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01 August 2012
By Franklin Lamb
This observer admits that politically speaking,
things might appear a bit tough for Hezbollah these
days but will spare the dear reader the tedium of a
laundry list of what the Party has experienced over
the past 20 months in terms of domestic and foreign
attacks, condemnations, calumny, obliquey, sundry
plots, and legislative and political wounds, some a
result of the Party of God lumbering under the weight
of some tawdry political ‘allies' who it must work
with in Parliament. Some of the more commonly known
and intensifying targeting of the Resistance by its
internal and foreign foes who have pledged at all
costs to dismantle it but sowing Sunni-Shia discords,
include exploiting the chaos in Syria, manipulating
the frustrations of the Lebanese public given
widespread lack of public services, and attacking
Hezbollah's success in linking its military power with
its growing political power but periodically insisting
that it gives up its weapons.
Concerned friends of Hezbollah sometimes over react
out of sincere solidarity and friendship and a desire
to protect the Resistance from surrounding events that
are swirling out of control around them. Perhaps it is
in this context that the editor in chief of the
pro-Hezbollah
Beirut newspaper, Al Akbar, Ibrahim al Amin is
demanding that Hezbollah throw in the towel and
withdraw from Lebanese politics.
On 7/18/12, the 6th anniversary of
Lebanon's July 2006 victory over Israel during the
latter's fifth war against Lebanon which included its
brutal 1978, 1982,1993, 1996 aggressions, it was quite
normal to discuss and evaluate where the Resistance
is today in terms of its work and goals, not least of
which is Hezbollah's moral, religious, political and
humanitarian duties to support the Palestinians
growing international campaigns to retrieve their
country which is still occupied by a Zionist colonial
regime after more than six decades and their
obligation to enact in Parliament right to work and
home ownership legislation for Palestinian refugees in
Lebanon.
One interesting, even provocative but wrong-headed
proposal in this observer's opinion was put forward in
a
7/18/12 editorial in Al Akbar
newspaper, by its Editor and Chief Ibrahim al-Amin,
reputed to be close to some Hezbollah officials.
Editor al-Amin did not mince his words, declaring
thus:
"There's no longer any point in the resistance
(Hezbollah) remaining in government. The government is
no longer good for anything. No good will come from
the current (Hezbollah led) government surviving.
There's no longer any point in the resistance
remaining in any branch of
Lebanon's
government, not even in parliament. It's impossible
for it to play a legislative role given the weird and
wondrous partnership between the executive and
legislative establishments.
There's no longer any point in the resistance
remaining involved in domestic political quarrels or
discussions…There's no longer any point in the
resistance getting mixed up in political games that
tarnish its reputation, undermine its standing, and
make it resemble the gangsters who make up most of the
political class in this land of the deranged."
Al-Amin editorializes that
"The system sees the resistance as an alien body
which must be ejected by any means: through isolation
if possible, sectarian strife if necessary, and
treason and the summoning of foreign invaders when
desperate.
Al Amin additionally concluded:
"There's no longer any point in the resistance
continuing to be involved in government crises which
it never had anything to do with, and when there is no
real partnership in decision-making. This reduces it
to the role of mute witness to daily acts of robbery,
waste, sabotage and the destruction of what remains of
the hybrid state.
"There's no longer any point in the resistance
remaining around the table with people who are above
the law, however lofty or lowly their ranks. This has
become akin to providing cover for the debasement of
every family and individual in the country.
"There's no longer any point in the resistance
remaining a player in a game of appointments and
patronage that does nothing to protect the resistance
fighters or maintain the dignity of their families.
Instead it isolates those who are willing to sacrifice
all they hold dear for their people and beliefs but
still cannot cross a road un-harassed or provide for
their children.
"What use is there in Hezbollah staying in a
government, parliament or other state bodies that it
cannot trust?
"What is the use of remaining in a government that
provides misleading, fabricated or skewed information
to sustain an international body which seeks to damage
the resistance in the name of justice – helping
Israel achieve what it failed to do by force of arms?
It grinds its people to the bone, and will not spend a
penny on developing public utility.
"What is the use of remaining in a government that
provides misleading, fabricated or skewed information
to sustain an international body which seeks to damage
the resistance in the name of justice – helping
Israel achieve what it failed to do by force of arms?
It grinds its people to the bone, and will not spend a
penny on developing public utility.
Editor in Chief Amin's sunshine-patriot weak-kneed
laments and his apparent eagerness to throw in the
Resistance towel plus his expressed fears sound at
times like they were written by a speech writer last
July for Libya's Gadhafi or Yemen's Salah, and he
errs with virtually every syllable he pens.
Defending its political mantle and participation in
government is key for the future of the Hezbollah led
Resistance. The Resistance is bigger than Hezbollah
and has now become truly international as has its
project of supporting the Palestinian cause. Daily,
the Resistance gains strength and support as
Israel weakens and US and Western regional
implantations and hegemony fades into the pages of
history books.
Setbacks are surely in store for the Party of God,
as with this country, region, movement, era, and
culture of Resistance, inspired as it is by the 7th
century sacrifices for the commonweal by Hussein bin
Ali and the martyrs at
Karbala
and the 1st century C.E. Martyred Prophet
from Nazareth at Calvary.
Were the logic of the no doubt well-meaning Al
Akbar editor to prevail and were Hezbollah to become
ostrich like politically, the predictable result would
be nothing less and quite likely rather more than the
following consequences.
Withdrawing from the political battles in
Lebanon's government would be an egregious
capitulation to the designs of Elliot Abrams and the
Bush administration when Abrams requested in 2004 of
the Saudi Regime, $ 50 million in funding to set up
the March 14th coalition. Abdicating its
legislative duties would be for the Resistance to cave
to the likes of Israel's Netanyahu, the Zionist
controlled US Congress, reactionary despotic Arab
regimes and other defenders of the Zionist occupation
of Palestine at the expense of people of good will
everywhere and supporters of the Hezbollah led
Resistance throughout Lebanon as well as
internationally.
The suggestion that Hezbollah cannot remain cutting
edge in its military preparedness simultaneous with
the high quality of its Parliamentary delegation
including Mohammad Raad, Nawaf Musawi, Ali Fayad,
Hassan Fadallah, and Mohammed Fneish, to name just a
few, is faulty. This stellar Loyalty to the
Resistance team is more than capable of continuing to
advance the Hezbollah campaign pledges and party
platforms in Parliament and get results while
Hezbollah remains vigilant and prepared to defeat the
coming Israeli aggression.
The decision of Hezbollah to participate in
Lebanese politics and government was the right
decision when it was debated and decided in 1992 and
it remains even more so today.
Hezbollah is known for its culture of dialogue,
analysis, elements of democratic centralism and
patience in decision making. Many supporters of the
Resistance, including this observer, believe that
proposals for Hezbollah to disengage from Lebanese
politics err at best and at worst they are patently
absurd, counter-Resistance and undermine prospects for
a prosperous future for Lebanon and the people of all
18 confessions who Hezbollah seek to serve.
Participating in Lebanon's government and not least in
the mundane work of trying to ameliorate scores of
local government problems after decades of neglect is
a noble cause.
Whether in Palestine or here in Lebanon, the
Resistance takes nearly countless forms, paths,
protests, operations, from military to academic and
social. Continuing to engage every day, every hour
with Lebanon's government of which Hezbollah is an
essential component and is vital.
Now is not the time to throw in the towel just
because times are tough, but it would be well for the
tough to get a move on and to redouble efforts to
serve the people by concrete results from Parliament
and through government agencies.
Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and is
reachable c/o
fplamb@gmail.com |
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