Beirut is Crying Again
Lebanon is living in war again but this time it is witnessing a war between its sons and daughters. The streets are closed again, the fire is in so many places, the victims are dying, and the situation is becoming worse.
After a long round of negotiations that brought nothing between the several Lebanese parties and groups, the situation exploded and turned into a street fight between the Lebanese that are fighting to prove who can be stronger and make decisions.
Lebanon’s problem is that it is divided depending on religions: it includes Suna Muslims, Sheea Muslims, Druze, and Christians. At the meanwhile the Christians are divided into two groups that support either Suna or Sheea Muslims. The Druze are united with the Suna.
On the other side each team is connected to a different foreign power: Hezballah that represents the Sheea and half of the Christians is connected with Iran and Syria. The Suna Muslims, the other half of the Christians, and the Druze are connected and supported by the United States of America.
Each team has his own vision and agenda in which that makes it hard to reach an understanding with the other team. What really hurts is that both of the teams may have forgot that they are Lebanese and should do the impossible to prevent any inside struggle that could result in bring a new Civil war that can destroy everything that Lebanon accomplished until now.
Both of the teams also forget the foreign danger on them that could open a new war on their country without differentiating between them.
The unity that the Lebanese community witnessed after the success and the victory that Hezballah brought after the Israeli withdrawal from its lands was amazing and remarkable, but when it comes to dividing the power and control this has been forgotten.
Lebanon is a small example of the bigger struggle that is happening in the Middle East between two projects: The American Project and the Iranian Islamic Project. The same events happened and still are happening in Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Sudan, and even Egypt. Although it is easy to be seen that the only successful strategy in dividing the Arab unity is to make them busy fighting each other on the basic of religion, until today the Arabs didn’t understand that.
The only solution for any disagreement in opinions or agendas should be solved by talking and convincing, this is a true important basic that the Arab world should understand and work upon if they really want to become a democratic and strong world.
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Hi Ziad,
I agree with your observation:
“Hezballah that represents the Sheea and half of the Christians is connected with Iran and Syria. The Suna Muslims, the other half of the Christians, and the Druze are connected and supported by the United States of America.”
I would just qualify that it does not look that half of the Christians side with Hisbollah. Aoun is losing popularity…
However, how do you get from here to Arab unity? Would you advocate that Arab unity under Iranian domination? As far as I know Persians do not qualify as Arabs. If you do not think that Iranian domination of the Middle East would be a good thing, why do you deplore that apart from Syria, Hamas and Hisbollah Arabs are not automatically on Iran’s side?
Heyz Ruth
You are right about Aoun, the major Christian population supports the Suna. Aoun goes with Hezballah only because of his bad past with Ja’Ja, the marouns, and other christian leaders. Actually your statement answers the question. Neither Hezballah nor the other lebanese suna muslims work for an Arab unity. The Arabs cant be on Iran’s side because of an old past full of hatery and wars between the Sheea that live and rule in Iran and the Suna that rule the Arab world. Iran has its own plans of ruling the Arab world for its sake and will always not be a part of the Arabs. What is used or could be used to gain more support from the Arab world is a way of showing that religion can join between the two Iranian and Arab nations although there is a difference in details.
Ziad,
Actually my question was if you would welcome such unitiy under Iranian domination?
Ruth,
I dont welcome such a unity with Iran, but i dont blame those who go and unite with it while at the same time another group is uniting with an other great power like the U.S
Ziad,
You are evading the question. Obviously you can live with American influence – otherwise why have you agreed to join Tony Robbins project? Could you also live under the Iranian influence? You could just try it out a little bit in Gaza right now, you know.
Your familiy threw in their lot with Fatah as fas as I know. Do you prefer to align yourselves to Hamas? Do you think that they should be regarded the legitimate Palestinian leadership?
Ruth
It you were to read some of my posts, you would have understood what my opinion of Iran is. I don’t think that participating in any projects means that I am under the influence of the country of this project. I even have no problem in participating in Israeli projects, does this mean that I accept to be under Israeli influence? Tony Robbins is nor representing for example George Bush administration. And the Peace Now organization does not represent the Israeli opinion right?
I am not supporting Iran or the Iranian influence in any way, but you should remember that I don’t see Gaza or the people in Gaza or even Hamas as an enemy. I may disagree completely with what Hamas is doing now and have done in the past, but if I was to be in charge I would have preferred to sit and talk with them and try to influence and bring them to my side, instead of leaving them to follow Iran. The Palestinian leadership and the west treated Hamas in a way that made it go and unite with Iran. This is a loss for u.
Anyways this is not an excuse for what Hamas did in Gaza and is doing now.
I can write you about Hamas and why it is living this situation now, it is better to study why an organization acts in a certain way instead of only blaming or declaring that it is doing something wrong. Once you know why they act due to their strategies, there may be a chance to know how they can be changed, does it make sense?
I have no idea why you thought that I would align myself with Hamas or any of my family. Even if there is no occupation and I imagine that I am living in a free democratic Palestine, I will still disagree with the Hamas agendas and program, they have their own beliefs and I have my own beliefs. This does not say that I am a Fatah. May be it is better after all of what happened in the Political Palestinian situation to sit back for a period of time and study how and why each direction acts and works in his specific way.
Neither me or any one else can decide if Hamas or Fatah should be considered the legitimate Palestinian leadership. Even if I disagree with them, I must say that the Palestinian Law says that neither Fatah nor Hamas are legitimate at the meanwhile. The Fatah or independent government that came after the Gaza change was supposed to continue only for thirty days and after that elections were supposed to be made.
