Israel and the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah are on the verge of a historic and controversial prisoner swap that speaks to the power of the militants in Lebanon.
On Thursday, Israel is scheduled to release 400 Palestinian inmates, 35 Arabs from assorted countries, 23 Lebanese and a German national linked to Hezbollah. In exchange, Hezbollah will free a kidnapped Israeli businessman and has promised to clear up the fate of three Israeli soldiers taken in Hezbollah’s campaign to rid Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has agreed to turn over their remains, but has hinted that at least one of the soldiers is alive.
Brokered with German mediation, the deal has drawn criticism in Israel from right-wing factions that disdain any diplomatic dealings with Hezbollah–the self-proclaimed “Party of God,” whose trademark is terror against the Jewish state.
The agreement shows the enormous influence that Hezbollah wields in Lebanon. Backed by Iran and aligned with Syria, Hezbollah takes its orders from both countries and has much to say about what happens in Lebanon, a nation the size of Connecticut with 3 million inhabitants.
Wracked by 16 years of civil war, which left more than 150,000 people dead, Lebanon emerged in the 1990s with a hope to build a coalition of the 70 percent Muslim majority and the 30 percent Christian minority.
Hezbollah’s social and political dominance, however, has thrown off that equation. It has just 20,000 members and holds only 10 of 128 seats in the Lebanese parliament. But the numbers don’t reflect its influence.
Hezbollah does the bidding of Syria, which maintains 20,000 troops in Lebanon. Through charities and its media, Hezbollah spreads the fundamentalist Muslim message of the Iranian clerics who finance it. With some 3,000 militiamen, Hezbollah still skirmishes with Israeli troops on Lebanon’s southern border.
In acting as the diplomatic force in the prisoner exchange, Hezbollah’s Sheik Hassan Nasrallah proclaimed the swap “a gift to all of the Arabs.” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reflected his nation’s angst over the deal, calling it “a torturous back and forth on the issue of principles and morals.”
The Bush administration considers Hezbollah as a major terrorist organization. In many Arab eyes, Hezbollah is to be admired. Hezbollah’s role in the prisoner exchange has received rave reviews in the Arab press and has strengthened its standing on the Arab street, where pride is smarting over the American invasion of Iraq.
The two sides may find some relief, even joy, in this exchange, but it is also a sobering reminder of the power of a terrorist organization, and of how far Lebanon has to go before it can be considered a legitimate, independent state.
