The Lebanon Revisited

The recent hostilities in the Lebanon between the Sunni and Shiite communities illustrates all too well the complex nature of the conflict in the Middle East. There is strong support for the Hezbollah among the disenfranchised Palestinian refugees in the Lebanon. Those refugees are predominantly Sunni and make up about 10% of the "real" population of the Lebanon. However, unlike Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Shiites from "the seven villages", they are not entitled to Lebanese citizenship. The radical Sunni group, "Fatah al Islam" who fought a bloody three month battle with the Lebanese Army last year condemned the recent actions by the Hezbollah. This group also has support among the Palestinian community in the Lebanon. This is a Palestinian community that mainly supported Saadam Hussein during the 1991 war after the invasion of Kuwait and who see in the Hezbollah an ally in their struggle against Israel. Hassan Nassrallah might go out of his way to deny that Sunni-Shiite tensions were an issue but the evidence would seem to suggest that for the Palestinian community a new Lebanese civil war would lead not only to divided families in the camps but indeed to an almost collective schizophrenia. In 2006 the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora said that the Lebanon would be the last Arab country to make peace with Israel. This Lebanon though has to accept the non-sectarian nature of the struggle it is involved in, while the Palestinians should remember George Habash and seek their inspiration in him in a struggle that, at the end of the day, has less to do with holy land and more to do with stolen land and brutal occupation.
The picture is of the main Christian church and Sunni mosque in Beruit