Lebanon First
and Last
By: Elias Bejjani*
October
21/2010
Psalm 92:12: "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like
a cedar of Lebanon".
There are numerous reasons behind the ongoing devastating internal and external
wars that are being waged against Lebanon and his people. These reasons have
varied throughout contemporary history with the changing instruments of
fighting, circumstances, financiers and profiteers. However, the main reasons
and targets were always and still are the privileged Lebanese distinctive
identity, multiculturalism, freedoms and coexistence. Almost every nation and
people in the Middle and Far East look upon Lebanon as a heaven for freedoms and
as an oasis for the persecuted.
At the
present time and since 1982, the Iranian armed terrorist militia, Hezbollah,
which was created by the Iranians with its mini-state during Syria's bloody
occupation era of Lebanon (1976-2005) imposes an extremely serious and
fundamental threat to all that is Lebanese: culture, identity, history,
civilization, freedoms, coexistence, tolerance, democracy, peace, openness,
order and law.
But as our deeply rooted history teaches us, this Stone Age armed terrorist
group shall by God's will be defeated as was the fate of all invaders, tyrants,
dictators and occupiers whose sick minds fooled them that Lebanon could be tamed
and his people could be subdued and enslaved. They all were disappointed and
forced to leave with humiliation and disgrace. The Syrian occupier in 2005 and
after almost 30 years of savage occupation had to face the same scornful fate.
Hezbollah will have ultimately the same end sooner or later although its armed
militiamen are Lebanese.
We thank God for the ultimate failure of all savage attacks which the faithful
Lebanese shattered with stubbornness, perseverance, courage and self-confidence,
and remained attached to their identity, and steadfast against hatred,
foreign expansionism schemes and evil conspiracies.
The distinction of Lebanon is that it is a nation of diverse religious
denominational groups and civilizations living together in agreeable
coexistence, without coercion or oppression or becoming a melting pot, despite
transient harsh confrontations at certain periods of history always instigated
and orchestrated by external forces. Lebanon’s air of liberty has been made
equally available to its extensive mosaic of communities to help them maintain
freedom of their cultural and religious particularities and distinctions.
All Throughout history these distinctions gave Lebanon his pluralist flavor and
made the majority of the Lebanese people into a homogeneous society attached
heart and spirit to the one Lebanese identity that personifies their roots,
cultures, hopes and civilizations.
The confessional diversity permits each of Lebanon’s 18 ethnic communities to
express its original goodness within its core and the sanctity of its faith.
Even though the communities’ perspective towards God may be different, they do
not disagree on the truth of God’s essence, and He remains the All Mighty
Creator and the source of all good to all people.
Accordingly, all Lebanese have learned that none of them should presume to
monopolize God’s relationship through himself, or seek to acquire all God’s
graces by eliminating others, because these others were also created by God and
are also His children, and that He is the only ultimate judge.
All religions in Lebanon worship the same God, and He definitely accepts them
all each according to their sincerity and trust. God knows the content of hearts
and intents, and He is not fooled by the various rituals and styles of worship.
The majority of the peace loving Lebanese people strongly believe that no one
Lebanese community should claim that it is the best, or the closest, or the only
path to God. They all trust in the fact that God knows all wants, and uncovers
all intents. Hezbollah is an odd exception among the Lebanese communities.
Despite the ongoing Lebanese success of coexistence and diversity of
civilizations, cultures and religions within the scope of the uniform Lebanese
identify, and despite the good and civilized relationship that the Lebanese
always endeavor to maintain with neighboring countries, Syria still keeps
on trying by force, vicious interferences and terrorism to impose on them an alternative identity, life
style, regime and ideology.
The Syrian Baathist regime has been, and still is, an actual disaster for
Lebanon and his people and an ongoing annoying headache in all levels and domains. Syria
has been ferociously behind all Lebanese problems, wars and sufferings for the
last 30 years, including the creation of the Terrorist Hezbollah and its mini-state, as well
as the status quo of havoc and disorder in the 13 Palestinian camps of which the
Lebanese government has zero control.
To know Lebanon well and to understand his importance in the Middle East, one needs to review his rooted history. In this context, below are some historic excerpts that address Lebanon’s "particularity", the spoken languages of his people and other related documented historical facts:
Lebanon has been known since ancient through modern times, as a crossroad of
civilizations and peoples. Since 4000 BC, waves of people settled and fought on
his land, including Kananites, Phoenicians, Aramites, Egyptians, Persians,
Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Europeans, and Syrians. Lebanon's
spoken language varied with the times. Originally, Phoenician was the mother
tongue followed by the Egyptian and Babylonian languages for commerce.
