“Why isn't Lebanon doing more to oust the "rebel" Hezbollah?”
This is a (very valid) question my sister asked me (see her comments re: my last post). Well, first I think there is a big public misunderstanding (thanks to the US Media and Condi Rice, oh yah, and our friends in Israel) as to what exactly Hezbollah is.
First, from Wikipedia: (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah)
The Hezbollah or Hizbollah (Arabic: حزب الله Hizbu-llāh,[1] meaning Party of God) is a Shi’a Islamist organization and political party in Lebanon,[2][3] comprising a military and a civilian arm,[4] whose principal stated goal is to defend Southern Lebanon against present or future Israeli occupation.[5] Within Lebanon and the Muslim world, Hezbollah is widely regarded as a legitimate resistance group,[6] but the United States, Canada, and Israel deem it a terrorist organization.
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Anyone else notice in Wiki’s definition how it’s only just US, Canada and Israel that deems Hezbollah as a terrorist organization? Guys, we’re outnumbered again. That always tells ya something. Either it means you’re a genius or … not. Or that you have a vested interest in “misunderstanding”. Poor Canada, how’d they get thrown in there with the likes of US.
Now, I’m not the most politically minded person, and God help me when it comes to History and Geography (I WAS a science major, after all) but I do watch Meet the Press and Jim Lehrer and stuff like that (including the occasional Al Jazeera- oh my god! Shoot me now! I’m a traitor!) and I have a pretty smart husband who actually knows dates of wars and stuff. And to top it off, I speak a bit of Arabic. Anyway, a “hizb” means a part or what we can call here a party (as in a political party, not as in a toga party although that conjurs up funny images) and to me, “hizb” has a bit of religious significance because the Qur’aan is divided into 30 sections, called juz, and each juz is divided into two hizb. So a hizb is 1/60th of the Qur’aan. Anyway, that was an aside to blantantly brag about how much I know (cough cough). And we all know what “Allah” means (but when it’s joined with different words, “Allah” can change to “illah” or “ullah” but that’s getting into grammar of the Arabic language and we don’t need to know that right now) Sooo… Hezbollah means exactly Allah’s Party. Just like in America, where we have the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Independent Party (what is Leiberman running as ANYWAY), Lebanon (who my Egyptian husband describes and the most sophisticated and educated people in the middle east) has different political parties, too. Hezbollah is one of them. So “ousting” them is like “ousting” the Republican party. Hey… not a bad idea when you come to think of it. Maybe that should be Tony Blair’s offer- we’ll help you oust Hezbollah but only if we get to oust the HezbRepublique, too. I mean, as long as we’re getting rid of terrorists, right?
First, from Wikipedia: (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah)
The Hezbollah or Hizbollah (Arabic: حزب الله Hizbu-llāh,[1] meaning Party of God) is a Shi’a Islamist organization and political party in Lebanon,[2][3] comprising a military and a civilian arm,[4] whose principal stated goal is to defend Southern Lebanon against present or future Israeli occupation.[5] Within Lebanon and the Muslim world, Hezbollah is widely regarded as a legitimate resistance group,[6] but the United States, Canada, and Israel deem it a terrorist organization.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone else notice in Wiki’s definition how it’s only just US, Canada and Israel that deems Hezbollah as a terrorist organization? Guys, we’re outnumbered again. That always tells ya something. Either it means you’re a genius or … not. Or that you have a vested interest in “misunderstanding”. Poor Canada, how’d they get thrown in there with the likes of US.
Now, I’m not the most politically minded person, and God help me when it comes to History and Geography (I WAS a science major, after all) but I do watch Meet the Press and Jim Lehrer and stuff like that (including the occasional Al Jazeera- oh my god! Shoot me now! I’m a traitor!) and I have a pretty smart husband who actually knows dates of wars and stuff. And to top it off, I speak a bit of Arabic. Anyway, a “hizb” means a part or what we can call here a party (as in a political party, not as in a toga party although that conjurs up funny images) and to me, “hizb” has a bit of religious significance because the Qur’aan is divided into 30 sections, called juz, and each juz is divided into two hizb. So a hizb is 1/60th of the Qur’aan. Anyway, that was an aside to blantantly brag about how much I know (cough cough). And we all know what “Allah” means (but when it’s joined with different words, “Allah” can change to “illah” or “ullah” but that’s getting into grammar of the Arabic language and we don’t need to know that right now) Sooo… Hezbollah means exactly Allah’s Party. Just like in America, where we have the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Independent Party (what is Leiberman running as ANYWAY), Lebanon (who my Egyptian husband describes and the most sophisticated and educated people in the middle east) has different political parties, too. Hezbollah is one of them. So “ousting” them is like “ousting” the Republican party. Hey… not a bad idea when you come to think of it. Maybe that should be Tony Blair’s offer- we’ll help you oust Hezbollah but only if we get to oust the HezbRepublique, too. I mean, as long as we’re getting rid of terrorists, right?
posted by Just Ruthie at 9:04 AM
2 Comments:
I think that if we can give up the biased idea that "it's all Hezbollah's fault" and see the situation in a new way, we'd recognize that "ousting" Hezbollah is NOT the solution. Good relations does not mean "I have more power and more powerful friends than you do, so I'm right and you're wrong and you have to do as I say." If Lebanon is forced to eliminate Hezbollah, surely, a similar group (or groups) will reappear under another name, AND it also means that we all succombed to Israel's selfish demands and they will just keep demanding more and more outlandish things in the future.
I don't understand what you mean by guarding your thoughts more than possessions. Why do thoughts need to be guarded? Shouldn't they be shared?
One of our prophet's greatest teachings is to forbid any oppression. We just watched "Barnyard" last weekend- admittedly it was kinda stupid, I wanted to fall asleep- but the Daddy Bull tells his son (and it gets repeated a few times) : "A strong man stands up for himself. A stronger man stands up for others." To me, that was really Islamic... well apart from anthropomorphising the characters in the movie.
I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but lasting world peace will never be status quo in this life. That's just the way our world was created. There IS selfishness and egotism among mankind and that will always cause conflict of interest, when one person feels he is more important or more valuable than others. If there were no struggles, there'd basically be no point in living.
On another note, I was totally psyched to find a set of 29 different colored Sharpies at Target a few weeks ago for "just" $10. (I tried not to calculate what that is in Egyptian Pounds). Can't wait to make some colorful wall charts of cell interiors!
salam ruthie
i thank Allah for my husband too! He remembers dates and historical event like its programmed in his head!! It's really an eye opener...
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