Swap boosted Hizbullah΄s image, analysts say
Source: AFP, 21-7-2008
BEIRUT: As Hizbullah boasted of victory in this week's prisoner swap with "Israel", analysts said that the exchange gave the resistance group increased political leverage at home. On Wednesday "Israel" handed over its last five Lebanese prisoners, including the longest serving detainee in "Israeli" prisons Samir Kintar, and the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.
In exchange Hizbullah returned the bodies of "Israeli" soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were captured on July 12, 2006. "Israel" responded to the border incident by launching a devastating 34-day war on Lebanon.
"This doesn't change anything in the equation of Hizbullah and "Israel"," said Timur Goksel, former spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. "It just closes one subject, but there are still other issues. I don't expect peace to break out."
Tens of thousands of people attended celebrations on Wednesday after the swap, including Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah making a rare live appearance.
In "Israel" the picture was one of sadness.
""Israel" came out of it looking like the humanitarian country, receiving bodies in mourning and playing the victim, while the other side looked like the aggressors, celebrating death," said Nadim Shehadi, a Lebanon expert at Chatham House in London.
"This image is far from reality where Lebanon was the victim of "Israeli" brutality in 2006 and "Israel" was the aggressor." The 2006 war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 "Israelis", mostly soldiers.
"Israelis" were particularly turned off by the welcome for Kintar, who had been convicted for a 1979 triple murder.
"The joy that was expressed in Lebanon was mostly psychological and wasn't about one man," Goksel said, however.
"They don't think very much about the content of the exchange, but the fact that Hizbullah was able to impose its own demands on the "Israelis" and get away with it. It made people say 'Hey - we won something for a change.'"
Kintar belonged to a secular Palestinian faction and was jailed four years before Hizbullah was even formed.
Kintar's release was "a major feat for Hizbullah ... It is precisely that he is Druze and not a Hizbullah fighter that his release has added value aside from the symbolism of it all," said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, author of "Hizbullah: Politics and Religion." "The fact that Hizbullah fought so hard for a prisoner that was not one of their own, who belonged to a secular group ... is healing the wounds of the May clashes" this year, she said.
Fierce sectarian fighting killed at least 65 people in May when clashes broke out between opposition and pro-government gunmen.
The fighting led to an accord being signed in Qatar that saw the election of Michel Suleiman as president after a six-month vacuum and the later formation of a national unity government.
Suleiman joined divided political leaders including Premier Fouad Siniora, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the entire Cabinet in presenting a united front to greet the returning prisoners at Beirut airport.
"The swap burnishes its [Hizbullah's] national credentials, especially since it was able to unify the Lebanese, even on a very cosmetic level," Saad-Ghorayeb said.
"Hizbullah was able to impose that unity ... There was no Lebanese politician that could have possibly not greeted the prisoners. It was because it was Kintar that they all had to show up," she added.
The swap "puts us one small step closer to an extended period in which there will be discussion of Hizbullah's arms," said Paul Salem, head of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
"The discussion will be about the relationship between the armed resistance and the state and not about disarmament." Nasrallah said on Wednesday that he was open to dialogue on all issues, including Hizbullah weaponry.
Saad-Ghorayeb sees this as evidence that Hizbullah "is at the peak of its power." "Now more than ever, Hizbullah feels vindicated regarding its arms, the use of force and the logic of force and resistance," she said.
"It will be very hard for the other side to persuade the Lebanese or at least the opposition that there is an alternative more effective than resistance in defending Lebanon."
BEIRUT: As Hizbullah boasted of victory in this week's prisoner swap with "Israel", analysts said that the exchange gave the resistance group increased political leverage at home. On Wednesday "Israel" handed over its last five Lebanese prisoners, including the longest serving detainee in "Israeli" prisons Samir Kintar, and the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters.
In exchange Hizbullah returned the bodies of "Israeli" soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who were captured on July 12, 2006. "Israel" responded to the border incident by launching a devastating 34-day war on Lebanon.
"This doesn't change anything in the equation of Hizbullah and "Israel"," said Timur Goksel, former spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. "It just closes one subject, but there are still other issues. I don't expect peace to break out."
Tens of thousands of people attended celebrations on Wednesday after the swap, including Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah making a rare live appearance.
In "Israel" the picture was one of sadness.
""Israel" came out of it looking like the humanitarian country, receiving bodies in mourning and playing the victim, while the other side looked like the aggressors, celebrating death," said Nadim Shehadi, a Lebanon expert at Chatham House in London.
"This image is far from reality where Lebanon was the victim of "Israeli" brutality in 2006 and "Israel" was the aggressor." The 2006 war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 "Israelis", mostly soldiers.
"Israelis" were particularly turned off by the welcome for Kintar, who had been convicted for a 1979 triple murder.
"The joy that was expressed in Lebanon was mostly psychological and wasn't about one man," Goksel said, however.
"They don't think very much about the content of the exchange, but the fact that Hizbullah was able to impose its own demands on the "Israelis" and get away with it. It made people say 'Hey - we won something for a change.'"
Kintar belonged to a secular Palestinian faction and was jailed four years before Hizbullah was even formed.
Kintar's release was "a major feat for Hizbullah ... It is precisely that he is Druze and not a Hizbullah fighter that his release has added value aside from the symbolism of it all," said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, author of "Hizbullah: Politics and Religion." "The fact that Hizbullah fought so hard for a prisoner that was not one of their own, who belonged to a secular group ... is healing the wounds of the May clashes" this year, she said.
Fierce sectarian fighting killed at least 65 people in May when clashes broke out between opposition and pro-government gunmen.
The fighting led to an accord being signed in Qatar that saw the election of Michel Suleiman as president after a six-month vacuum and the later formation of a national unity government.
Suleiman joined divided political leaders including Premier Fouad Siniora, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the entire Cabinet in presenting a united front to greet the returning prisoners at Beirut airport.
"The swap burnishes its [Hizbullah's] national credentials, especially since it was able to unify the Lebanese, even on a very cosmetic level," Saad-Ghorayeb said.
"Hizbullah was able to impose that unity ... There was no Lebanese politician that could have possibly not greeted the prisoners. It was because it was Kintar that they all had to show up," she added.
The swap "puts us one small step closer to an extended period in which there will be discussion of Hizbullah's arms," said Paul Salem, head of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
"The discussion will be about the relationship between the armed resistance and the state and not about disarmament." Nasrallah said on Wednesday that he was open to dialogue on all issues, including Hizbullah weaponry.
Saad-Ghorayeb sees this as evidence that Hizbullah "is at the peak of its power." "Now more than ever, Hizbullah feels vindicated regarding its arms, the use of force and the logic of force and resistance," she said.
"It will be very hard for the other side to persuade the Lebanese or at least the opposition that there is an alternative more effective than resistance in defending Lebanon."
