This would be the opinions expressed in private away from the prying eyes of the brutal Police State which is what most of the Middle Eastern States are. The Arab street then reacted with a deafening silence to the attack by Israel on Lebanon, provoked say the Israelis by the capture-not kidnapping- of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants. Indeed the small demonstrations in Amman aside, and that was likely stocked mostly by Palestinian refugees, there was greater public reaction in Israel itself against the action than in the Arab world.

The Saudis and the Jordanians came out to strongly condemn Hezbollah for provoking Israel and instigating the destruction of Lebanon. The Press made a lot of this, saying the Arab world had also laid the blame firmly at Hassan Nasrallah’s doorstep and that the responsibility was his to bear. Tony Blair was very surprised when Iraqi Premier Al-Maliki at a joint Downing Street Press Conference called Israel’s action ‘ a violation of everything upon which the international community can be based.’

Iranian President Ahmedinajad also called for restraint from Israel, but his and Maliki’s calls pointed to the reason for the silence from the rest of the Islamic world. Only 15% of all the world’s Muslims are Shi’a, and it is to this tiny minority that Hezbollah and Iran belong. Given the fear that Tehran strikes into the heart of most Arab nations ( both for historical reasons and for the fact that Iran is the only large Muslim country not under the American thumb), it is not surprising that the Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians among others would be glad to see Iran and her client brought down a peg or two. Add to this the fact that a non-Saddam Iraq is certain to be dominated by a Shi’a majority suffering allegiance to Tehran and that Saudi Arabia’s eastern regions are home not just to an oppressed Shi’a minority but also to the bulk of the country’s oil reserves.

This serves to make the power and prestige enjoyed by Iran as a result of her standing up to what is increasingly seen as Western bullying, ever more discomfiting to the Western allies in Arab capitals. However it is this isolation, both from the West and within Islam that may explain the revolutionary streak in Shi’a populations. The Shi’a in the South of Lebanon have long borne not just the brunt of Israel’s incursions, in the civil war and the succeeding period, they were the victims of discrimination by their northern Sunni and Christian countrymen. The international system works best when all can expect a fair deal out of it. When international institutions are seen as fair arbiters between disputing parties, and when even a small aggrieved group can expect to have its case heard and that the international community will come to its defence.

The world has for a long time ignored the plight of Lebanon’s and the Palestinian’s prisoners in Israeli jails. Also ignored has been the issue of the Shebaa Farms and the wider Golan Heights area. It is the international community that blessed the creation of Israel, and thus the dispossessing of the Palestinian. Even now many years later, the world sits idly by as the Israelis commit further atrocities against Lebanon. The Israelis are certainly taking notice, further rejecting calls for a ceasefire and actually intensifying their effort. Their impunity is further shown by statements like Justice Minister Haim Amon’s declaration that the Rome meeting gave Israel a green light, and that everyone in Southern Lebanon is a terrorist. Other such gems include the threat to ‘take Lebanon back 20 years’ and to ‘put everyone in Gaza on a diet’. Confronted by such open hatred, and international apathy is it any surprise that resistance groups develop outside of the mainstream, propelled by hatred and unaccountable to the international community?