Lebanon, Syria, and Israel

Posted on Fri, Mar. 04, 2005

Refusing to take the bait

By Frida Ghitis

Pay close attention to what is taking place just below the major headlines in the Middle East, because something extraordinary has just happened -- or, more precisely, not happened.

For possibly the first time since 1948, since the creation of the state of Israel, an Arab government's principal -- indispensable -- method for manipulating and controlling its people has stopped working. The well-known political sleight of hand consists of deflecting popular anger against the regime by shifting attention and blame onto an outside enemy: Israel.
The trick always worked -- until now. This is no small development.

The people of Lebanon have joined together to face their own government and the foreign dictator who controls it from the Syrian capital. This week, they scored one major victory when their Damascus-backed prime minister and his Cabinet resigned in Beirut. But the push against entrenched anti-democratic powers is far from over.

The turning point came after the Feb. 14 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a massive explosion along Beirut's waterfront that killed 16 other people. When Hariri, an influential advocate for the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, was murdered, the Lebanese people grieved. Enraged, they quickly blamed Syria, the country that has controlled Lebanon for more than 15 years. And they turned on their own Syrian-installed government.

The reaction from the leaders of Syria and Lebanon was as predictable as the results of a one-man presidential election: They blamed Israel.
Immediately after the blast, Tishrin, Syria's government newspaper, accused Israel, saying it "continues to work to sabotage Lebanon's achievements to try to bring anarchy to the country." Another government mouthpiece, the Syria Times, blamed Israel and the United States, saying the killing was the work of "the Arabs' enemies." And Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam charged bluntly, "It was Israel which did that."

The government of Lebanon echoed its Syrian bosses' words. Officials in Beirut blamed the murder on "a campaign of intimidation" by the United States and Israel. The very day of the explosion, Ahmad Sweid, a pro-Syrian member of Lebanon's parliament, also accused Israel, urging Lebanon's politicians -- who have now called for a peaceful uprising against Syrian occupation -- to drop the subject of Syria's military control of Lebanon and look at what Israel had done.

The idea that Israel would have killed Hariri is patently absurd. Although Israel has in the past launched "targeted assassinations" of terrorist leaders, the last thing it needs is chaos in Lebanon. Hariri was much more useful to Israel alive than dead -- partly because Israel would like to see Syria, the sponsor of the Hezbollah militia, withdraw from Lebanon.
Imagine the surprise of the governments in Beirut and Damascus when, after their cries of "Israel and the U.S. did it!," the masses did not immediately reach for Israeli and American flags to light their bonfires. They simply refused to take the bait.

Opposition leaders scoffed at the crude manipulation. One of them told Beirut's Daily Star, "Every time [the Syrians] commit a crime, they accuse Israel intelligence of having a hand in it."

The accusation is not new. A Cairo University professor, Mohammed Kamal, described the same phenomenon in 2002 while discussing a U.N. report critical of Arab leaders. "The Arab-Israeli conflict," he said, "is used to deflect attention from domestic problems, including the lack of democracy."

By the time that Hariri's funeral began Feb. 16, the push to get Syria out of Lebanon had gathered such force that hundreds of thousands of Lebanese poured into the streets, turning the procession into an anti-Syria protest march.

Officials did not give up their efforts to blame Israel, and the effort probably will continue. But there is little doubt that the people will stand their ground and maintain the pressure on their own leaders, backed by the crucial support of the United States and parts of Europe.

The prime minister and his Cabinet stood down in the face of massive street protests. If and when Lebanon's Syrian-sponsored president, Emile Lahoud, loses his post and Syria loosens its grip on Lebanon, it will mark the first real victory for a "people power" movement in the stubbornly undemocratic Arab world.

After that happens, Arab leaders will have been warned that the world as they once knew it will never be the same.

Frida Ghitis writes about world affairs. She is author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television."