Re: Hariri tells Kouchner: No to the resignation of the government

Joseph, hello. While I agree with you
that the Palestinian issue is not the cause of most of the problems in
the Middle East, I think it plays a role in many of the governments
justifying their dictatorships in a way and, in a sense, some of the
masses, for example, in Egypt want to agitate for war and fight with
Israel in the name of helping the Palestinians. There is some of
that sentiment of confronting Israel as we can see also with
Hezbollah. So it does colour the thinking of people inside and
outside of Lebanon.
The problems in Syria mostly trace to sectarian and
tribal problems that have nothing to do with the Palestinians, but a
state of conflict doesn't really help the neighbourhood. For
example, it would help the Lebanese Government, perhaps, if they had
Shebaa. I could be mistaken. At least, the Lebanese Army could then
deploy to Shebaa. The Party of God could come up with another
excuse, but even if they do and the withdrawal is seen as somewhat of
a victory for the government then support among the Shiites might
increase. The government needs to reach out the South which is used
to a war footing with Israel. My take on the Arab-Israeli thing is
the conflict is used as an excuse for many problems, but it does
poison the psychology of both the Jewish and Arab peoples.
As far as Aviroce, it is useless talking ot him. He
ignores everyone's points and won't address them. He never addressed
the fact that the Iranian president is very unpopular in Iran, and
that there is no democracy, and that Iran is not even Arab and is a
foreign country just as the U.S. is a foreign country.
He also does not address the fact that the Lebanese people voted
mostly for politicians who don't agree with Hezbollah. All those
factors don't matter because the focus is being anti-American, anti-
Israeli, and pro-Palestinian regardless of the cost.
.

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