482 Resisting Publics
32.l-Safir A , 15 June 2004; al-Nahar, 15 June 2005; ‘Atrisi, Hizbullah: al-Khiyar,
435–39; Hizbullah: al-Muqawama wa, 3:200–206.
- Previously, Hizbullah had argued that its prospective representatives in the
cabinet wouldn’t be able to do anything to alter majority decisions with
which it disagreed. However, in the parliament and in municipality coun-
cils, Hizbullah members can voice their opinion freely and act in favor
of the masses or the social base that they represent. Hizbullah-controlled
municipal councils act as advocacy groups, serving as a kind of empower-
ment mechanism for lobbying the government to pursue a course of bal-
anced development and to live up to its promises and perform on its devel-
opmental projects.
34.ee http://www.tayyar.org/files/documents/fpm_hezbollah.pdf; and S Mawsu‘at
Nasrallah [Nasrallah’s Encyclopedia] (Beirut: Manshurat al-Fajir, 2007),
2:16–24.
35.e official Syrian position is that demarcating the borders is out of the Th
question except as part of a comprehensive regional settlement that returns
the Golan Heights to Syria. Al-Mufti al-Ja‘fari al-Mumtaz, Shaykh Abd al-
Amir Qabalan, the deputy of the Islamic Shi‘ite Higher Council, said in
his Friday speech on 20 April 2007 that Hizbullah would only relinquish
its arms as part of an overall regional settlement whereby, in addition to
the founding of a Palestinian state, Israel would relinquish both the Sheb‘a
farms and the Golan. LBCI News Bulletin, 18.00 GMT. In a similar vein, on
2 May 2007, President Lahoud affirmed that even if Israel were to withdraw
from the Sheb‘a farms, Hizbullah would not disarm until a comprehensive,
just, and lasting peace is reached in the Middle East.
36.rnet Shahwan became defunct upon the establishment of 14 March Trend. Q
37.Auon and his FPM make all the difference in the tug of war between 14 ‘
March and 8 March. If ‘Auon changes his alliance to 14 March, then they
will have a two-thirds majority in the parliament in addition to the two-
thirds majority in the cabinet that they already enjoy. (The FPM parliamen-
tary bloc has more than twenty-one MPs.) - UNSC Resolution 1701 of August 2006 would set a one-month timetable to
solve the Sheb‘a farms issue, which did not materialize.
39.e war led to the death of around 1200 Lebanese, one-third of whom were Th
children under the age of 12, wounded and handicapped 4000, displaced
more than one million, and caused around $15 billion in damage and lost