Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah and the So-Called ‘Nation’
Al-Nahar, Lebanon, August 12
In a recent interview with Iranian national TV, Ismail Haniyeh – the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau – revealed the content of a recent meeting he had with Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Describing his conversation with Nasrallah in a clear way, Haniyeh claimed that the “nation” has become more and more ready to transition from the strategy of “support” to the strategy of “active partnership” in the liberation project of Palestine. What this means in reality is that the “nation” – which is, in fact, nothing more than an alliance of a few military fronts associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps – is actively preparing for an open and coordinated war with Israel and the United States of America. This announcement is meant to galvanize Hizbullah supporters and give them hope of a tangible goal around which they can orient themselves. Sadly however, Haniyeh, while diligently transcribing his conversation, forgot to tell the peoples of Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen (among others) how Nasrallah plans on leading them through such a major war. In fact, what the people of this so-called “nation” are most concerned with isn’t an external enemy, but rather an internal one: political collapse, hunger and poverty. These people are dying of starvation, they commit suicide out of despair, they die due to shortages of medicine, and they try to flee their homelands on makeshift boats. No one can deny this terrifying reality created by the Haniyeh-Nasrallah duo under the auspices of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Perhaps these tragedies are the source of “readiness” that the two men were talking about? Maybe Haniyeh and Nasrallah understand that the people of this nation have nothing to lose. With their dignity and livelihoods gone, perhaps they are willing to sacrifice themselves in a pointless war. Instead of dying of starvation, they can die in confrontation. But the truth is that the peoples of the Arab world are rebelling against Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran. In Lebanon alone, the circle of those who oppose Hizbullah is consistently growing, after the Lebanese public sobered up from Hizbullah’s grand illusions. The international community has also made it clear that it will not condone this kind of behavior. In a recent statement, the European Union emphasized the importance of “Lebanon’s commitment to a policy of disassociation from all regional conflicts.” This unequivocal position, taken by the last remaining international body that is willing to salvage Lebanon from its political and economic turmoil, completely contradicts the agenda announced by Haniyeh. Yet Hamas and Hizbullah don’t seem to understand this new reality. This delusion helps explain the recent missile salvos launched from Lebanese soil into Israeli territory. What Hamas and Hizbullah are forgetting is the basic lesson of modern warfare: that the key to winning a war rests not merely with having the strongest ammunition, but also with having the most steadfast civilians. And while Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen are places where missiles abound, they are also places where the civilian infrastructure – food, medicine, oxygen, gasoline, electricity, water, money and, above all, hope – are extremely scarce. This tragic reality suffices to explain which side will ultimately prevail. On the one hand, there is the nation of Israel. On the other hand, there is a group of militias claiming to be a “nation.” – Faris Khashan (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)
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