Yoshie Furuhashi quoted:
<blockquote>Politically they are currently allied to General Michel
Aoun, the non-sectarian yet Christian heavyweight of Lebanese politics
who has stood by his Shi'ite allies during their latest confrontation
with Israel. Aoun's alliance has prevented the Christian street from
turning against Hezbollah. The Israelis wanted everybody in Lebanon,
the Christians included, to suffer great loss in human life and
property so that they would come out and blame Nasrallah for their
misery.
Because of Aoun that has not happened. Rather, the Christians are
offering shelter to the Shi'ites whose homes have been destroyed, and
Christian charity organizations, as well as churches and monasteries,
are doing their share of humanitarian work to decrease the suffering
of the Shi'ites. (Sami Moubayed, "Hezbollah Banks on Home-ground
Advantage," 26 July 2006,
<http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG26Ak01.html>)
I don't believe this one. I think that it puts too much weight on Aoun
and his party. Lebanese of all stripes just don't like having their
country attacked by Israel. Aoun is one of them. And the Israeli
elite decided to attack all of Lebanon (or at least the southern half)
rather than restricting the attack to Hizbullah alone.
--
Jim Devine / "An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and
a rough-edged lancet, who operates beautifully on the dead and
tortures the living." -- Nicholas Chamfort (1741 - 1794)
