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Is Lebanon About to Collapse?
(New Republic) Martin Peretz - In the next weeks, the judgment of the international panel set up to examine the assassination of the Sunni billionaire Rafiq al-Hariri - also the Lebanese prime minister - will be rendered. It is all but certain that the judges will conclude that the killing of Hariri (and 22 others) was committed in 2005 by men of Hizbullah, Shi'a thugs. This could crush what's left of the parliamentary alliance between the Sunni middle class and what's left of Maronite influence. Hizbullah tried to deflect blame for Hariri's killing onto the Israelis. But some lies are just too preposterous even for one's own. The fact is that no one could grasp why Jerusalem would have wanted Hariri and his men blown up. Despite the intentions of the big powers to curb Hizbullah through Security Council Resolution 1701, the effect of its mandate was to accomplish just the opposite. Iran has now claimed a border with Israel, and it is the frontier which the Shi'a mob patrols. Please don't tell me that the threat to peace lies in the West Bank. Lebanon is the scene of the next battle.