22 - 28 February 2001
Issue No.522
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 February 2001 Issue No.522 |
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Tipping the balance?
Hizbuallah's attack against Israeli soldiers in the occupied Shebaa Farms was a clear message to the international community and Israel: Lebanon does not plan to surrender its rights; the recent election of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not lead to a yielding of its position, whatever the pressure. This position was stated by Lebanese officials and resistance spokesmen after last week's attack.
As defined by the Lebanese authorities, these rights include the regaining of Lebanon's entire territory, including the Shebaa Farms, which are currently occupied by the Israeli army and have become a zone of confrontation between Israel and Hizbullah.
Official sources in Lebanon said Sharon's election and the climate of tension and anxiety prevailing in the region would not prevent Lebanon from fighting for its rights. It would continue to demand the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the entire Lebanese territory, as well as for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland and the release of Lebanese prisoners and hostages still detained in Israeli prisons, the sources said.
Hizbullah's attack against an Israeli motorised patrol on the Moghr Shebaa outpost road, at the southern end of the mountainous Shebaa Farms district, killed one Israeli soldier and wounded two others. At least two Hizbullah fighters were reportedly killed by artillery fire while retreating from the scene of the ambush.
Hizbullah dedicated the attack to "the lord of martyrs," Sayed Abbas Musawi, a former party secretary-general who was killed by an Israeli helicopter gunship in 1992, and "the sheikh of martyrs," Sheikh Ragheb Harb, the founder of the resistance group, assassinated in a bomb blast in 1983.
Official sources in Lebanon noted that Hizbullah's attack took place within the so-called "operation zone" in the occupied Shebaa Farms.
They added that any Israeli retaliation should also be restricted to this zone. If, however, Israel responded disproportionately to Hizbullah's ambush by bombarding Beirut or Lebanon's infrastructure, it should expect a similar retaliation by Hizbullah. The resistance might fire rockets across the border, targeting Jewish settlements in Northern Israel, the sources said.
"The coming of Sharon does not change the reality that northern Israel is within our range," Hizbullah's southern commander, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, said.
However, the recent operation was also perceived as a message of disapproval addressed to those Lebanese factions and politicians who have called for an end to the dispute over the Shebaa Farms and the freezing of the resistance operations.
Official Lebanese sources said it was up to the state to decide such issues, an opinion believed to be strongly supported by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.
A slightly different attitude was perceived in the Lebanese prime minister's comment just the day before Hizbullah staged its attack. Rafik Hariri claimed Lebanon would not give Israel any pretext to attack.
"We shall not provoke and we will not succumb to provocation," he said from Paris, where he was on an official visit. "We have a clear agreement with our Syrian brothers in this matter. There will be no provocation on our part." Hizbullah's last operation might have been partly aimed at expressing dissatisfaction with the premier's comments.
Regardless of its motivations, however, the attack provoked harsh reactions both regionally and internationally. Israel threatened violent retaliation, while the United States condemned the resistance's "provocative" operation.
The United Nations' Middle East Envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, said Hizbullah's ambush was a "clear violation" of the UN-delineated Blue Line, which defines the limit to which Israel should withdraw.
"We are very concerned that the incident took place simultaneously with an extremely volatile situation in Palestinian areas," Roed-Larsen told a news conference in New York.
Israel instructed its UN ambassador to submit to the Security Council a "harsh complaint against Lebanon."
Outgoing Israeli Premier Ehud Barak said in a statement: "Israel views Syria, Hizbullah and the Lebanese government as responsible for maintaining quiet along the border, and Israel will respond as it sees fit at the appropriate time."
The US ambassador to Lebanon, David Satterfield, described the ambush as "a provocative act which can't serve the interests of any party in Lebanon." He said the US could not prevent an Israeli retaliation unless the Lebanese authorities committed themselves to preventing the recurrence of such actions.
Satterfield also warned against the negative repercussions that violence could have on Lebanon's economy, particularly at a time when the government and the people of Lebanon were looking forward to attracting foreign investments and stabilising the economy.
Since Hizbullah recommenced its military operations against the Israeli army last October, a "balance of terror" has existed between the two. In theory, Hizbullah and the Israeli Army trade blows in the Shebaa Farms without the conflict escalating beyond control.
So far, Hizbullah has deliberately confined its attacks to the disputed area and to military targets in an attempt to weaken Israeli justification for harsh retaliation, in which event, the resistance might lose the support it has gained in the nation for its role in ousting the Israeli Army from the south last year.
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