Is this a priority?
14 December 09
A quick scan of the Lebanese press on Monday told us that Lebanese President Michel Sleiman will meet his US counterpart, Barack Obama, with three items on his agenda: the withdrawal of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 (mainly because of the controversial clause pertaining to Hezbollah’s disarmament) and the rejection of calls to naturalize Lebanon’s estimated 300,000 Palestinians. He will also apparently try to negotiate further US military aid to Lebanon.
Challenging the validity of 1559 will be music to the ears of Syria and Hezbollah, both of whom would love to see it compromised and who must be overjoyed that the debate on its validity has somehow managed to bypass the National Dialogue, that long-ineffective forum at which the subject was to be discussed among all of Lebanon’s parties.
One can’t help but feel that Syria must be very pleased with the way its Lebanon file is shaping up. It has bided its time and reestablished a considerable degree of influence over Lebanese affairs that it must have thought was lost forever in 2005. Sure, the tanks and troops may not return, but the gains of the Independence Intifada have been wiped out.
Today, the March 8 “opposition” has effective veto power in the cabinet, while the specter, not to mention threat, of an armed Hezbollah still casts a worrying shadow over any hopes Lebanon has for peace, prosperity and reform. In fact, one only has to count the number of Lebanese politicians who are heading to Damascus to pay condolences to the Syrian president for the death of his younger brother, Majd, to see how things have changed. And it is in this climate that Sleiman flew off to Washington.
Challenging the validity of 1559 will be music to the ears of Syria and Hezbollah, both of whom would love to see it compromised and who must be overjoyed that the debate on its validity has somehow managed to bypass the National Dialogue, that long-ineffective forum at which the subject was to be discussed among all of Lebanon’s parties.
One can’t help but feel that Syria must be very pleased with the way its Lebanon file is shaping up. It has bided its time and reestablished a considerable degree of influence over Lebanese affairs that it must have thought was lost forever in 2005. Sure, the tanks and troops may not return, but the gains of the Independence Intifada have been wiped out.
Today, the March 8 “opposition” has effective veto power in the cabinet, while the specter, not to mention threat, of an armed Hezbollah still casts a worrying shadow over any hopes Lebanon has for peace, prosperity and reform. In fact, one only has to count the number of Lebanese politicians who are heading to Damascus to pay condolences to the Syrian president for the death of his younger brother, Majd, to see how things have changed. And it is in this climate that Sleiman flew off to Washington.
Love of the Land: Is this a priority?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment