Say what you want about foreign patrons… we all have them. Say what you want about sectarian interests often coming before national priorities… it’s true. Say what you want about corruption in all its guises… it’s there. But all these shortcomings in Lebanese politics are present across the board and, in a peculiarly Lebanese way, cancel each other out. Most importantly, they are nothing compared to the festering boil that is Hezbollah and its Iranian-financed weapons.

The latest impediment prolonging Lebanon’s political constipation is the wording of the role of the Resistance in the upcoming ministerial statement. Hezbollah wants the same status it got in the 2005 statement, apparently without any consideration given to the moqawama’s responsibility in initiating the catastrophic 2006 war, the threat of violence and then the use of its weapons to hijack the state and kill Lebanese civilians in May of this year, as well as its knack at being able to incorporate anything it deems necessary - including illegal phone lines - under the umbrella of the Resistance. There is also the small matter of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, by which the Lebanese government is bound and which calls for the disarmament of all armed groups.

Pressure of sorts is being brought to bear. On Friday, Deputy Speaker Farid Makari hit the proverbial nail on the head, when he warned that without solving the issue of the Resistance’s weapons, there would be no elections in 2009. He has a point. Given the role played by Hezbollah in commandeering downtown Beirut, obstructing the election of a president and the formation of a cabinet, and now objecting to the wording of the ministerial statement, can we really put our hands on our hearts and say that we can expect free and fair elections on time, without Hezbollah using its weapons to influence the vote in those areas where it is able to do so directly or through its allies.

A day earlier, Defense Minister Elias Murr said that he saw no reason why Hezbollah should maintain a standing army and a massive arsenal, adding that President Michel Suleiman’s national dialogue would push for a resolution to an issue that has plagued Lebanon’s political, social and economic evolution for nearly a decade.

But in the meantime, let us ask ourselves what value-added has the Resistance wing of Hezbollah brought to Lebanon? In short, since 2000, not a lot, except a massive headache. It has succeeded in keeping alive the debate over who owns the Shebaa Farms so it could, until August of 2006, justify maintaining an armed posture on the southern border, a move that was thrust upon the Lebanese with the blessing of Syria. It has brought a bizarre brand of kudos to its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who is the current hero of the Arab street for his ability to allow Lebanon to be blasted to smithereens two summers ago, and, in what has been spun off as a regrettable act of self-defense by what is ordinarily a well-drilled and patriotic unit, launched a murderous takeover of West Beirut in early May and an abortive attempt to take the high ground in Aley and the Chouf a few days later.

But it has been argued that Hezbollah has brought a helping of much-needed dignity to the Arab world, the Lebanese people and the Shia, a constituency within Lebanon it still likes to portray as an underclass. But any dignity it did restore by forcing an Israeli withdrawal from its South Lebanon occupation zone in 2000, it blew big in 2006 and in May this year. For despite the claims of having chalked up a divine victory against the old enemy, where is the dignity in death? Where is the dignity in making people homeless? Where is the dignity in mauling a nation’s economy? Where is the dignity in living outside of and ignoring the authority of the state, and where is the dignity in killing innocent men, women and children in pursuit of internal political gains?

But we haven’t even got to the best bit. Even the most optimistic analysts say that another war is looming, that Israel wants a rematch. Maybe it won’t be this year, maybe not next year, but as long as Hezbollah maintains its martial bearing in South Lebanon, Israel will prepare for a war, more terrifying in scope and scale than the 2006 adventure. More civilians will die; dust-covered dead children will be pulled from the rubble of poorly-built buildings, and the cycle of hatred will be perpetuated.

It makes you wonder if we really need a Resistance at all.

Photo : Masked opposition gunmen next to pictures of then-Army Commander Michel Suleiman in West Beirut on May 9 after seizing control of the area.

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