NYC Letter: Hizballah Wannabes

The MSM thought Hizballah first-class soldiers, just like a real army.

PHOTOS THAT DAMN HEZBOLLAH

[NB: The Herald Sun has stripped the photos from its story. They can be found here at LGF.]

July 30, 2006 (Herald Sun) - The images, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Herald Sun, show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons. Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon.

Generalissimo Hassan Nasrallah voiced regret -- and in the process admitted responsibility and error -- for the tough 34-day border war that ravaged his cozy satrapy.

But Lebanon in ruins is seen as an enormous success by Palestinians.

They're gaa-gaa over Hizballah. But their adulation throws them into despair.

'WE PALESTINIANS SHOULD LAY DOWN OUR ARMS.
WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE THEM'

NABLUS August 27, 2006 (Telegraph) - Songs about the heroism of local "martyrs" are out of fashion [among Palestinians]. Top of the pops now is a catchy number about the "hawk of Lebanon" - Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. For Palestinians, used to homegrown militants whose willingness to die has been matched only by their incompetence as fighters, the song is a tribute to a long-awaited Arab "victory" over Israel.

But for Palestinian militants themselves, lyrics about Hezbollah's "victory" in the Middle East's brief summer war are an uncomfortable reminder of the endless defeats they have suffered.

"I wish we were like Hezbollah," said Mohamed Eesa, a young al-Aqsa militant in Nablus. "I was glad for their success against Israel but I was also jealous."

Israeli military strategists worry about Palestinians learning from Hezbollah, but it is unlikely to happen soon.

Despite their bravado and hatred of their Israeli foes, Mr Eesa and his fellow fighters are quick to list the differences between disciplined, well-equipped Hezbollah units, and divided, poorly armed Palestinians, ranging from the Lebanese group's superior equipment to its freedom from Israel's formidable informer network in Gaza and the West Bank. ... With tactical, military, and intelligence supremacy, Israel is able to eliminate Palestinian fighters almost at will, suffering few casualties thanks to their enemy's primitive equipment.

While Nasrallah's Hezbollah fighters were able to fire thousands of missiles deep into Israel, many rockets fired by Palestinian militants barely get off the ground.

Those that do have killed five Israelis in five years, but have brought harsh reprisals such as Israel's current military operation in Gaza in which more than 180 Palestinians have died since June. In that operation only one Israeli soldier has been killed, compared with 116 in one month in Lebanon.

"I ask myself why Hezbollah achieve so much [scil., killing lots of Jews] and we so little," said Abu Aziz, in a heated debate with several armed companions in a Balata backroom. "We are defeated and not strong enough to fight the occupation." He criticised Hamas, the traditional Islamist rival of the more secular al-Aqsa brigades. But in the next breath, he also had harsh words for the brigades' nominal leader, the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

"We're lost and defeated, with no leaders now," he said.

For Hafez Barghouti, the editor of the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the endless proud failures of Palestinian fighters have become intolerable.

"Why do we insist that we are brigades, militias, groups, commandos, raiders and mighty ones?" he asked. "Let us lay down our arms because we don't know how to use them and save our people more destruction and blood."

Locals even criticise armed militants face to face. In Nablus, Abu Thaer Tirawi, 43, a builder, faced Mr Eesa and two comrades moonlighting as security guards: "You have to admit that you are incapable of fighting the occupation. Jerusalem will never be liberated with your strategy… Go get a job and stop burdening us all."

Perhaps the Palestinian terrorists in the secret vaults of their most secret hearts realize they are fighting for a fiction. A fiction they cannot attain without the elimination of Israel. And there's the rub. No Arab believes that Israel will be "wiped from the map" by force of arms.

Hate alone cannot drive mopey Palestinian terrorists to victory. They need hope. But there is no hope in the Arab heart.