While the Palestinian question remains unresolved and the occupation of Iraq continues, there will be no peace in the region. A UN force sent to dissuade Hezbollah, but not Israel, is an absurd idea Tariq Alí

Tariq Alí

 

To win until you die Madrid – In his last interview –after the 6 Day War of 1967- historian Isaac Deutscher, some of whose relatives had died in Nazi extermination camps, while others who had survived lived in Israel, said: “To justify or approve the wars of Israel against the Arabs is doing Israel a weak favor and it damages its own interests in the long run”. Comparing Israel to Prussia, he gave a somber warning: “The Germans have synthesized their own experience in this laconic statement ‘Man kann sich totsiegen’, you can win until you die”. In Israel’s present conditions, we can detect many of the elements of an uncontrolled self-conceit: imperial arrogance, distortion of reality, conscience of their military superiority, the conviction of acting righteously in the destruction of the infrastructure of weaker states and the belief of racial superiority. The death of many civilians in Gaza and Lebanon are less important than the capture or death of one simple Israeli soldier. And in this, Israel is supported by the United States. The attack against Gaza is designed to destroy Hamas because of the dare in winning the elections. The “international community” remained silent when Gaza suffered collective punishment. Dozens of innocent people are still dying. This meant nothing for the leaders of the G8. Nothing has been done. The Israeli daring attacks have been given green light by the United States. In this case, their interests are coincident. They want to isolate and overthrow the Syrian regime through the fortification of Lebanon as an American-Israeli protectorate like the Jordanian model. They say that this was how the country was originally conceived. It is true, modern Lebanon still represents in great measure the artificial creation of French colonialism, with a seashore band amputated from the Great Syria by Paris in order to create a regional client largely dominated by the Maronite minority. The country’s confessional chessboard has never allowed a precise census, for fear it might reveal a substantial Muslim majority (today it could even be Shi’ite) which is denied due to the form of representation in the political system. The sectarian tensions, oversized because of the difficult situation of Palestinian refugees, lead to the civil war of 1970, maintained by the entry and permanence of Syrian troops with the tacit approval of the United States (clearly as a bumper between factions at war and to dissuade an Israeli coup, as was predictable in the 1978 and 1982 invasions, before Hezbollah existed). The murder of Rafik Hariri caused large manifestations from the small bourgeoisie, demanding the expulsion of the Syrians, while western organizations came to witness the evolution of the revolution of the cedars. Washington and Paris turned their backs to Syria and that was enough to force their retreat and leave a weak government in Beirut. But the factions remained untouched. Hezbollah was not disarmed and Syria didn’t crumble. Washington tried really hard, but the garrison still cannot be submitted. I was in Beirut in May, when the Israeli military came in and murdered two “terrorists” of a separated Palestinian group, who answered back with rockets. Israeli combat airplanes punished Hezbollah with some 50 bombs in their cities and towns close to the frontier. The last Israeli offensive is designed to control the garrison. Will they succeed? We have a long colonial war ahead, because Hezbollah, like Hamás, has the approval of the people. They cannot be considered so lightly as “terrorist” organizations. The Arab world considers them as freedom fighters that are resisting colonial occupation. At the present time there are 9,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli gulags. That is why Israeli soldiers are being captured. The interchange of prisoners was the final objective. Blaming Syria and Iran for this last offensive is a frivolity. While the Palestinian question remains unsolved and the occupation of Iraq continues, there will be no peace in the region. A UN force sent to dissuade Hezbollah but not Israel, is an absurd idea.
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Tariq Alí Journalist and Writer, he collaborates with SINPERMISO .