The Resistance Bloc – After 10 Years of Victory

by Shabbir R Hassanally

The 25th of May 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the victory of the resistance in Lebanon against Zionist occupation. This day also marks the first time that the Zionist Entity suffered a humiliation at the hand of the Arabs and Muslims. A humiliation that even ten years later, it is unable to recover from.

This day marks a major milestone in the struggle of the Resistance bloc against Zionist occupation and American hegemony, it revives the hope of the millions of Palestinians living across the world, who have been forcibly evicted from their homes, have had their inheritance stolen, and who now live in perpetual exile, without a nationality, without a nation.

To understand this, we must examine a little history:

When the Zionist Entity was initially established in 1948, the Arab and Muslim world was caught off guard. History is a witness to the various ill-conceived knee jerk reactions of various Arab and Muslim leaders. For the most part, the strategies employed by the various Arab and Muslim leaders failed, in some cases miserably, and didn’t lead to any positive or tangible gain for the Muslims, Arabs and above all the Palestinians. Indeed in some cases these actions led to results that were detrimental to the Palestinians overall wellbeing.

In the midst of all of this, at the start of 1979, a movement that had started well before 1963 within the cloisters of the Islamic Seminaries in Iran attained victory. The Islamic Republic of Iran was established under the leadership of the late Imam Ruhullah Khomeini.

From the start Imam Khomeini’s foreign policy and stance towards the Zionist Entity and her allies was very simple. Imam Khomeini and the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran said clearly that they refused to recognise or have any sort of relations with the Zionist Entity. Rather, they recognised the Palestinians as the rightful inhabitants of the land of Palestine. Indeed after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Tehran became the first capital to host a Palestinian Embassy, thereby formally cutting all diplomatic ties and recognition of the Zionist Entity.

The stance taken by Imam Khomeini, and the Islamic Republic of Iran provided a new injection of morale to the beleaguered Palestinian resistance movement, and dealt a massive public relations blow to the Zionists and their allies – at the very least within the Arab and Muslim world.

When the Zionists invaded Lebanon in 1982 in an attempt to remove the Palestinians who were making their resistance from various areas in Southern Lebanon, initially, they met some – albeit minimal resistance, and as a result were successful in occupying much of south Lebanon, and forcing the bulk of the Palestinian resistance out of Lebanon and into its neighbouring countries such as Syria, Jordan and elsewhere. However, the Zionists then made a fundamental and to all intents and purposes catastrophic mistake with regard to Lebanon. They decided they would stay.

They felt they were “comfortable” in Lebanon. Amongst the reasons that analysts cite for this was the fact that Lebanon was unique in the Arab world in that it had a significant non-Muslim population, as a result it was felt that Lebanon saw it’s alliances more with the so-called Christian West, and less-so with the Muslim East.

What the Zionists didn’t count on was a fundamental truth that holds for any person, from any creed, from any nation, from any culture; when invaded, when violated, when harmed, after the initial shock of the trauma has dissipated, the oppressed people will fight back. Initially they will be few in number, but over time, as the atrocities and crimes of the invader multiply and the length of occupation increases, that resistance will grow, indeed it will grow exponentially.
At this point it is crucial to understand what exactly constitutes a resistance. A resistance is not merely the soldiers who go to the battle field and fight the invading enemy, the resistance is the mother, the wife, the child, the grandfather, the grandmother and so on, who give succour to their youth, who give their full support to the fighters, who dress their sons, husbands and fathers in the clothes of resistance and with an open heart and happiness encourage them to go to the battle front and fight the invaders and those who have usurped the land from the innocents.

The resistance is an organic movement that grows with every second the invaders stays, that growth is exponential. With each passing day the resistance becomes stronger and stronger. Once it reaches critical mass, that growth becomes unstoppable, both locally in the occupied lands and abroad, as its influence spreads to its neighbours and even further to all the oppressed people who are fighting to liberate themselves from the yoke of occupation. Be it a direct occupation as is the case in Palestine, or a psychological occupation like that in the Western World.

The struggle of the Lebanese, their subsequent victory in 2000, the eviction of the Zionist occupier from the bulk of occupied Lebanese territory is testament to this absolute truth.

This truth was further reinforced in 2006, when the Zionists felt that they could rekindle their project in Lebanon, six years after having been ejected. The Zionists once again attempted to re-invade Lebanon, using the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers as their pretext for war. But again, in 33 days they were forced to leave Lebanon, with none of their war objectives achieved, and with their tail between their legs.

Indeed in 2006, they saw that they were no longer fighting a faction of the Lebanese community, rather they were fighting the entire nation, the Army, the People and the Resistance were all together as one in defending their nation against the Zionist aggressors. They were now fighting an enemy capable of surprising them, and hitting them where they felt most secure.

