Ayoon Wa Azan (Hezbollah is Able to Settle the Matter)
Jihad el-Khazen Al-Hayat - 04/07/08//
The exchange of detainees and dead bodies between Hezbollah and Israel is the victory we all want for the Lebanese Resistance. When opposing Israel, it rallies all the Lebanese, but with its armed men in the streets of Beirut, it loses the support of half the Lebanese or more, and undermines both itself and Lebanon.
This new victory completes the victory achieved two years ago in the July war, which came at a great price in terms of Lebanese lives and of the country's infrastructure. If it is agreed that Israel harbors ill intent for Lebanon and the Lebanese, then we all need to abstain from fulfilling Israel's mission on its behalf or from achieving what it has failed to. The persistence of the governmental crisis in Lebanon does not serve Lebanon's interests but Israel's certainly, and Hezbollah is able to settle the matter.
I know everything that a person can know of the Lebanese issue. My sources are those directly concerned. But then I do not know anything, as information does not light the path, but rather confuses those who walk it. Some of it is clear, most of it is unclear, or it is I who does not understand it.
I find Israel's stance perplexing. By exchanging detainees and dead bodies with Hezbollah, it reinforces the Islamic Resistance and encourages Hamas, for instance, to adopt Hezbollah's steadfast stance. While strengthening Hezbollah in Lebanon, it threatens the movement's ally Iran with a military strike that would destroy its nuclear facilities. In such a case, Hezbollah would immediately engage in renewed military confrontation with Israel.
Is there a deal hidden behind all the available information? Is there something we do not know? How will Hezbollah's stance differ if the US (and Israel) reach an agreement with Iran at our expense?
I find the stances of all Lebanese parties on the formation of a national coalition government perplexing as well. Very little of it is intelligible or logical.
This government will only last a few months and will end in parliamentary elections, after which parliamentary blocs in both the majority and the minority will surely change. Yet those who aspire to the paradise of rule compete for seats as if they were everlasting.
There is feverish, not to say morbid, competition for sovereign and service-related portfolios. But all this will come to an end next spring, and it is clear that those who insist on obtaining service ministries seek to exploit them to serve their constituencies and supporters during the short remaining period. This will only take place at the expense of the interests of all the other Lebanese.
At least, this part of the ongoing Lebanese crisis is clear. What made us hit rock bottom are narrow interests and the selfish interests each party has been giving priority over those of the country, before awaiting instructions from its "uncle" or "aunt" abroad.
From my telephone conversation with Secretary-General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, I have selected a few words. He considers that the current disagreement is inter-Lebanese and that no foreign country has anything to do with it. "A raisin will always have a stem" (meaning that the same old problems will always be encountered), a Lebanese proverb which I have altered to allow publication.
I have also selected a few words from a conversation I had with Syrian Vice-President Farouk Al-Sharaa in his office. He claims that Syria supports the formation of a Lebanese Government, as such a cabinet will supervise parliamentary elections the results of which will change the present balance of power. He asked me why anyone would want to hold the ministry of finance, at a time when the country's foreign debt amounts to $45 billion, which their adversaries will surely try to hold them accountable for.
Perhaps President Bashar Al-Assad was able to offer President Nicolas Sarkozy something before his visit to Paris and meeting with the French president on the 12th of this month. He may also be responsive to the French, as a result of the bilateral meeting, and of his participation in the Union for the Mediterranean Summit on the following day.
Were this to happen, it would relieve some of the pressure from the mandate of President Michel Suleiman, whose assumption of power came in the form of a baptism of fire.
ٍStances regarding President Suleiman are also unclear. He was elected president as a result of Lebanese agreement and Arab and international consensus over his person. He possesses all the attributes and qualifications allowing him to bring the Lebanese together and to bridge the gap between diverging parties.
Nonetheless, everyone has been working against the president's efforts, from security incidents in various locations to exhausting, confusing, and sometimes impossible parliamentary negotiations.
In Lebanon, I have heard that General Michel Aoun has increased his demands, as well as his stubbornness, to the extent of arousing Hezbollah's discontent. I have also heard that Hezbollah has been standing aside and using the general as a façade. That is another perplexing matter, and I fail to reach a conclusive opinion. All that I need from Hezbollah is for it to prevent transforming the victory over Israel into a defeat for Lebanon.
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