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Flirting with danger
By Hanin Ghaddar, Now Lebanon
 A Lebanese woman steps on a replica of the Star of
David during a demonstration near the US Embassy in Awkar on June 6, 2010. (AFP photo/Anwar Amro)
Regional dynamics are so fragile that any slight incident or clash might lead to war, in Lebanon or the region. Israel has been more vocal with its threats
in the past few days, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring on Thursday that any plans by the Iranians or the Lebanese to send aid ships to Gaza were unjustified, as both Iran and
Hezbollah, which holds posts in the Lebanese government, were sending missiles and weapons to the territory.
This warning prompted Iran to immediately scrap plans to send an aid ship to Gaza, according to
the Iranian news agency IRNA on Friday. IRNA quoted Secretary General of the International Conference for Supporting the Palestinian Intifada Hussein Sheikh al-Islam as saying that the ship
was canceled to prevent giving Israel a pretext to attack it. The aid would now be sent to Gaza via another route, he said.
Iran may have heeded the warnings, but it appears Lebanon didn’t. Its ship is still due to sail,
despite the threats. “It’s ready to go,” said organizer Samar al-Hajj to Lebanon’s National News Agency. “We are just waiting for the arrival of some foreign women [activists].”
Israel sent a letter to the United Nations earlier this week saying that any ship coming from Lebanon or Iran would be seen as an act of war. Now let us cast our minds back to June 25,
2006, when Hamas kidnapped Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit in Gaza. The act led to military reprisal in Gaza. Just over two weeks later, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed
five more. And the party was surprised when Israel launched a war the very next day.
Today, the warnings signs are clear. If the Lebanese ship heads to Gaza, Israel will interpret it as
an act of war and react accordingly. The world will not criticize Israel if it attacks a Lebanese ship or even Lebanon, because Lebanon is not Turkey. Lebanon is an enemy state, one that,
according to Israel and the international community, is controlled by Hezbollah and Iran.
Somewhere in this game of brinkmanship is a lesson aching to be learned. Till now, the Lebanese
way of resisting Israel has been to fight alone and die alone. Will we ever learn? A Lebanese aid ship should go to Gaza, but accompanied by other vessels from Arab and Western countries. If it
were part of an international attempt to break the blockade, Israel would think twice about how it reacted.
But all the Lebanese ship has done is divert attention, and criticism, of Israel’s murderous blunder
on the “Freedom Flotilla” in late May. Israel has regained international sympathy by presenting itself as a state exposed to terrorist attacks and one that needs to defend itself. Israel has moved
the crisis from the international scene to the Lebanese scene, and all eyes are today on a possible confrontation between the two states, instead of on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
So far, Hezbollah has not been linked to the ship or its organizers, although Hajj is known to be an ardent supporter of the group. Her husband, Ali al-Hajj, was one of four generals detained for
nearly four years in connection with the 2005 car bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others. She also met Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on May 21, 2010, a rare honor these days.
However, a direct link between the ship and Hezbollah is not really necessary. Israel now considers, as its officials stated many times, that all of Lebanon is responsible simply because
Hezbollah is part of the national unity government.
Earlier this week, Lebanese Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said that Lebanese authorities had
granted permission for the ship to sail to Cyprus and then to Gaza. The aid ship cannot directly sail for Gaza as Lebanon and Israel are technically still at war, he explained. But can the
Lebanese government really do anything? If it did not give permission, it will be accused of weakness and admitting defeat. On the other hand, giving permission, in light of Israel’s warnings,
is not in the state’s interest. It’s a lose-lose situation.
In 2006, Iran needed to divert attention from its nuclear program. It succeeded in doing so by
visiting death and destruction on Lebanon by “encouraging” Hezbollah into a war. Today, similar tensions between Israel and Tehran are also reaching a crisis point, especially after the adoption
of sanctions on Iran and its refusal to abandon its uranium enrichment program.
The ship is a floating hand grenade with the pin removed. The Palestinians in Gaza need all the
support they can get to break the siege, but Lebanon cannot do it alone. Lebanon should wait to join the second Freedom Flotilla and be part of an international movement. Only by doing that will
the international community, and Israel, be convinced that our motives are humanitarian. Yes, it’s a shame that we have to do so to prove this, but to do otherwise is simply a risk not worth taking.
In any case, the people of Gaza need help, not controversy.
To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=180714#ixzz0rwSHfTZA
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