[lit-ideas] Guardian Unlimited: Lebanon is made to pay
- From: omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 14:26:14 GMT
Omar spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it.
To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Lebanon is made to pay
Israel, the US and key Arab regimes are now determined to crush the widely
popular Hizbullah
Charles Harb
Monday July 17 2006
The Guardian
The story reported in much of the western media in the past few days has
painted a straightforward picture: Hizbullah's militants suddenly decided to
launch an attack against Israel, killed some of its soldiers, kidnapped two,
and has bombed Israeli cities. Israel, acting on its right to self-defence,
retaliated by bombing the "infrastructure of terror" in Lebanon. The crisis
will end when Israel's terms are implemented: the kidnapped soldiers are
returned, Hizbullah is disarmed, and the Lebanese army protects Israel's
northern border. This narrative borders on the dangerously naive.
Since Israel's 1996 massacre of Lebanese refugees at Qana in Lebanon, and the
end of the 22-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, an agreement
between the various parties - sponsored by France, the US, and the UN - has
reflected the "balance of terror": Israel would refrain from bombing Lebanese
civilian structures, and Hizbullah would not bomb civilian structures in
northern Israel.
Although several military operations by the Israelis and by Hizbullah have
occurred since 2000, neither side has violated this understanding. In 2004,
Hizbullah secured the release of some prisoners held captive in Israeli jails
in an exchange with Israel. And Hizbullah's military operation last week falls
squarely within that framework.
Israel's immediate reaction broke the established rules of the game by bombing
civilian structures across Lebanon, imposing a land, air and sea blockade,
terrorising the population, and killing more than 100 civilians in a
disproportionate display of power not seen since 1982. Hizbullah then
retaliated by bombing northern Israel, in line with the "balance of terror"
equations, and the escalation of the conflict has spiralled.
Israel's significant policy shift is linked to domestic politics, psychological
factors and power plays. The wider geostrategic implications are more important
then the operational details. For the first time in recent history, Saudi
Arabian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Israeli and US interests now converge in an
implicit alliance to quell Hizbullah. Reactions by these states in the past few
days have been strongly indicative of such a stance, from the Saudi statement
implicitly condemning Hizbullah, to the US president's explicit refusal to
"rein in" Israel.
US rhetoric last year about spreading "democracy and freedom" in the Middle
East was ended when the administration realised that the outcome might lead to
governments more in tune with national interests than American ones. The
complacent reaction by US (and, to some extent, European) officials to the
widespread election fraud and repression in Egypt as well as the open war on
the democratically elected Palestinian government reflect this change. The
question is increasingly whether entire populations are being punished for
making the "wrong" democratic choices.
The Islamic-led resistance movements are now the only credible forces resisting
the US occupation forces in Iraq, the Israeli occupation forces in Palestine,
and the dictatorial regimes in the Middle East. They have come of age, and are
ready to fill the void left by Arab nationalists of the 1950s and 1960s.
Attempts to divide the movement along sectarian and geographic lines have been
given significant airtime in the media, but do not seem to fully reflect the
reality on the ground. The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Hizbullah are far from
being the fanatics some in the west would like to believe they are. They have
displayed an increasingly complex and pragmatic discourse, moderated over time
and appealing to wider sections of Arab public opinion.
Hizbullah is at a crossroads. It faces a massive Israeli onslaught, hostile
international media and Arab regimes, and a potentially hostile Lebanese
government. On the other hand, it has broad support among the Arab population
across the region. As one Lebanese analyst argued, Hizbullah's leader, Hassan
Nasrallah, will either come out of this a hero the like of which the Arab world
hasn't seen since Nasser or he will have to step down.
What is happening in Lebanon is a tragedy for a people who have been made to
suffer a great deal in the past three decades. A tiny country with a war-weary
population and great pride is being made to pay once more for the incompetence
of Arab rulers, the arrogance of a superpower and the self-righteousness of the
Israeli state.
· Professor Charles Harb teaches social psychology at the American
University of Beirut
charles.harb@xxxxxxxxxx
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
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