Hizbullah, FPM MOU Three Years on...

 
Source: Al-Manar TV, 04-02-2009

Three years ago, a phenomenal event took place in a significant place one year after a catastrophic incident that put the country on the verge of war...civil war.

On the 6th of February 2006, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the head of the Free Patriotic Movement General Michel Aoun signed a memorandum of understanding at the Saint Michael church, a symbol for the civil war era when the church and the adjacent "green line" used to separate between Muslim and Christian fighters in western and eastern Beirut.

The event took place almost a year after former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut; an incident that split the Lebanese and pushed the country to the verge of a new civil war.

The Riots Of February 5

Lebanon was divided between the March 8 and the (US backed) March 14 blocs.
The ambitions of the Christians had shattered after the so called "Cedars Revolution" monopolized power and turned against its allies.

The peak was on the eve of the 5th of February 2006, one day before the MOU was signed. Then Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa, had held a security meeting and announced afterwards that a demonstration will take place outside the Danish embassy in Ashrafiyyeh. He also said that the orders were not to confront the demonstrators. Sabaa also banned the use of live bullet rounds by police in the area.

The morning of February 5 saw the destruction of private and public properties including churches and the torching of the some building near the embassy. The head of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea urged his supporters through media outlets not to face the demonstrators, given the fact they are allied from the Mustakbal (Future) movement of MP Saad Hariri.
The riot and the havoc continued for several hours. Geagea had to retreat his morning statement with another calling on Sabaa to resign.

The Future Movement was still silent.

The interior ministry announced later in the evening that police had arrested 160 rioters. Most of them were later released under a "special pardon" and pressure by the Future Movement.
Mou Results In New Reality Of Coexistence

The MOU however, resulted in a new reality of Lebanese coexistence. Christians in Ashrafiyyeh realized that it was the first time that the performance of allies (Future - Lebanese Forces) causes that much damage.

It was not before the historical event that most of the Lebanese really felt that civil war in Lebanon was over. The MOU introduced a patriotic model of a freewill agreement, between different political groups, on a project to build a society and a strong, capable and fair state for free compatriots.

The Understanding Surmounts Challenges

The first was the "Israeli" war on Lebanon in 2006. After the resistance captured the two "Israeli" soldiers, Aoun said Hizbullah had engaged in a "pure military action," not a terrorist attack, at a time so called moderates inside and outside Lebanon were slamming the resistance as a group of adventurers.

Hizbullah took over defending Lebanon militarily while Aoun, a former army commander, backed the resistance politically and socially, when his supporters shared their houses, food and clothes with their displaced compatriots. Aoun's MOU with Hizbullah has always been dangerous for "Israel" and the United States. The General himself, according to intelligence reports, was a main target for "Israeli" warplanes during the war.

Like Hizbullah, Aoun also earned the ire of "Israel" and Washington by publicly calling for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to their homeland Palestine in the framework of their right to return, something strongly resisted by "Israel".

The second challenge emerged right after the 33-day war ended; this time with an illegitimate government. Hizbullah, the FPM and other opposition parties held a 537-day sit-in in downtown Beirut to demand the government step down and improve living conditions in Lebanon.

Then came the 7th of June 2008. On that day, zero hour was set to embark in an action aimed at distorting the image of the resistance. The understanding between Hizbullah and the FPM prevented the bid to take the country into the abyss. The anti-resistance attempt backlashed.
When feuding parties returned from Qatar after having agreed on a set of long waited measures, a government was formed and Aoun's party was part of it.

The Hizbullah-FPM understanding is no longer an understanding between two wide popular movements, but is has become a social method to enhance confidence and hope and to build a prosperous, indivisible Lebanon immune from occupation or appropriation. It is an understanding that constitutes a much needed entrance to any broader national understanding.