Saturday, March 14, 2009

Hezbollah Adopts Washington's Policy of No Talks Without Preconditions

Tearing a tattered page from Washington's own book, Nasrallah has announced that any U.S.-Hezbollah talks would only occur in accordance with Hezbollah's own "preconditions:"

Sayyed Nasrallah concluded his speech by tackling the “new” US stance towards Hezbollah and Hamas. His eminence remarked that the US administration has set conditions for any potential dialogue with the two resistance parties on top of which is recognizing Israel and abandoning violence.

"They say that the United States is Israel's ally, but we say that Allah is with us, as He was during the Israeli war in 2006. It's impossible that we would recognize Israel. Only the cowards recognize it," Sayyed Nasrallah said. "Whoever doesn’t wish to fight should at least not recognize Israel. As long as there is such a terrorist and aggressive entity, we will never be able to renounce the resistance. The resistance is our life, our glory, our sacredness and our honor."

The Resistance leader made it clear, however, that in case Hezbollah wants to engage in a dialogue with the US, it will impose its own conditions.

So, U.S.-Hezbollah negotiations, rejected by both sulking sides, have now begun...but in public! How nice. The two sides have cordially agreed to balanced conditions: I will sulk and refuse to talk with you while you sulk and refuse to talk to me, but if I were to talk, I would reserve the right to impose an entrance fee to compensate me for the humiliation of being in the same room with you.

Nasrallah also informed the world that Hezbollah has no dog in the Palestinian struggle, simply wanting to see Arab unity. Perhaps the Sayyed would be so kind as to clear up a little discrepancy in his logic: he supports Arab unity but will "never" recognize Israel. What happens if the Palestinians stop cutting off their own noses to spite their faces, present a unified face to Israel, and offer a deal that includes recognition of Israel? Surely, Hezbollah won't oppose a unified Palestine?!?

But, not to worry. Israel will surely figure out a way to sabotage any fair deal with the Palestinians, because a fair deal would mean the end to Greater Israel aspirations, the removal of all Israeli settlers from the West Bank, an Israel living within its legally recognized borders, the division of Jerusalem, and the end to the tensions that are exploited to justify the open firehose of U.S. military toys for the Israeli power elite.

Were Israel to adopt a good neighbor policy in place of its current Greater Israel policy, Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, and Iran would be put in a serious fix. All would be suddenly scrambling for a viable foreign policy position, a situation one might think Israel would welcome. But I really don't think those so-called Islamic extremists have anything to worry about. The fact is that the extremists on both sides share a secret: they rely on each other for their power. Sometimes they have to fight to make it look good, but the elimination of either side would be a political disaster for the other.

Definitions
"Power elite" - that portion of the elite whose goal is not just wealth and comfort but the exercise of power

"Extremist" - a political actor that prefers force to compromise for resolving conflict

________________________
See also this analysis of Nasrallah's speech as a warning to Damascus to take it easy until after Lebanon's election.

No comments: