The Loser Is Egypt's Regime, Not Hezbollah

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

If Arab regimes fear Hezbollah, feel terror at its rising popularity across the Arab homeland, and are apprehensive of its strength in confronting Israel, then the solution before them does not lie in waging war against Hezbollah, or in supporting Israel against it, but rather in competing with it in tireless work, moral distinction, human excellence, and readiness to repel aggression and liberate land. Confronting those who carry the banner of dignity and honor has historically failed, and usually produces results that backfire on whoever attempts it — and so it will be with the Arab regimes that have chosen this path and are determined to walk it.

In the history of peoples there are periods of flood tide and periods of ebb tide. In periods of flood tide, peoples acquire a firm moral strength through multiple factors, foremost among them the distinction of their leaders, the elevated quality of their human conduct, the soundness of their judgment, and their insistence on progress and construction. In such periods a people holds fast to the values of collective work and mutual cooperation, strengthens mutual trust among different people, groups, and institutions, and honesty, faithfulness, and commitment become its prominent traits. This is how a nation begins to rise in every sphere of life, and continues to advance despite the harsh circumstances it may face, and despite enemies who may surround it. This is a flood-tide phase with a future ahead of it, and the past becomes, for such a nation, mere memory.

In periods of ebb tide, by contrast, a nation drowns in moral corruption, suspicion dominates its internal relations, and theft, embezzlement, favoritism, and discrimination among people become prominent features of its moral order. People’s morale declines, the nation becomes exposed to invasion, persecution, and exploitation, most people take up hypocrisy and lying as a trade, cowardice overtakes them, and courage becomes a rare and precious thing.

Every single Arab state, without exception, is living through an ebb-tide condition that reflects negatively on education, health, public taste, and morals, and turns the Arab homeland into an arena for invaders, plunderers, and the covetous. A small number of Arab regimes are uncomfortable with this state of affairs, but are too incapable of rebelling against themselves and deciding to change their condition; a great many others are comfortable with this state of affairs and work to entrench it, growing ever more backward, more disgraced, and more humiliated. These many regimes are little more than a plaything in the hands of Israel and America, serving as a cheap intermediary to turn the Arab homeland into a stage for aggressors — as we see in the opening of the homeland’s doors and its inner chambers to Israel.

The Arab regimes, foremost among them Egypt’s, are living in the past, the true embodiment of the phase of Arab defeat on every level, whereas Hezbollah looks toward the future with steady steps, despite every attempt to strike it, exhaust it, and remove it from the equation of the conflict with the Zionist enemy. Its internal Lebanese policy, and its policy in confronting Israel, have both proven effective and successful, and the Party has proven that its method rests on precise, carefully studied, scientific foundations — foundations the Arab is not accustomed to. The Arab has grown accustomed to abundant talk, resounding speeches, false promises, and defeats, and now finds a new pattern taking shape on the Arab scene, led by Hezbollah, a pattern that carries within it grounds for hope.

The conflict now playing out on the Arab stage is between those who see their future in the past, and those who see their future through determined steps toward the days to come. There is not a single case in history in which the past defeated the future, nor have those who step backward ever overcome those who step forward. Those insisting on backwardness and defeat may land a few harsh blows on the other side, but in the end they cannot hold their ground. It is clear that a number of Arab regimes are losing their composure because of the resistance’s steadfastness in southern Lebanon and Gaza, and are trying, with all the strength they possess, to halt the wheel of history. But history does not stop.

Arab peoples, for the most part, look to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah as a new, successful model, one that could succeed even further if it received support, or at least if Arab conspiracies against it ceased. These peoples are not concerned with the question of Sunni and Shia; they are concerned only with their dignity and honor, lost over long years, and they are prepared to support anyone who confronts colonialism in all its forms and occupation in all its forms, even if he were Ethiopian with no connection whatsoever to Arabism. Arab peoples no longer look upon their regimes with trust, but with suspicion, resentment, and rejection (not yet an active rejection), and any action taken against Hezbollah, or against Arab resistance generally, is met with doubt and questioning. If Egypt’s regime imagines it will win the support of Arab peoples for its pursuit of Hezbollah, Hamas, and Arab resistance in general, it is entirely mistaken.

Arab regimes do not help themselves through actions like those undertaken by Egypt’s regime under the pretext of sovereignty and national dignity, for we all know that Arab national sovereignty is nonexistent, and that any junior official in the American White House can defy the president of the largest Arab state. On the contrary, such regimes only entrench the popular Arab view, confirming that they are regimes pliant before the nation’s enemies. And if Arab regimes fear what is called the “Shia tide” (though their relationship to Islam is itself flimsy, and I am certain that Arab leaders from Morocco to Iraq do not know the difference between Sunni and Shia), believing that through these actions they are protecting the Sunnis, then I say that the Shia will end up leading the Muslims with the support of Sunni masses. But if these regimes are truly searching for a way out for the nation as a whole, they must abandon the degradation and decline they are mired in, and adopt new policies that express the people’s aspirations and give their hopes meaning.

The hearts of Arab peoples are with Gaza and with lifting the siege upon it, and I do not see that Egypt’s regime’s actions in tightening the siege appeal to people’s sentiments. Tightening the siege warms Israel’s heart, but it fills Arab hearts with disgust and loathing.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “الخاسر: نظام مصر وليس حزب الله” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.