Some 200 people demonstrated in downtown Ramallah on Tuesday to protest U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the city and express support for Lebanon and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The demonstrators sang the praises of the Lebanese people and lauded the ties between Beirut and Ramallah. Then, at a certain stage, the familiar chanting began. One of the demonstrators, sitting on the shoulders of his colleagues, shouted out: "Ya Nasrallah, ya habib, udrub udrub Tel Aviv(hey, Nasrallah, hey, beloved, strike, strike Tel Aviv)," and the others joined in the chanting.

It seems to happen almost every decade. A new Arab leader arises who promises to defeat Israel in war and save the Palestinians from their sufferings, and as usual, many of the Palestinians become followers of the false messiah. In the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of people in the Arab world believed that Gamal Abdel Nasser would be the leader to rout Israel. Nasser also insisted on representing the Palestinians in their struggle, on the grounds that they are part of the Arab world, and it was his defeat that opened the way for Yasser Arafat, who promised throughout the 1970s and 1980s that Palestine would be established with the aid of a gun. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Saddam Hussein was the leader who captured the hearts of many Palestinians with his promises to strike at Israel, defeat it and assist them in setting up a Palestinian state.

The current savior in the eyes of many Palestinians is Hassan Nasrallah. More than 10 marches in favor of Nasrallah and his organization have been held in the territories since the start of hostilities in the north. Activists from a variety of organizations carry his picture aloft in protests and many individuals see him as the only leader who can take on Israel and win. "Hassan Nasrallah, master of resistance," is written on a portrait of Nasrallah that hangs in the A-Shini supermarket in Ramallah's Nablus Road.
 
The Hezbollah secretary general has, in the eyes of many Palestinians, become the supreme commander of the Arab forces against Israel. The general feeling from reports in the Arab media is that Nasrallah is routing the Israel Defense Forces on the battlefield. Every report about a wounded Israeli or an Israeli force that was hit in Lebanon becomes the lead item in the Arab and Palestinian media. Reporters also focus on those Israelis who have come against the war, while the majority that supports the fighting in the north remains unheard.

This distorted presentation, together with Hezbollah's propaganda, does not only affect Palestinians who belong to the Islamic organizations. Tuesday's demonstration was led by mainstream members of Fatah. Ziyyad Abu Ayin, one of the leaders of the Tanzim militia in Ramallah and a close friend of Marwan Barghouti, spoke at the demonstration about the brotherhood between the Lebanese and the Palestinian people and how the Palestinians are supporting Hezbollah in its fight against Israel.

It is doubtful whether Abu Ayin himself considers Nasrallah the representative of the Palestinians, but he has a feel for the "street," the masses who support Hezbollah. "I am against the policies of the American administration," he shouted into the microphone in English - not only for the benefit of the many foreign journalists covering the demonstration, but also for the numerous young foreigners who are currently in the West Bank and who participate in such demonstrations as a kind of back-packers trip, the kind Israeli youngsters often take after their army service. One of those foreign youths took the microphone and said proudly: "My name is Michael. I've come here to show support for the Palestinians and Lebanese." Aliana, a young woman from Italy, told Haaretz that her new friends have given her an Arabic name, Kalam. "In my opinion," she said, "Hezbollah acted legitimately against military targets, but now it is time to return to negotiating."

While the demonstration was taking place, Rice was meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. She heard about his efforts to secure the release of the abducted Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, and about his efforts to arrange a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip by which all the factions would abide. Those gathered in his bureau were aware that Rice's visit was not designed to achieve political aims such as freeing Shalit, but rather mainly to put across the message that Washington has not completely deserted Abbas. Nevertheless, his aides also clearly understood that at this point, the United States is not particularly interested in the Palestinian arena, and that from the point of view of the White House, the road to solving the Palestinian problem passes through Lebanon. It is almost superfluous to say that the visit ended without results, even though Abbas stressed that most Palestinian organizations plan to break with Hezbollah and will not cooperate with the Lebanese group on the issue of prisoner exchanges.

The demonstrators outside, however, had different ideas. They continued their chanting on behalf of Hezbollah and tempers started heating up. The Palestinian policemen clashed with some of the demonstrators who attempted to march on the Muqata (Abbas' headquarters). Fistfights broke out and continued for several minutes. Throughout, one of the women demonstrators held Nasrallah's picture aloft. Then, apparently out of frustration, the demonstrators began their regular ritual: burning of portraits of U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who can now take solace in the fact that they are no longer alone. The pictures of French President Jacques Chirac and his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, got similar treatment.
 
 
http://www.haaretz.com/  July 28, 2006.

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