22 - 28 November 2001
Issue No.561
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 22 - 28 November 2001 Issue No.561 |
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Sticks and stones
The US decision to place Hizbullah on its list of suspected terrorist groups will have little effect on the resistance movement, reports Michael Jansen from Beirut
Sheikh Na'im Qasim, the deputy secretary-general of the Lebanese resistance movement -- Hizbullah -- dismissed President George W Bush's decision to include the movement on its list of 28 "Foreign Terrorist Organisations." Qasim's comments came in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly.
Washington's belated addition of Hizbullah to their list -- which was originally drawn up in September -- is an attempt to indicate to the Israelis that the US "is concerned about them," said Qasim. The US is also trying to pressure Lebanon to "surrender to US dictates" and to exert "pressure on Hizbullah" to change its policies, he said.
Hizbullah's strategy had not changed since the 11 September attacks on the US, said Qasim. Hizbullah condemned both the attacks and the US onslaught on Afghanistan. "We will continue the fight for the liberation of Shebaa," Qasim asserted, referring to the border town which the Israeli army continued to occupy following its humiliating withdrawal from south Lebanon in May last year.
According to Hizbullah Secretary- General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Washington has offered to "forgive Hizbullah's past" -- including alleged involvement in attacks against the US Marine barracks and embassy in Beirut in 1983 -- if the movement agrees to distance itself from the Arab-Israeli conflict and cuts ties with dissident Palestinian groups and with Syria. The US also asked Hizbullah to provide information on Muslim militants and draw a line in practice between Islam and resistance. Hizbullah has turned down the offer.
Hizbullah can afford to "reject and ignore the lists," said Qasim, because "all the Lebanese people are behind the resistance." Qasim does not believe that America can succeed in pressuring the Lebanese government to curb Hizbullah. "The Lebanese are strongly united on the legitimacy of the Islamic resistance, which is backed by the Arab countries," he said, noting that US economic pressure over the past 20 years has not forced the Lebanese government to act against the resistance.
According to Qasim, Washington is "not serious" about offering Lebanon anything in exchange for putting pressure on Hizbullah.
Qasim said there was a clear distinction between Hizbullah's resistance to Israeli occupation and the foreign operations of Osama Bin Laden's Al- Qa'eda, blamed for the attacks on the US. "What we do now is fight Israel on our land. We support the Palestinian struggle but in no specific way. We do not fight against the US. Even our struggle against Israel never went beyond Lebanon's legitimate border." But he warned that the movement "has not declared anything about the future."
Qasim stated flatly that Hizbullah has not changed its position on the issue of four Israelis -- three soldiers and a reserve army officer -- captured by the movement last October. Hizbullah refuses to give any information on the captives and characterises Israel's recent declaration that the three soldiers are dead as a "ploy to elicit information." The movement insists that the 13 Lebanese citizens held by Israel, one for 23 years, should be released in exchange for information about the Israelis. He asserted that Hizbullah's refusal to give the International Red Cross access to the Israelis is linked to Israel's rejection of visits to two senior resistance figures, Sheikh Abdel-Karim Obeid (kidnapped in 1989) and Mustafa Dirani (abducted in 1994).
In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, American University of Beirut Professor Nizar Hamzeh, the author of a forthcoming book on Hizbullah, said the Bush administration's classification of the movement as a terrorist group was a "major strategic mistake" in several ways.
In religious terms, the US move groups Shi'a Hizbullah with militant Sunni organisations, strengthening the arguments of those who accuse Washington of waging "war on Islam," Hamzeh said. A blanket classification of Islamists as terrorists ends up unifying militant Shi'a and Sunni movements in opposition to the US, instead of exploiting their differences, he added.
In terms of the region, the US is placing Hizbullah "on the same footing as Al-Qa'eda." The US move also classifies "Iran, Hizbullah's main supporter, on the same level as the Taliban," said Hamzeh. "This puts the US on a collision course with Iran, which is not prepared to sacrifice an important asset like Hizbullah unless the US offers major financial and political advantages to Tehran."
Hamzeh noted that "Iran is not Afghanistan." Iran is a major regional power and oil producer and has a key role to play in Afghanistan because of its ties with the Northern Alliance. Iran could disrupt Washington's plans for that country if the US insists on pursuing Hizbullah.
Hamzeh also said that Syria, the movement's other key ally, "will not eradicate Hizbullah without an alternative." Hizbullah's military wing is Syria's sole instrument for exerting pressure on Israel to evacuate the occupied Golan. "Once the Golan is restored to Syria, Shebaa can be returned to Lebanon and Hizbullah can cease resistance activity," said Qasim.
In Lebanon, Hizbullah is a major political party with eight deputies in parliament. The movement runs a large modern hospital in Beirut, as well as clinics, schools, welfare agencies and an institution involved in the reconstruction of the south. "The lower classes survive on the welfare of Islamist groups" such as Hizbullah, Hamzeh said. "If this welfare is removed there will be a social class revolution." Furthermore, any attempt to shut down the military wing of Hizbullah -- which is widely seen as the liberator of south Lebanon -- would precipitate "civil war" in Lebanon.
Hamzeh entertained no doubt that Hizbullah has put its bank accounts out of reach of the Lebanese authorities and the US. Financially, Iran would oppose any attempt to squeeze Hizbullah because its charitable organs are "linked closely with comparable institutions in Iran," Hamzeh said. In any case, Lebanon cannot afford to cut off the flow of funds through Hizbullah's institutions, payrolls and welfare programmes. Hamzeh also noted that if Iran's interests are taken into account in the formation of the new government in Kabul, "it could take a long time to shut down Hizbullah."
In Hamzeh's view, the US must "revise its strategy." The US administration should be more discerning in differentiating between Islamic groups, he said. He added that the US would be wiser to tackle only their military wings and individuals known to have taken part in terrorism "on a one-to- one basis."
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