The arrogant repetitions of Hezbollah leaders
about their invaluable action of “liberating”
Lebanon and their insinuation that Lebanon owes
them its existence might fool those who were
exposed to years of lies and deceit but not those
of us who know the rest of the story.
If this was limited to bragging rights we would
not be so alarmed. It is apparently considered by
the Hezb as a license to disregard the rules of
sovereignty and democracy and to have a military
arm which threatens the Lebanese integrity.
First let us debunk the Myth of Liberation. A
neutral analyst with an unprejudiced look at
history would immediately conclude that Israel
never had a wish to occupy any parts of Lebanon.
In 1967, when the Israeli army was crushing the
Syrian, Jordanian and Egyptian defenses and
sweeping through their lands, it did not advance
an inch inside the then peaceful Lebanese front
line. Although, the Lebanese army would have
heroically defended Lebanon, it would have been no
match to the Israeli better trained and equipped
armed forces. Who stopped Israel? The Armistice
treaty of 1949.
The same scenario was repeated in 1973. No
occupation happened and no martyrs or heroes were
needed to defend Lebanon. Only after the Lebanese
border with Israel was turned by the Palestinian
militias into a launching pad for their attacks,
did Israel invade Lebanon in 1978. It still
withdrew leaving the security zone under the
control of a Lebanese army colonel, saad Haddad,
and his troops backed by a few villagers from the
area. These people were Lebanese defending their
lives and well being from the barbaric onslaught
of the Palestinian militias and their Lebanese
allies. The 10 kilometer wide strip between
Israel and Lebanon was a Lebanese land with only
the Lebanese flag flying on it, no occupation or
annexation was there.
In 1982, the Israeli army liberated the South from
the Palestinian occupation, an occupation which by
then was burdening the mostly Shiite South
Lebanese. The Hezb should remember the daily
battles between the Palestinians and the poor
villagers after the Palestinian occupiers abused
their women , killed their men and confiscated
their lands and homes. Israel was trying to grant
a safe border and asked for an agreement with the
Lebanese government to take control of the front
lines. If it was not for the interference of Syria
and of the Iranian revolutionary guards we would
have had all of Lebanon free from any occupation
and in peace since 1983. Unluckily for Lebanon
some Lebanese had chosen to be the tools for the
execution of the Syrian Iranian agenda. Hezbollah
was conceived to first create a Shiite movement
loyal to Iran to counter balance the then
prevalent Amal and to conduct “resistance
operations” against the Israelis. This created a
new threat to having peaceful borders with Israel.
The Palestinians were now replaced by a Syrian
backed, Iranian trained and financed, group of
Iranian and Lebanese extremists called Hezbollah.
Needless to say that Israel’s army could have
withdrawn in 1983 if the famous 17 May accord was
signed. Instead, Israel stayed for another 17
years due to the Syrian Iranian interference and
the Hezbollah complicity.
So Hezbollah extended the occupation of Lebanon
for 17 years during which the Lebanese in general
and the Southerners in particular, suffered a
heavy toll from the adventures of the
“resistance”. It is easy to fight a war where
others pay, where major failures have no
accountabilities and minor successes are sported
as great achievements. The Israeli army during
its 18 years of occupation suffered under 600
casualties while Lebanon was bombed , its
infrastructure was destroyed, its economy was in
shambles and its citizens lives were expandable
and unprotected.
The major purpose of a war is to inflict damage on
your enemy while defending your own civilians.
Did Hezbollah take into consideration the damages
that the Israeli fire power can do to the
Lebanese? Did Hezbollah leaders worry about
disrupting peoples lives and depriving them from
work? Did they care about Lebanon? No. They had to
answer to a higher Master , Iran. Iran made sure
that they were well fed and their pockets well
lined. Their business was making war, that is
what they were paid to do. The deprivation
created by the continuous and unnecessary
confrontation with Israel have produced masses of
poor people who in turn, with a disabled Lebanese
government, depended on Hezbollah’s hand outs to
survive. This dependency was exploited by the
Hezb to grant unshakable allegiance to the
“Resistance”. It was used in the consecutive
elections to dominate the Shiite votes and
eliminate any fair competition by others.
It is obvious why Hezbollah’s interest is in
creating and perpetrating an originally minimal or
non existent security problem with Israel. If the
Lebanese had the freedom to decide, the “
liberation” of Lebanon could have been
accomplished in 1983 by diplomacy, a lot earlier
than 2000, with limited damages.
Hezbollah is still conducting itself in ways
contradicting to all laws and norms. Having a
democratically elected government in a free
Lebanon should disallow anyone besides the
national army from assuming the role of national
defense or internal security. The insistence of
the Hezb on keeping the so called “ Resistance
Weapons” is surely creating sectarian
apprehensions, especially when it is proclaimed as
the “Islamic Resistance” . Although a lot of the
Lebanese leaders have been tamed through years of
Syrian occupation to accept and even request
Hezbollah’s existence, they are starting to show
varying signs of discontent. All Lebanese sects,
even the Shiaa who are not close to Hezbollah,
understand the awkwardness of the situation and
the dangers emanating from its insolubility.
If Hezbollah continues on this path, the threat of
armed Militias returning to the Lebanese scene
will easily become a reality because of regional
and Lebanese factors.
-
Regional: Hezbollah’s dependence on and close
ties with Iran impose an unconditional support
by the Hezb for the Iranian policies. If, for
example, Iran goes on with its threat to close
the Arab Sea to oil shipments, it will enter in
direct conflict with the Gulf countries which
are allies of Lebanon and supporters of the
Lebanese recovery. The majority of the
Lebanese will be dragged to the wrong side of
the conflict without having any say in the
matter because Hezbollah is armed and they are
not.
-
Lebanese: Hezbollah claim that since it is
“resisting occupation” it has the right to its
arms could be utilized by any other Lebanese
party. If all what it takes to qualify is to
deploy some fighters on the Border and fire a
couple of rockets every few month most parties
will and financing is no problem.
Hezbollah should realize what the majority of the
Lebanese want for the future of Lebanon. It should
stop making exorbitant claims produced by
imaginary merit. It should join the political
process and become a Lebanese party. Then we all
will be working together to rebuild Lebanon as a
peaceful nation of equality and freedom. We
should be proud, only once every Lebanese lives in
dignity, united by the belonging to a sovereign
Lebanon and not divided by sectarian differences
and regional influences.
