Tag Archives: Hezbollah

January 18, 2014 · 16:20

Has the European Union finally turned into an influential actor in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Commentary by Romana Michelon and Bart Hesseling – 18 January 2014

A Palestinian flag flies in front of a settlement known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

A Palestinian flag flies in front of a settlement known to Israelis as Har Homa and to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

The European Union’s stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long emphasized Israel’s right to security but need to end its occupation, and the Palestinians’ right to self-determination but need to renounce terrorism. This past summer, newly-released EU guidelines on Israeli entities operating in the occupied Palestinian Territories shook this well-rehearsed mantra to its core. Preceded by the February appeal from the EU’s Heads of Mission in Jerusalem to take concrete measures against the occupation of Palestine, the Union decided to attach negative economic consequences to the continuation of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. Continue reading →

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July 25, 2013 · 10:55

The EU’s Blacklisting of Hezbollah: Grandstanding or Game-changer?

Commentary by Bart Hesseling – 25 July 2013

hezbOn 22 July, the European Union’s 28 foreign ministers unanimously decided to place the ‘military wing’ of the Lebanese Hezbollah on a list of what it considers terrorist organizations, to loud cheers from Washington and Tel Aviv. It is a classic case of coherent policy giving way to political expediency. Beyond the political posturing, it doesn’t help to improve the situation in the countries directly affected, Syria and Lebanon. Continue reading →

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November 28, 2012 · 16:37

Gaza 2012 : la dernière Guerre du Hamas

William Hana – 28 novembre 2012

L’émir du Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani (centre), le Président Palestinien Mahmoud Abbas (gauche) et le leader du Hamas Khaled Mashaal (droite) lors de la signature de l’accord à Doha le lundi 6 février 2012. Source :AP Photo/Osama Faisal

La trêve signée et parrainée par l’Egypte des Frères musulmans semble inaugurer une nouvelle ère dans le conflit israélo-palestinien qui était encore en reste des bouleversements qui ont secoué le monde arabe depuis janvier 2011. L’intitulé de cet article fait référence à la guerre d’Octobre 1973 qualifiée de « dernière guerre israélo-arabe ». Cette guerre, en offrant une victoire symbolique aux Arabes, devait permettre de mûrir les conditions nécessaires à l’enclenchement du processus de paix de Camp David avec l’Egypte, dont les premières phases ont commencé quelques mois après la guerre en 1974, avec la mise en place des forces d’interposition des Nations Unies au Golan et dans le Sinaï. Continue reading →

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March 1, 2012 · 17:01

Hezbollah: From Lethal Politics to Political Suicide

Commentary by Oussama Hariri – 1 March 2012

This article was first published in Arabic.

Source: mar15.info

In a recent speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, reasserted his party’s support to the Syrian regime. Among his rather far-fetched statements was the blunt denial of what is happening in Homs, describing the city’s massacres merely as exaggerated events. While the people of Homs face a brutal ordeal, Hezbollah is far from changing its political course. Successful policy is based on adapting to changing times and the emergence of new political players. While change has swept across the political scene in the Arab world with new powers rising and others declining, one cannot help but wonder where Hezbollah’s policy, the fierce defense of a doomed regime, will lead it; all this in the context of the changing prospects of regimes across the Arab world. Continue reading →

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January 15, 2012 · 16:47

Hezbollah: Is this still really resistance?

 Commentary by Riccardo Dugulin – 15 January 2012

Source: theblaze.com

The term ‘resistant’ provides the person it describes with an almost immediate moral high ground. Regardless of the historical time and place, once put into a conflict situation the resistant is an individual that willingly decides to make disproportionate sacrifices and to take above than average risks to defend his values and homeland. From the Hashashiyyin Shiite rebels resisting Sunni Saljuq rule in Persia between 1092 and 1265 to the armed Algerian factions freeing their territory from French occupation in the 1950’s; resistance movements always face a large and organized foreign army with elements of indirect and asymmetric warfare. Beyond the concrete operational techniques such armed groups decide to use to protect and free their homeland, the resistant is the beneficiary of almost complete moral superiority. Continue reading →

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September 2, 2011 · 16:29

Who Lost Lebanon? From Politics of Confrontation to Compromise

Commentary by Takuya Matsuda – 2 September 2011

Rafiq Hariri & Hassan Nasrallah

The year 2011 already seemed likely to flower into a turbulent year for the Middle East, even before the advent of the “Arab Spring” that toppled close to three dictators in the region. Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the national unity government in Lebanon, which kept the country’s chronic sectarian conflicts from resurfacing for the past few years, sparked fears that the Lebanese “time bomb” was finally going to explode. Nobody could have predicted “the Arab Spring”, a series of historical events that have rocked the region’s authoritarian regimes since January. Continue reading →

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