Pity the Gaza Population

You would be hard pressed to find another place on earth whose inhabitants have been so brutalized for the last 60 years. The 140 square miles known as Gaza has 1.5 million citizens; three quarters of which are refugees. Refugees from where? Refugees from the 1967 war when they were driven from their houses. Refugees who have been locked into the virtual prison of Gaza for 40 years.

I thought it would be helpful to follow the path of a fictional Palestinian living in Gaza. 


• 1947 Expelled from home to a refugee camp in Gaza. 
  
• 1967 Occupied by Israeli forces 
  
• 1987-93 First Intifadah 
  
• 2000 Start of Second Intifadah 
  
• 2007 Hamas stages a coup de tete and quickly controls all of Gaza and expels Fatah. Ending the limited representative rule Gazan’s experienced from the January 2005 presidential and 2006 legislative elections. 
  
• 2009 January 3rd invasion of Gaza by the Israeli army
  

And their current living conditions?

Harvard economist Sara Roy described Gaza as a state of "economic de-development".[ Seventy-five percent (75%) of the population (1.1 million people) are now dependent on handouts from the World Food Program (WFP) simply to feed their families, the largest single dependent population in the world.  According to Anera.org 50% of the population is unemployed. 50% of children under five are suffering from Anemia, because of vitamin deficiencies. 

By any measure the Gaza population is suffering. So how does the world respond? By punishing Gazans for having the audacity of picking Hamas as their representatives in a free democratic election.  Wether that is a prudent decision by the electorate, or wether Hamas is a good or bad organization is not up to me or others to decide.  Hamas is the elected representatives of Gaza.

Israel follows this election by starting an economic embargo furthering their suffering. And following in 2009 with an invasion using all the rocket and air power of the world’s 4th strongest army. All this fire power aimed at the worlds most densely populated strip of land. 

Under the circumstances and under any reading of international law, the Gazans have the right to resist. And Israel has a right to defend itself from the rockets that have killed 20 innocents (in 10 years), yet first Israel must end the suffering of the Gazans. And open talks with their elected government. It’s common sense, yet common sense is the first to suffer when electoral politics and rabid racism clouds Israel's current leadership.

Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and vows to destroy Israel?  Then sit with Hamas and negotiate those statements away just as past Israeli leaders negotiated these same positions from the PLO and Fatah. 

Israel is the fourth strongest army in the world. With a nuclear arsenal and the unquestioning support of the world’s only super power. And we are to believe that third rate rockets and Hamas's vow to destroy Israel is a threat to Israel's survival? Hamas is but an excuse for Israel's ambitions to postpone peace negotiations so that the Palestinian question remains unresolved. If it wasnt for Hamaz there would be another excuse to ensure a delay in the peace process. Delays are the building blocks of the permanent annexation of Gaza and the West Bank.

The danger for Israel is that its misguided leadership is moving Israel, in the long term, directly to the future they wish to avoid. As the Isreali settlements grow the Palestinian people will soon have no opportunity for a separate homeland. 

With no opportunity for a separate homeland and a radicalized Palestinian population, the world will turn to demanding equal rights for the Palestinians in the nation of Israel. This would end Israel as an exclusive Jewish homeland and with it the dreams of Zionism.

What is wrong with this picture?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And this picture says a lot about the current predicament Lebanon is in. It particularly explains why many Lebanese citizens should accept much of the blame for the current state of their country. 

A woman, wearing a waist baring skin tight shirt with the Hezbollah flag draped around her.  And a tattoo no less! Marching in support of Hezbollah, a fundamentalist religious organization that makes no effort to hide their views of a women's subordinate rank in society. 

So why does she support them? The picture illustrates how many Lebanese citizens simply line up behind the flags of their leaders, instead of taking a look at the direction that flag is heading. 

Many Lebanese simply look at the present crop of leaders in the country and support the side that fights most fervently against those they hate. Be it Israel, the West, former civil war worlords such as Jumblatt or Geagea, or even hatred towards other Lebanese religious sects. 

It is understandable, that if for example a family member was killed by the other side, you will have little taste for being anywhere near that party’s leader. 

Unfortunately for the Lebanese, these are dangerous times. Syria is trying to force its way back into the country, Israel is itching for another chance to fight Hezbollah and prove its military might and Iran is using Hezbollah as leverage against the West.  These are present and immediate dangers that far outweigh any other threat to the Lebanese state. 

With the very survival of the nation at stake, the Lebanese citizens choice of a leader has profound implications. Unlike sheep to the slaughter the Lebanese citizen can and must look ahead and ask what happens if my side wins. And how will I be affected. 

Similarly with supporters of Aoun. Even if we give them the benefit of the doubt and agree with all their criticisms of the March 14 anti-Syrian majority. What happens if the March 14 majority is defeated and Aoun and his allies Hezbollah win?  That would be an automatic pass for complete Syrian domination, it would take disarming Hezbollah of the table and you increase the odds of another Israeli / Hezbollah war. 

