Anger swirls around U.S. Jerusalem decision in Beirut, bolstering Hezbollah
A pair of demonstrations in Beirut against U.S. President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel offered a study in contrasts — one a seemingly loosely organized venting of anger, the other a carefully orchestrated show of power by Hezbollah, the Lebanese political party/militia that has become arguably the dominant political force in the country.
A few hundred protesters converged Sunday on the embassy in the hills to the east of Beirut. (Although advertised as being “in front of” the embassy, in fact, road blockades kept the demonstrators at a safe distance, probably close to a mile away).
The embassy is strategically located far from the city center and is farther still from the Palestinian camps that are likely the centers of the greatest anger against the recent decision on Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the crowd was largely Palestinian, arriving on buses chartered for the purpose.
The mood of the assembly was volatile. There were sporadic clashes between protesters who threw rocks or attempted to breach the barricades and security forces who sprayed them with water, tear gas and rubber bullets. Largely, however, the protest was peaceful, in spite of angry rhetoric. Some demonstrators burned American and Israeli flags and called to “blow up the embassy.” Others — or perhaps the same ones — started a dabke dance line in the street.
At Monday’s demonstration in Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hezbollah has strong support, there was no question of violence. Thousands of people — including Palestinians, but mostly Lebanese — filed through security and marched down the streets, led by Scout troupes. The crowd dutifully chanted “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel,” but the atmosphere was more festive than aggressive.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, projected on a screen above the street, called for a third intifada in Palestine and promised to confront Israel, saying the U.S. decision on Jerusalem would be “the beginning of the end for Israel, God willing.”
Afterwards, the demonstrators rolled up their flags and headed home.
Habiba, a 25-year-old student from Baalbek now living in Dahieh, came carrying a picture of a Yasser Shams, a Hezbollah fighter from her city who was killed in a battle over the summer between Hezbollah and members of the Syrian militant group formerly known as al Nusra Front on the Lebanese border. While toeing the party line, Habiba — who gave only her first name — also betrayed some uneasiness about the prospect of another military confrontation with Israel.
“Hopefully, we won’t come to a terrible war,” she said. “Hopefully things won’t get worse. Hopefully everything will calm down and the Palestinians will get their land back. This is their dream and this is their right.”
When asked if she thinks this will really happen, she didn’t hesitate: “Of course. When Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says something, he knows what he’s saying. This is the point.”
Political support for the Palestinian cause in the Arab world in general, and in Lebanon in particular, doesn’t always extend to the Palestinians themselves. The estimated 300,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon exist in a state of legal limbo. Although many were born and have lived their entire lives in Lebanon, they are not eligible for Lebanese citizenship due to political calculations that to give it to them would undermine demands that Palestinian refugees be permitted to return to the homes they fled in present-day Israel. They are also largely banned from working in skilled professions and from owning property.
But certainly the current anger over Jerusalem provides an opportunity for Hezbollah to bolster its political support.
The group’s Iran-backed intervention in Syria in support of the government of Bashar al Assad has been controversial at home. But recently Hezbollah has signaled plans to begin withdrawing its forces from Syria and Iraq. Nasrallah also scored political points through his reaction to the now-rescinded surprise resignation last month of Prime Minister Saad Hariri — a political adversary — by insisting the Hariri was acting under duress at the behest of Saudi Arabia and calling for his return to Lebanon. Hezbollah and its allied even reportedly orchestrated a show of public support for the prime minister, erecting billboards with his picture and the slogan “We’re all with you” throughout Beirut.
For months, some political analysts had been saying that another war between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon was imminent. The recent U.S. decision may now have made that possibility more likely to become a reality.