he has emerged again today in the incarnation of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Many have walked this dangerous path: Gamal Abdel Nasser in the late ’50s and ’60s, Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian guerrillas in the ’60s and ’70s, Muammar Kad-dafi of Libya and Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and Saddam Hussein in the ’90s. All failed to alter history. Yet the Middle East seems to have a perpetual reservoir of contenders for this elusive and often fatal mantle. Nasrallah’s rise says much about the Arab world’s recurring, almost genetic need for a strong political personality who emerges to lead its quest to regain its honor. If he succeeds, he will be a truly historic figure, perhaps finally slaying the ghosts of Arab humiliations past. But if he fails, the monster of mass degradation will grow, fed by the unquenched Arab need for a dose–even a small dose–of political and military victory.
To be sure, some Lebanese and other Arabs see Nasrallah and his party as reckless fanatics, bringing ruin to Lebanon. Yet many more rally to him, waving Hizbullah’s distinctive yellow-and-green flag across the Middle East. The reason is not ideology, but psychology–a basic human need for self-respect and affirmation. Three generations of Arabs have endured painful humiliation at the combined hand of Israel and the West. Five major wars, once each decade: 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982–all ending in defeat. The false and cruel promise of peace talks emerges and withers just as regularly. Meanwhile, Arab political systems remain stubbornly unchanging–top-heavy security states riddled with favoritism, corruption and mismanagement, ruled in seeming perpetuity by the same autocrats and dictators and feudal families.
Today, this bizarre history leaves ordinary Arab men and women triply embittered. First by the cumulative ignominies of repeated defeat by Israel. Second by the West’s chronic neocolonial disdain for Arabs and their world. And third–the cruelest cut because it is self-inflicted–the incompetence and inertia of their own societies, sapped by corruption, governmental fecklessness and repression. Is it any surprise, then, that hundreds of millions of Arab men and women, suddenly seeing a man who promises a way out of this emotional and political hell, should rally to his call, however misguided or suicidal it may be?
The sad truth is, they have never had any other option. Individually or collectively, Arabs have never had the opportunity to build democratic cultures, enrich civil society, develop quality education or promote the rule of law and globally competitive businesses. Their three nemeses–self-appointed leaders for life, constant war with Israel, tensions with the West–have never let ordinary, decent Arabs construct what amounts to a more modern culture, reflecting the consent of the governed. Their choices have always been war or enforced docility–each inhuman, in its way, and terrible.
Nasrallah’s fate could well be different from that of the charismatics who preceded him. Under his leadership, Hizbullah became the first Arab movement to force Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab land. Now it is also the first to fight the Israelis for a month and compel them to seriously explore a diplomatic solution. However violent Hizbullah’s military aims, it has offered a model of local governance based on knowing its people and delivering on promises–among them useful human services, from health clinics to schools. Hizbullah’s leaders have also shunned the corruption and public ostentatiousness that plagued many other Arab movements and maintained the internal cohesion, sense of purpose and secrecy that so far have largely preserved them from betrayals by spies and collaborators. And they have presented their message to the entire Middle East through skillful media work that highlights their achievements without making boasts they cannot fulfill.
The fervent support that Hizbullah enjoys will grow with a ceasefire and diplomatic settlement that sees Israel leave occupied Lebanese lands. Almost overnight, Nasrallah will have produced what three generations of ordinary Arabs have yearned for: military effectiveness instead of haplessness; political empowerment instead of marginalization; resistance instead of forced submission to Israeli-American threats. A new man, indeed, responding to a stubborn need among all Arab societies.
