Hezbollah

[Eddo211]

Re: Hezbollah

I'm curious what the arguments were about. Do you mind telling us?

Discriminations, segregations, insults, ridicules……….these things were more prevalent at school level.

Examples are:
Being called a dirty Armenian or Armenian dog.
Pointing to yellow ants on the ground (compared to the numerous black ones), calling them Armenians and then stomping on them. Hahaha, that set me off like crazy maniac.
Getting ganged up on.
Getting pulled out of class because they were going to talk to the other students about something that we Armenians were not allowed to hear.
Teachers beating us up more than others and for no good reasons at all.
Being told to get out, this not your country. You know……….normal stuff.

As we grew older these things settled down and most cases we were all Iranians in their eyes. Armenians in military were honored properly.
But really with all this said, I would rather be in Iran than any other Muslim country, even with them freaking Mullahs in charge.


KanadaHye: The biggest conflict between Sunnis and Shiites will be Iran Vs Saudi Arabia...........this is what is about regardless of businesses between the two. It is the old Arab Vs Persian deal which can never heal.

[Armanen]

Re: Hezbollah

I find it odd that after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the borders were neatly drawn along "religious" lines. There are historical reasons for the divisions, perhaps deeply rooted in the politics of the past but if Muslims united regardless of their branch, they would be a force to reckon with. Unity among people will always be stronger than any government. The reason governments have so much power is because of divisions among the people. Obviously the Arab/Muslim governments supporting Israel aren't doing so for the good of the citizens in the region but rather because those in the government benefit from doing so. Israel wants control over Lebanon and if it weren't for Hezbollah and company, Lebanon would be conveniently ransacked by big brother Israel.

I'm sure you know who 'drew' the boundaries of the current Arab countries and they did the same in Africa and east Asia to a lesser extent. The arab governments which support israel do it purely for politcal and economic reasons, after all, egypt does get more funding than israel from the u.s. but that is basically to keep the peace and ensure continued egyptian cooperation with u.s./israeli aims in the region. It has been stated by many, but one of the leading reasons why the muslim world, and arabs in particular, dislike the united states is because of the double standard, the u.s. always advocates democracy but doesn't hesitate to support un-elected, and unpopular governments. At least with the other powers vying for influence in the region, i.e. Russia & China, they don't get involved with internal affairs publicly and as long as their said interests are taken care of, they could care less who runs the government(s).

Another region that would be a force to reckon with if united would be Latin America, but that is just as unlikely as the Middle east being truly united.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Hezbollah

Not so sure about that. There is still the arbitary borders of the middle eastern countries, and no leader of any of those nations will want to give up their power to a neighboring leader. If religion isn't the issue there will always be other factors for people and countries to fight over, it is human nature.

I find it odd that after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the borders were neatly drawn along "religious" lines. There are historical reasons for the divisions, perhaps deeply rooted in the politics of the past but if Muslims united regardless of their branch, they would be a force to reckon with. Unity among people will always be stronger than any government. The reason governments have so much power is because of divisions among the people. Obviously the Arab/Muslim governments supporting Israel aren't doing so for the good of the citizens in the region but rather because those in the government benefit from doing so. Israel wants control over Lebanon and if it weren't for Hezbollah and company, Lebanon would be conveniently ransacked by big brother Israel.

[Armanen]

Re: Hezbollah

I will take a Shiite over a Sunni any day, even though I have had many confrontations (some really ugly ones) with anti Armenian sentiments from Shiites in Iran.
I do know however that most educated middle class Persians are Iranians first, Muslims second and most are very good with Armenians. One of my best friends is an Iranian.

I'm curious what the arguments were about. Do you mind telling us?

[Armanen]

Re: Hezbollah

Turks are Sunni, Iraq is Sunni/Shia and Iran is Shia. If it wasn't for the Sunni/Shia divide, the middle east would be a solid rock.

