20 YEARS
AND MUCH DEATH AND DESTRUCTION
TOO LATE!
AND HATS OFF TO HEZBOLLAH
MER - WASHINGTON - 1 April:
The Israelis can be so cynical and disingenuous. This time they are
a good twenty years late in "accepting U.N. Resolution 425" -- twenty years
which brought a few brutal invasions and much carnage, the siege of Beirut, the Sabra and
Chatilla holocaust, the attempt to install a puppet government with American
military as well as CIA help, and just two years ago "Grapes of Wrath" and Qana
(whose second anniversary is this month).
What the Israelis really want to do is to further co-opt the
U.N., as well as the Lebanese Government, into providing "security" at Israel's
"northern border" without also agreeing to the dozens of other U.N.
resolutions, including 242. That Hezbollah, Syria, and consequently the Lebanese
Government are saying "no thanks" to these latest Israeli machinations shows at
least abit of political progress among the Arab politicians when it comes to Israel.
Indeed, the Israelis are getting a bit nervous these days. The Americans are having a hard
time keeping their fingers in all the political dikes that are leaking. The
Hezbollah has bloodied the Israeli Army that occupies southern Lebanon. The
Palestinians are trying to prepare so they can at least do a bit of damage against
the Israeli army should any of the autonomous areas be reoccupied following
the next and now probably inevitable round of "terrorism". The Iranians are
proving to be most crafty and resourceful. The Syrians are holding their ground,
refusing to be co-opted into the deceitful "peace process". And even the
Egyptians and the Saudis are showing signs of life after so many years of bowing to
American dictates and prostrating themselves.
In this overall context, here's what the top officials in Beirut have lately had to say:
"If Israel is interested in withdrawing from southern Lebanon, we will be very happy.
But Israel wants more than this - it wants to place upon us the responsibility for its
security on its northern border." Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri appears to see
the trap the Israelis have in mind.
And Hariri's Foreign Minister has also taken a principled stand (at least rhetorically)
regarding Israel's latest gambits for Lebanon: "Even if Israel implements U.N.
resolution 425 and withdraws from southern Lebanon, we still have several outstanding
issues of dispute." Among these, Foreign Minister Fares Boueiz listed water
conflicts, refugee resettlement, and seven villages captured byIsrael in 1948. "And
of course there is Jerusalem, which is also a Lebanese issue," the Foreign Minister
concluded.
Meanwhile, hats off to Hezbollah for so courageously taking on the Israeli occupiers for
so many years.
"Can anyone give the enemy what it wants in terms of security
after all the aggressins it carried out against the people in the occupied zone?"
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has responded in commenting on the latest Israeli manuevers.
And the deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naee'm
Kassem adds: "Israel has no right to nkow what will happen after its
withdrawal because this would amount to giving it one of the guarantees it is asking
for".
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