Originally Posted by
Lonewolf_50
fdr: for harmony, insert dhimmitude...but we may be wandering off topic with that.
The Lebanese government's inability to handle the foreign-funded military organization within their borders will not change any time soon. That fact puts these prospective negotiations into jeopardy.
The IRGC's client, Hezbollah, is in what way incentivized to lay down arms?
Or, conversely, who will assist the Lebanese government in putting Hezbollah down?
At the moment, it seems that the only people interested in doing that are the Israelis...which takes us back to where we started, doesn't it?
Way back, the two groups lived peacefully with respect for the religion of the other, until mid post WW-I, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and the rise of both Zionism and Arab Nationalism. Given Balfour's thumb print, not really surprising.
Worth reading
Menachem Klein’s book Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Hebron It gives a glimpse of the level of cooperation that existed before the 20th century started to unravel. The pogroms in Europe by our most prominent fascist at that time, led to higher migration and instability in Palestine, aided by the politicisation of the Grand Mufti who knew how to break crockery. All up, an own goal, and the dismantlement of the pommy "empire" that added more fuel to the fire. The bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, is not so different to what has happened ever since, including the situation where the political leaders involved are publicly outraged by their military counterparts actions, and in a scene very reminiscent of today, one of the paramilitary groups (Haganah) has initially intended to do a bombing of this sort, and then decided against it, and then another group (Irgun) went ahead anyway and did it.
History, it may not repeat, but it sure does rhyme.