IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
Domestic quagmires
After the war there was hope for the greater unity of Lebanon, but internal political deadlocks have stalled peace in the nation.
- By Zoi Constantine, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:25 July 12, 2007
- Two Israeli tanks burn after a Hezbollah attack while advancing to a new position in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun.
- Image Credit: AP
After the war there was hope for the greater unity of Lebanon, but internal political deadlocks have stalled peace in the nation.
When the guns fell silent in Lebanon on August 14, 2006, there was a hope that the tragedy of the war against Israel could be turned around to unite the nation. At the end of hostilities and amid the destruction, there was a sense of optimism, that out of the horrors of the preceding 34 days, some good would come.
However, one year on from a war that killed over a thousand Lebanese, injured thousands more and left one million people displaced, internal political deadlock threatens further violence.
"The main problem is we are now drowning in ... an internal conflict," said Sa'ad Al Zein, secretary-general of the Lebanese Business Council in Dubai. "We were against the war, but after we didn't unite."
Today, the country is mired in political instability — a seemingly inexorable slide since the February 14, 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
"Unfortunately, although the war has ended, the overall situation and the problems that caused it, particularly the instability in the region, [are] still going on," said Elias Bou Saab, executive vice-president of the American University of Dubai.
Chapter of crisis
Exactly one year ago, Bou Saab and his wife, Lebanese singer Julia Boutros, had just returned home to Lebanon only to find themselves caught in a war that no one could have predicted. Rather than leaving the country, the pair along with hundreds, volunteered with the Emirati-Lebanese Friendship Association, co-ordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid from the UAE.
At that time, Boutros — famed across the Arab world for nationalistic songs such as Ghabet Shams Al Haq (The Sun of Truth has Disappeared) — described the Israeli attacks as "a massacre … taking place in front of the eyes of the world".
According to Bou Saab, the present crisis is simply "another chapter" in the series of events in Lebanon — including the recent violence between the Lebanese army and Fatah Al Islam — caused by instability.
The bloody confrontation between Lebanese troops and the alleged Al Qaida affiliate group, holed up in the Nahr Al Bared camp in northern Lebanon, has left 200-odd people dead and forced thousands of Palestinian refugees to flee the camp.
"Unless there is a solution to the regional problems, including stability in the Palestinian territories and a resolution to the situation in Iraq, we will continue to be dragged into wider regional issues," Bou Saab told Weekend Review.
Sunni-Shia tensions had not previously featured as prominently in Lebanon's fragile political dynamic — a political system based on consensus among the Shiite, Sunni, Druze and Christian groups.
"Internally there is now a bigger divide between Sunni and Shiite … [Through this division, foreign powers] think they will be able to control and force their agenda," Bou Saab said.
Moreover, domestic political tensions in Lebanon appear to have shifted, to reflect the wider regional split into pro-US and pro-Iranian camps.
After the war, the American-backed Lebanese government blamed Hezbollah for bringing war on the entire country, while Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah and supporters claimed a "divine victory".
"We have widened the doors for everyone to take a bite of Lebanon whoever has an agenda for the Middle East, including the US," Al Zein said.
The summer war battered mainstays of the Lebanese economy, notably the tourism industry. Yet, efforts to rehabilitate the economy and infrastructure have also fallen victim to the internal disunity.
Victims of disunity
"The country is still suffering and even rehabilitation efforts are being disrupted because of lack of unity. Ultimately the loser is the Lebanese civilian," Al Zein says. "We are suffering and losing our hope and [the] hope in the leaders."
However, despite this, and after experiencing years of war and brief periods of calm, Dania Bazzy, a central figure in the mobilisation of humanitarian aid for Lebanon in Dubai during the war, says she has no choice but to remain optimistic.
Although the entire country suffered heavy losses, the conflict also managed to shatter Israel's image of invincibility.
"We will always remember that in some ways. What happened last summer was an achievement for the Arab and Muslim world: the Israeli plan took a massive hit. Unfortunately in Lebanon, there are people who do not want to admit this," Bou Saab said.
According to Bazzy, the immediate outcome of the war was that the Lebanese people became largely united. "But because of political instability, that sense of unity is now not as strong. What is so sad to me is that what we gained after the war, we are losing."
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