Sunday, August 20, 2006

The difference between Governments and Militia

In 1977 Israel signed a peace contract with the Government of Egypt. The number of casualties in the border between Israel and Egypt was almost ZERO since. Though there were several attacks on Israelies since, including murders in Sinai, they were all dealt with using diplomatic measures. This is because Egypt had authority over its territory.
Same thing happened with Jordan. When a terrorist from Jordan crossed the border, shot and killed Israelies, King Hussein came to Israel and met with the families of the dead. His jesture touched the hearts of all Israelies.

That is why peace is so important. Not only to prevent deaths but also to solve incidents in a civilized matter.

When Hezbollah acts from Lebanon, it seems like the Lebanese government is not responsible for any of their actions and therefore claims it does not deserve any reaction. This is not normal behaviour of a country, and this is one of the root causes of all the latest violence.

Another interesting example is Syria which has a minority ruling the country, headed by Pres. Assad. But Syria is not getting involved directly against Israel because as a state every action of its soldiers has an implication on the entire country. Responsibility. So Syria utilizes Hezbollah to attack Israel while diverting the Israeli response towards Lebanon.

I believe Lebanon should stop this cycle simple because Lebanon is the one that suffers most from this situation.
I see Lebanese soldiers entering the south of Lebanon, and I'm hoping for a better future.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Ayman said...

Hi all,

A few facts:

Lebanon's government has declared its support and acknowledgement of the Lebanese resistance led by Hezbollah in the platform it proposed to the parliament for its own admittance. In Lebanon, we don't think that Hezbollah is out of control or that there is a lack of authority from the part of the government. Ofcourse, we have a democracy and some people do share this opinion, but those want to use the lebanese army for the same job instead of changing the job itself... another fact is that the governments in Egypt and Jordan do not represent their people. In Egypt, those who support the peace treaty with Israel are sadly a minority, the same goes for Jordan. In the Arab world now people are talking about Nasrallah like they used to talk about Nasser... This shows a bit the appeal this party has to the masses.

The thing is we should not think in terms of making peace with governments, but with the people. the situation between Egypt and Israel would surely and heavily degenerate in case of a regime change, but if peace was achieved with the people, this danger will not exists....

During the war, even the people who criticized Hezbollah before were feeling that Hezbollah is launching missiles in their names to defend their properties, they became proud of the way its fighters prevented the Israeli army from even reaching the Litani... by the way, I personally feel neutral toward this party, but i can tell you one thing, its members are very respectful people, they always do good to others, give from their own assests and help a lot. They are extremely respected in the Lebanese society... regardless of politics.

These are just facts that i thought it might be interesting to consider... they support the claim that the problem is between the Lebanese people and Israel, not Israel and Hezbollah, if Hezbollah one day got destroyed, another more powerful and more radical will surge. This trend is clearly visible in the history of the conflict... Hence, saying that Israel's problem is with a terrorist party that wants its destruction is an over-simplification that is a bit ill-based...

Families in South of Lebanon have lots of control over Hezbollah. There is a sort of a social organization where big/important/historical families exert certain powers. They are the ones that can ask Hezbollah to disarm, or to retort... they control the families and the Hezbollah's members are also members of these families at the end of the day... This is why 17000 houses were destroyed in the South. We all know from where Hezbollah launches his missiles, and its not near residential areas... There is a game between the Lebanese people and the Israeli army that is invisible to the Israeli society. We know why our houses were destroyed. When i look at what is left of mine, i feel that this is a punishment for the families for supporting Hezbollah, no more, no less... On the other hand, Hezbollah remains untouchable... 58 fighters dead not 580, that i can confirm.

What do you think of the last breach in the ceasefire... they said that they went all the way to the north and landed to prevent weapons smuggling... but that site is 75 km from the Syrian borders....

3:38 AM  
Blogger Ayman said...

Dear Yosef,

I wouldn't go as far as accusing nuns and priests as collaborators and stuff.. The relegious territories should be for all people and all religions in my point of view, and that's what i meant by Israel having to share this part of the world with others..

There are two main schools of thoughts for the Shiites. First, is the Irani school based in Komm, and the other is Najaf in Irak. The absolute majority of the shiites in Lebanon are traditionally followers of Najaf, which calls for personal interpretation of the Koran, and does not accept the presence of ayatollahs like Khomeini or Khaminai.. we are not that interested in their opinions, we talk to them as peers... so these families will not have Iran control them at all... this is dangerous to them... I have witnessed myself the power of the Southern Shiite families in arming and controlling both Hezbollah and Amal movements.

The Taif accord came just before the peace process in Oslo began. As you remember, Hezbollah tried to demonstrate against these talks and they were massacred by the Lebanese army (17 dead civilians) after they opened fire probably based on Syrian request... the part about disarmy Hezbollah in the Taif does not exist unless you consider Hezbollah as a lebanese militia whose weapons are authoritarian, and that's far from the facts on the ground, especially in the South...

Concerning 1559, the desicions of the council should be implemented in order... We are waiting for the Israeli side to implement its part...

The thing is not whether Hezbollah should lay down the arms and stop the fighting or not... for sure everybody (almost) in the South of Lebanon as well as in other parts of Lebanon believe that we should work to stop the fight and end the hostilities and establish a security where it wouldn't be necessary to keep these arms.... I personally think that these arms will never go away, they might be hidden, but they will never go away until peace is achieved....

Finally and pragmatically, this war proved that no one can disarm Hezbollah by force, and the Lebanese who feel that they won feel like this because now they can negociate for laying down these arms. I personally have lost 2 cousins, 3 friends, and my own house, and I still feel that these weapons are here for a true cause, and now we should think intelligently to find a way that we can protect the south in exchange for the arms... that's a deal that Hezbollah will surely accept. I guarentee it.

The ams of Hezbollah don't come in free from Iran.. Iran really has much more reputation than it deserves, and she is enjoying it... fact of life is that the weapons are smuggled mainly from the old soviet block... They are smuggled very intelligently, and the blockade on Lebanon is virtually doing little to stop the flow...

Rest asure that if the people of south lebanon decide that hezbollah should lay down the arms, then it will... but that decision is more than a dream during these days, its a fantasy... those who are returning to see there home destroyed are getting very frustrated... some even asked Hezbollah to buy missiles with their compensation money.. many in my village did that...

I also like the way you describe peace with lebanon... but i would like you also to think pragmatically how far this is from now... especially with all the blood and the massacres... Let's keep dialoguing with one another, we are going to destroy each other if this madness continues...

7:46 PM  

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