The clashes in Lebanon. This is typical. We have seen this before. The Lebanese Army is given an opportunity by the political class (and by the sectarian sects--all of them) to show muscle, but only against the refugee camps of Lebanon. I remember this from my childhood. Back in 1973, Israeli terrorists (headed by Ehud Barak) sneaked into Lebanon and killed Palestinian leaders: one of them was a poet sleeping in his bed (Kamal Nasir). The Lebanese Army did not lift a finger--it never does against Israel. And all the historical accounts of 1948 war in Lebanese history books are plain false: the token Lebanese troops that ostensibly were part of the Arab armies did not even cross the border into Palestine. The Lebanese government in 1973, engineered an attack on the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon: the handful of Lebanese fighter jets were used to bomb the refugee camps. This time around, the Lebanese Army was dragged into this by the Hariri camp. They wanted to start a fight. Elements of the conspiracy are connected: is it a coincidence that US-supported, financed, and armed Dahlan gangs were fighting Hamas in Gaza, while US-supported, financed, and armed Lebanese forces are used against the Palestinians in Nahr Al-Barid refugee camp? Now let us be clear: Fath Al-Islam should not even be seen as a legitimate Palestinian organization: it comprises mostly fanatical Saudis and other Arab nationals. Their rhetoric is comparable to that of fanatical fundamentalist groups although they deny links to Al-Qa`idah. March 14th officials in Lebanon want to connect them to the Syrian regime by insisting that Fath-Al-Islam is the same as Fath-Intifada although the two groups are clearly different, if not divergent. The March 14th camp wanted to instigate this in order to 1) blame this (like everything else) on Syria and on the Palestinians--as usual in Lebanese political culture; 2) to render services to the American patron of the Lebanese regime; 3) to claim that now it is time for the Lebanese Army to hold a monopoly over the use of force in Lebanon although we did not see any enthusiasm on the party of the Lebanese Army to exercise its monopoly over the use of fores when Israel attacked Lebanon last summer, and other Lebanese resisted the invasion and occupation of Lebanon while the Army either stood by or helped in secret--in secret. Have you ever heard an Army defending the land in secret? Abbas Nasir (the Hizbullah supporter and former correspondent for Al-Manar TV), the Beirut correspondent of AlJazeera, was besides himself yesterday and today. He was repulsively cheering the Lebanese Army, and merely reporting Lebanese Army propaganda claims. But he did report one important story that has not been reported in any other Lebanese news media: this will also be hidden from tomorrow's newspapers in Beirut. He reported that armed groups (belonging to March 14th camp) showed up on the scene and offered to help the Lebanese Army in killing Palestinians. And then you see the Sunni Mufti of Lebanon--who has no credentials and is known for his weakness vis-a-vis Hariri tri-monthly payments--came out from his hiding, to blame the Palestinians and to offer his evaluations of what is truly Islamic and what is truly Palestinian. And then mini-Hariri came out and read what they wrote for him in Arabic: he denounced the "terrorists" forgetting that the Sunni fanatical groups in Lebanon flourished since his family began its generous financial support for such groups during the last parliamentary elections, and due to the Hariri policy of intense sectarian agitations. The top Shi`ite cleric (again chosen not for his scholarship but for his loyalty to the Amal movement), `Abdul-Amir Qabalan, also came out to praise the Lebanese Army. What are they praising: the scenes of Lebanese Army tanks shelling the refugee camps of Nahr Al-Barid? But make no mistake: nothing will change. It will end like every other incident of this kind ends: in a stalemate, and in things returning back to abnormal. This is Lebanon.