Sunni-Shia Split Fades As Israel Presses Campaign

[laststeamtrain]

Sunni-Shia Split Fades As Israel Presses Campaign

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Jul 27 (IPS) - Hopes by the George W. Bush administration for the emergence of an implicit Sunni-Israel alliance against an Iranian-led "Shia Crescent" have faded over the past week as Arab public opinion has become increasingly united by outrage over the Jewish state's continuing military campaign in Lebanon and Washington's refusal to stop it, according to Middle East experts here.
Fueled by saturation television coverage of the destruction and suffering wrought by Israel's attacks, popular sentiment in both Shia and Sunni communities has moved strongly behind Shia Hezbollah, whose leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has become a symbol of resistance to Israeli and U.S. power, these analysts agree.

"Resistance rises above sectarianism," according to Graham Fuller, a former top Middle East analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Rand Corporation. "Sunni masses by and large are not concerned whether Iran, Syria's rulers, or Hezbollah are Shiites; they applaud them for their steadfastness and willingness to fight and even die."

The growing Sunni-Shia unity in support of Hezbollah defies hopes by Bush administration officials and their Israel-centred neo-conservative supporters here that fears of an Iranian-led Shia axis stretching from Lebanon across Syria to the new Shia-dominated government in Iraq would provoke Sunni-led states to form a de facto alliance with Israel.

http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=34127
*
He's a uniter, not a divider!
He's also a dummy surrounded by war profiteers, double agents & other weasels...

[Selatius]

1. Israel miscalculated with the amount of force it decided to employ

It backfired.

[Hardrada]

2. PNAC must have had the brown acid in their Koolaid!

[TomInTib]

3. This is wholly off-subject, but..

Are you a John Fahey/Leo Kottke fan/follower/guitar payer?

I am referring to your username and "Last Steam Engine Train".

[laststeamtrain]

4. Why yes; yes I am...

I don't play as much as I used to; I can't. Psoriasis, arthitis.
I used to have pretty damn good right thumb tho.
I still play sometimes.
I listen in fits & spurts as enthusiasm dictates. Current enthusiasm is flamenco. I have a link to an online station out of Vancouver, BC that streams flamenco.
I like Mississippi John Hurt a lot. I hear it as an attempt on guitar to imitate/approximate ragtime piano.
As far as the user name goes, I was thinking of Ray Davies' song "Last of the Steam Rollin' Trains".
What's your story?

[TomInTib]

7. I am a fan of American Primitive

Fahey, Kottke, etc., but lean toward slide.

I play everywhere between Mississippi Fred McDowell to JB Hutto to Muddy.

Also, I do a lot of fingerpicking in open G and D tunings.

John Hurt was a treasure. If you do not have the "Avalon Blues" compilation, do yourself a favor and find it.

[regnaD kciN]

5. A REAL Sunni-Israel alliance would have required the following...

1) A real two-state solution to the I/P problem. It would have been best if reached before Hamas took over the Palestinian legislature -- but even Hamas is Sunni. If that matter were to be resolved with a mutually-satisfactory and viable two-state solution (by which I do not mean "unilateral separation" and walling off large sections of the West Bank, it would remove a major grievance of much of the Sunni world against the U.S./Israel. Granted, it wouldn't satisfy the radical Islamists, but they're still a relatively small minority in the Arab world.

2) Resolve to deal with attacks by Shi'ite militia by going after Shi'ite militia -- not against Sunni, Christian, and Druze civilians, or against the infrastructure and viability of a predominantly Sunni country.

In other words, drive a wedge between the two by being as conciliatory toward the Sunnis as possible.

Instead, Israel is treating the Palestinians with not-so-benign neglect, and practicing collective punishment in Lebanon. In essence, making it clear that it sees no distinction between Sunni and Shi'ite, and will wage war equally against both. Is it any surprise when the two factions themselves reach the same conclusion? :banghead:

[Igel]

6. Dork.

Resistance is sectarianism. As with all forms of tribalism, it merely has a sliding scale.

Non-Arab/non-Muslim is below Arab or Muslim. Depending on religiosity, Arab or Muslim may be more highly ranked, but usually both matter. One's own variety of Arab or Islam ranks above generic Arab or Muslim. Then specific detail-level sect of Islam, and tribe, clan, family, usually within a sect of Islam.

They mostly condemned Hezbollah not because they attacked Israel, but because they threatened something tribal: other Arabs, Lebanese; other Muslims, other Shi'ites or Sunnis. Having Shi'ite Hezbollah bring death to Sunnis was bad; but at some point, it's more important that Israel is bringing death to Shi'ites and Sunnis.

The leaders saw the Shi'ite/Sunni divide as more important; those less theologically inclined, fellow-travelers, are just into ethnic and religious pride.

("Dork" isn't addressed to the poster, but to the analyst.)