Haniyeh...an Unwanted Visitor!
Opinion
Hanna Saleh
It would not have been possible for Ismail Haniyeh to set foot on Lebanese soil if it were not for the official compliance. One thing is for sure, the completion of the unwelcome visit - which came after the crime of August 4, preceded by a horrific financial-economic collapse made worse by the outbreak of the pandemic- is not in Lebanon's interest. This visit is undoubtedly at the service of Hezbollah’s narrow interests. They arranged the visit that serves the Iranian agenda. Therefore, from the outset, political commentaries were unanimous in describing the visit as a deliberate attack on the French initiative, whose most prominent headlines were Hezbollah’s evacuation from the region’s conflicts, and a real return to “self-distancing.” Lebanon will surely be drowned deeper and deeper by visit, the provocative visitor, and his fiery speeches. It is, rather, a practical response to the call of neutrality that appealed to people. On the other hand, it serves to make Paris aware that the ceiling for Hezbollah’s cooperation with the French initiative is very low. And if we consider that Haniyeh’s real attacks were targeting Arab brethren countries, this would constitute a message to whomever is concerned that Lebanon does not deserve an attempt to rescue it! The above confirms that not even meager efforts were made to justify the visit. They only spread propaganda claiming that the Hamas leader had come to attend the Palestinian factions’ secretaries meeting. But why was Beirut chosen to host this dialogue, although video technology platforms were used to facilitate communication between the attendees in Beirut and the others in Ramallah? Was the exit from Gaza, which required four signatures from Netanyahu and Gantz, the defense minister, the minister of national security, and the director of intelligence, facilitated by Zionist officials to formulate a position of Palestinian factions against Israel? Or was the intention to lure an Israeli attack through his declaration that he kept his missiles, which he could use to bomb Tel Aviv and areas further than Tel Aviv, in Beirut! Although the task would be easier and simpler for Haniyeh and his companions from Gaza, whose sea has been sealed off and whose borders are surrounded by settlements! For the Hamas leader, who is accused of terrorism, the Gaza massacres are enough, the honorary lobby was opened at Beirut International Airport. He was received with a standing ovation from the Revolutionary Guards’ proxies, and the guards accompanied him on his tours and meetings! And though the meeting with Nasrallah was inevitable, the other political visits that he made raise questions about the lack of vision and foresight of some Lebanese politicians, who didn’t think much of meeting with a party that dealt with Beirut like a platform to launch a political and media campaign against a sovereign Emirati decision that has positives and negatives aspects. They celebrated the figure who periodically receives bags of Qatari money through Lod Airport and the enemy’s prime minister's office and overlooks the real normalization of Israel by his masters - (Haniyeh) in Ankara and Doha. On top of all that, none of Haniyeh’s hosts asked about the kind of benefit he brings to Lebanon, and what the Gazan’s visit, which violated all norms and crossed every limit, would provide to Lebanon. Does the country need, for example, to follow the Gaza model? Or to replicate the “successes” of the leaders of Hamas in uniting Palestinians against the Zionists’ knives that cut across the land and people? Or Haniyeh’s personal “successes”, like his roles in splitting the Strip from the West Bank, killing democracy in Gaza, and achieving security, stability, and prosperity for Gazans? But the stop in the Ain al-Hilweh camp remains the highlight of the visit. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the visitor was raised over shoulders to the sound of cheers and chants. He was received with a ludicrous armed march, as though he had just returned from liberating the Gaza Sea and achieved objectives that his predecessors had failed to attain. Haniyeh appeared cheerful and in good health. Because those like him are not subjected to the hunger and indigence that plague the hijacked Gaza Strip and the camps in the internal and external camps. It does not seem that he was concerned with or affected by the images of the worn out people or by travesty of the lives led by the people of the camps, who were all left to face their fate. They are devastated by unemployment and total lack of medicine, and no one has asked about them after the - already scarce - aid granted by UNRWA dwindled. The camp was turned into a hub for those fleeing the authorities and has been put in the service of sinister plans! Worse still, this visit was made after the Lebanese authorities ignored the statements made Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas long ago, in which he said that the camps in Lebanon are subject to Lebanese law and under the command of the Lebanese state, and there is no need for Palestinian arms. These statements affirm that Hezbollah, directly and through its subordinates, has a major say over the domination of the camps, confirming that those carrying arms as seen during Haniyeh’s reception are under the statelet’s command, bearing in mind that the vast majority of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are not part of the suicidal project that Hezbollah and Hamas represent. The visit said that Haniyeh, and whoever and whatever he represents, treats his compatriots in Gaza the same way the occupation forces treat them. Because what his movement wants is for Gaza to stay hijacked and to maintain the base of support of the extremist Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, a group whose experiences have presented nothing but darkness, devastation, destruction, and, always, subordination. Thus, there is absolutely no concern over the Lebanese and their interests that could be stemmed from this deplorable visit, nor does it establish any consideration of Lebanon’s independence and its people’s priorities. It won't harm to say that this visitor had fueled the sleeping flames of strife. The visit explicitly demonstrated that the statelet has hijacked governance in this country. The persistence of the approach of partiality and paying bills exposes Lebanon to costs it cannot afford to pay.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2500006/hanna-saleh/haniyehan-unwanted-visitor
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