(The National-Abu Dhabi) Emile Hokayem - The immediate reason for the collapse of the March 14 alliance is to be found in policy reversals by two of its major backers, France and Saudi Arabia. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, initiated a spectacular rapprochement with Syria that remains puzzling. European officials admit that Paris gave Syria all it had to offer - international embrace and opening to the EU. An even more lethal hit came from Saudi Arabia. Calculating that the costs of confrontation in Lebanon were too high for too small a return, and increasingly focused on Iran, Iraq and Yemen, Riyadh engineered a detente with Damascus. UN resolution 1559, which demanded the disarmament of all armed groups, is now contradicted by the ministerial statement recognizing Hizbullah's right to resist. Resolution 1701, which imposed a security regime at the border with Israel, is breached daily by massive Hizbullah resupply and positioning of weaponry in nominally UN-controlled territory. The rush to reconcile with Hizbullah should not be misread: it is a consequence of the Shia militia's proven ability to intimidate and coerce. While it is true that in its recent manifesto Hizbullah no longer calls for an Islamist state in Lebanon, it has replaced that delusion with an even grander one in which state and society serve muqawama, or resistance.
2009-12-18 08:35:53Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive