Why did the Lebanese Resistance
accept 1701 ?
Undoubtedly the
National Lebanese Resistance has emerged victorious in the war
against Israeli aggression. We came here in solidarity with the
Lebanese people and to witness the "muqawama" or resistance. But we
were infact fortunate to witness the victory of Lebanon over the
military might of Israel. The wheels of history are turning and the
people of the world have drawn immense hope and inspiration from the
courageous Lebanese Resistance led by the Hezbollah and its
Secreatry General Sheikh Hasan Nasrullah. The Lebanese Resistance
was also supported by the Lebanese Communist Party and they fought
shoulder to shoulder with their comrades in the Hezbollah and the
Amal and the other patriotic parties and organizations.The unity of
the Lebanese people across all religions and classes and the
resilience and resistance of the civil society have also been
central to the triumph over Israel and the USA.
In the jubiliation
all around, it is imperative that we understand the meaning of UN
resolution 1701. What Israel and America suffered militarily, they
are trying to salvage diplomatically. It is true that Hezbollah did
succeed in driving out Israel from the occupied lands of South
Lebanon during a prologed war between 1982 and 2000. But this time
they have defeated the Israeli army in 30 days. Israel lost more
than 100 soldiers and 40 Merkava tanks and moreover they did not
succeed in capturing a single village or town. The only succees for
Israel was its slaughter of 1500 innocent civilians and the
wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Then the question
lies as to why did the Lebanese resistance agree to 1701 when they
in reality had they Israelis in the corner. We spoke to the
representatives of the Resistance and this is what emerged.
It is true that the
resistance accepted 1701 and was in aggreement with the Lebanese
government but with some reservations that they have commented upon.
The first priority of
the resistance was to arrive at a truce whereby the Israeli policy
of imposing "collective punishment" by widespread targetted killings
of civilians would be brought to a halt. And that indeed has been
brought to a halt. The resistance has appealed for the people to
return to their homes in South Lebanon and has also announced that
all the destroyed homes and infrastructure will be rebuilt. Hasan
Nasrallah has called this the "Jihad al-binah" or the Jihad for
reconstruction. The faith that the people have on the resistance is
so immense that inspite of the presence of Israeli troops in the
South, the people are going back to their destroyed homes and farms
in their hundreds of thousands.
The other aspect that
should be clarified is that 1701 is not a "cease fire" but an "end
to hostilities", and there is a significant difference between the
two terms that may not be as apparent. Basically end of hostilities
means that Israel will now stop targetting civilian populated areas
and that has now given a respite to the people.
On the other hand the
cease fire is between the Resistance and Israel. Which basically
means that if a tank or Israeli soldiers intrude further into
Lebanese lands, the resistance will fight back. Also the resistance
has unambiguously stated that the "State of War" will continue till
Israel vacates all occupied Lebanese territory, including the Shebaa
farms. So the end of hostility agreement will remove the civilians
from immediate danger and then the battle will be between the
resistance and Israel.
I also asked Ali
Fayyad, the political ideologue of the Hezbollah as to what prevents
Isarel from again targeting civilian areas under the same old
pretext that Hezbollah was firing the rockets from those very areas.
Ali Fayyad clearly stated that they valued the lives of civilians
more than Israel and this is proved by the number of civian
casualities suffered by both sides. But he also believed that
Israel will not target the civilians again due to International
pressure since they have also lost the diplomatic and political
battle.
Inspite of 1701,
Israel has announced the seige of Lebanon by land, sea and air. The
resistance is studying and analysing this as it clearly violates
Article 1 of 1701 and International Law as it will clearly harm the
Lebanese nation.
The agreement also
speaks of respecting the "blue line" or the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Ali Fayyad stated that "unless there is a total withdrawal of
Israeli soldiers, we will carry on the struggle and ofcourse we will
discuss the disarming of the Hezbollah only after we are liberated
and Israel refrains from all future wars of aggression".
The fact of the
matter is that it is only the resistance or the muqawama that can
face up to the Israeli army. Lebanon lacks a army capable of taking
on Israel. Even the President Emile Lahoud stated that "the only
force capable of countering the Israeli aggression is the
Resistance. Our army is only meant for internal policing and is
lightly armed. It was Israel that started this war and they always
find an excuse. Unlike some others I was confident that the
Resistance would be capable of fighting and defeating the Israeli
army. Even though in terms of conventional arms the balance is
overwhelmingly in favour of Israel, our guerilla resistance has
proved victorious. That is why they want tro disarm the Hezbollah,
so that Israel can once again reoccupy Lebanon as in 1982."
Even Khalid Hadadh,
secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party supports the
Lebanese resistance and said they they will resist the Isareli
aggression in alliance with the Hezbollah. Commenting on Hasan
Nasrallah he stated that "he is our Arab Che Guevara with a turban".
Regarding 1701 Hadadh was of the opinion that it is a contradiction
and will only lead to a tenous peace since it rewards the
aggressor.
One basic factor of
the Lebanese victory has been the unity of the people unlike
Afghanistan and Iraq. The Left forces and the Hezbollah are doing
their utmost to preserve this unity and are in dialogue with all the
political parties and social segments. Comrade Khalid also
emphatically defended the Hezbollah and called it the party of the
downtrodden and the deprived. Hezbollah, he said was "part of every
household and is mass socio-political movement for liberation".
Comrade Khalid Hadadh also said that the "defeat of the resistance
will spell the end of Lebanon as a multi-religious and modern
democratic society and that is why we stand in solidarity with the
Hezbollah which is the vanguard of the resistance".
The victory of the
Lebanese people will lead to the consolidation of the
anti-imperialist upsurge the world over and will indeed give it a
new direction and momentum against the global project of US-Isareli
imperialism. We truly stand witness to a historic moment for the
people of the world.
Feroze H.
Mithiborwala
Beirut
15/08/2006
