Now The Hard Part



News Analysis

The Doha agreement diffuses the current crisis and everyone will immediately feel the benefits. But the real issues remain to be solved.


Dismantling the scar (photo credit: Reuters)

Nothing beats the sense of relief the Lebanese are feeling today except perhaps the realization that they will be able to celebrate in the heart of the now-liberated Beirut. Still, after the fireworks subside and the champagne corks are swept aside by the happily re-employed Solidere waiters, the Lebanese will return to earth and realize that the Doha agreement is just a temporary solution that only marginally addresses the major contentious issues.

The main issue at stake is the relationship between the Lebanese state and a powerful armed faction within that state. The Lebanese power sharing agreement should be looked at as a form of cease fire between Syria and Iran on one side and the rest of the world on the other. The civil war that was about to break looked like a major distraction that the power brokers decided to quench with a dose of feel-good compromise and a president on top.

Many minefields still lie ahead this small country’s future, not least the specter of a war between Israel and Iran that Hezbollah will feel compelled to join and drag the country with them. But for now, most Lebanese are in the mood for celebration; the make-up summer season ahead promises to be one heck of a party!

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Discussion

No comments for “Now The Hard Part”

  1. so hezbollah gets what they want and people are rejoicing!!! why doesnt anyone realize that they are just appeasing a bunch of thugs who are waiting for the right time to lasho out and fully take lebanon over. doesnt anybody read history? you dont even have to go back that far, only like 70 years, to a little group called the nazis.

    Posted by anthemboy | May 21, 2008, 12:31 pm
  2. The media portrays the agreement as a capitulation of M14.
    I don’t see it that way. It shows that no one wants a war this summer, which is good.

    No matter the “Doha accord” says, HZB made fatal mistakes, and put himself in a problematic corner, the militia corner. HZB is no holy anymore, and never will be.

    The thing that people will remember from those lately events is the use of HZB weapons inward. That is an important lesson, and it’s implications we’ll surely see in the future.
    .

    Posted by Amir in Tel Aviv | May 21, 2008, 12:37 pm
  3. I don’t like to spoil the joy of the Lebanese (who are living there and are under the threat of war and death) but this agreement is temporary. I could not have said it best when you said that: “…the specter of a war between Israel and Iran that Hezbollah will feel compelled to join and drag the country with them.” I want to emphasize that the still HA get its orders from two different bosses (Syria and Iran) with two different agendas (International Tribunal and nuclear bomb). Just today, it was announced that Syria and Israel started their peace agreement negotiation. That translates to a divergence in the agendas that I have mentioned above.

    Now, what may happen next is unclear. Is Israel playing games with Syria so it hits Iran after isolating it? Or is Israel really wants peace and in that case Syria will have a peace agreement and Israel will ensure that its front with Syria will be quiet. After that Iran will be dealt with militarily or “cold war” tactic? Time will tell! The US public is not interested in another war now (repeat now) but you may never know what may happen to get public support (remember September 11).

    Unfortunately, Lebanon is being used as a battle field and as long as the Lebanese powers get their orders from outside, Lebanon is doomed!

    Posted by ghassan | May 21, 2008, 1:13 pm
  4. I totally agree with you Mousse….it’s just a temporary things….and who trusts those thugs anyway…all of them….
    It’s good things ended up this way….but we all need to work on a new modern and really representative electoral law,and on cancelling the confessionalism,stopping the involvment of the relgious people in politics,and retract any sign of corruption and severly punish it….and find a way to end the weapons of hizbulla and any illegal weapon….
    Lets start to build a country,not a militia in opposing another militia…..

    Posted by Ado | May 21, 2008, 1:54 pm
  5. Please don’t forget that these peace negotiations are about the Golan, which means that Israel might simply abandon the Chebaa farms. It will be interesting to see if Syria sizes them (and ends the myth it is advertising about protecting Lebanese interests) or hands them back to Lebanon. This will end the last excuse Hizbollah was maintaining to keep its weapons.

    Posted by Alphast | May 21, 2008, 1:57 pm
  6. I’m not surprised at the outcome of Doha. The current government has not controlled the situations in Lebanon for months. First allowing a camp city in the middle of Beirut, and then the Army watching Hezbollah destroy parts of Beirut. Hezbollah is one-step closer to controlling Lebanon. This has nothing to do with Israel this has to do with Hezbollah wanting control of Lebanon. Israel is just an excuse they use and the morons there believe it. Israel may occupy parts of Lebanon, but that is nothing comparable to the occupation of Syria.

    Israel is nothing in all this. Israel is afraid of Hezbollah and rightly so. Look what Hezbollah did to their own people when they didn’t get their way. Be prepared for more people. This is one small step and they will only want more power in the near future. They will never give up their arms and everyone knows it. Lebanon should control Lebanon, not a militia that is what you have an army for to protect you from Israel. Why do you need Hezbollah? Wake up will you.

    Posted by Sally | May 21, 2008, 2:32 pm
  7. Wow Ado, I agree with you…

    Posted by Danny | May 21, 2008, 2:49 pm
  8. Not even Joyous on a grand day!

    Mustapha, K’mon, happy post for the day. It’ll mark in History!

    We’ve got a million Lebanese abroad constantly on the lookout for this day, comin’ over for the grand summer! Including me. It’ll do some good to ease the worry.

    Posted by Jester | May 21, 2008, 3:55 pm
  9. Since the agreement has been signed let’s see how HZB handles their side. Do they move from a mentality of “God is on our side so we can do whatever we want”, to an honest attempt to improve Lebanon; we’ll know fast enough. If things swing back to prior agreement times then……well, it’s not the moment to think of that yet.

    Posted by Bronx-man | May 21, 2008, 6:07 pm
  10. I must agree with the over sentiment here. This “agreement” ends up being nothing more than a temporary pause, that doesn’t address any of the core issues.

    I don’t quite understand why people are celebrating. Are we that shortsighted?

    Posted by Bad Vilbel | May 21, 2008, 6:36 pm
  11. Hizbullah Wins Major Concessions In Lebanese Impas…

    Although MSNBC notes that rival factions and the terrorist group Hizbullah have come to a deal on the government, which has been at impasse for the past 18 months, they ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Hizbullah got veto power over the gover…..

    Posted by A Blog For All | May 21, 2008, 6:42 pm

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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.

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