Aoun is a small but useful ally in the present political situation in Lebanon. But once Syria and Hezbollah defeat the March 14 majority they will have little use for Aoun. Who could find himself exiled back to France.  Even if he does become president what can he do with a pro-Syrian cabinet and pro-Syrian parliament majority?   Nothing. Aoun's supporters would have unwittingly ushered Syria back into Lebanon and given Hizbollah and its supporter Iran free reign to pursue their agenda once again.

So lets take a look at that photo again. This women is ready to betray all the struggles and sacrifices of the women before her who fought for womens suffrage and equality.  The right to wear what she wants, the right to have a tattoo, even the right to demonstrate in the street. All this, she is ready to risk for her short sighted support of Hezbollah. 

Until Aoun and Hezbollah supporters take a better look at the road their leaders are taking them their dreams of a free and peaceful Lebanon will end soon.

Democracy on the cheap. The third world and the missing judiciary.

The more I read about the growing pains of new democracies in the third world, the more I realize that a common source of the problem is the lack of a strong judiciary. A strong judiciary is just as important as the executive and the legislative, the parliament and the cabinet.  

In particular, no matter how well written a country's constitution it will always be open to different interpretations. It is up to the highest court of the land to rule on these questions.

Lets take a look at three current crises in Lebanese democracy;

1. Does the speaker of parliament have the exclusive right to call parliament to session? The speaker of parliament as a member of the opposition has used this power to shut the doors of parliament. Effectively negating the majority status of the majority coalition.
   
2. Can MPs vote for a new president via a plurality vote (i.e. 50 +1) or must there be at least 3/4 of MPs in attendance?
   
3. Does the resignation of all Shiite members of cabinet automatically lead to the collapse of the cabinet? What if the Prime Minister does not accept their resignation? Is the cabinet legal if it has no representatives from a Lebanese religious sect?
   

The above questions are leading to a Lebanese government that can only be described as frozen. No parliament sessions, no president and a cabinet whose authority is questioned by a large segment of the country.

The Lebanese Constitutional Council should be the sole authority to help interpret and rule on these three constitutional questions.  However, this role has been handed to the Lebanese politicians to use to their advantage. Why? Because the Lebanese Constitutional Council has been dissolved.

When the March 14 anti-Syrian majority came to power they realized that many of the judges were appointed when Syria occupied the country and were thus biased and could with support of the opposition MPs help overturn the election results. Therefore a new law for electing constitutional judges to the council was written and sent to parliament. This law was written in a way to prevent the politicization of selecting the judges as was done under Syrian occupation.  The law was passed, however, the process of selecting judges has been halted due to the doors of parliament being shut. 

Whether you agree with the March 14 majority's actions or not, the country must have a Constitutional Council just as much as it needs a new President to be elected. Why is the vacuum in the presidency more important than the vacuum in the judiciary?

If there are indeed roadblocks towards electing the impartial judges then that is where the fight between the March 14 majority and opposition should be. Not a fight over the president and not a fight over opening the doors of parliament. Let there be a new constitutional council and let them rule on these three major constitutional questions. And once they do the election of the president and other issues will be that much easier to resolve.

Of course as in all democracies, politicians are more than happy to have the judiciary conveniently forced out of power. 

Resources

Here is an excellent article about the Constitutional crisis in NowLebanon.com

 

An interesting fact 

The Taif agreement proposed and created the council to 

"interpret the constitution, to observe the constitutionality of the laws, and to settle disputes and contests emanating from presidential and parliamentary elections" 

But when the first post civil war parliament met to create the constitutional council they changed the words to 

"supervise the constitutionality of the laws, and to arbitrate conflicts"

Damaging articles from the American Left.

As promised in my last post. I wanted to provide an example of an article published by left leaning blogs that only serves to justify the lies and propaganda of Hizbollah and Syria against the Lebanese anti-Syrian parliament majority and its supporters. 

The article "Lebanon and the Planned US Airbase at Kleiaat" is  a poorly written piece by Franklin Lamb that appeared in the popular blog Counter Punch here

Note that the first to "expose" this alleged US airbase was the Lebanese newspaper al-Diyar. Al Diyar is a pro-Syrian and pro-Hizballah magazine. Lebanese newspapers are notoriously loose with the facts and are biased to one political party or another, many of their articles are pure fiction. 

Lamb does mention Al-Diyar as a source so lets go paragraph by paragraph and see if he presents any additional proof of a US air-base.

He discusses Kleiaat as being a former small airport. And when he visited it he found out that there was no security and no construction.

Then he quotes an anonymous Lebanese citizen. Who gives information that Sunni entrepreneurs in the area will benefit tremendously from this supposed future base. This citizen is probably still referring to the same widely publicized article from Al Diyar.

Next he writes about Palestinians displaced from Nahr al Bared. Writes about the Lebanese environmental groups being against development in the area. Nothing here to support the claims of a potential US Base.