During the Persian rule (539-332 BC), Aramaic was the official language of the
empire, in addition to Phoenician in Lebanon. During Greek rule (322-63),
ancient Greek became the official language equivalent to the Aramaic mother
language. With the Roman rule, Latin became the language of law and
administration, in addition to ancient Greek as the language of culture next to
Aramaic which remained the mother language.
With the Arab conquest (625 AD), Arabic imposed by the Amawites rulers started
to compete with the Aramaic/Syriac variations and replaced them. Then the
Ottoman Turks taught Turkish, while schools of the era taught and continue today
to teach French, English, and Armenian. Lebanon's current official language is
Arabic, although the Lebanese dialect language spoken is a combination of many
languages, especially Aramaic and Syriac.
Union with diversity within the distinct Lebanese identity is Lebanon’s
civilization and the choice of its multi-ethnic-religious people. This
diversity is known as the "Lebanese particularity” and as Lebanon’s humanistic
message to its neighbors, as well as to the whole world, and if it is lost, God
forbid, Lebanon would lose the reason of his existence (his raison d’etre).
Lebanon’s "particularity" yielded his national covenant and his political
system. The covenant is coexistence amongst Christians and Moslems. The
Christian Lebanese adhere to it by abandoning their tendency for Western style
secularism and by renouncing the protection of any Western nation, and the
Lebanese Moslems, in turn, abandon their tendency to Islamic theocracy and cease
their quest for protection under any Arabic or Islamic nation.
The National Covenant specifies the principles of "coexistence" from
Independence and President Becaharra Khoury on the day of his election on
September 20, 1943, as well as the first Governmental Communiqué issued by Prime
Minister Riad Solh on October 7, 1943. The most important clauses of the
Covenant are:
*Lebanon is an independent republic, with complete independence, and a final
homeland for all his children, sovereign, free and independent in his
internationally recognized borders.
*Lebanon is a founding active member of the Arab League and is adherent and
committed to its principles. Lebanon is also a founding and active member of the
United Nations and committed to its principles and to the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
*There would be no hegemony requested, no protection sought, and no special
privileges granted to any other nation, and no union nor unification with any
other nation.
*Maximum cooperation with the Arab countries, by maintaining equilibrium with all
of them, and maintaining friendship with all foreign nations that recognize
Lebanon’s total independence and respect it. There will be no legitimacy to any
authority that contradicts the covenant of national coexistence.
It was on the basis of this covenant that the political system in Lebanon was
conceived distinctively from all other political systems in the Arab and Western
nations, and it is on this same basis that all Lebanese ethnicities agreed to
unite within the scope of the Lebanese identity.
This political system produced special attributes that distinguished Lebanon
from its neighbors and they are:
*The democratic parliamentary system;
*the National Concord;
*the public liberties and most significantly the freedom of opinion, religion,
and free enterprise. The system also yielded a dialogue without duress
(conciliatory dialogue) about the affairs and politics of the nation as
specified in the constitution, such as the modification of the constitution, war
and peace and treaties with other nations.
This Lebanese civilization which constitutes the heritage of Lebanon, and which
is the result of existential living and political dialogues among all
successive cultures and civilizations on his land, has continued to allow the
Lebanese to remain steadfast in the face of conspiracies of partition and
settlement and regime change, and to survive his most critical stages during
years of fierce wars.
"Lebanon First"", is the patriotic emblem under which the "Cedars Revolution"
united the majority of the Lebanese people in 2005 against the Syrian occupation and liberated the
country. The Lebanese identity which distinguishes Lebanon has held steadfast
in the past and will prevail and be ultimately victorious. It will also firmly
endure in the protection of our forefather’s inheritance, God willing. All the
forces of hate and evil including Syria, Iran and Hezbollah shall fail to marginalize it or replace it with another
identity.
In
conclusion, for Lebanon, the land of the holy cedars to be victorious in the
face of the Axis of Evil powers dirty and evil wars against his existence, Each
and every Lebanese in both Lebanon and Diaspora has a patriotic and ethical
obligation and a holy duty to
preserve by all means Lebanon's graceful identity and solidify its implantation in
the conscience, hearts and souls of the new Lebanese generations
and to root it in their awareness, as well as in Lebanon's blessed soil.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political
commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com &
http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.