End near for all fundamentalists
Posted on 8/9/2006 11:05:35 AM
Ahmed Al-Jarallah
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

THE demand of the Lebanese and Arabs for an immediate ceasefire and deployment of 15,000 Lebanese soldiers in the border between Israel and Lebanon could have become a reality provided Hezbollah and Syria were not in Lebanon. Such an Arab-Lebanese agreement could have helped Lebanon and its people escape destruction at the hands of Israel. However, Iran and Syria, which are worried about their own interests, will not spare the Lebanese. The agenda of the Iran-Syria combine is to destroy the infrastructure of Lebanon and inflame sectarian violence in that country. This dovetails with Israel’s interest in the war.

After the destruction of Lebanon’s infrastructure, displacement of thousands of Lebanese, and killing of hundreds of innocent civilians, Hezbollah has expressed its willingness to give up control to government forces in the south and agreed to a plan to send government forces to the Green Line. Hassan Nasrallah could have given the Lebanese government this opportunity many years ago through a national dialogue or by implementing the Al-Taif agreement.

Nasrallah should have made his calculations right before accepting defeat and urging the Lebanese government to deploy its forces in the south. Hezbollah could have heeded the advice of wise people to prevent the killing of Lebanese and destruction of Lebanon.

The fundamentalist ideology of Hezbollah has led to these killings and destruction. People who believe in fundamentalist ideology call others who oppose their way of thinking as infidels. Hezbollah, which takes its fundamentalist decisions without consulting anybody, believes only its decisions are right and others who are against its policy are betrayers. Hezbollah, which has confessed to its wrong-doing, is trying to get out of the war especially as Israel has often said it is not fighting Hezbollah but mercenaries of Iran and Syria in Southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s ideology of monopolizing Islam and Arabs has come to an end in Southern Lebanon. Soon fundamentalism will end in Southern Lebanon.
The New Middle East Project will be the one to put a full stop to fundamentalism in the region. This project will support democracy and help the multi-religious and multi-ethnic people of the Middle East to co-exist peacefully. Fundamentalist ideology is too old a trick to play in this time and age.

Currently people of Arab countries have the freedom which they didn’t have in the 1967 war against Israel. Those were the days of dictatorship when fundamentalists ruled the Arab world. Today people want to say what they want with full freedom and without fear for their leaders. This was evident when the Prime Minister of Lebanon Fouad Al-Siniora told Arab foreign ministers at their meeting in Beirut “Arab countries have rejected dictatorship and fundamentalist ideology.”

Siniora’s speech was rejected only by Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah, all of which are fundamentalists. Arab foreign ministers rejected Syrian Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Mualims’ request to term Hezbollah as resistance. Although many ministers agreed the Lebanese are carrying out the resistance, they declined to name Hezbollah a resistance movement.

The fact that Arab leaders rejected the expectations of Hezbollah and Syria during their meeting indicates we are about to see the end of such fundamentalists. Deployment of Lebanese forces in Southern Lebanon will signal the real end of all fundamentalists.

e-mail: ahmedjarallah@hotmail.com
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Israeli ‘visa’ for Lebanon

Posted on 8/8/2006 9:07:13 AM
Ahmed Al-Jarallah
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times

ARABS, who had occupied and fought their battles on Lebanese lands for over thirty years, have opened the doors for Israel’s return to Lebanon, aided in no small measure by the interference of Iran. So it is not surprising Lebanon has been a victim of the unfairness of Arabs and fallen an easy prey to the merciless Israelis! It is also not surprising the helpless foreign ministers of Arab countries can’t go to Lebanon without the permission of Israel, which has ordered them to board airplanes from either Amman or Cairo.

This is the sad reality of the official Arab system, which has been forced to knock on the doors of Israel seeking permission to enter Lebanon, an Arab country. In the context, the meeting of Arab foreign ministers will be meaningless, ineffective, and won’t succeed in keeping sharp knives away from the neck of Lebanon.
In spite of these facts, Hezbollah and its followers are still talking about an imaginary victory, just because Lebanon has been able resist Israel’s aggression for so long. The way Hezbollah beats its chest makes one wonder whether all the killings, massacres and devastation are not counted as defeat.

Hezbollah, which is acting according to Iran’s calculations, has led Lebanon and the Arab work into a dark tunnel. This sorry state of affairs could have been avoided if Hezbollah had not captured the two Israeli soldiers. Such operations are nothing but a political dance aimed at creating an illusionary show of jihad.

While Hezbollah must take the blame for leading Lebanon into a war without adequate preparation, Israel was fully prepared for this war. It had stocked adequate quantities of medicine, food, and fuel to last for a long time. As a fundamentalist movement which sprouts imaginary theories, Hezbollah entered the war claiming to possess thousands of missiles.

While Israel has destroyed almost all bridges in Lebanon connecting that country to its neighbours besides demolishing many villages in Southern Lebanon, most of Hezbollah’s missiles haven’t caused any damage to the enemy. Hezbollah has claimed victory on the grounds that it has spoiled the tourist season in Israel. But the fact is the United States has compensated Israel’s losses. Even the joint French-American resolution, which is set to be issued by the UN Security Council, favours the strategic interests of Western countries irrespective of the objections of Emile Lahoud, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Dr Bashar Al-Assad.

It is obvious the world has decided Lebanon shouldn’t be a battlefield for the disputes of Iran and Syria. The international community doesn’t want Lebanon to become another Iraq. However, Iran and Syria will try to prolong the war until the last drop of Lebanon’s blood is drained to ensure the devastation and aggression don’t come anywhere near them. The war in Lebanon will end according to the wishes of the international community, which is keen to clean this country before creating a free and strong state.

Based on these facts we are sure the meeting of Arab foreign ministers won’t reach anywhere. Maybe they will come to know about the plans of the international community for Lebanon. Above all the Arab foreign ministers will understand the fact that like airplanes, which are loaded with humanitarian assistance such as diapers, medicine and water, they can’t go to Lebanon without Israel’s permission.

e-mail: ahmedjarallah@hotmail.com