Next there is an attempt to firm up his hypothesis about the air-base:

"American-German-Turkish military delegation toured and surveyed Akkar region. US Embassy 'staff' have reportedly visited Kleiaat airport earlier this year to look over the site. David Welch also had a quick look at the site during his recent visit."

I don't know how true the above is. If it is true it still proves nothing. It is not a secret that the West is looking to fund and strengthen the Lebanese army. And touring parts of the country as possible airports, army bases etc. does not mean a US military base is planned. Anyway the area is right next to Nahr al berd. Maybe they were there to see what the Lebanese army is doing in the area as they fight in the Nahr al Berd refugee camp. Where did he get his information about visits to the site? From the same pro-Syrian papers?

Next he quotes an anonymous journalist. Why? What is his name? And what are his sources for claiming that "Bush admin. wants a base"? This could be a pro-Syrian journalist again trying to promote conspiracy as fact. Why hide his name?

Then he quotes the pentagon. When did the Pentagon say anything about this being a US military base? What is the date of this announcement? Again poor reporting. Why is there no info about this public Pentagon statement anywhere in the US press or the Internet? If there is a valid quote from the Pentagon or NATO out there it is about it becoming a Lebanese army base not as a US base. If funding or training of this base is from the US/NATO that still doesn't make it a US base. 

Later he quotes "Pentagon Observers" whatever that means.. Again he doesn't give any names. 

This is extremely poor reporting that doesn't hold up to even the lowest standards of journalism. And is just as poor as the original fabricated Al Diyar article.

If Franklin Lamb wants to promote the same propaganda as pro-Hizballah / Syrian papers in Lebanon than he is free to do it. But if he doesn't have the facts to support his claims then Coutnerpunch and other American left blogs should not publish his article.

Unfortunately the left is more concerned with the juicy anti-bush and anti-imperialism headline "Lebanon and the Planned US Airbase at Kleiaat" to care about journalistic standards or care about the negative effect and repercussions this article has on supporters of Lebanese independence.

Update

I emailed many of the same points I made in this post to Mr. Lamb back in November.  I have yet to receive a response.   I also sent a similar email to Counterpunch. No reply from them either. 

Supporting Democracy in Lebanon. And the silence of the American Left.

You would think that a story about 40 Lebanese MPs hiding for fear of assassination in a downtown Beirut hotel for moths would be a juicy story that the Western press would be all over . See Naharnet      "Lebanon's Anti-Syria MPs jailed by Own Choice"

Unfortunately this is not the case. Except for a few meager editorials and cursory mentions, the plight of Lebanon's parliament majority seems to be of little interest to the West. In particular the American Left has completely dropped the ball in support of democracy in Lebanon. Only confirming that their activism is shaped more by a knee jerk anti-bush reaction than on any deep and thoughtful analysis of the nuances of American foreign policy.

Even if we give the American left a pass for being confused by the notoriously complex local Lebanese politics and allow them to have misgiving about supporting MPs who are part of White House backed PM Fouad Siniora majority coalition.

Even if we give them that, is there still not a story here?? About the struggle of Democracy in the Arab world in the face of assassinations and terror??  Pardon my use of these overly simplifying terms.

Unfortunately it will not be. The left is more concerned with supporting whatever and whoever opposes Bush's foreign policy.  This has recently blown up in their faces in the case of Venezuela’s Chavez who has all but confirmed the fears of his countrymen that he is transitioning the nation into a dictatorship.  

Is the left willing to allow the same to happen to Lebanon? Will they wait until Syria once again brings Lebanon under its complete control, and thus reverse the sacrifices of the March 14 Beirut Spring demonstrations that forced the Syrians out of Lebanon?

It would be a lot easier to accept the lefts silence, if many of their editorials were not reciting Syrian and Hizbollah propaganda that targets the fragile anti-Syrian majority.  From Seymour Hersh's laughably inaccurate article about the White House covertly supporting the arming of Al-Qaeda insurgents in Lebanon, to others claiming the opening of a US airbase in northern Lebanon.  

Unfortunately these editorials have a strong impact on local Lebanese politics. They are used by Hizbollah and Syria as proof of the truthfulness of their very own propaganda.  With Seymour Hersh and others using pro-Syrian and pro-Hizbollah sources and biased newspapers to justify outlandish claims, it becomes a viscous circle of a cooked up story bouncing from Lebanon to the US and back.

It is very disappointing to this blogger that the American left has been such a poor ally for Lebanon's struggles against Syria’s attempt to regain its hegemony.  With their brave yet ultimately fruitless struggle to stop the Iraqi war before it started, I was really expecting more when it came to Lebanon and its own struggles against fundamentalism (i.e Hizbollah) and Syrian/Iranian attacks on its sovereignty.  The only moment of support by the left came during the Israeli-Lebanon war in 2006. 

Resources:

Across the Bay Blog does an excellent job taking apart the Seymour Hersh article in this post here. 

Here is a link to a poorly written piece by Franklin Lamb that appeared in the popular blog CounterPunch.  I will counter that article in my next post.