07-28-2006, 09:50 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Stoking the fires of terrorism </b>
FTÂ Â
Najam Sethi's E d i t o r i a lÂ
Israel has over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners whose freedom is a key Hizbollah-Hamas goal. In the past, as in 2004, it swapped prisoners: one Israeli for over 400 Palestinians. Why then did Israel now decide not to exchange prisoners but to try and decimate Hizbollah, brutalize Lebanon and kill thousands of civilians in retaliation against the kidnapping of three Israelis soldiers by Hizbollah and Hamas?
Condoleeza Rice has provided an answer. The US prohibited the EU, UN Security Council and G8 from affecting an immediate cease-fire so that its pre-planned mission of âredrawing the map of a new Middle-Eastâ could be accomplished by Israel. The US didnât stop Israel from unleashing death and destruction because it wanted it to hammer a spike in the heart of the Iran-Syria-Hizbollah-Hamas axis. This axis poses the greatest threat to US and Israeli interests because it has successfully cut across sectarian Islam, won the Muslim mosque, galvanized the Arab street and isolated pro-US puppet-dictators in the Muslim world. In the bargain, the Israeli army is also seeking to settle scores with Hizbollah which ended Israelâs 22 year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000 and thereby proved its mettle to Arabs and Palestinians alike. Meanwhile, the neo-con dominated Bush administration is desperate for a âsuccessâ story after debilitating failures in Afghanistan and Iraq and a frustrating stand-off with defiant Iran overthe nuclear issue. Unfortunately, too, the US and Israel were emboldened by the quiescence of Sunni Arab oil producers like Saudi Arabia and the Sheikhdoms of the Gulf who are afraid of rising Shiâism under the umbrella of Iran.
But this US-Israeli strategy is bound to fail in the short term and its long-term blowback could fuel greater violence on the world stage.
The US went into Afghanistan ostensibly to smash the Taliban and build a stable nation-state. Instead, it has reaped a drug-infested anarchy, revived Talibanism and dragged NATO into the quagmire. The US went into Iraq to dethrone Saddam Hussain and build secular democracy. Instead, it has so far lost 2,567 American lives, spent US$300 billion (US$3 trillion) and unleashed a civil war. The beneficiary of both failures is Al Qaeda which is not a terrorist territorial army but a terrorizing global sentiment. Similarly, this new adventure will surely cost America strategically. Pro-American dictators in the Muslim world are quaking in their shoes at the wave of radical Islamic anti-Americanism that is threatening to swamp them. Israel can also forget about better relations with some of them, like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, to win a degree of diplomatic legitimacy for itself.
More critically, despite the ongoing destruction of Lebanon, Israel will not be able to eliminate Hezbollah and Hamas by force just as it has not been able to uproot Al Qaeda by force. Hamas is a democratically-inspired, popular and hardline successor to the PLO because Israel refused to strike a just peace with the PLO and weakened it in the eyes of the Palestinians. Similarly, Hezbollah has now come to represent the popular aspirations of not just the Shias of Lebanon and Iran but also of non-Shia Lebanese for liberating parts of Lebanon from Israeli occupation and of the Sunni Hamas, other non-Muslim Palestinians and all sects of Islamic opinion in the world. It is not just a military or guerilla organisation that can be defeated by a superior military force. It is a complex phenomenon that has taken root in Lebanonâs security, social services and democratic political system nationally and locally. Thanks to Al Jazeera and Al-Manar, this popular springboard is reinforced every day by graphic images of Palestinian and Muslim martyrdom.
On one front President Bush wants to browbeat Shia Iran with Israeli âshock and aweâ tactics. On the other front, he wants to pressurize Syria (which is the conduit for Iranian weapons to Lebanon and Hezbollah) through the good offices of Washingtonâs core-group allies like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to help install an international force in south Lebanon that will assist the secular Lebanese army to disarm the Shia Hezbollah after Israel has been forced into a cease-fire. In other words, Dr Riceâs task is to get the unpopular pro-American Sunni Arab dictatorships to become a buffer between Shia Hezbollah and the secular Lebanese government, Israel and the US.
The developing scenario reflects two distinct trends. On the one hand, there is a surge of radical political Islamism which is global and which transcends Shia-Sunni sectarianism in the face of neo-con imperialism. This fits into the clash of civilization thesis. On the other hand, the neo-cons will try to deepen divisions in the Arab and Muslim world by supporting unpopular pro-West dictatorships and nurturing sectarianism, a recipe for clashes within the Islamic civilization. The cynical plan for the division of Iraq and Afghanistan along sectarian or ethnic lines followed by an attempt to redraw a new Middle-East is cast in such a mould. It wonât succeed because injustice cannot endure. But it could stoke the fires of anarchy and terrorism if Israel and the US remain arrogant, unjust and unaccountable.
