The fate of the Lebanese government remains uncertain, reports Omayma Abdel-Latif When Nawaf Al-Musawi, head of Hizbullah's international relations, went to chair a commemoration event of the resistance shuhadaa on Sunday, in Aita Al-Shaab, a town one kilometre from the border with Israel, he could not hide his frustration and shock. The state, he said, was completely absent. "The government keeps bragging about extending its authority over the entire territory, but when it comes to real action, such as clearing roads and unloading the debris from the destroyed houses, the state disappears," Al-Musawi said. Such complaints about the state of negligence in southern towns, compounded by a lack of transparency on the issue of reconstruction funds have complicated an already strained relationship between the resistance movement and the Lebanese government. This week, party leaders upped the ante against the government, accusing it of "stabbing the resistance in its back" during the war while seeking to make political gains at the expense of resistance sacrifices. This led to heightened political tension not witnessed in the country since the death of former prime minister, Rafik Al-Hariri, in February 2005. Speculations were rife over the fate of the government in light of news reports that backed Hizbullah's fears that Fouad Al-Siniora government was dragging its feet on reconstruction efforts to "punish the people of the south". On Tuesday, the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper reported what it said was evidence that the prime minister was deliberately delaying the process of reconstruction. In its editorial, the newspaper asked whether Al-Siniora and his political team in government made a political decision to "punish the southerners and blackmail the opponent political forces -- i.e. Hizbullah -- in order to link it with political concessions from the party". The paper cites incidents of what it said was evidence of Al-Siniora's deliberate policies. Some of the food aid has been used to achieve political ends and was given to food programmers belonging to both Tayyar Al-Mustaqbal headed by Saad Al-Hariri and Walid Jumblatt's Socialist Progressive Party, in order to be distributed in their constituency during the month of Ramadan. Both Jumblatt and Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese forces, are vying to have some of the reconstruction funds allocated to those who were made to leave their houses and villages during the Civil War, particularly the Christians who fled their villages in Mount Lebanon during the war because of massacres committed against them by the Druze. Arab countries including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have delayed sending the promised funds until "the disputes are settled regarding the issue among the key political forces that make up the government". Qatar, which has promised to fund reconstruction in the southern towns of Bint Jbeil, Ainata, Aita Al-Shaab and Al-Kheyam, has officially refused to transfer the funds to the higher authority of relief, a government body which Hizbullah believes lacks transparency, and instead decided to channel the funds in the way it sees fit. "This government does not care about reconstruction as much as it cares about making political gains out of the funding," one Hizbullah source told Al-Ahram Weekly. "All we are asking for is a transparent mechanism to ensure that the people who have been hardest hit are going to be fairly compensated," said the source. Prominent writer Jihad Al-Zein wrote an article in An-Nahar newspaper, exposing what he referred to as the allegations surrounding the reconstruction funding that has become the daily bread of the Lebanese. "I challenge the prime minister," Al-Zain wrote, "to respond to those allegations to clear the dust on the reputation of his government." Even fresh calls for self restraints by the country's veteran politicians like Salim Al-Hoss and other religious leaders, have gone untended in the heat of the political wrangling between Hizbullah and its political allies and members of the 14th March alliance in the government, thus leaving the fate of the government hanging in the balance. The threat of walking out from their government positions has been repeatedly made by Hizbullah which has two ministers. But party leaders insist that they are not seeking to change the government, rather to expand it to include all the Lebanese political forces, namely of course the party's main political ally, Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement. But ministers of the 14th March alliance claim that the logic behind the calls for a national unity government has to do with Hizbullah's attempts to block establishing an international tribunal to try those who killed Al-Hariri. Another issue that is likely to heighten the tension is what Hizbullah views as the government's interpretation of Resolution 1701, arguing that such an interpretation is giving the international forces "powers that don't even exist in the resolution". This week, Hizbullah went public with its growing fears that the way the government was performing regarding the implementation of the resolution was eroding the Lebanese sovereignty over the land, sea and air. "The resolution as it stands is very vague so why does the Lebanese government want to put things that don't exist there in the first place," asked Al-Musawi. The presence of German monitors, which were spotted at Beirut Airport, created a political crisis in the country. Al-Manar TV aired what it said was a shot showing German soldiers hanging around at the airport premises. Hizbullah said such presence represented a grave violation of the Lebanese sovereignty and demanded an explanation from the government. The German chancellor's statement describing the function of the German forces in Lebanon to be "protecting the existence of Israel", made matters worse. Hizbullah sources warned that any expansion of the UNIFIL powers which are not clearly stated in 1701 will be viewed by the party or any other Lebanese force to be in violation of Lebanese sovereignty and will not be accepted by the party. "Israel is violating the Blue Line on a daily basis trying to establish a new one and yet we did not hear any comments from the UNIFIl. They are only looking for functions that are not stated in the 1701," said Hizbullah's source. Many observers say the Lebanese don't have to wait long to know the fate that awaits their government. Next Friday, Hizbullah is organising a public rally to commemorate the victory. Hizbullah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, has called on all Lebanese to attend. Rumours have it that Nasrallah might make a public showing himself, despite the death threats by Israel. It will be an occasion to offer the party's final stand on those hanging issues.