Not so sure about that. There is still the arbitary borders of the middle eastern countries, and no leader of any of those nations will want to give up their power to a neighboring leader. If religion isn't the issue there will always be other factors for people and countries to fight over, it is human nature.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Hezbollah

I will take a Shiite over a Sunni any day, even though I have had many confrontations (some really ugly ones) with anti Armenian sentiments from Shiites in Iran.
I do know however that most educated middle class Persians are Iranians first, Muslims second and most are very good with Armenians. One of my best friends is an Iranian.

Turks are Sunni, Iraq is Sunni/Shia and Iran is Shia. If it wasn't for the Sunni/Shia divide, the middle east would be a solid rock.

[Eddo211]

Re: Hezbollah

I will take a Shiite over a Sunni any day, even though I have had many confrontations (some really ugly ones) with anti Armenian sentiments from Shiites in Iran.
I do know however that most educated middle class Persians are Iranians first, Muslims second and most are very good with Armenians. One of my best friends is an Iranian.

[Catharsis]

Re: Hezbollah

Thanks for the info ArmSurvival and the recollection of personal experiences is also quite telling.

[Armanen]

Re: Hezbollah

Thank you ArmSurvival, I had no idea about sunnis. Please do tell, are all Persians/Iranians sunnis or mostly sunnis? Now I see why the ARF officials have respect towards Hezbollah.

Iranians are shiites, as are Hezbollah. Over 60% of Iraq's population is shia too. The azeri's are also shia. Sunni islam though accounts for nearly 90% of the worlds muslim population.

[Anoush]

Re: Hezbollah

Hezb is not just much more tolerant than Israel, but more tolerant than other factions within Lebanon itself. In fact, they are the only faction in Lebanon that has never fired a single shot toward a Christian. The western-backed Sunni faction has been continuously putting Christians down, and various Christian sects have even attacked each other. Hezb's hands are clean in this regard.

And lots of people (even my dad) accuse Hezb of wanting to "Islamicize" Lebanon. I had an experience in Lebanon that changed my view 180-degrees. We were in the center of Beirut, a liberal area which is mostly Sunni, and were sitting at one of the many outdoor restaurants/cafes. My cousin's husband asked for a beer, and the waiter told him that he couldn't serve him beer because it was Ramadan. Yes, the Sunnis in Beirut were forcing everyone, including Christians, to comply with Ramadan traditions, as if it was an Islamic republic. And less than a mile from where we were sitting they had built the biggest mosque in Lebanon, overshadowing an Armenian church that had been there for decades. And Hezb gets accused of having an Islamic agenda by the western-backed Sunnis...

And there's more. When these western-backed Sunnis, most notably the Hariris (who are Saudis, but are considered Lebanese somehow...) were conducting building projects in Beirut at the end of the civil war, they kicked thousands of people out of their homes in order to make space for their building projects. Fair enough, it happens in lots of countries. There were two problems though: The compensation was so little, that according to my cousin's husband, it wasn't even enough to pay to move their stuff to another location, let alone to pay for a new residence. The second problem is they did this to thousands of Lebanese citizens, and the building complexes they built are so up-scale and expensive that only rich Saudis and Gulf Arabs can afford to live there. In essence they cleansed part of Beirut of Lebanese citizens and replaced them with fellow Saudi and Gulf Muslims, in the name of "rebuilding Lebanon".

Contrast the story I just told you with what Hezb did after the 2006 war: Any Lebanese who lost their home in the bombardment simply had to show Hezb that their home was damaged or destroyed, and Hezb compensated each family over $5,000 USD, a large sum of money in Lebanon.

So those Armenians who are not familiar with Lebanese internal politics, and are dumbfounded as to how ARF and Armenians in general are supporting Hezb, now you have a better idea.

Thank you ArmSurvival, I had no idea about sunnis. Please do tell, are all Persians/Iranians sunnis or mostly sunnis? Now I see why the ARF officials have respect towards Hezbollah.