'Don't push Lebanon into Hizbullah's arms'

WASHINGTON - Hizbullah's opposition in Lebanon is urging Israel to refrain from executing policies that do not differentiate between the terror organization and democratically elected Lebanese institutions. Doing so, they say, will push the Lebanese people straight into Hizbullah's waiting arms.

In an opinion article written for the New York-based Jewish publication 'Forward,' one such prominent Lebanese speaker, Firas Maksad, warns Israel directly of adopting such an outlook.

Maksad works as the Washington director of the 'Lebanon Renaissance Foundation,' which was founded by Lebanese businessmen to advance the cause of Lebanese independence from Syria. He declined an interview with Ynet as it would be illegal under Lebanese law.

Maksad asserts that the settlement agreed upon in Lebanon following the Second Lebanon War essentially sanctions Hizbullah's military autonomy. "These compromises allowing Hizbullah to retain arms independent of the Lebanese state are unwelcome to many Lebanese — not only to Israel and others. Yet they hardly constitute a conclusive victory for the militant group, and they certainly do not justify the radical and sweeping policy shift Israel has undertaken," he writes.

" What Israel’s latest decision on Lebanon demonstrates is its lack of regard toward Lebanese moderates who have repeatedly confronted Hizbullah in the hope of building a sovereign, liberal and peaceful Lebanon."

Maksad emphasizes that Hizbullah does not have a majority in the street, and that millions of Lebanese citizens oppose it. "These Lebanese have not vanished. They are still there, and they number in the millions. They need to be spared the wrath of collective punishment and misguided policies, which only serve to undercut them."