Walid Salem  - 27/7/2006

(1)
The First Voice

We withdraw completely from Lebanon, the UN accepted that as a withdrawal to the international borders, then you attacked us, what a shock?!

The conclusions we have: You are not peaceful, you want to destroy Israel. The Islam that you call for is a terrorist religion, Peace with you is impossible.

The current war was created by your kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, therefore our response is part of our right to defend ourselves, even some of us will add that this war is part of the liberation war that Israel is fighting for, and it is a continuation of Israel Independence war.

It is right that we still occupying Sheba farms, but these are Syrian and not Lebanese, and we still have Lebanese prisoners in Israel, but these have blood in their hands. Therefore Sheba and the prisoners are not the real causes for Hizbullah act of Kidnapping the two soldiers. Hizbullah did that because it is an Iranian Proxy, aiming also to give support to Syria willingness to get back to Lebanon. Even some Lebanese like Walid Junblat said that this is an “Iranian-Syrian war fought in the Lebanese soil”. So why you want us to give up to the Syrians, and Iranians?

(2)
The Second Voice

You (Israel) withdraw formally from Lebanon, but in reality your military jets continued to make violations in the skies of Lebanon in daily basis, you also continued to recruit collaborators that killed the son of Ahmad Jibril in Lebanon last year, also we discovered another collaborators network before the kidnapping of the soldiers in Sidon. Moreover Lebanon is still paying the price of hosting hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees that you evacuated from Palestine and you refuse to solve their problem. Why should Lebanon continue to pay the price of an issue that you refuse to solve?! You also refused to give the Lebanese government the maps of mines that you left in South Lebanon. Lebanese were killed because of these moves.  Moreover you are calling for the implementation of 1559 UNSC resolution while you refuse to implement completely the UNSC resolution 425, which requires you to withdraw from all the Lebanese territories that you still occupy and also calls upon you to release the Lebanese prisoners !

Also why you will not implement the UN resolution 194 calling for the right of return to the Palestinian refugees including those that are in Lebanon? In other hand why you gave yourselves the rights to decide that Sheba Farms is a Syrian territory instead of withdrawing from it, and leave it to us and to Syria to decide to whom it should go! Why you are intervening between us and Syria, While you are an occupier to Sheba farms? Moreover: By the way we took a decision already in the Lebanese national dialogue that Sheba is a Lebanese territory, and that we have the right to liberate it, also we decided in that dialogue to act in order to bring our prisoners back from your prisons.  Do you know that?

Moreover: Your response in Lebanon including killing many civilians, and destroying the Lebanese infrastructure, expressing a war that you planned earlier, and that you decided to initiate without our kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers. In other hand we took the two soldiers only in order to get the Lebanese prisoners back, while you responded by initiating a war. Please give us examples from all the modern history were a country initiated a full war because of taking two persons as hostages! 

You give your self the right to be the forcing power to implementing 1559 resolution, the question is: How an occupier can be the power to implement a UN resolution? In other hand we decided in the Lebanese internal dialogue that we will deal in our way with 1559 with two conditions: First that you will implement your part as Sheba and releasing the Lebanese prisoners. Second: The disarmament of Hizbullah as the resolution requires will be done through merging Hizbullah forces in the Lebanese Army and not through disarmament by force as you wish, with your aim to create a Lebanese internal civil war! Now and opposite to 1975 we will not get to this war for your eyes, but we will do the “disarmament” by integration. This integration is also conditional with your leaving to our country.

You are leaving Sheba in your hands, the same that you insisted with Egypt to keep Taba in your hands the same you insisted with Jordan to rent Jordanian lands for many years for the use of the Israeli farmers, and the same as you kept the transfer of goods to the Palestinians in Gaza in your hands through Keren Shalom crossing point. Why you like always to keep a point for control, and something in your hands in order just to show that you are not giving up with your occupation and control mentality?

Moreover, you are saying that Hizbullah is an Iranian-Syrian proxy using Walid Junblat words in order to support that, but we should tell you that there are Israelis who say the Israeli is an American Proxy in this war, we heard Zahava Golo’an from Meretz saying this, we agree with her, because if Israeli perceive well its needs, therefore it will perceive that these needs will require refusing all the Lebanese prisoners, withdrawal from Sheba, and stop all types of control and violations towards Lebanon, which all issues that leads to peace and good neighborhood between the two peoples. Also Israel will leave it to the Lebanese to implement 1559 in their way without interference. But instead of doing that Israel chose to be the USA proxy in “Settling the American account” with Iran and Syria who are supporting the resistance to the American in Iraq.

In addition to that Hizbullah is not an Iranian proxy, it is the Lebanese biggest social and political power representing 40 percent if Lebanese (The Shi’ites). It is also represented in the Lebanese parliament, and in the Lebanese government, and you have to pay a respect to it accordingly.

(3)
Separating Rhetoric from facts

The previous “simulation” was presented in order to bring people back from madness leading to a support to war, or taking one side against the other, or otherwise to despair and lose of hope towards the possibility of peace in the region.

With that the cold mind is needed to bring people back to think deeply of the story of the other side and discover: What is rhetoric, what is positions, what is interests, and finally what is needs, and upon that avoid to be part of the rhetoric, while digging under the positions in order to find the ways that can meet with the needs and interests. The writer will not do that in this article, because it will become very long, therefore will leave it to the readers to re-visit the two previous stories and then take time to think.

This approach suggests to look to our “enemies” as human beings, beyond their rhetoric and ideologies, and therefore to find ways how to get acquainted with them. Upon such an approach Hizbullah and Israel need to face the following:

 Hizbaullah need to face the issue that all the Islamist movements are now facing: The issue of recognizing Israel, including the issue of recognizing that the Israelis have equal human security rights like the Lebanese including all the issues of freedom from fear and freedom from want. Such position can be adopted by Hizbaullah as a direct recognization, or (as a first stage) as a defacto recognition to be expressed practically after the solution of the current crises through accepting within the Lebanese national dialogue to stop attacking Israel (both the Army and the civilians), and to integrate its forces in the Lebanese Army, and to full a permanent calmness in the borders with Israel, and moreover to become a full partner in the Lebanese political system moving from taking unilateral decisions against the commitments and the line of the Lebanese government.

Israel from its side need to learn from this crises how to address the deeper needs of the Lebanese people, to fulfill its part of these needs including releasing the prisoners and get out of Sheba to farms. Also Israel need to provide its ideas for a creative package deal for all the Israeli- Arab conflict with all its aspects. Israel has to stop looking for solutions that ends internal occupation, while keeping the control from outside. These kinds of solutions are like “Smuggling the problems to the future more than solving them. The outcome in this case will be that these problems will explode again in more tuneful and complicated way in the future.

Again re-regionalization, and a full regional solution, and a full regional process towards it is now badly required, probably one can get to the details of that in other special article.

Still about the current crises: The continuation of the war in Lebanon and North Israel will create a crises that might continue for 20 years. Israel will not be able to crush Hizbaullah because it is not a traditional Army. Also Hizballah cannot defeat Israel. Therefore a political solution is also badly needed.