Interesting slant on the Lebanese peace deal

When we were in Lebanon over spring break, the country was clearly not at ease. The downtown area was breathtakingly beautiful--but disconcertingly deserted because of Hezbollah protests outside of the nearby Parliament buildings. The protests had become merely empty tents as they had been going on for 16 months, and the actual people had returned to their lives. The country had been without a president for some time, and when the next one would be elected was unclear.

The recent wave of violence began about one week after we returned to Egypt. No one could have predicted if, or when, it would occur; hence the country's anxiety for the past 16 months. The political standoff was resolved by a recent agreement in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

A continuing bone of contention between Hezbollah, which began as a resistance organization/militia during the civil war, and the Lebanese government is Hezbollah's continued refusal to disarm despite the conclusion of the civil war in 1990.

The stipulations of the Doha agreement underscore just how tightly the Lebanese government's hands are tied when it comes to controlling Hezbollah, the largest Shiite Muslim political party. Hezbollah has been given the power to veto acts that would even suggest that they disarm, among other concessions.

Hezbollah (see photo of flag) riles against its classification as "terrorist group" by the US, Australian, and UK governments (though, interestingly, not by the European Union), claiming itself to be a legitimate political party. But they will never be legitimate, and Lebanon will continue hurting from their influence, for as long as they use violence as a trump card for enforcing their agenda, even when some policies are fairly and democratically thwarted through an accountable political process.

For a sign of the way US global influence is eroding, skim this article from Lebanon's Daily Star on the peace deal and its lament for Egypt's declining status--which it credits directly to Egypt's close ties to the US.