?The single best augury is to fight for one?s country?
Homer (800 BC-700 BC) The Iliad

Since the beginning of the Israeli war against Lebanon on the 12th of July 2006, there has been a non-stop flow of articles about the situation and about Hezbollah. Old analysis and interviews were unearthed, and new ones were written by all sorts of pundits, dissecting at length the state of the war. Inevitably each side has its staunch defenders and its fierce attackers.

There have been some notable exceptions, but on the whole the Israelis and US propaganda like to paint Hezbollah as a terrorist bunch and keep wondering why the Lebanese people do not rise against them.(1) This is a ridiculous proposition for the simple fact that for the people and official government of Lebanon (2, 3) Hezbollah is a Lebanese party with a political program (4), made by Lebanese for Lebanese. I concede that for an outsider Lebanese politics is very complex indeed, and when one knows only a little, bits and ends from here and there, it is difficult to have a clear view of things and more so to judge the veracity or non-veracity of the facts.

Most of the western media paint Hezbollah with ?clich? ? type of images and keep on stubbornly hammering the very same line of thought without attempting to look more deeply into the matter, and without trying to get first hand information.
More seriously many medias seem to operate on full ?spin mode ? and tend to deliberately spread all sorts of misinformation in order to fulfill their own agenda in projecting a distorted image of ? the Party of God?. I have in memory a show on FOX news this past August. Greta Van Susteren was interviewing a former ambassador who said, ?Hassan Nasrallah wants to become a prime minister in Lebanon?. I was flabbergasted, as anyone with a minimum of information would know that by the constitution, al-Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, as a Shiite Muslim could, never ever hold the post of prime minister of Lebanon. The ambassador was wrong, Ms. Van Susteren proved that she is not a professional and credible journalist, as she did not master the subject well enough to tell him that he committed a huge blunder; so, who is to correct the falsehood that was blasted to millions of viewers that night?

I purposely choose an example that does not bear too heavy consequences to show to what length certain medias will go to invent, or permit all types of falsehood due to their great desire to smear the image of Hezbollah.

So, who is really Hezbollah?

Hezbollah was born in reaction to the 1982 Israeli invasion and occupation of south Lebanon. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1973, 1978 and again in 1982 when it occupied not only southern Lebanon, but went up all the way to the capital Beirut, besieging it for seventy days, and spreading on its path death and destruction. (5)

Hezbollah?s legitimate goal was and still is to respond to this aggression, to the occupation and daily violation of the Lebanese border, space and waters by Israel. Throughout the years Hezbollah has proved to be the only movement capable to act as a deterrent to Israel, and the only true defender of the country?s security. As such, Hezbollah is a resistance party dedicated to protect its homeland territories, and it also emerged as the only group to deal with the needs of the Shiite population.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah is a political party like any other, solidly implanted in the country?s grass-roots, integrated within the political class and having at its head a chief, al-Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who keeps his word and his promises. Its capabilities of resistance towards Israel give rise to admiration and pride in Lebanon and beyond.
Why, you may ask, the Lebanese state and army does not undertake that role? Because the Lebanese state emerged very weakened after the civil war that started in 1975, rural development and state welfare services ceased. So as the state was unwilling or unable to act, Hezbollah stepped in and filled the vacuum. (6) Many accuse Hezbollah to be ?a state within the state?, for that statement to hold true there should first be a state !!!

While the US (7) considers the Hezbollah a terrorist group, the EU (8), The UN (9) and most of the countries of the world have not followed suit.

Most of us agree that terrorism exist, yet few can agree what it really is. How often do we use words without weighing their exact meaning? It is therefore useful as a start to review the sober definition of the words ?terrorism? and ?resistance? by opening a dictionary. (10)

- Terrorism: is the systematic use of violence, terror and intimidation to achieve a political end

- Resistance: is the act to oppose, so a resistance movement is a group dedicated to fight an invader in an occupied territory, it is the struggle for national liberation.


Yet even then no real consensus making the difference between these two words is definitive. Proof of that lies in the report of the US state department?s annual review of global terrorism which states that: ? no one definition of terrorism has gained universal acceptance ? and trying to coin a definition it go on declaring that terrorism ?is premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non combatant?. (11)

It is getting clearer then that terror is the use of indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians, while resistance is the use of violence specifically directed against combatants. If a group fighting to end an occupation by a foreign force, sends a suicide bomber to blow up a restaurant filled by innocent people: this would be a terrorist act, but if such a group fights the foreign military itself, then that would be a guerrilla military action aiming at self-defense and liberation.

