The serious aspect of the report published by German newspaper Der Spiegel on Hezbollah's responsibility in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, lies in the political manipulation of this accusation. Most of the Lebanese leaders were aware of this manipulation, hence their attempts to contain it as a means to fend off any possible repercussions on the Lebanese domestic situation. With no doubt, such a manipulation foments the initially stirred up sectarian and confessional feelings in the run up to the parliamentary elections. So far, this issue was contained at the popular level, thanks to a joint desire to avoid turning the matter into a direct electoral headline. For such a development is likely to create security and political tension that might cancel the parliamentary elections, an option that seemingly no one in Lebanon wants. While the Future Movement and its leader Saad Hariri abstained from commenting on the issue, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt denounced the accusation. Hezbollah's Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, for his part, considered it an Israeli political accusation in the framework of the party's confrontation with Israel. It was normal for Israel to manipulate this accusation in light of its well-known hostility towards Hezbollah and its Secretary General. It had sought in the past – and is still seeking – to assassinate Nasrallah and his party's members. Its officials reiterate on a daily basis that Hezbollah represents a security threat to their state, whether through Lebanon or through the support it provides for the armed Palestinian resistance. The accusation was a chance for Israel to attack Hezbollah and instigate the world against it. The battle between both sides has been ongoing since the party started its armed action against Israel, and it will certainly continue in the absence of peace, irrespective of the accusations published by the German newspaper. So in order to prevent the accusation from being manipulated at home and to cement civil peace, we should distinguish between Israel's manipulation of a news report and its continued battle against Hezbollah and the ongoing confrontation with Lebanon. Israel's enmity towards Lebanon and the Arabs in general is by no means linked to the assassination of Hariri and the complications it brought about. There were also doubts that Israel was manipulating the assassination, leaking information on the responsible sides, in the hope of burdening Hezbollah with many internal conflicts and weakening its positions in the confrontation with it. Also, we should distinguish between the track of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the Lebanese-Israeli hostility. These are two separated tracks and are not related in any way. The Special Tribunal seeks to gather the facts and information that lead to the suspects in the assassination. This process should be purely criminal and uninfluenced by any political situation, even though the assassination of Hariri was a political crime par excellence. We have the right to cast doubts over the intentions behind the report published by Der Speigel under the current circumstances. But making prejudgments on the court's final decision in light of this report is tantamount to rejecting the tribunal's work, not to mention the ramifications of any prejudgment on the Lebanese domestic arena, especially since the battle of ratifying the work of the tribunal in Lebanon did paralyze public institutions for months and was about to topple them. The Lebanese leaders unanimously agreed on refusing the political manipulation of the report, because they wanted to preserve civil peace. However, manipulating the report to cast doubts on the work of the tribunal threatens civil peace as well.
