4 - 10 October 2001
Issue No.554
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 4 - 10 October 2001 Issue No.554 |
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Not in a rush
Lebanon pledged to join the battle against terrorism but was in no hurry to implement the measures urged by the recent Security Council resolution in this regard. Zeina Abou Rizk reports from Beirut
Consultations among senior officials in Lebanon are still under way as Lebanese authorities try to determine what position they should adopt regarding Saturday's UN Security Council resolution on a series of urgent measures to combat terrorism.
'Not a war of Christians against Muslims': Sayed Hassan Nasrallah (photo: AFP)
Contacts have extended to Syria and other Arab states in an attempt to come up with a unified stand.
Although no official statement has been released, the UN decision, which calls on all countries to adopt a series of measures, including financial, against all those directly or indirectly implicated in terrorist activities, was perceived in Lebanese political circles as a purely US initiative imposed on the world and on the Security Council, leaving little room for any protest against what could be interpreted as excessive or unjustified measures.
In addition, the UN decision increased concern among Lebanese politicians about the implications on customer confidentiality in Lebanon's banks, one of the main pillars of the country's economy.
The decision stipulated in particular that all countries should forbid the financing of terrorist activities -- whether the money belongs to citizens of a country or resident foreigners. Bank accounts and assets belonging to any individual or group directly or indirectly implicated in terrorism activities, or which may have contributed to or facilitated in the occurrence of such activities, should also be frozen.
By and large, Lebanese officials did not appear in any particular hurry to take an official stand regarding the Security Council's move. Over the past few days, most of them preferred to reiterate their positions regarding the US handling of its proclaimed war against terrorism, insisting on the need to differentiate between terrorism and resistance.
During the past week, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud repeatedly said, "Resistance is a legitimate right for any nation that is fighting to regain its rights and territory, whereas terrorism is totally rejected."
Lebanese Prime Minster Rafiq Al-Hariri noted that "Lebanon has suffered from terrorism for over 20 years" -- referring to the Lebanese civil war which ended a decade ago -- and was ready to cooperate to put an end to such activities.
Speaker Nabih Berri, also head of the Amal resistance movement, said a "thin line" separates legitimate defence activity from terrorism. "We hope the international community's compass does not fail to distinguish between a people's right to resist imperialism and (Israeli) settlements, and terrorism and crime," he said.
Berri, who condemned the knee-jerk reaction to blame Arabs for the 11 September attacks in the United States, urged the Arab world to unite in the face of future US and Israeli challenges.
He claimed that Afghanistan was not as important as "what lies after Afghanistan. What is required of the Arabs after Afghanistan?" he asked. "Why are all these Arab names [on the list of suspected terrorists]? What lies after this stage? Are the Arabs to turn into another Iraq?"
"Terrorism is promoted by the fact that Israel was treated as an exception and was not punished for the terrorism it has been sponsoring," Berri said.
Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hizbullah, the Shi'ite resistance movement, urged the Palestinians to continue their Intifada and vowed that the resistance was preparing "direct military intervention" from Lebanon if necessary.
"We should not deal with this war as if it is a Christian war against Islam or a war that the Christians are to wage against Muslims," Nasrallah said. "The Zionist desire is to see war and conflicts between Muslims and Christians."
In reference to the suicide attacks in the United States, Nasrallah reaffirmed Hizbullah's condemnation of "the killing of innocent people all over the world" but questioned the "hysteria" the attacks had created. "It is unfortunate that the entire world entered a state of hysteria in condemning and deploring what happened just because the incident occurred in the US and just because most of the dead were Americans," he said.
"But this attitude changes when it takes place in Qana or Sabra and Shatila or the Haram Ibrahimi," he said. He was referring respectively to the 1996 Israeli bombardment of UNIFIL headquarters in south Lebanon which killed more than 100 Lebanese; the 1982 Israeli-sponsored massacre of Palestinians in Beirut's southern suburbs; and the 1994 killing of Palestinians by a Jewish gunman in Hebron.
Nasrallah claimed the United States intended to secure world hegemony via its anti-terror campaign.
"Who is the terrorist?" he asked. "[US President] Bush says you are either with America or the terrorists. The world is entering a coalition without knowing where it is going and who the enemy is. The US has established this goal as an excuse in order to put its fleets and armies near the Caspian Sea and in the Gulf. This will only be in Israel's interests. Therefore, it should be made clear that it is not permissible for anyone to offer any kind of assistance to America against the Afghan people."
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