June/July 2002, pages 30, 111

Beirut Bulletin

Hezbollah Adviser Says U.S. Now “an Expert in Attracting Enemies, Not Friends”

By Samaa Abu Sharar

Haj Hussein Khalil’s office is located in a modest building in Beirut’s densely populated Al Dahieh neighborhood, a stronghold of Lebanon’s Islamist movement, Hezbollah.

The middle-aged political adviser to Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah initially appears rather cold and distant. As we begin to talk, however, he becomes fervent and eager to voice his party’s opinion on issues important to Hezbollah and the region as a whole.

Sipping a cup of tea, Hussein Khalil said Hezbollah was not surprised to be placed on Washington’s list of terrorist organizations following the tragic Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, DC. “The U.S. has been trying to undermine the party since its birth in 1982,” he observed.

According to Khalil, any organization, institution or nation that does not comply with U.S. demands is accused of terrorist activities—and Hezbollah certainly is defiant, at least according to American standards.

Hezbollah believes—as do many in the region—that Washington applies a double standard in its foreign policy. Those who work with the U.S. are labeled friends, he explained, while those who refuse to are labeled terrorists. It is this double standard, Khalil argued, that is the cause of anti-U.S. sentiment. “America,” he added, “has become expert in attracting enemies and not friends.”

The war on terrorism, he continued, serves as yet another excuse for the U.S. to complete its “unfinished business” in the world. Since Sept. 11, he told the Washington Report, “All is possible now in the name of the war on terrorism.”

A good example, Khalil said, is the U.S. war in Afghanistan, which is widely viewed in Arab countries as an unjust war between the world’s sole superpower and one of the poorest countries on earth. In Khalil’s opinion, civilians, not Taliban fighters, were the real victims of this.

According to the Hezbollah official, Israel has taken advantage of America’s war on terrorism by claiming it, too, is fighting terror in the occupied territories. “Israel, which is practicing state terrorism,” he noted, “is being viewed as the victim, while the real victims, the Palestinians, are being portrayed as terrorists.”

The Jewish state, moreover, is getting a helping hand from the U.S. administration. Following Israel’s latest invasion of the West Bank and the devastating toll of death and destruction it inflicted, President George Bush called Ariel Sharon “a man of peace” and Yasser Arafat “an instigator of terror.”

Moreover, Khalil said, the U.S. uses its Security Council veto whenever the international community demands that Israel implement U.N. resolutions. “Even verbal condemnation is not allowed in Israel’s case,” he said.

Thanks to Washington’s strong support, Israel is seen as getting away with numerous violations, while other countries, such as Iraq, are severely punished if they violate or ignore international resolutions.

Asked about Nasrallah’s recent comments that the U.S. has past accounts to settle with Hezbollah, Haj Khalil admitted that the U.S. wishes to see the party take certain actions in order to be removed from Washington’s terrorist list.

Despite denying any contact with the Islamic movement, Washington, the Hezbollah official insisted, repeatedly has contacted the party through European and Japanese intermediaries.

Prior to Sept. 11, he revealed, the U.S. proposed that, in exchange for Nasrallah’s promise of a cease-fire on the Lebanese-Israeli border, Israel would withdraw from the Shebaa Farms and release all Lebanese detainees from Israeli prisons. “After Sept. 11,“ Khalil continued, “the same offer was placed on the table—this time in exchange for security cooperation in Afghanistan, where we would provide the U.S. with information on the Taliban.”

The Islamic movement rejected both deals, however, with the result that Hezbollah was placed on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

Since Sept. 11, the U.S. reportedly has exerted strong pressure on the Lebanese government to force Hezbollah to limit its activities against Israel.

Khalil denied that Beirut had submitted to this pressure, pointing out that Lebanon repeatedly has made the distinction between resistance and terrorism. “The government supports the choice of resistance,” he explained, “since it’s what liberated and united the country.”

While admitting that some might prefer liberating occupied land through diplomatic channels, Khalil believes the majority of Lebanese still support the armed resistance. Denying assertions that the party’s “mission of liberation,” as some like to call it, is completed, he vowed, “As long as there is occupation we will continue to resist.”

Haj Khalil did agree, however, that Washington is keen on excluding the Islamic movement from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. “America’s main allegation is that we are helping terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, which are fighting Israeli occupation,” he noted, differing with the U.S. definition of terrorism.

The Hezbollah official acknowledged that his party is proud to be supporting the Palestinian intifada—although he was reluctant to emphasize what kind of help Hezbollah has extended, saying only, “We have shared with the Palestinians our experience of resistance.” Hezbollah media outlets, represented mainly through the Al Manar satellite channel, strongly advocate the Palestinian cause.

Referring to Hassan Nasrallah’s recent declaration that Hezbollah had tried to smuggle a number of Katyushas across the Jordanian-Israeli border into Palestine, Haj Khalil admitted that the choice of the frontiers was not Hezbollah’s. “I believe it was upon the request of the Palestinians [that] the weapons were to be delivered across the Jordanian border,” he explained.

Asked about the destination of the weapons once they reached Palestine, he replied they were intended “not for a certain party, [but] for anyone fighting Israel.”

The Hezbollah official told the Washington Report that his party would stop aiding the Palestinians once statehood is achieved and refugees in Lebanon return to their homeland. He pointed to the refugee issue as being at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

When asked the reason for Hezbollah’s popularity on the Arab street, Haj Khalil proudly replied, “Because we deliver an honest and trustworthy speech.”

Hezbollah, he insisted, always means what it says. “Imagine,” he added, “even Israeli settlers in the north say that when their government tells them not to go to the shelters, and Hassan Nasrallah says go to the shelters, they listen to the secretary-general [Nasrallah].”

The Hezbollah official said his party’s position was clear on Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah’s peace plan adopted at the Arab summit in Beirut. “We have always believed that jihad and armed resistance is the best option to liberate Arab occupied land,” he said.

And would it work in Palestine? “Primarily in Palestine,” he asserted, “and then everywhere else.”

Haj Hussein Khalil was optimistic about the enormous potential in the Arab street. The problem, he said, lies with the leadership. “The revolutionary mentality,” he concluded, “needs nourishing in the Arab world.”

Samaa Abu Sharar is a free-lance journalist based in Lebanon.

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