Thursday, January 25, 2007

This is Lebanon. A Lebanese man appeared on AlArabiya TV: he traveled from South Lebanon to Beirut. He said that in the South he claimed that he was Shi`ite; in Jiyyih, he claimed that he was Sunni; and when he arrived in Beirut, he claimed that he was Christian. When sectarian conflicts flare in Lebanon, any secularist should distance himself/herself and take a consistently hostile attitude to all sectarian parties and organizations--and all the groups in Lebanon are sectarian (with the exception of the unpopular communist organizations and the SSNP and the latter transformed itself under As`ad Hardan into an arm of Syrian intelligence). But we have to be clear: this round of sectarian conflict was the primary work of Hariri Inc and House of Saud. Hizbullah and Amal fel for it because they too are sectarian: in composition and more. I have always argued: the Lebanese civil war never ended; not in 1989 and not later. And I have always argued: Lebanon is not viable as a state. Never will be. But I am also convinced: the chances for the Hariri dynasty are doomed in Lebanon.