The Grand Design of Israeli & US Hegemony in Lebanon & M.E.

Greetings to all,

What is going on in the Middle East?  First some general comments about US 
and Israeli objectives in the region will be discussed followed by specific 
comments about the events that have transpired in Lebanon over the past 
week.

The amount of resources the US and Israel have put into Lebanon are 
staggering, and has much to do with the larger objective of US imperialist 
ambitions in the region.  Israel (as well as Turkey which has been more and 
more working directly with Israel), now by far the most powerful state in 
the 
region, has positioned itself to restructure the Middle East to set the 
stage 
for its eventual domination over the Arabic world.  This is indeed what the 
peace process is all about (or lack of it in Lebanon).  Jordan, Egypt, the 
Kuwaitis, and Saudis are all making separate unilateral agreements with 
Israel.  As a result, Israel will have much more open access to the 
resources 
and the people in the region.  

And behind this scene is the US, which has benefited greatly from these 
arrangements.  Its continued support for Israel is not simply the result of 
the powerful Jewish lobby in the US (AIPAC regularly sends representatives 
to 
the National Security Council) but has much to do, as Noam Chomsky and Said 
among others have consistently pointed out, with US interests in the region 
and the wider world.  

The Arab states, being of a corrupt nature, have also received some gains 
(militarily and economically) at the expense of popular movements and 
especially the Palestinians.  They have regularly suppressed Arab 
democratic 
movements with US and in some cases Israeli as well (Jordan & right wing 
Lebanese organizations have both received aid and intelligence information 
with their suppression of Palestinians).

Indeed, what we have emerging in the region is one that looks much like the 
nineteenth century system, where instead of the Ottoman Empire we have a 
Washington-Tel Aviv- (Istanbul?) alliance with a few corrupt Arab states 
working to recreate a very suppressive regime.  If it works the winners 
will 
be US imperialist, Israeli Zionist, and Turkish and Arab elites.  All of 
the 
events since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, including the Persian 
Gulf War, has been part of this Imperialist effort.  

Who will loose if it happens?  Palestinians first and foremost who will 
continue to be imprisoned in Reservations in the Israeli occupied 
territories, in Lebanon, and on a smaller case, in Jordan.  Syria has had a 
closed door policy towards the Palestinian and as a result is "freed" from 
the issue.  The negotiations with Arafat and the "Palestinian" Authorities 
will only exasperate this problem in the occupied territories.  

But other losers will include the "other" folks, mainly the poor Arabs, 
Kurds, and other minorities who will be tending such things as the 
expanding 
tourist industry, the police and military forces, the oil industry, and all 
the new jobs that will come with more US and Israeli penetration of the 
region like McDonalds, Popeyes, Israeli Construction Co., and so on and so 
on.

This leads us to the question: Is Lebanon Liberated?

The message from some about the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon is that 
finally after 22 years Lebanon is Liberated.  My reply to them would be yes 
but with a big qualification.  As someone else had said earlier "Lebanon 
was 
a sideshow, which is why Ehud Barak took care of it quickly as he did, 
paying 
the 
price that he did."  

Maybe I'm wrong here but the Hizbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, 
is 
not an issue for Israel as many may assume.  On the contrary, Israel sees 
Hizbollah for what it really is: a negotiator on behalf of Syria.  Allowing 
the Hizbollah to replace Israel's allies (the notorious SLA) therefore was 
not due to Israel's chaotic withdrawal but rather to a planned and 
calculated 
maneuver on the part of Israel.  In fact, one can look at it as Israel's 
way 
of sending a signal to Syria that it's ready to hand over some of southern 
Lebanon without any formal agreements being necessary!

Thus, while it is a victory for Palestinians and the other Arab Lebanese 
communities living in southern Lebanon, the future has many uncertainties 
that may prove that celebrations are a bit premature.  Syria will no doubt 
continue Israel's policy of suppressing the Palestinian people while 
providing incentives for some of its rich Arab landlords to return to some 
of 
the fertile farm lands in southern Lebanon.  Hence, the Palestinians and 
other dispossessed Arabs living in the region will become the rich Arabs' 
servile labor just like their fellow Palestinian colleagues in Israel do 
for 
the rich Jews.  Hence, colonization continues undisturbed.

Palestinians are thus going to continue getting screwed both in Israel and 
Lebanon, as they have been also in Jordan, Egypt, and all the other Arab 
states that have all acted to undermine genuine Palestinian liberation.  Of 
course, I'm not saying they all have equally screwed the Palestinians.  
Israelis and the good old USA holds that honor in a class by themselves, 
with 
all the others as pongees.  

Liberation is thus far from over.  Israel, the US, Syria, ... all remain.  
This is only one step with many more to climb.  But who am I to say?  It's 
easy for me to make these kinds of analysis here thousands of mile away 
from 
the fighting in the streets.  The real players and the destiny of 
liberation 
belongs in the hands of those Palestinians who are daily confronting power 
in 
Israel and Lebanon . . .  The question of liberation cannot be answered by 
me 
sitting here, but only by those who fight power in sincerity to whom I hold 
with the highest respect.  

What I need to do here is confront the big beast (the good old USA) that 
penetrates my life in every respect, and by doing so will lend a helping 
hand 
to the colonized not only in Lebanon and Palestine but in Europe, Africa, 
Asia, South and Central America, and in my immediate environment where a 
huge 
class of poor and dispossessed people live - Binghamton, NY.

Khaldoun Samman