After its official inception on the 16th of February 1985, Hezbollah organized itself into a mainstream political party participating actively and effectively in Lebanon?s democratic process. Unlike groups such as al- Qaeda ?hidden in caves?, operating in a loose structured network, are secretly organized with a tendency for anonymity, devoid of open identifiable command structures, and unwilling to submit their program to a vote of their people, Hezbollah is a full fledged party with a following of 1.5 million Lebanese, 14 members in parliament and 2 ministers sitting in the Cabinet. (12) It leads a parliamentary bloc in which other forces, including secular parties and non-Muslim parties are involved. It operates hospitals, schools, a TV station, and relief aid on a vast scale; and its address is in the telephone book!!! (13, 14)

Hezbollah never took part in the bloody inter-militias fights during the civil war; it never attacked the Lebanese army as all Lebanese factions did at some point or another. Hezbollah does not believe in gratuitous acts, it does not target civilians for the sake of spreading terror and intimidation. Proof of that is that again and again it condemned with the strongest words the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers. Asked about it by Robin Wright of the Washington Post, al-Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said:

'What do the people who worked in those two towers, along with thousands of employees, women and men, have to do with war that is taking place in the Middle East? Or the war that Mr. George Bush may wage on people in the Islamic world?' He added, 'Therefore we condemned this act, and any similar act we condemn. Well, of course, the method of Osama bin Laden, and the fashion of bin Laden, we do not endorse them. And many of the operations that they have carried out, we condemned them very clearly. ?

When Robin Wright inquired about the targeting of civilians by insurgents in Iraq, al-Sayyed Nasrallah replied, 'It is unacceptable, it is forbidden, to harm the innocent. To have Iraqis confronting the occupation army, this is natural. But if there are American tourists, or intellectuals, doctors, or professors who have nothing to do with this war, they are innocent, even though they are Americans, and it is forbidden. It is not acceptable to harm them.? For al-Sayyed Nasrallah Taliban was ?the most dangerous thing that this Islamic revival has encountered," and he condemned the beheading of American contractor Nicholas Berg by al-Qaeda in Iraq, saying, "It is unacceptable, it is forbidden, to harm the innocent." (15)

In an interview with David Gardner in 1998, al-Sayyed Nasrallah expressed his strong opposition to terrorist movements. "There are a lot of models. Some of them are very dangerous like the Taliban,"

Discussing with David Ignatius in February 2006, Nasrallah categorically set his group apart from al-Qaeda and its action that is fanning Sunni-Shiite tensions in Iraq. "I believe the most dangerous thing we confront is the so-called Zarqawi phenomenon," he said. "This is a creed of killing without any responsibility -- to kill women, children, to attack mosques, churches, schools, restaurants." (16)

I could go on and on ?.So, why does the US consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization?

Because of the unfortunate human tendency to add to any concept all sorts of personal biases in order to fit one?s own political agenda. By all accounts, the US supports Israel blindly, and as such has lost its role as an objective and honest power broker. Time and time again ? and the examples abound? it has shifted its position according to its interests. Iraq for instance that the US supported for many years against its war with Iran, had turned into a rogue state when the decision to occupy it was taken. During the war of Afghanistan with the Soviet Union, the American administration called the Afghan Mujahideen freedom fighters. Today these same fighters are labeled terrorists by Mr. Bush!

In August 1982, a contingent of 800 U.S. Marines arrived in Beirut as part of a multinational peacekeeping force. An additional 2,000 Marines were deployed by mid-September 1983. On October 23, 1983, a truck bomb destroyed the U.S. Marine barracks at the Beirut airport, killing 241 American soldiers. A group calling itself ? Islamic Jihad ? claimed responsibility. Although there was never any proof, the US believes that Hezbollah was behind the attacks. Hezbollah denied any involvement. (17)

What should be made clear is that there was a lot of chaos at this time due to the Israeli invasion, the civil war, the savage battles between the different armed militias, the horrific slaughter of the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian camps; no one knew for sure ?who is who ??. And if several Shiites groups did indeed appear in 1982 it was only in 1985, after the bombings of the US barracks, that Hezbollah emerged as an umbrella organization of those groups, and some semblance of order was reestablished. But the US simply chose to demonize Hezbollah refusing to recognize it as a legitimate Lebanese party.

