lifting coffins wrapped in the red, green and white flag of Lebanon above their shoulders. One man with white hair and gray stubble carried a small bundle in his arms. He repeatedly bent down to kiss it, rubbing his tears on the flag in which it was wrapped.