Displacement Behavior during The 2006 Israeli-Lebanese War

Marwan Khawaja, Texas State University
Shireen Assaf, American University of Beirut
Rouham Yamout, American University of Beirut

In the course of 33 days, the Israeli-Lebanese war has resulted in over 1000 deaths, thousands of bodily injuries, large scale destruction of infrastructure and properties and massive population displacements. About a third of Lebanese were displaced during the war. We use population-based survey data collected in early 2007 and logistic regression to examine the effects of some demographic and socioeconomic factors on displacement, stratified by war affected and non-affected areas. Our sample is restricted to adults aged 18 years or older. We find that region of residence was understandably the most important variable in predicting displacement. Younger age, being married, and higher education also had higher odds of displacement compared to others. Interestingly, household composition and size, economic standing and possession of a car were not related to displacement. Findings from the present study may help policy makers and humanitarian agencies in their planning efforts during emergencies, including wars.