Throughout time and space, men and women valiantly fought foreign invaders. They are called heroes by some and terrorists by others, clear case of double standards depending on where you stand.


The Kingdom of England established colonies in North America as early as 1587. Later on, 13 colonies joined together in the American Revolution against the mother country and became the United States in 1776. A group calling itself ?the Sons of Liberty? existed in almost every colony. The Sons where known for their violent and destructive acts. British authorities considered them seditious rebels and referred to them as ?Sons of Violence?. Famous members included Paul Revere, John Adams, and his cousin Samuel Adams. John Adams became the second President of the United States of America. (18, 19)

Consider that Menahem Begin was part of a group called Irgun that launched an all-out-in armed rebellion, perpetrating hundreds of attack against British installations and posts in Palestine between 1945 and 1948 at the time of the British mandate. The most famous hit was against the British headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91, including British officers as well as Arab and Jewish civilians. Consequently, Begin was put on a ?wanted ? list by the British for terrorist activities. That same Begin went on to be Prime minister of Israel. (20, 21)

During the Second World War resistance movements were found in all Nazi-occupied countries. By 1944, it is estimated that there were 100.000 resistance members in France alone. French underground fighters called their secret army ?Le Maquis?. The resistance destroyed thousand of railways and bridges, sabotaged industrial priority factories, cut off high tension networks, assassinated members of the occupying forces as well as prominent collaborators besides engaging in continuing battle and guerilla warfare. (22) One man, Jean Moulin, united all the different resistance groups working in France forming the? Conseil National de la Resistance ?. Eventually, Moulin was arrested by the Germans and died while being tortured on the 8th of July 1943. Was Jean Moulin a terrorist? No, as today he is used in French education to illustrate patriotism, moral rectitude and civic virtues. He is the symbol of the Resistance, a national hero and his ashes were transferred to the Pantheon in 1964. (23)

By the spring of 1944, the Polish resistance reached the number 400.000. Members of the Zionist ?Akiya ? movement joined forces with other Zionists to form a local branch in Cracow of ?the Jewish Fighting Organization?. This group organized resistance in their ghettos, attacked German sentry units near the ghetto wall and carried out a variety of resistance activities such as the bombing of the ?Cyganeria caf?, a gathering place of Nazi officers on December 22, 1942. Eleven Germans were killed and thirteen wounded in this action.
Are the members who committed this act regarded as terrorists? No, these people are saluted as heroes. (24, 25)

All these fighters for freedom are the pride of their countries, poems are written in their memory, statues are erected immortalizing them for all time and they are hailed as the highest and most noble expression of patriotism in their respective land.

The bitter fact is when people of the Middle ?East fight for the freedom of their country, resisting invasion with all their will, all their might, courageously sacrificing their lives in order to regain autonomy, dignity and pride, they are immediately labeled ?terrorists?, or aligned to the ?axis of evil ?. Gone is the notion of noble resistance from the memory of these same people whose countries were born or liberated thanks to its freedom fighters: what applied to them simply does not for those who do not comply to their view of remodeling the world and who do not resign to their plans. The rule of double standards reigns supreme!

When reading the Western press it does not take much to notice how the words differ when applied to each side, reinforcing the heavy prejudice attached to them. For instance it is always Hezbollah who ?attacks? first and always Israel who ?defends ? itself. Whenever you read Hezbollah, it is always immediately followed by the mantra ?supported by Syria and Iran ?, but when you read Israel, it never says, ?supported by the US ?. Those who bow to Israel and the US ? even when they are in fact totalitarian - are always labeled as ?friends, reformers, and moderates?, while those who resist the US self-serving designs are called ?madmen, terrorists, fascists, fundamentalists, and extremists ?. While it is almost taboo and anathema to raise questions about Israel?s nuclear weapons, used for ?deterrence?, voices are loud and vociferous when it comes to Hezbollah?s arms that suddenly become ?illegitimate?, and the biases go on and on. The rule of double standards is an ugly one, fortunately people are not that stupid, and there always comes a time when they ultimately start to ask themselves the tough questions and to reach by themselves to the correct conclusions.

" Hezbollah is not al- Qaeda," Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said in an interview with Corriere della Sera published at the end of August 2006. (26) Indeed it is not. Hezbollah is a political group, deeply involved in all aspects of Lebanon?s life, represented in the government, and proudly dedicated to free its homeland. There are certain principles that are imperishable: what Homer said thousands of years ago still holds today.