Hezbollah 2, Government 0 again
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"The Footrace to Rebuild Lebanon
By DANIEL STEINVORTH,
Der Spiegel
The militant Islamic group Hezbollah has seized an opportunity to show how much power it still wields by assuming a key role in the Lebanese reconstruction effort. With its generous assistance programs, the organization is shoring up its influence among the country's Shiites.
Mohammed al-Safadi is sitting in a rubble-filled wasteland wiping the dust from his forehead. The Lebanese minister of public works and transport is visiting Haret Hreik, one of Beirut's southern suburbs. He seems out of place in his elegant suit and his smooth-shaven, aristocratic face. Behind his back, huge chunks of concrete crash to the ground about every five minutes. Bulldozers and cranes maneuver among the ruins of bombed-out high-rise buildings as workers wearing facemasks scurry through the rubble. The effort to rebuild Haret Hreik, a Hezbollah stronghold, is clearly in full swing.
Hezbollah has set up a tent city for volunteers near the demolished building that once housed its propaganda TV station, Al- Manar. The tent city serves as both the command center for the cleanup operation in Haret Hreik and as a place to receive political guests. Red banners proclaiming the militia's "divine victory" hang everywhere. The words "Made in the USA" are emblazoned on a poster lying on a pile of rubble. In this neighborhood, Israel is seen as the Americans' henchman.
When the TV crews finally arrive in the tent, Safadi gets up from his plastic chair. "The resistance movement is doing great work," he says in praise of the Shiite Hezbollah party. "Cooperation with government institutions is going very well."
Parts of Lebanon are in ruins once again, in a country that had only recently recovered from a 15-year civil war and the lengthy period of stagnation that followed. During its invasion, the Israeli army demolished both Hezbollah's bases in the south and infrastructure throughout the entire country. While Israel withdraws and the United Nations assembles its 15,000-troop peacekeeping contingent, Hezbollah and the Lebanese government are caught up in a race to lead the rebuilding effort.
Hezbollah has multiple faces in Lebanon. On the one hand, it is a militant organization that undermines the government's authority and attacks Israel with its Katyusha rockets, thereby boosting its popularity ratings in the Arab world. On the other hand, Hezbollah is a charitable organization that is gaining respect and influence with its generous aid to Shiites in the multi-denominational country.
Hezbollah has opened assistance offices throughout the country to coordinate the cleanup work and building repair services it offers war victims free of charge. According to the Shiite militia's propaganda machine, each of 5,000 families made homeless by the war has received a $12,000 grant. The effort seems to be paying off, as more than 35 percent of the capital's southern suburbs are apparently inhabitable once again.
The Lebanese government, loath to allow Hezbollah to claim all the credit for reconstruction, is sending politicians like Safadi to put in appearances in Beirut's demolished neighborhoods. Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has promised to pay every citizen who has lost his apartment or house $33,000 from the national treasury.
Arab governments, the United States and the European Union have put together a "multi-billion dollar package" to rebuild Lebanon as quickly as possible. Private charities, such as the Hariri Foundation established by murdered former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as well as political parties, like the Free Patriotic Movement of General Michael Aun, a Christian, are also angling to do their part.
But Hassan Karut, an elderly resident of Haret Hreik, is skeptical that these big promises will ever materialize. The old man has good reason to be mistrustful. "No one has ever paid attention to us Shiites here," he says, "except Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah." The fact that Lebanon, a country divided along religious lines, has such a weak government only encourages the 1.2 million Shiites, the country's largest and poorest population group, to place its bets on Hezbollah rather than the government or the West....."
nytimes.com
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Corporate media also reported the same thing but was more blunt. The parts of Lebanon controlled by the government were in chaos while the southern part of the country was bustling with economic activity.
Who knew Islamic militants were such good capitalists and propaganda spinners. |
