They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The above picture is worth a few thousand more than that – but don’t worry, I won’t write them.
Antoine Zahra, LF MP of the Batroun Caza, sporting a Palestine solidarity scarf… on his trip to Gaza. Who knew there would come a day when such a sentence would actually be written?
As they say “3ish ktir, betchouf ktir.” I personally don’t know what to make from March 14th visit to Gaza. On one hand, some see it as an act of solidarity, on another hand others see it as absolutely useless act of propaganda.
I’m leaning more to the latter but people already think I’m overly negative lately so good on March 14th for going there.
However, Antoine Zahra, it seems, is sticking it to whoever is saying the LF hate all Palestinians. Now cue in those reminding the world of the “atrocities” the LF have done during the civil war because that is entirely the point here.
In short, for so many reasons, I guess it’s fair to assume the above picture cannot but be Lebanon’s 2012 picture of the year – by far.
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 
The latter.
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Agreed.
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Now that’s not something you see everyday
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Exactly!
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I like him :$
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We voted for him :p
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I’ve got a serious question. Do you believe these visits of Lebanese and Arab leaders to Gaza bring about more than just solidarity or even propaganda, namely underming Mahmoud Abbas? If these visits embolster Hamas wouldn’t that be kind of counterproductive for the Palestinians themselves, if considering the creation of a Palestinian state is their actual goal? I’m not saying Mahoud Abbas is doing a great job at creating a Palestinian state, but I’d have to laugh if anyone thinks Hamas rockets will intimidate Israel into giving up on Palestine.
You know the local politics of it all better than I do. But I guess having fought and killed each other has, universally, never kept people from becoming friends later on or becoming allies while still hating each other. I don’t really believe that much in sympathy, there’s always a political agenda.
By the way, from what I read this delegation repeated the same knee-jerk response of Gaza’s victory. Kind of like how the IDF is desperately proving their point with their fancy blogs. Is this really a popular sentiment in the region? Do people really believe Israel was militarily deterred by the rockets and a very lousy bus bombing, without there having been a lot more (political) considerations? I wonder how many votes Likud will get in a few months, and what electoral fortune the stripclub bouncer Avigdor Lieberman made from this half-arsed everyone-claims-victory “war”.
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I think the visits are more to show solidarity with the people than their political representatives. I’m sure that Antoine Zahra, the man I’m referring to, is more than hating of Hamas. But he still visited. I believe the visit is more a solidarity showing, whatever that means, than anything political.
After all, all of these countries are voting for Palestinian statehood today so I don’t see how that’s undermining Abbas.
Regarding your second point, I really don’t think it’s a support for Hamas as much as you think especially coming from a rep of the LF in Lebanon who have fought the Palestinians during Lebanon’s civil war and actually had dealings with the Israeli. Sure times are changing but not to the extent where these people will become friends. Look at this more as some sort of propaganda statement: yes, we went there. And we went there before you did. Who cares about the poor Palestinians more now?
And yes, people do think Israel was military deterred by Hamas. Hassan Nasrallah’s latest speech or whatever I was able to tolerate of it was basically him shouting that if Israel couldn’t take the few rockets that fell on Tel Aviv, how will it take the thousands upon thousands of rockets they will shower on their entire country especially Tel Aviv in case they move towards Lebanon.
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My country is, as expected, going to vote against upgrading the Palestinian “membership”. Though I’m personally in favor. I get that it’s more of a solidarity trip and from what I have read into myself I can see the obvious political divergence between the LF and Hamas. But I really wonder how Hamas leaders themselves perceived it. Just look at what the Emir of Qatar did, I don’t think it was a good move, he should have visited Abbas first. As for Palestinian statehood, which imo is eventually inevitable unless Israel wishes to lose even more friends, it should apply to both the Westbank and Gaza. The de facto three-state solution is more beneficial for Israel than for the Palestinians, from how I see it.
I may have exaggerated my point of “becoming friends”. I’d like to tone it down a bit and say that I believe former enemies may at one point reach and understanding if it serves mutual interests.
As for deterrence, I believe this arrogant boasting of defeating Israel is extremely stupid. I guess the illusion of invincibility runs as deep in the Arab world as in Israel: I have spoken to plenty of Israelis who believe in the indestructible force of their army, and if the current rules of engagement don’t work we can always turn Gaza in a parking lot (heard that too many times). What can Hezbollah do? Frighten the shit out of Israel’s northern cities, make them evacuate their children and paralyze the economy, and call any inevitable Israeli-Arab (who they happily seem to bomb, I’ve seen the damage) casualties involuntary martyrs. And then Israel will flatten a lot of “stuff” (I don’t mean to be casual about it) with little regard for human life and then stop the war after a few days or weeks so my media has time to count the deaths of people we will all forget. This attitude is reminiscent of young boys who went to the trenches in 1914. I think it’s dangerous, if you boast long enough you will eventually kill each other and the day after as well (sorry for the off-topic).
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apologies for the heavy dose of “captain obvious” statements.
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