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FTÂ Â
Najam Sethi's E d i t o r i a lÂ
Israel has over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners whose freedom is a key Hizbollah-Hamas goal. In the past, as in 2004, it swapped prisoners: one Israeli for over 400 Palestinians. Why then did Israel now decide not to exchange prisoners but to try and decimate Hizbollah, brutalize Lebanon and kill thousands of civilians in retaliation against the kidnapping of three Israelis soldiers by Hizbollah and Hamas?
Condoleeza Rice has provided an answer. The US prohibited the EU, UN Security Council and G8 from affecting an immediate cease-fire so that its pre-planned mission of âredrawing the map of a new Middle-Eastâ could be accomplished by Israel. The US didnât stop Israel from unleashing death and destruction because it wanted it to hammer a spike in the heart of the Iran-Syria-Hizbollah-Hamas axis. This axis poses the greatest threat to US and Israeli interests because it has successfully cut across sectarian Islam, won the Muslim mosque, galvanized the Arab street and isolated pro-US puppet-dictators in the Muslim world. In the bargain, the Israeli army is also seeking to settle scores with Hizbollah which ended Israelâs 22 year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000 and thereby proved its mettle to Arabs and Palestinians alike. Meanwhile, the neo-con dominated Bush administration is desperate for a âsuccessâ story after debilitating failures in Afghanistan and Iraq and a frustrating stand-off with defiant Iran overthe nuclear issue. Unfortunately, too, the US and Israel were emboldened by the quiescence of Sunni Arab oil producers like Saudi Arabia and the Sheikhdoms of the Gulf who are afraid of rising Shiâism under the umbrella of Iran.
But this US-Israeli strategy is bound to fail in the short term and its long-term blowback could fuel greater violence on the world stage.
The US went into Afghanistan ostensibly to smash the Taliban and build a stable nation-state. Instead, it has reaped a drug-infested anarchy, revived Talibanism and dragged NATO into the quagmire. The US went into Iraq to dethrone Saddam Hussain and build secular democracy. Instead, it has so far lost 2,567 American lives, spent US$300 billion (US$3 trillion) and unleashed a civil war. The beneficiary of both failures is Al Qaeda which is not a terrorist territorial army but a terrorizing global sentiment. Similarly, this new adventure will surely cost America strategically. Pro-American dictators in the Muslim world are quaking in their shoes at the wave of radical Islamic anti-Americanism that is threatening to swamp them. Israel can also forget about better relations with some of them, like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, to win a degree of diplomatic legitimacy for itself.
More critically, despite the ongoing destruction of Lebanon, Israel will not be able to eliminate Hezbollah and Hamas by force just as it has not been able to uproot Al Qaeda by force. Hamas is a democratically-inspired, popular and hardline successor to the PLO because Israel refused to strike a just peace with the PLO and weakened it in the eyes of the Palestinians. Similarly, Hezbollah has now come to represent the popular aspirations of not just the Shias of Lebanon and Iran but also of non-Shia Lebanese for liberating parts of Lebanon from Israeli occupation and of the Sunni Hamas, other non-Muslim Palestinians and all sects of Islamic opinion in the world. It is not just a military or guerilla organisation that can be defeated by a superior military force. It is a complex phenomenon that has taken root in Lebanonâs security, social services and democratic political system nationally and locally. Thanks to Al Jazeera and Al-Manar, this popular springboard is reinforced every day by graphic images of Palestinian and Muslim martyrdom.
On one front President Bush wants to browbeat Shia Iran with Israeli âshock and aweâ tactics. On the other front, he wants to pressurize Syria (which is the conduit for Iranian weapons to Lebanon and Hezbollah) through the good offices of Washingtonâs core-group allies like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to help install an international force in south Lebanon that will assist the secular Lebanese army to disarm the Shia Hezbollah after Israel has been forced into a cease-fire. In other words, Dr Riceâs task is to get the unpopular pro-American Sunni Arab dictatorships to become a buffer between Shia Hezbollah and the secular Lebanese government, Israel and the US.
The developing scenario reflects two distinct trends. On the one hand, there is a surge of radical political Islamism which is global and which transcends Shia-Sunni sectarianism in the face of neo-con imperialism. This fits into the clash of civilization thesis. On the other hand, the neo-cons will try to deepen divisions in the Arab and Muslim world by supporting unpopular pro-West dictatorships and nurturing sectarianism, a recipe for clashes within the Islamic civilization. The cynical plan for the division of Iraq and Afghanistan along sectarian or ethnic lines followed by an attempt to redraw a new Middle-East is cast in such a mould. It wonât succeed because injustice cannot endure. But it could stoke the fires of anarchy and terrorism if Israel and the US remain arrogant, unjust and unaccountable.
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