Tuesday, August 29, 2006
The war in Lebanon has brought out the deep divisions that still exist in that society, and many are blaming Hizballah -- if only below their breath -- not that you would know that from the organized marches abroad that tried to portray a monolithic Lebanese viewpoint uncritical of Hizballah's role: Hezbollah's rise fuels rifts inside Lebanon. The sub-head, "A polarizing war empowers Shi'ites" plays on the typical Boston Globe spin that somehow the Israeli effort was merely Pyrrhic, as all wars must be according to local (Boston) lore. The fact is that it remains to be seen whether Hizballah was more empowered, or more discredited as other communities realize Hizballah's war-making outs their necks on the line, too. The article itself seems to indicate that the latter has been the result, despite the sub-head.
...Since the war between Israel and Hezbollah ended two weeks ago, angry Lebanese have begun blaming the Shi'ite militant group for reopening the dangerous sectarian rifts.
``Hezbollah made this war and ruined the whole country. We paid in blood, in young men," said Maggie Haddad, 48, a snack bar owner who prominently signals her Christianity with a diamond-encrusted cross hanging over her shirt and by her uncovered head. ``As long as Hezbollah exists, and has weapons, there will be war."
There are as many conflicting views of the war with Israel as there are sects in the tangled ethnic and religious patchwork of Lebanon...
...In the small southern border village of Kfar Chouba, members of the Sunni minority complain in private about Hezbollah's growing power. Kassim al-Kadri, 25, swears angrily about the Hezbollah flags hanging in his village.
``When the Lebanese Army gets here, we'll take down the Hezbollah flags and throw them away," Kadri said, referring to the planned deployment of government forces as part of the UN agreement that halted the war.
But Kadri and his neighbors say they feel trapped and powerless. They are surrounded by Hezbollah villages, and most of their fellow Sunnis who could afford it left for the north long ago.
Members of the dwindling Christian population, concentrated in a handful of Beirut neighborhoods and a few tiny enclaves of the south, voice their anxiety even more vociferously.
``We didn't want war. Only one group wanted war: Hezbollah. They are not fighting for Lebanon; they are fighting for Syria," said Georges Abou Zeid, 31, manager of a clothing boutique in the Christian neighborhood of Matan...
