Meet Hizbollah

The Party of God's MP talks about Islam, Iraq, and the war on terror. A Reason interview

Tim Cavanaugh | March 11, 2004

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Fneish: There was a horrendous war forced on Iran. The system never had a chance to function under normal conditions. Look at the United States: After September 11, you came up with all sorts of new laws and emergency procedures to address the threat. Iran had 10 years of war, and 15 years of being surrounded by enemies. Of course that has an effect on the country.

Despite that—and I don't want to get too deeply into this because ultimately this is the business only of the Iranian people, and they're the ones who have to decide their own future—what I see is that there hasn't been a single election in Iran that failed to take place, even during the war. I see many different newspapers publishing. Today in Iran, all sides are having discussions. There are agreements and disagreements, obviously. There is no ideal system in the world. It's possible that the Iranian people have complaints—or, not to generalize, let's say some of the Iranian people have complaints, and ambitions for faster improvements. That is their right, but the way to get to that is through democratic and peaceful solutions, and not by demolishing the system. You can't blame everything on the system.

reason: There aren't many success stories among the Muslim countries, particularly in the Arab world. What do you think of a country like Malaysia, a majority Muslim country that has enjoyed a lot of economic success? What do they have that Syria or Jordan doesn't?

Fneish: Every nation has its own circumstances. A nation has its own history, culture, and traditions. Malaysia for sure has set a great example, and provides proof that progress isn't limited to a certain type of country or religion. All nations have the capacity for improvement, but sometimes they lack the right programs, the right politics. It's unfair to compare Malaysia to any other Islamic countries, because the circumstances differ.

In general, Islamic countries have not had political freedom and have mismanaged their resources. The policies in most countries have not promoted an active population. In the countries you mentioned, the situation has been worse because of the conflict with Israel.

reason: By most accounts, Hizbollah is good at providing public services—schools, hospitals, orphanages, and so on—that the government has failed to provide. What is the difference now that you're working from inside the government?

Fneish: There was a war in Lebanon when the party started providing these services. There was not a functioning government, and you couldn't wait for the government to get back on its feet to start fixing the problem. So as much as possible the party responded to the people's needs.

However, that doesn't eliminate the need for government services. In any democracy, the civil society has an important role. The vision that the government does everything for the people is the wrong vision. The government should be taking a limited role in social services. It's human nature that people will help each other out, but when the government takes control of providing social services, people lose that instinct. We're an organization like many in Lebanon that provide services. We didn't add anything new; we just responded to a situation.

reason: What is Hizbollah's view on Syria's military presence in Lebanon, and its involvement in Lebanon's political affairs?

Fneish: I'm not going to recite all the historical stages of the war. Let us start with the Ta'if agreement [that ended Lebanon's civil war]. According to the Ta'if, Syria would end its occupation when the boundaries of Lebanon were secure. Israel's withdrawal from the south of Lebanon didn't happen according to the Ta'if but because they were forced out. Internal security never happened in Lebanon. All that affected the Ta'if schedule. Today, this has become a matter between Lebanon and Syria. There is a government in Lebanon; the government decides with whom it wants to have relations. The Syrian presence was, for sure, a consequence of the internal situation in Lebanon and the conflict with Israel. When these situations end, Syria will not stay another day. There is no disagreement on this point. At any rate, if you go today from North to South, you won't find any Syrian checkpoints in Lebanon.

reason: Was Hizbollah involved in the bombing of the Marines' barracks in Beirut in 1983?

Fneish: Our group wasn't even formed until 1985. There were many groups active in Lebanon in 1983.

reason: How do you pronounce the name of your organization? People say HizBOLLah and HizbollAH. Which one is correct?

Fneish: (Laughs) Whichever way it comes out of your mouth, we'll accept it.