In 2006, the Zionists saw that they could destroy the buildings and physical infrastructure of Lebanon, but they could not break the spirit of the people who had allied themselves with the Resistance.

They saw that regardless of whether they bombed the civilian areas of the Daheih Jnoubiyyeh (Southern Suburbs) of Beirut, or the Beirut Airport, or the Biqaa Valley, or the village of Qana, or anywhere in Lebanon, they saw that they couldn’t break the spirit of the people or their loyalty to the Resistance.

Even with the world’s media supporting the Zionists in its so-called “War on Terror”, with the full backing of Washington, London, Paris and indeed Cairo and Riyadh; the Zionists saw that the people were looking constantly to the local Lebanese channels for accurate news, and above all they were looking at al-Manar TV, the television channel of the Resistance.

In places where al-Manar couldn’t be received for reasons that are part of the larger psychological and technological war against the Resistance; the masses were moving to the new media; to the internet and obtaining their news and information from places like YouTube, various blogs and independent news sites, as well as from people on the ground in Lebanon through emails and SMS messages.

Information now had a grassroots distribution channel, not organised but rather organic, which made it that much more resilient and reliable; there were no ulterior motives; only to get the information out of the crimes that the Zionists were committing. Like the internet it relied on, this information chain was and indeed is virtually unbreakable, as long as one person with a cell phone remained in Lebanon, as long as one person had an internet connection, the information and news could be given to the people. The lies of the Zionists could be exposed.

The Zionists aware of the impact of al-Manar TV, the television channel of the Resistance, chose to target the channel directly – an act that is clearly a violation of international law and without a doubt a war crime – but they saw that their flattening of the al-Manar Television Complex in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs, resulted in the channelling being off the air for less than 5 minutes.

The Zionists on the online front, also attempted to take down web sites and email groups that gave out information on what was happening in Lebanon during the 2006 campaign (and also during the 2008/2009 Gaza adventure), but again these attempts by groups such as the “Internet Haganah” and “Sofir” and others such as the IDF Spokesman to cover the truth of the Zionist atrocities were futile and never achieved their goals and indeed will never achieve their goals.

Thirty-three days after starting their adventure in Lebanon in July 2006, the Zionists were forced to leave, under the pretext and protection of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The Zionists left, with their “home-front” exposed, their military in disarray, their “elite brigades” completely demoralized, and without having achieved any of their war objectives.

The Zionist left Lebanon in 2006 far weaker than when they entered; in 33 days they had been devastated.

The Resistance on the other hand, became much stronger, and today the Resistance enjoys a place of honour and dignity not only in Lebanese society but in the hearts of the Arabs and Muslims in the streets, and across the world, from Los Angeles, to Okinawa, from Reykjavik to Sydney and everywhere in between. Indeed one of the slogans of the various demonstrations against the Zionist Campaign in 2006 was “We are all Hezbollah!”.

In 2008/2009 when the Zionists made their campaign in Gaza, they again got a taste of defeat and humiliation; this time in 22 days they were forced to abort their attempt to re-occupy the Gaza Strip, and were forced to leave, again dragging their tail between their legs.

Once again, the world over, at demonstrations against the Zionist campaign against Gaza, slogans such as “We are all Hamas!” could be clearly heard.

In the opinion of many analysts, the morale of the heroic Gazans was boosted by the fact that in the 21st Century, it was an absolute fact that even a small resistance movement – while ill equipped militarily, but with determination and the sheer will to not be subjugated – could hurt and bring to its knees the well equipped Zionist Entity.

The Gazans were confident that the victory of blood over the swords of the aggressors was guaranteed; they had but to be patient and continue the resistance, but that over time, they would achieve victory.

At this juncture, I am reminded of a speech, delivered in 2002 by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, wherein he said (and I’m paraphrasing):

“When a person thinks of resistance against an aggressor, the person must not think that they will see victory themselves, rather they should work in a manner that victory may take generations, but that every action will make that victory closer and closer.”

It was this philosophy and mentality, that gave Lebanon victory, and it would be this same mentality that will guarantee victory to Palestine.

The liberation of Lebanon in 2000 heralded a paradigm shift in the entire balance of power in the region; it proved that the people DO have the power; that might is NOT right; and that resistance IS the way to remove the yoke of occupation and secure freedom and dignity for the people.

Within the Zionist Entity itself, it is clear that the morale of the Israelis is weak and weakening daily. According to several reports there is a massive exodus of people from Israel to their home countries. There is a growing movement of refuseniks, Israeli military personal who refuse to serve in Lebanon, or the Occupied Palestinian territories, and generally there is uneasiness and insecurity in Israel, people do not feel comfortable, some reports suggest there is a correlation with the increased isolation of the Zionist Entity, and the rise in organised crime within Israel, in particular the Israeli Mafia. There are also reports indicating a rise in the rate of suicides in Israel, especially amongst soldiers who have served in Lebanon or the Occupied Palestinian territories, since 2000.

