The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Debate among Lebanese Shia about Hizbullah

Interesting story in the Boston Globe about a Shia intellectual who has sparked a storm with an essay denouncing Hizbullah. If anyone has the link to her original essay, please share.

Meanwhile, here in Cairo, last night I walked past a car that had a poster of Hassan Nasrallah on its side window. I looked closer at the poster, which described Nasrallah as "the man who vanquished Israel," I saw it was from the liberal-ish weekly Al Destour. Al Destour is edited by Ibrahim Eissa, one of the most vibrant voices against the Mubarak regime and a self-described liberal. Somehow all the paradox of why most Arabs cheered Hizbullah is there: even if people don't like Hizbullah's ideology, they're always going to cheer for it when it is responding to attacks that tried to destroy an entire country.

Update: Praktike has photos.