Coexisting With Hebollah

If you can’t beat them, join them?

(Photo credit: New York Times)

Elias Harfoush makes the argument in Alhayat that Hezbollah has reached an amount of pre-eminence no one else has ever achieved in Lebanese politics, and that it would be foolish for us to think that it will willingly shrink itself to go back to equal footing with the rest of the Lebanese:

…urging the party to engage in public politics on an equal footing with other Lebanese parties and to give up the position that it now occupies domestically, regionally and sometimes internationally is not a realistic demand

So what’s a party of God to do? Mr. Harfoush explains Hezbollah’s ambitious plans:

Hence, rather than responding to the demand by the state and other Lebanese that the party returns to a “normal size” on an equal footing with others, Hezbollah is encouraging others to join its project such that its program becomes that of all Lebanese, hence the program of the state with all its institutions. Consequently, Hezbollah will logically become the “ruling party” in terms of goals and strategy rather than one of the ruling parties within the framework of a national unity government as the case is now

Mr. Harfoush thinks that the Lebanese have no other option — short of a bloody confrontation with disastrous ends — but to “coexist” with Hezbollah’s demand.

Of course some would argue that such appeasement will only embolden Hezbollah, but I personally think that something will have to give at some point. You can’t have all this power (being the effective ruling party) without any sort of accountability (only one minister in the government). So it is very likely that the well-tested Lebanese checks-and-balances system will eventually outsmart Hezbollah. 

Thoughts?