Karim Makdisi sur X : “On #Lebanon All analyses that take as their starting point, #Israeli security—and therefore hizb as the core “problem” to be “solved”—are lacking and unproductive. Even when the analyst thinks they are being impartial their assumptions simply lack nuance/context/depth (to say”
▻https://x.com/KarimMakdisi/status/1860637390815051806
There is also no notion that since 2006 the USA (via its proxy the UK) wants a Lebanese army that is an internal anti “terrorist” (ie anti hizb, Palestinian groups…) and not one that can actually defend #Lebanon from its main external threat: genocidal Israel. For US-UK the army is there to patrol borders on behalf of Israel/US interests. This is why the west has blocked any meaningful weapons supply to the army, and the focus instead is on supplying surplus clothes and vehicles and “training” officers in the west to build a new officer core/leadership disconnected from hizb.
That, once again, is also why the US pushes the head of Lebanon’s army to be president.
Meanwhile Qatar and other allies literally feed the Lebanese soldiers who are poorly trained and unable to defend Lebanon today.
It’s also why Israelis insist on UK and US to monitor any ceasefire, be it 1701, 1701+, or other mechanism. France, for all its problems and colonial position, can’t be “trusted” because, unlike the US and UK, it can’t be fully trusted to have unblinking support for Israel. since France still has its colonial ties to Lebanon’s Maronite Christians.
Finally, once and for all, #1701 is not a one-sided agreement. It requires Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory and stop all air, sea and land violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Read the
@UNIFIL_
reports since 2006 to see the tens of thousands of such violations. This point is often left out of most analyses as though it’s an incidental point or an assumption that if Hizb were to disappear then expansionist Israel would have no reason to enter Lebanon anymore. This thinking is delusional at best. Look around Israeli neighbors: Sinai, Golan, West Bank, and Gaza. Do they enjoy full “sovereignty”? Jordan still does at a formal level for the role it has in protecting Israel border and for its possibility in Zionist imagination to be the area where #Palestinians in West Bank would be ethnically cleansed to.
The internal Lebanese situation is a different matter. The state corruption and bankruptcy is on all Lebanese sides and leaders. Reforms are urgently needed, and a proper defense plan as well.
How do we ensure “sovereignty” that does not require surrender to Israeli demands (via USA-UK) while also building national institutions that serve all Lebanese in an equitable manner, that prioritize national public healthcare, education and infrastructure rather than serve the kleptocracy and local monopolies/ external commercial interests? How do we build a proper army to defend Lebanon from Israeli threats and reassure Lebanese citizens who have for decades suffered from Israeli violence and occupation, while also ensuring state monopoly on weapons? How do we reach a point where Lebanon’s foreign policy is based on its actual interest? How do we control the banking and financial sectors to avoid the theft of people’s money with no consequences? What should the policy towards Syrian refugees that both respects the dignity of all refugees while also not being captive to European migration obsessions? How do we ensure the dignified return of over a million Lebanese displaced from the current Israeli onslaught and the reconstruction of their homes and communities? How do we keep religious influence out of the state/citizen relationship? What kind of Lebanon do we want?