Many have cheered for the sudden Israeli strike, which on Sunday killed six Hezbollah members and a general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who, for some reason, were present in Syria’s Quneitra.
The cheering expresses anger and indignation and many expressed frankly those feelings via social networking websites. This huge transformation of feelings against Hezbollah is due to the latter’s heinous actions of targeting its rivals in Lebanon and its involvement in the killing of thousands in Syria. Those who shifted from admiring Hezbollah to hating the group did so in less than one decade.
These people used to support Hezbollah in Lebanon in the past and they used to adopt the Shiite group’s political and military agenda. Anger began to surface when Hezbollah’s militias occupied west Beirut during the May 7 events — three years after its involvement in the assassination of Sunni leader Rafik Al-Hariri in 2005. Hezbollah, and also Iran, have lost the respectful and honorable status, which they had enjoyed in the name of Islam, Lebanon and Palestine. Hezbollah’s biggest fall came in the wake of its clear sectarian bias in Syria as its members joined the filthy Syrian war. This Iranian involvement in Syria will also have further repercussions. There’s no doubt, in my view, that if a confrontation occurs between Israel and Hezbollah or between Israel and Iran, many Arabs will pray for the defeat of Hezbollah and Iran. This strange feeling, even if temporary, reflects the change in the region’s alliances and political stances.
The hatred held by many Arabs toward Iran and Hezbollah does not necessarily mean a sudden love towards Israel — that’s another story. Perhaps it would be in case of achieving a Palestinian-Israeli peace that garners more popular acceptance than before.
In case a regional struggle begins, like an Arab struggle with Iran, and Israel is an apparent party in the Arab camp, people will — I believe — upon the concept of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend,” turn a blind eye to this temporary alliance. Once again, this does not mean that Israel will be accepted by Arabs on the popular level — unless in the case of achieving peace with the Palestinians.
We are in a transitional phase of the map and alliances after 1948, and the struggles and hostilities may shift in a totally different direction. Iran and Hezbollah may be on the side of the Jewish state in case a nuclear agreement signed with the West satisfies Israel, which is now considered an obstacle due to its strict stance against American concessions to the Iranians.
In case of a US insistence to reach an agreement (with Iran) that angers the Israel, the latter could push itself toward Arab countries to achieve the necessary regional balance. Israel is currently participating, from a distance, alongside an alliance that’s publicly pressuring the American administration of Barack Obama against being lenient in the negotiations with Tehran; however, it’s not an Israeli-Gulf alliance which can be counted on as Israeli disputes with Arabs of the Gulf regarding Palestine and Syria are not only major and many but also difficult to overcome.
