We Must Remain True to Ourselves

Its very painful to see your country being destroyed. After nearly three weeks of destruction, it still feels like a bad dream. I feel intense anger which I am sure is shared by most Lebanese today. While it is easy to misplace this anger and to focus on revenge, I think its best for us to direct it towards actions that will help make Lebanon and even the world a better place.

As far as we Lebanese are concerned, the destructive force that Israel has so deliberately and cynically directed at our nation was born of pure hate and can in no way be justified, no matter how hard pro-Israelis will try. July 2006 will go down in our history as a dark episode from which I am certain we will rise only stronger. No, we will not let Israel’s racism and cynicism destroy what we have, a country that seeks to embrace rather than erase a diversity God created.

Israel’s cynicism is only equaled by the arrogance and heartless attitude of the US administration. How dare they speak of a “new Middle East” being born on the corpses of our brothers and sister? How have their hearts become so numb to the pain others feel? They expect us to negotiate under fire. What gal!

While I certainly fault Hezbollah for so recklessly gambling with the lives of their fellow Lebanese, and would never condone the killing of innocent Israelis, I am not fooled by Israel’s exploitation of this group’s actions to declare all out war on my country. For me it is clear: Israel was entirely unjustified in its response which was an act of 1000 eyes for one eye, driven by what can only be a feeling of God-given superiority over all those who do not belong to the “chosen people”. Moreover, I am quite certain that the actions of the State of Israel have nothing to do with the principles of Judaism nor the message of its Prophets. Zionist hatred is alone responsible for these barbaric acts.

I should add that it is also disturbing to listen as the Lebanese unanimously condemn the heartless killing of Lebanese civilians and the destruction of the country’s infrastructure, as they should, yet find no such sentiment to express when it comes to the death that befalls fellow humans on the other side of the border. Why is it OK to rain bombs on innocent Israelis, but not OK for them to rain bombs on us? Indeed, while I may see the rationale of having a resistance movement in the south of Lebanon which seeks to defend a historically abused community, I see no justification for Hezbollah provocations.

Once the war ends, as we all hope it will soon, and we proceed with rebuilding our nation and deepening our democracy, we must above all be consistent and true to ourselves. If its humanity we wish to express in our lives, then lets do so consistently. This means weeding out the fascist tendencies that exist among many in Lebanon. Our enmity with Israel is not only military and political, but also philosophical and in this battle we must ensure that we do not lose ourselves in fighting them.

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Israel Attacks – the Moral View

To understand Israel’s attack is not to justify it or condone its methods. While Israel has a clear strategic objective in its action, Lebanon suffers from lack of vision and clarity. The Lebanese government has been unable to hold up its side of the bargain when it comes to 1559: disarming Hezbollah and establishing full control over its territory. We Lebanese need to realize that its not Israel’s duty to be lenient in the face of a major threat to itself. If we are unable to take care of business, they will.

On the moral front, however, most of us Lebanese know exactly where we stand. Israel is our enemy and has been for over 50 years. Their very foundation was based on a crime which to this day they, as a nation, are unable to grasp much less admit to. Refugees who fled Palestine in 1948 and subsequent years remain on Lebanese soil awaiting the day they will be allowed back. According to international law and all acceptable moral principles, Israel has the duty to accept them back, but she refuses.

Israel has also shown deep contempt for the lives of the Lebanese as it continues to do today. While a country does have a duty to defend itself, it must also consider the well being of others, especially civilians. Its obvious that Israel cares very little about the Lebanese civilians that die as it cares little for the lives of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Its clear to many that though Israel does have a right to defend itself, its latest action in Lebanon has been far out of proportion with the crime. Israel appears to be using the innocent civilians in Lebanon as a weapon to place pressure on Lebanon’s political elite. This is wrong and should be condemned without reservation.

For most of us in Lebanon, there is a clear and obvious contradiction in Israeli and American foreign policy. When they are on the receiving end of aggression they cry fowl on the basis of a moral argument: that it is wrong to target civilians, for example in acts of “terror” in Palestine. But when it comes time for them to be the aggressors, the argument is always one of their right to take such action. Hamas’, though legitimate resistance in the face of Israeli aggression and occupation, is for them nothing but raw terror. They cannot understand that for many Palestinians Hamas represents their only hope in the absence of a state that defends them.

In any case, what we in Lebanon need to learn from this is that in building our nation, it is not enough to build a beautiful house, we need to ensure it does not get knocked down. To do this we must ensure that it is well defended. We need to say No! to Hezbollah if that is indeed what we want. If what we want is war, than let Hezbollah take control of the government.

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Israel Attacks – the Strategic View

Israel has obviously been waiting for the right moment to undertake an all-out attack on Lebanon to weaken Hezbollah both militarily and more importantly politically. The latter it hopes to achieve by undermining support for the group outside its core supporters and forcing the Lebanese political players to take sides. Supporting Hezbollah is no longer free. The price is chaos.

From Israel’s point of view, weakening Hezbollah has become critical in the face of increasing tensions with Iran. Any future confrontation with Iran must be preceded by a neutralization of the Hezbollah asset that Iran can use to fight Israel up close. Once Hezbollah is taken out, Israel might proceed to weaken Syria before it even considers attacking Iran.

For those Lebanese who regret the country being dragged again into regional war, the grave error was tolerating Hezbollah’s sovereignty in Lebanon. It is the Lebanese state’s responsibility and duty to make decisions of war and peace and not that of an independent militia. The fact is that Lebanese government had been given ample time to deal with Hezbollah but was unable to. Though in Lebanese eyes a best effort had been made to implement 1559, Israelis were obviously growing impatient.

Something positive can arise from this crisis. A weaker Hezbollah could indeed be the result, weakening Syria’s and Iran’s hands in the country and opening the way for a new era in Lebanon where the army controls every inch of soil in the country and the government has the final say on all matters of war and peace. However, this would depend on events in the coming days. If matters escalate and Syria and/or Iran decide to join in the hostilities, all out war would have the effect of strengthening Hezbollah rather than weakening them. The result would be devastating for Lebanon.

Keeping in mind the apparent importance of Israel’s recent campaign in Lebanon strategically, it appears to be pre-meditated. I would not be surprised if a trap had been set for Hezbollah by giving them an opportunity to kidnap those two soldiers. What was the tank doing on the Lebanese side of the blue line? In this way Israel would have its pretext to attack Lebanon without the real opposition of the international community.

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