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Give Hizbollah their due share in Power

munaeem | 28 November, 2006 13:15

Justice while she winks at crimes,

Stumbles on innocence sometimes,

                                     Butler, Hudibras

                  

The vile Lebanese leaders, with murky pasts, made fiery speeches after the funeral procession of Pierre Gemayel. They lashed out at Hizbullah and Damascus. They blamed Syria for the assassination of Pierre Gemayel. What is the cause of their panic? Why have these archenemies united against the Hizbollah? The reason behind their panic is that Shiites are demanding their due share in the government. The traditional ruling elites are not willing to share the power with Shiites.

The language of their speeches was politically incorrect. It angered the Shiites when they watched on television insults hurled at their faith and their leaders. They did not think for a moment that their rousing speeches could further increase the sectarian divide.

 Mr. Gemayel was a government minister and symbol of Lebanon’s Christian, pro-Western community. Analysts and political pundits say that he has been killed because of his anti-Syrian stance. However, their line of reasoning does not sound plausible. The question is why Syria would commit such a blunder in time when she has an excellent opportunity to come out of international isolation.

 The Syrian embassy in Washington said in a statement. ''In a time when the international community is advocating more engagement with Syria, such an act only stands to undermine these initiatives.''

 Western and Arab media is portraying as if Hizbollah is responsible for all the woes of Lebanon. It is the power struggle between Sunnis and Christians, which is responsible for crisis in Lebanon. Is Hizbollah responsible for the crisis?

 
The conflict in Lebanon started when a Sunni leader called Maarouf Saad was shot dead in February 1975. In response to this attack, gunmen tried to kill Pierre Gemayel, grandfather of the slain minister, founder of the main right-wing Lebanese Christian militia. He survived that assassination attempt. However, it triggered off a cycle of revenge that culminated in the civil war.

 
In retaliation, Christian Falangists ambushed a bus full of Muslim passengers and massacred them. Later Sunnis killed 330 Christians at Damour, East of Beirut in 1976. International community still remembers carnage committed by Falangists in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Beirut.  It can be deduced that Christians and Sunni are responsible for the Lebanese crisis.

 
Fortune has tilted the power balance towards Shiites who were deprived of their due share in the political representation by the former colonial power France. French devised such a system that ensured that power is shared between Christian and Sunni Muslim communities.

 
Mass migration of Christians and Sunni Muslims . Moreover, high birth rate has increased the population of Shiite community. They were not able to migrate because of their poverty. Sunnis and Christians migrated in large because of connections.

 
This situation has frightened the Sunnis and Christians, who fear that Hizbollah will bring Iranian style government in Lebanon. Now they have publicly started express their anxiety.

 Hariri told the crowd waving red-and-white Lebanese flags at the funeral procession, "You are here for a new revolution to show the entire world that the sons of Rafiq Hariri and the brothers of Pierre Gemayel are the majority in Lebanon.”They said that you are a virtual majority, but we are the reality and they are virtual."

 Mr. Hariri should know that only new census could decide who is in majority in Lebanon. Because National census has not been conducted since 1932. Consequently, there is an absence of accurate data on the relative percentages of the population of the major religions and groups.

 All population statistics are controversial, and all sects have inflated their numbers.

 "The only way out of this gridlock is for both sides to agree on a national unity government, which is ultimately what the opposition wants, that would take into account the concerns of both sides.”, said Political analyst Amal Saad Ghorayeb of the Carnegie Endowment Middle East Centre

 Otherwise, it will create further political chaos.

 After a forming a nationally unity government, they should conduct a fresh census. Based on this census they should hold election. They should also scrap the old power sharing formula, and devise such a system that all communities enjoy equal rights. Lebanese should realize that their country has been used as a proxy battlefield for foreign interests. They use them and leave them in lurch when they like.

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Ruvy in Jerusalem | 30/11/2006, 04:39

Munaeem,

HizbAllah is merely an extension of the regime in Iran, and giving it any power creates an Iranian empire of the Mediterranean.

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