The Framing of the Lebanon Question
The events in Lebanon can only bring shame. It seems that the Arabs are so unaware of their realities. Many are speaking of the Sunni-Shia divide in Lebanon and the Syria-Iran backed Hezbollah, and Iran's growing threat in the region. These notions are nothing but the cart before the horse. Iran is the cart, Israel is the horse.
The enemy of the Arabs in the region for the past 60 years has been Israel. For the past 60 years, Israel has never surrendered or given wins back without ensuring that the deal will only make it stronger. Instead of sounding the alarms of an increasing Israeli power and might and instead of focusing on the misery of Palestinians under occupation, all the loud speaker of the media in the US and across the Arab east are pointing the fingers at Iran as the source of all the fear and destruction in the region.
I have seen many perplexed by the relations with Iran, they see them as unwarranted, unusual and unacceptable. Let me give some reasons of why the Arabs and Iranians should be working together. Iran was a part of the Muslim Empire and the Persian civilisation was central the development of the science, philosophy, literature and theology that the Arabs are proud of. Despite the dislike of many nationalist Iranians of the Arabs, most of them recognize the importance of our shared heritage and culture. The relations between Iran and the Arab world continued solid into the era of nationalisms as many of the Iranian scholar studied and lived for extended period of time in Iraq and in Lebanon. Iran is the only country that boarders the Arab world to the west, and it is only natural that we have major cultural similarities.
The animosity of the Arab countries towards Iran surfaced when Iraq waged its war against it after the Islamic revolution took over. This war was supported by many of the Arab countries on the gulf. It was clear then that power and money can be invested in a war against Iran but not in the war against Israel.
Then came the new Iraq war. The US invaded Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction, and found only the destruction. The interesting result of the war is that it brought to the front pages of the newspapers and other news outlets the Sunni-Shia conflict. Iraq never had a Sunni-Shia problem until now. Iraq had a tribal problem and a crazy dictator who had no hesitation killing anyone who threatens him, Shia, Sunni, or christian.
The events in Lebanon are also labeled as Sunni-Shia problems. And I say that they are not. They are political differences between two political agendas, a pro-Israel agenda and an anti-Israel one. The later framing cannot be declared because if the pro-Israel agenda becomes public, its supporters would loose a large component of its public backing. So it is easier to re-frame the struggle to a Sunni versus Shia or even better pro-Syrian versus anti-Syrian conflict or pro-Iran versus anti-Iran.
As for myself, I am neither for the Sunnis nor for the Shia. I am for first thing first. The Arabs should first address the Israeli occupation to reach a long lasting settlement and then the American occupation of Iraq if it lasted that long. The Arabs should then face their inner problems as they develop a regional coalition that includes Iran and Turkey. They are the Arabs' natural allies and if not courted well, can become serious foes.
The enemy of the Arabs in the region for the past 60 years has been Israel. For the past 60 years, Israel has never surrendered or given wins back without ensuring that the deal will only make it stronger. Instead of sounding the alarms of an increasing Israeli power and might and instead of focusing on the misery of Palestinians under occupation, all the loud speaker of the media in the US and across the Arab east are pointing the fingers at Iran as the source of all the fear and destruction in the region.
I have seen many perplexed by the relations with Iran, they see them as unwarranted, unusual and unacceptable. Let me give some reasons of why the Arabs and Iranians should be working together. Iran was a part of the Muslim Empire and the Persian civilisation was central the development of the science, philosophy, literature and theology that the Arabs are proud of. Despite the dislike of many nationalist Iranians of the Arabs, most of them recognize the importance of our shared heritage and culture. The relations between Iran and the Arab world continued solid into the era of nationalisms as many of the Iranian scholar studied and lived for extended period of time in Iraq and in Lebanon. Iran is the only country that boarders the Arab world to the west, and it is only natural that we have major cultural similarities.
The animosity of the Arab countries towards Iran surfaced when Iraq waged its war against it after the Islamic revolution took over. This war was supported by many of the Arab countries on the gulf. It was clear then that power and money can be invested in a war against Iran but not in the war against Israel.
Then came the new Iraq war. The US invaded Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction, and found only the destruction. The interesting result of the war is that it brought to the front pages of the newspapers and other news outlets the Sunni-Shia conflict. Iraq never had a Sunni-Shia problem until now. Iraq had a tribal problem and a crazy dictator who had no hesitation killing anyone who threatens him, Shia, Sunni, or christian.
The events in Lebanon are also labeled as Sunni-Shia problems. And I say that they are not. They are political differences between two political agendas, a pro-Israel agenda and an anti-Israel one. The later framing cannot be declared because if the pro-Israel agenda becomes public, its supporters would loose a large component of its public backing. So it is easier to re-frame the struggle to a Sunni versus Shia or even better pro-Syrian versus anti-Syrian conflict or pro-Iran versus anti-Iran.
As for myself, I am neither for the Sunnis nor for the Shia. I am for first thing first. The Arabs should first address the Israeli occupation to reach a long lasting settlement and then the American occupation of Iraq if it lasted that long. The Arabs should then face their inner problems as they develop a regional coalition that includes Iran and Turkey. They are the Arabs' natural allies and if not courted well, can become serious foes.
posted by Aiman Tulaimat at 8:48 PM
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