Hamas took control of Gaza by using force and attacked the Palestinian Authority properties, this is the worse that could be made to something that they are supposed to represent. Hamas made hundreds of mistakes that I can mention for you, but do you think I should consider them and the Palestinians who believe in them as my enemies while on the other side I say that I am ready to accept Israel as a country beside me? I don’t think this makes sense.
Would you consider another Jewish as an enemy because he or she believes in a different idea? I don’t think so.
Before writing about me with in the way you did, try to understand me. If you consider me as a hypocrite, I should consider you as a Jewish Israeli that only works and talks to prove who is telling the truth.
You can live in a world that you build and believe in beliefs that you want and refuse to here anything that disagrees with what you believe, but by this you put a limit to your improving. You may succeed in convincing so many people that you and Israel is Right, and the Palestinians are the wrong, but remember that by doing this you didn’t solve the problem that you have with Palestinians and not others.
Ziad,
I would regard any Jewish organisation that was killing other Jews and threatening to kill me as an enemy.
Hamas is doing that to Palestinians.
I am not enough informed about internal Palestinian politics. My impression was that Fateh was looking for ways to cooperate with Hamas. The Meccah agreement comes to mind – this would qualify as talking, I assume? – which was followed by the armed coup in Gaza.
This is another sample how you deny responsibility: “The Palestinian leadership and the west treated Hamas in a way that made it go and unite with Iran.” Can you really view Hamas as completely without options and choices with all their actions having to be blamed on external forces?
This does not make sense.
Ruth
Not only Hamas did this to the Palestinians. We did was is worse in Gaza and the West Bank after the Oslo agreement to protect Israel’s security. Dahlan is a good example! So both of the sides did mistakes.
Ruth should i remind you to read all of what i write: i said “The Palestinian leadership and the west treated Hamas in a way that made it go and unite with Iran. This is a loss for u.
Anyways this is not an excuse for what Hamas did in Gaza and is doing now.” I said that this is not an excuse but they are not the only one to blame, others did mistakes too.
Did Olmert oblige those who joined his government to admit that there is a right for the Palestinians to live in their own state? Olmert joined Liberman which one of the worst Israelis that wants to transfer Arabs from this land. Abu Mazen, the United States, and Israel wanted to humilate and oblige Hamas to say that it considers Israel as a legitemate State while at the same time Israel didnt consider any Palestinian.
There were so many other ways of bringing Hamas to the negotiating table instead of fighting it and opening a war on Israelis in Sderot, and also a war between Palestinians. I saw a post that you put of Khaled Abu Tumeh on your website. In it he talks about two Projects in the Middle East: the American, and the Iranian…isnt there something that looks familiar with what i wrote before about it?
Ziad,
You seem to lack understanding of the inner workings of Israeli politics (or other democratic states as well). Building coalitions never include the bigger party forcing the smaller ones to accept their party program. This would be tantamount to abolishing them as parties. In Israel with its low threshhold for representation in the Knesseth, the party that wants to rule is actually more dependent on coalition partners than the small parties are on the ruling parties. Shas and others have been able to extort government money for their pet projects because they are in a position to make or break a government. We are just seeing this in action: Shas currently asks for a riase in child allowances blackmailing Olmert that otherwise they will leave the coalition.
I still cannot find it feasible that you study politics at Hebrew University, live in Jerusalem and fail to see the workings of the political machine right in front of you.
Olmert’s speech at Ben Gurion’s grave in 2006 (shorly after he was elected Prime Minister) – that is at a highly symbolic place and at a highly symbolic time – should be enough for you: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6189460.stm
Ziad,
I cannot find data of Palestinian deaths by the hand of the PLO in the first years after Oslo which would be comparable or even worse that the ca. 140 dead in Hamas’ coup last June. If you have any source for me I would be grateful.
Otherwise I will have to scrap another of your statements.
Ruth,
Search well and you will find how Hamas was treated in Gaza after Oslo. I know what i tell you when i say that there were deaths and tortures in Gaza. Ruth Who do you think you are to decide to scrap what i say. YOu dont know your limits, and you think you are a soucre of laws and history but you are not. Now i see that your way is only to catch words from lines and try to answer them only for one reason: to prove you are right. Ruth i am not searching for this and i am already over this.
Ziad,
This is also bad style. I do not have to accept anything you claim or disprove it. The burden of proof is up to you.
Violence is endemic in Arab societies. Apart from political violence there are family feuds, honor killings and so on. Dahlan and other Palestinian leaders used intimidation, kidnapping, torture as political tools. The same is true in other Arab countries. I do not see how you can blame such violence in the Palestinian society on Israel.
I am not suggesting that Fatah is “good”/”white” opposite Hamas “bad”/”black”.
According to the best of my knowledge there was very little inter-palestinian violence for Israel’s benefit during the first Oslo-years. Arafat’s revolving door policy, his lenient treatment of terrorists was much commented in his time. I remember that Palestinian spokespeople often stated that Arafat was not willing to risk a civil war.
Ruth
Now you made my point. You dont have to accept anuthing i claim or say. I agree with you that Arab societies has violence in it and it need to be changed.
This is why i wish that Peace become popular again and both Arabs and Israelis return to believe in it. What you said about Arafat not willing to risk a civil war was true but he was smart enough to reach leaders and make them stop any acts that could be an obstacle for his negotiations with Israel.
The problem was that Sharon and George Bush wanted a peace that they decide alone and this made him take the choice of Initifada that was supposed to be a peaceful intifada but happened to become an armed one that brought more harm for palestinians and ISraelis.