Arab University reopens in Beirut
Beirut (AsiaNews) – The Arab University has resumed lectures amid intensified internal and international moves to resolve the political crisis with hopes for the renewed mediation of the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa.
After the bloody clashes that broke out on 25 January in the athenaeum, there is a heavy presence of the forces of order. Dozens of soldiers armed with automatic rifles and machine guns stand outside the main entrance. Anyone wanting to enter has to pass through fortified security and submit to a search. Students feel under siege and the negative attention heaped upon them by the media fuels their misery. “We are not the guilty ones, it is politicians who try to use us,” said Bilal, a mechanical engineering students.
Urban guerrilla clashes between gangs of armed students – opposition supporters against government followers – left four people dead and 160 wounded. Analysts have interpreted the clashes as a symptom of the growing rivalry between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. In this perspective, Lebanon’s problems are seen as part of a wider conflict that pits Iran and its allies against a Sunni axis made up of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. The existence of a clash within Islam is an undeniable reality but there are other factors at play that must be taken into account.
First of all, there is the war with Israel. Many Lebanese are still smarting from its painful wounds and the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is paying a very high price for its alliance with Washington. Nabil, a computer student, does not hide his anger: “The United States allowed Israel to bomb Lebanon and the government continues to be on its side. How can I trust a government that has sold itself?” Such charges can be heard daily across Lebanon.
Another recurrent complaint is that the government has squandered millions of dollars, running up a public debt worth 185% of the GDP. “No work, no money... the national economy is a disaster,” said Mahdi, who studies physics and dreams of emigrating to Germany. Meanwhile, government supporters claim the opposition is exacerbating Lebanon’s problems. “Hezbollah does nothing except sow discord. The opposition wants a new government but if it was up to them to form it, they would try to install a state economy, [...] and they would line up with Syria and Iran to launch another attack against Israel. It would be collective suicide,” said Mohammed, another physics student.
At the Arab University, the rivalry between Shiite and Sunni students appears to be taking second place to more pragmatic matters. What’s more, anxious as the students are to express their opinion, they would rather not talk about faith. “Please don’t bring religion into it,” Mohammed warned me. “Shiites, Sunnis, Christians, it doesn’t matter… we are all Lebanese.”
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