“The Party of Allah Shall Be the Victorious” [Archives:2000/22/Focus]

COMMON SENSE
By: Hassan Al-Haifi
Allah has spoken the truth! On more than one occasion, Common Sense has predicted that the menacing blows by the Lebanese resistance movement, lead by the indefatigable Hizbullah (the Party of Allah) fighters, in Southern Lebanon shall turn the tide in the long-standing Middle East Conflict between the Arab States and Israel. This is not because the numbers involved, the sophistication of the weapons used or the regional and international power balances at play. In fact, the historical and cultural ramifications have just begun to show their true colors from a cultural standpoint, although the conflict has its historical roots that go far into biblical times.
For Hizbullah, the breakdown of the apparent counterproductive “security buffer” for Israel in its Northern borders, means more than just the return of a patch of land to its rightful owners. The Party has not only succeeded in disproving the myth that the Israeli Army is undefeatable, but proved that it is Islam that is at stake in the conflict, as far as the Party is concerned, and it is only Islam that leads to any meaningful successes for the Arabs, whether against Israel or any other devious menace that seeks to obliterate the religion altogether. For Hizbullah, also, it meant, and this may be viewed as the crux of the struggle, that Allah has fulfilled his promise of giving victory to those who stand firmly in defense of their belief in Him and the soundness of adherence to the religion of Islam in all its basic fundamentals, without imposing severe strains on the believer, beyond the practices of the Prophet Mohammed, in conduct and in deed. Hizbullah set clear definitive guidelines for the mode of resistance against the persecution and dog Ð eat Ð dog world that the Israelis rely upon to carry out their Eretz Ð Israel dream from the “Nile to the Euphrates”, as the proponents of Zionism see the Promised Land that was “promised” to them by the Al-Mighty. Hizbullah knew how to mobilize the true faith in Allah needed to confront the Zionist demagoguery preached by the Israelis, and how to instill the courage, patience and momentum among its fighters that will help to overcome the obvious differences between the two forces, for surely no one is ignorant of the overwhelming superiority that the Israelis have over most of the Arab States, let alone a small force of highly inspired defenders of the faith that the Hizbullah fighters turned out to be. Yet, Hizbullah set aside all the odds against them, and threw away all the political and military arithmetic involved. Hizbullah insisted that with perseverance, determination and a true sense of really fighting on the side of the Al-Mighty, they are able to humiliate any enemy, notwithstanding its size, strength and back up support. For Hizbullah, Islam is the answer, but not the burden as some recently established fundamentalists try to project Islam to be, with their adherence to form rather than substance. Hizbullah, indeed stuck to the etiquette of war, as set out by the Prophet Mohammed and the long line of true believers, who knew that conduct and a clear understanding of the humanitarian ramifications of Islam are what will give Islam its strength. Thus God, Al-Mighty made of Hizbullah an interesting model of the power of Islam as a cause to uphold: a determination to see that rights are upheld because Islam clearly stands for upholding of such rights, but in a manner that will keep the honor of the creed and the standards applied at the highest level.
For Lebanon, the victory of the popular resistance of the people of South Lebanon represent a model of democracy at work, in allowing the population to carry out any activities that work for the national esteem and dignity of the country. Lebanon has once again proven that it is indeed the most capable state in the region, and has made all the other Arab states appear like midgets after showing that the Lebanese people despite their diversity in religion and other ethnic considerations, and their relatively small size, can and are able to stand united and strong against a Goliath, who once thought that it can step on any other state in the region. For Lebanon, the quick collapse of the Israeli forces in the South truly showed the kind of menace they were up against, despite the Israeli claim to being the “only democracy” in the region. The several well publicized attacks against civilian positions and the reliance on “the terror of power”, were no match against the Lebanese firm belief that their democracy and their adherence to human rights are stronger and more refreshing than those of the Israelis.
For the rest of the Arab States, the conflict in Lebanon surely underscored the impact of democracy on the ability of a people to be mobilized for meaningful causes, and for upholding national pride and dignity. For surely, the rest of the Arab states are dire need of reevaluating themselves to see why is it that their people are unable to become productive in peace time, let alone when being confronted by a poisonous thorn as Israel. For the Arab States, there cannot be and there should not be any normalization, without first proving that they can withstand any military or political muscle used to twist their arms to make all the concessions called for by Israel and her dallying sponsor, the United States. To do this, they first must release the stranglehold that the Arab rulers have on their people, to unleash their energies and show their true creativity and talent as the Lebanese were able to do, thanks to the democracy and freedom which the Lebanese enjoy and cherish. For the Arab states, there is no hope against Israel or against their own helplessness, unless they “let their people go” and start exercising government in its true and plausible manifestation of being “by the people and for the people”. The pitiful state of Arab governments, in their present form, has proven, time and again, that oppressed people cannot be productive or creative in combating societies Ð as evil as they may be Ð that enjoy full civil rights and human liberties. It is time that Arab leaders release the resources of the land to their people, in order to let the people direct these resources in the best interest of the people at large and not just the interests of these leaders, who never seem to be able to determine to what extent that they must continue to bleed these resources to serve their own interests and to project the image of these rulers as semi-gods who are endowed with super powers, that are never reflected in any form of national pride, except by the extent of suffering their people must endure while they rake havoc and deprive their people of the most basic of human rights and dignity.
For Israel, the recent defeat of Israel will surely force the Israelis to reconsider their belief that they can just about carry out any designs they wish against helpless “terrorists” and what have you, which the Israelis have used to depict those who have told the world that these Israelis are not what they appear to be shown in the international media as ‘do gooders’, who pride on advocating human rights and liberties, yet find no reason to hesitate in setting up prison blocs like the Al-Khyam Prison, where people where subjected to the worst kind of human rights abuses, torture and all kinds of inhuman treatment. For sure, the Israelis cannot fool anyone anymore, in a world now made so much smaller by the developments in communications and satellite television, which shows all the atrocities that the Israelis have been able to commit and hide from the view of the international community. For the Israelis, the psychological war unleashed by Hizbullah is bound to raise the fear syndrome among the Israelis that they have always dreaded Ð the rise of Islam as a potentially viable and moving force that will be a true adversary, which the Zionist demagogues have no pretension about being able to beat. It could be too early to state this, but for sure, the Israelis have now found that this force, unleashed by Hizbullah is not so easily suppressible. It will also have strong repercussions among the masses in the Arab World – Muslim and Christian, who are unable to hide the joy and pride that has been released, thanks to the efforts of some 1,500 faithful Hizbullah fighters who “truly confirmed their covenant with God”, and the Al-Mighty was all the more pleased with them accordingly, while not forgetting to mention the other elements of the Lebanese resistance movement, and the strong backing provided by the Lebanese government.

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