Veteran U.S. civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, walks past an anti-U.S. banner placed among the rubble of a building that was destroyed following Israeli bombardment during the 34-day long Hezbollah-Israel war, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006. Jackson, who said Tuesday that an Israeli soldier seized by Palestinian militants and two others held captive by Hezbollah are alive, also said Syria, a main backer of both Hamas and Hezbollah, wanted to be involved in a prisoner swap that included the three Israelis and Syrian nationals detained by Israel in the Golan Heights. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)
Alan Dershowitz writes at the Huffington Post, August 7, that "Lebanon is no more a victim of Hezbollah than Austria was a victim of Nazism."
In fact a higher percentage of Lebanese--more than 80%--say they support Hezbollah. The figures were nearly as high before the recent civilian deaths.This is considerably higher than the number of Austrians who supported Hitler when the Nazis marched into Austria in 1938. Austria too claimed it was a victim, but no serious person today believes such self-serving historical revisionism. Austria was not "Hitler's first victim." It was Hitler's most sympathetic collaborator.
Fawaz A. Gerges confirms the Dershowitz outlook, though he states it much differently in this (August 15) publication of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.
... Hezbollah is not just a militia or conventional army, but a social and political movement deeply rooted in its society, with a big constituency within the Lebanese Shia community that comprises about 40 percent of the country's 4 million people. Hezbollah organizes a welfare system providing schools, clinics, daycare centers and jobs to hundreds of thousands of poor Shia.Equally important, Hezbollah provides the Shia community, historically disadvantaged and marginalized in Lebanon, a sense of identity and a source of pride.
Second, Hezbollah is falsely portrayed by Israel and its friends in the US as a rotten tooth that can easily be plucked out – a terrorist organization that must be wiped out. In fact, Hezbollah is a pivotal political player on the Lebanese landscape. More than a million men and women vote for its candidates in elections. The radical organization is part of the Lebanese political landscape, and there is real dialogue to integrate Hezbollah paramilitary apparatus fully into the army and resolve its dual status.
Hezbollah has two ministers in the cabinet, 14 seats in Lebanon's 128-seat parliament, and a large base of support in the Muslim world.
Third, since the early 1980s Hezbollah has proved itself on the battlefield against Israeli military might...
A national poll conducted in Lebanon two weeks ago by the Beirut Center for Research and Information showed a sharp rise in support for Hezbollah since the Israeli invasion: 87 percent of respondents supported Hezbollah's military response, including 89 percent of Sunnis and 80 percent of Christians. Five months ago, just 58 percent supported Hezbollah’s right to remain armed.
However, according to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur yesterday (via Monsters and Critics) the Lebanese overall are split right down the middle, with 51% supporting the disarmament of Hezbollah and 49% opposed.
The poll also showed a wide difference of views among Lebanon's various religious communities.Among the Shiite community - Lebanon's largest and the support base for Hezbollah - the poll found 84 per cent wanted the militant group to keep its weapons.
But among the Druze and Christian communities, 79 per cent and 77 per cent respectively wanted the militant group to surrender its weapons.
Among the Sunni Muslim community, the poll found a slender majority of 54 per cent in favour of the militant group disarming.
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