[antimedia] antimedia: Not all is well....

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Posted by antimedia:
Not all is well....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1156908102.shtml


   ....within the Mideast Muslim community. Recently the Mufti of Tyre
   [1]sharply criticized Hezbollah.

     Question: "What is your position regarding the struggle that is
     going on between [the supporters of continued possession of] arms
     by the resistance and of its role, and [the supporters of]
     restricting arms to the state only?"
     Sayyed Ali Al-Amin: "When the state truly fills the role with which
     it is charged, it alone bears responsibility for actualizing
     sovereignty and defense... The people does not assign this
     responsibility to a party or to a [particular] group, but rather
     demands it from the state that represents everyone."
     Question: "[Hizbullah spiritual leader] Muhammad Hussein Fadhlallah
     said that all talk of disarming the resistance was treason of the
     highest order. What is your view?"
     Sayyed Ali Al-Amin: "Categorizing and name-calling is not
     acceptable, and it is strange that it is happening now, while
     everyone is trying to strengthen national solidarity and to bring
     the different views closer together, in order to deal with the
     danger of the Israeli attacks. All Lebanese are in the same trench,
     and no community is more nationalist and more loyal than another...
     "The question of disarming [Hizbullah] is one that has [already]
     been discussed at the National Dialogue table, with the aim of
     finding suitable solutions for it, and it was submitted for
     discussion by... genuine partners in the state-building process...
     [Therefore,] is it right to accuse everyone, or some [of treason]
     while all have proven their solidarity during the crisis?...
     "Let us assume that an agreement [is reached] regarding the
     disarming [of Hizbullah]; the arms are not handed over to
     enemies... On the contrary, they are arms that will be handed over
     to the Lebanese state in which everyone participates - including
     the owners of the weapons... Had there been any treason or
     prohibition in this, why did those who are interested in it [i.e.
     Hizbullah] and the rest of the participants in the dialogue set it
     on the dialogue table?
     "At this stage, we need greater objectivity, and to distance
     ourselves from exaggeration and from words that sow fear and raise
     obstacles that prevent the presentation of legitimate questions...
     In my opinion, any question is legitimate - and all the more so if
     it is connected to the homeland, to the fate [of the country], and
     to the future... In a society [in which different communities] live
     side by side, accusations of treason should be removed from the
     dictionary of life and from relations with each other."

   Meanwhile, in Palestine, a spokesman of the Hamas government
   [2]castigated his own party and the people of Palestine for not doing
   enough for themselves.

     "...I want to make a reckoning and own up to our mistakes. We are
     always afraid to speak honestly about our mistakes, as we have
     become accustomed to placing the blame on other factors. The
     anarchy, chaos, pointless murders, the plundering of lands, family
     feuds... what do all of these have to do with the occupation? We
     have always been accustomed to pinning our failures on others, and
     conspiratorial thinking is still widespread among us...
     "We exhausted our people time after time with errors in which
     everyone played a role...
     "The question is: Why did we not keep Gaza's freedom? In the past
     we said, time and again, that we are in favor of the liberation of
     every inch of land. Today we have thousands of inches - 365 square
     kilometers - and nonetheless we have not succeeded in keeping this
     great blessing, and we have begun to lose it...
     "A simple statistical calculation shows that since the Israeli
     withdrawal from Gaza, 500 Palestinians have been killed and over
     3,000 wounded. There are 200 handicapped, and more than 150 homes
     have been demolished - and this in addition to the destruction of
     the infrastructure, the bridges, and the electric power plants. The
     number of Israelis killed by [Palestinian] rockets is no more than
     three or four... Would it not have been possible to limit our
     losses and maximize our achievements, if we had only used our
     minds?...
     "When you walk around in Gaza, you cannot help but avert your eyes
     from what you see: indescribable anarchy, policemen that nobody
     cares about, youth proudly carrying weapons, mourning tents set up
     in the middle of main streets, and from time to time you hear that
     so-and-so was murdered in the middle of the night, and the response
     comes quickly the next morning. Large families carry weapons in
     tribal wars against other families. Gaza has turned into a garbage
     dump, there is a stench, and sewage flows [in the streets].

   Both men have no kind words for Israel, but given the usual rhetoric
   from those quarters, the self-criticism and introspection is somewhat
   encouraging.

References

   1. http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD126606
   2. http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD126806