Hanin Ghaddar

In his speech responding to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s indictment, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said very clearly that his party would fight the indictment, expecting the state and its institutions to back him up. He addressed the Lebanese people, but paid special attention to the supporters of the Party of God and the Resistance as a whole, with a special message.

He asked them not to be afraid. “I want to tell the supporters of the Resistance to not be worried; this is part of a war we are fighting since the establishment of the Zionist entity. For us, this war is not surprising and it does not affect us… They will not get to us. There will not be any problem; we will fight this bravely and firmly.”

But they are afraid, and he knows that. The Shia are afraid of another war with Israel, the kind that has drummed the South since the beginning of the eighties. As soon as a war ends, people start the process of waiting for the next one. They take it day-by-day, while making sure their sons leave the country to find their future away from the horror of each round of death and destruction.

They are particularly afraid of this next war because of its possible internal consequences. Will the internal refugees be welcomed in other cities and towns as was the case in 2006? Will they be compensated for all their losses? Is Hezbollah still strong enough to achieve another “divine victory”? They have many doubts.

What will happen to them? With the uprising in Syria threatening to oust the Assad regime, who will protect Hezbollah, especially if the indictment turns out to weaken the party?
Those who support Hezbollah, those who support the Resistance, and those who simply do not support anyone all are worried about tomorrow. If Israel succeeds in wiping out or even weakening Hezbollah, they feel that no one will protect them from their enemies inside.

Hezbollah made sure to present the Shia community as one unit that envelops the party and supports all its principles and endeavors. The problem is that the other communities in Lebanon bought this trumped-up story and started treating every Shia accordingly. The rift between the Shia and other Lebanese communities has widened since 2005 as the rift between the March 8 camp widened with March 14.

No one tried to understand the dynamics of the Shia community and the differences that exist among the Shia as individuals. No one realized that the more we regard the Shia as one entity that does not think beyond Hezbollah’s rhetoric, the more they actually stand by Hezbollah because they become afraid of the other.

Today, this vicious cycle is more dangerous than ever because the indictment that we have all been waiting for has finally been issued, and, as expected, points the finger at four individuals who are believed to be Hezbollah members or officials. With the sour relations between the Shia and other communities, the indictment might turn people against them, even if no one says so, and even if Lebanese leaders of all stripes stress the opposite.

March 14 leaders have stressed many times that an indictment against Hezbollah members is not an indictment against the Shia community, but talk is not enough at this critical stage. The Shia need to see this talk translated into behavior, and so far, they haven’t.

Talking to the Shia requires an effort, not only statements. The Shia are afraid today that they will be treated as criminals, and as a self-defense mechanism, they rally more around Hezbollah, which is still powerful enough to protect them.

Living within Hezbollah’s state is not ideal for most of the Shia, who prefer to lead a normal life, without the fear of war, and with open possibilities for the future. Many Shia love life and prefer not to die fighting Israel. But they have been cornered by Hezbollah’s constant attempts to put them under its umbrella and their feelings of being loathed by other Lebanese communities. They will not make an effort to open up or push Hezbollah to adopt a different rhetoric.

The Shia did not murder former PM Rafik Hariri. They never participated in the wars started by Hezbollah. The Shia did not invade Beirut and the Druze mountains on May 7, 2008. The Shia, like many other Lebanese, do not want another war against Israel or internal strife. They simply do not want to be treated like criminals by other Lebanese. There is a difference between Hezbollah and Amal members and other Shia individuals.

If their mistake is that they support Hezbollah, sometimes aggressively, the Lebanese need to understand that this attitude is the result of a long, vicious cycle for which not only the Shia should be blamed. If the Shia still want the Syrian regime to survive the uprising, it is not simply because they like Assad, but because they are afraid to be left alone.
It is time to talk to the Shia; it might be the last chance.

Hanin Ghaddar is managing editor of NOW Lebanon