Finkelstein: Lebanese resistance a historic and well-deserved military defeat on Israeli Army

Source: Daily Star, 5-1-2008
By Adam Jewell
BEIRUT: The controversial author and political scientist Norman Finkelstein, who was recently embroiled in an ill-fated struggle to be granted tenure at De Paul University in Chicago due to his criticisms of "Israeli" policy, kicked off a tour of Lebanon on Friday with a news conference at Ta-Marbouta Cafe in Hamra.
The tour of the country, the second for the American academic, was organized in part by Al-Adab magazine, Nadi al-Saaha, and the Campaign for Civil Resistance, and will see Finkelstein deliver two public lectures as well as hold two workshops in Palestinian refugee camps.
On Saturday, Finkelstein plans to conduct a workshop at the Center for Palestinian Youth in the Palestinian refugee camp of Chatila in Beirut at 1 p.m. Later in the day, he will deliver a lecture entitled "Memoirs of an anti-Zionist" at 6 p.m. at the Babel Theater in Hamra. Both lectures will be presented in English and again in Arabic.
Sunday will see Finkelstein travel to the southern town of Qana to hold a public meeting with the title of "Why Pro-Resistance Lebanese Were Right to Give Human Rights Watch the Boot," at 3 p.m.
On January 9, the academic will hold a public meeting the Beddawi refugee camp as well as giving a lecture entitled "Lebanon, Palestine, and the New Middle East" at 3:30 p.m.
In a statement read at the news conference, Finkelstein noted that since his previous visit, "three brutal wars" have been fought in the region at the behest of the US, namely the invasion of Iraq, the 2006 "Israeli" war against Lebanon and the increased stranglehold by the Jewish (Zionist) state on the Palestinian economy and lands following the 2006 electoral victory by Hamas.
On the invasion of Iraq by US-led forces, Finkelstein said that the architects of the war were not members of the US-based "Israeli" lobby, as some outspoken academics have asserted, but US Vice President Richard Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
"It was an American war waged for the sake of American interests," Finkelstein said.
Regarding ""Israel's" brutal war of aggression" on Lebanon in the summer of 2006, the Jewish author disputed the notion that actions by Hizbullah were to blame for the onset of hostilities. Finkelstein said that "Israel" had long been planning the war, which claimed the lives of 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 "Israelis", mostly soldiers. The US, he claimed, signed off on the invasion with the hope that it would destroy Hizbullah, thus facilitating a US strike on Iran. While Finkelstein said that there is never a victor in war, he added: "However, it is also true to say that the Lebanese resistance inflicted a historic and well-deserved military defeat on the invading foreign army and its chief supporter."
"It should also be mentioned that after the war the US-based organization Human Rights Watch whitewashed "Israeli" war crimes and made false accusations against Hizbullah," he said. "This cowardly and mercenary act deserves contempt."
The former professor also took issue with the "siege" enforced on the Palestinian people by "Israel", with the support of the US, due to the landslide electoral victory of Hamas in a January 2006 parliamentary poll.
"The Palestinians are being starved into submission while "Israel" and the United States demand that Hamas renounce terrorism, recognize "Israel" and honor past agreements. But no comparable demands are put on "Israel" to renounce terrorism, recognize Palestine, or honor past agreements," he said.
In a question-and-answer session following his statement, Finkelstein balked at how some Lebanese "rolled out the red carpet" for the US following the devastating 2006 war, which it both acquiesced and whose stoppage it blocked in the UN.
"My mother used to use the expression: 'How many times can someone spit in your face and you keep saying it's raining?'" Finkelstein said.