Across the rest of the world, there is a growth of people who will no longer remain silent and watch passively as the Zionists continue to occupy and oppress the Palestinians and threaten others around the world who oppose the Zionist project.

Testimony to this are the various humanitarian missions; such as the Viva Palestina missions attempting to get aid to Gaza, that have persisted despite attempts by the Zionists and their allies to block them, as well as the anti-Zionist shifts in policy shown by various countries such as Turkey and Venezuela.

There is a growth in the Global BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement against Israel and Zionism, we can see that there have been a number of academic institutions that are cutting ties with their Israeli counterparts.

The propaganda spewed by the Zionist lobby, equating any criticism of Zionism as being anti-Semitic are no longer considered accurate anymore, and fewer and fewer people are accepting that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.

There is a growth in the number of Jewish anti-Zionist activists; notables include the Neturei Karta, academics such as Norman Finkelstein, whose parents were survivors of the Nazi holocaust.

More and more people, can now see that the crimes and activities of the Zionists in Palestine bear striking similarities to the crimes committed by the Nazis against the Jews and other minorities during World War Two, and indeed many are no longer afraid to say that Zionism is in fact Nazism with another name. The world is no longer passively going to accept that everything the Zionists and Israel say and do is justified to “ensure its survival”.

The global economic crisis is further straining even those countries that previously supported the Zionists, and forcing them to rethink whether they can realistically afford to continue funding the Zionist project while their own coffers are running dry.

As more information on the Zionist crimes is made available through the internet, through independent news outlets and the rise of grassroots movement using new media and the social web as campaigning grounds and places to give information on the Zionist atrocities, the excuse of ignorance is no longer valid.

We can see the plots and activities of the Zionists are now starting to create a wave of contempt and disapproval, and indeed are even irking some of their closest allies in Washington and London; plots and activities such as their assassination in Damascus of the Hezbollah Commander Imad Moghniyyeh in 2008, through to their murder of Hamas Leader, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai at the start of 2010.

These activities rather than giving the Zionists respect amongst the people of the world, and achieving their goals of breaking the Resistance, are in fact forcing even their allies to distance themselves, and indeed are making the Resistance bloc stronger.

With each passing day, the Zionists become more detested by the peoples of the world, and in their last moments they make more strategic blunders. These mistakes can be likened unto the flapping around of a fish that has found itself outside it’s comfort zone of being in water, it flaps around, with no real gain, and ultimately it dies, suffocating itself.

The secretary general of Hezbollah has said in his last few speeches, that should the Zionists make a new adventure into Lebanon, or if they attack any of the Resistance bloc countries (Iran, Syria and Lebanon) like they are threatening, they should be aware, that the ensuing war would change the face of the region.

Israeli analysts are also in agreement, they know that Israel cannot tolerate another defeat such as those in 2006 in Lebanon and 2008/2009 in Gaza, where countless millions of US taxpayer dollars were spent and all types of banned and illegal munitions were dropped on innocents, yet not a single solitary war objective was achieved.

This is why, Israel, while constantly sabre rattling and threatening, deep down knows that it must not blindly go into war again, as it doesn’t know the capabilities of the Resistance bloc, but it does know that it has been defeated twice in succession in the last 5 years. It also knows that the era of its military superiority over its enemies has passed. It knows that it has been over 30 years since Zionists could say that they have won in a military conflict.

Previously the war was asymmetric in favour of the Israeli side, since the 2000 victory of the resistance in Lebanon this is no longer the case. If proof was needed, then 2006 and 2008/2009 are clear examples that Israel can no longer consider itself as “untouchable” in warfare, even with its multi-billion dollar weaponry, it cannot fight against the will of a people to survive and hold their heads up with dignity.

Thing reminds us of something that Condoleezza Rice, the former US Secretary of State had said during the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon in 2006. She said that these were the “birth pangs of a new middle east”.

I think she was right, only she didn’t understand what was happening.

This victory in Lebanon against the Zionist invasion reinforced the victory of 2000 when the Zionists were first humiliated and forced to vacate Lebanon. This has resulted in the birth of a new phenomenon in the world – the Resistance bloc. A movement that proves that resistance to aggression can, and indeed has, achieved positive and tangible results. So yes, Condi Rice was right, 2006 did herald in a new middle east.

A middle east (and indeed world), that chooses resistance over humiliation. In this new world, we will see justice and dignity prevail, following a time when the world is filled with injustice and tyranny.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian