General Michel
Aoun: An improvised political version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
By: Elias
Bejjani/LCCC Chairman
November 30/2006
(Part 6 of the Aoun series of editorials)
In this editorial - part six in my Aoun series - the focus will be solely on the
text of a lengthy audio interview that the Lebanese MTV channel conducted with
General Michel Aoun on October 9, 2002 while he was still in exile in
Paris - France. This is another lengthy text of 40 pages that shows without
a shadow of doubt, and by this man's own words, that he has in cold blood
buried under 12 feet all his declared national and political convictions
whose banner he carried for 18 years, only to back off completely on all
his promises in the end. He simply made a 180 degree turn without even
bothering to explain himself or at least to his supporters the rationale for
such a drastic turnaround.
He is still claiming boldly to be the most popular Lebanese Christian
politician, and accordingly he acts in an extremely aggressive and reckless
manner as he elaborates his national and political choices and alliances. His
demagogic attitudes, approaches and speeches are still appealing to many young
Lebanese, especially in the Christian community, because he is hypocritically
playing on sectarian fears while portraying himself as a secularist and the
savior and protector of the Christian community. This metamorphosis had the
effect that many intellectuals among his close supporters have either left him
or just backed off and are not involving themselves in political activity any
longer.
The Lebanese people in general and the Christian community in particular had
hoped for many years that General Aoun's return from exile would be a very
constructive push forward and a solid patriotic cornerstone for reclaiming the
country's confiscated sovereignty, independence, freedoms and security. But to
their disappointment and frustration, the man lost all focus on national
priorities except for his unabated drive for the presidency. Everything he does
or says revolves around this apparently unreachable ambition.
And instead of working genuinely for unity in his own Christian community after
he got almost 80% of its votes in the last parliamentary elections, he
became his community's main problem and element of division after he backed off
on his electoral platform and forged an alliance with Hezbollah and all the
pro-Syrian parties, officials, and militias in Lebanon. He turned into a Syrian
mouthpiece defending the Damascus regime's conduct and atrocities, aborting all
efforts to replace the Syrian hand-picked Lebanese President, General Emile
Lahoud.
In his blind pursuit of the presidency, he turned against France, the US,
UNIFIL, and all UN resolutions, and took a hostile stance against the Maronite
Patriarch after his Beatitude and the Maronite Council of Bishops expressed
their disapproval of his alliances. He continues to issue threats to topple the
Siniora government by force and through street demonstrations side by side with
Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian parties.
On Sunday November 26, 2006 and because Aoun was still persisting to
join forces with Hezbollah and topple the Lebanese government, His Beatitude
the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir urged the Lebanese Christians to close
ranks although he acknowledged that such a unity is difficult to achieve,
(mainly because of Aoun's stubbornness): " We are going through miserable days,
but we hope they will be followed by happy days in which the Lebanese will
reunite…We mean by that the Christians who are divided," Sfeir told his visitors
on Sunday. "It seems that their reunification has become hard," Sfeir added. He
said the Lebanese should join hands since "our leaders are being killed one
after the other."
Because of Aoun's individualistic, selfish and uncalculated ambitions, Lebanon's
Christians are divided between those who support Fouad Siniora's government and
those who are revolving around Aoun and are calling for the toppling of the
government.
Below are a number of selected quotes from Aoun's MTV October 2002 interview
which shows Aoun's own description of Hezbollah's fundamentalist doctrine,
weapons, ties to foreign countries, power balance between Arab countries and
Israel, Lebanon's borders with both Israel and Syria, the big lie of the Shebaa
Farms, suicide operations, reckless military skirmishes against Israel through
Lebanon's borders, rules of negotiation, acceptance of others, civil and
military societies, Syria's criminal role, terrorism and the pressure it exerts
on the Palestinians, Dhimmitude attitudes, extermination of Lebanon's
Christians, inefficiency of Lebanon's current pro-Syrian president, General
Lahoud, and many other opinions and stances in the same context.
The prime objective from this illustration is to show - using Aoun's own words -
the educated and intellectuals among his supporters, as well as within his
party's members, and in particular the young and university students, how the
man since his return from exile last year has backed off from all his political
advocacy of the past 18 years and reneged on all his platforms and
promises. All what is required from the reader is to just compare, with an open
mind and without any kind of sentiment or bias, Aoun's platforms during the
exile years which they admired and supported, with those after his return from
exile. The Lebanese people owe it to themselves and to their country to only
support politicians based on platforms and not on emotions or blind
sentimentalist fanaticism. Only sheep can be lead blindly to slaughterhouses,
but not the Lebanese people.
Below are
selected excerpts from General Aoun's interview with MTV on 09/04/02.
Journalist Elie Nakouzi conducted the interview (Below also some writer's
comments)
1-General Aoun: "By the way, I
remind you here that the Syrian regime had said that it came to Lebanon to save
its Christians from extermination. I want to ask this regime who, apart from
it, in fact wanted to exterminate us?"
2-General Aoun: "I sure am very optimistic
with the Palestinian people's victory, but not the way some envisage it. Not by
the extermination of Israel as Hezbollah and Bashar Al-Assad say, because this
kind of policy is globally rejected".
3-General Aoun: "The best that Syria has
offered is rejected by us. What can Syria offer us? Its liberal regime,
freedoms, or economic system? All of these are rejected because they do not
match our thinking. For the Syrian regime to be accepted by us, it has to be
like us in Lebanon, and not vice-versa".
Writer's Comment: Does the General have any
assurances from the Syrian Baathist regime that its leadership has scraped
their schemes to exterminate the Lebanese Christian community, or at least
their intellectuals and leaders who oppose their interferences and hegemony? If
he does, the Lebanese people are entitled to be informed, especially that the
horrible Syrian crimes continue to target Lebanon's national leaders,
journalists and officials one after the other. Needless to remind the General
that he himself has accused Syria and its Lebanese agents to be behind three
assassination attempts that targeted him personally.
4-General Aoun: "The Arabs have gained the
experience. I noticed that whose who got the experience are acting wisely at
this stage. Meanwhile, there are those who don't own the experience, mostly the
young, are enthusiastic for war, like Hezbollah and his Excellency president
Bashar Al Assad".
5-General Aoun: "There are rejectionist
factions (in the region), Hezbollah and Syria are such well-known
rejectionists. They are the factions that pressure the Palestinian people and
the Palestinian resistance in a certain direction".
6-General Aoun: "We can't live today
according to Bin Laden's school (doctrine). We can't live in the East or in the
West with a war slogan against Jews and Christians".
7-General Aoun: "Whenever the Palestinian
problem get close to a solution, we feel that the Palestinian people are
exposed to pressure from outside bidding factions striving to corner and
embarrass the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority and make him reject the
solution. They put him in a weak position and at times tag him with treason if
he accepts the proposed solutions".
8-General Aoun: "I am against any suicide operation
(for any target) if you can bombard or explode the target. In any kind of
military operation the soldier should always have a good chance to return
alive. No one (fighter, soldier) should detonate himself. As far as I am
concerned, this (suicide operations) is against my human and faith beliefs".
9-General Aoun: "We are the country that was
struck by 258 booby-trapped vehicles during the unfolding events. The
Lebanese people remember very well these cars that exploded in all (the
Lebanese) regions. We are against this kind of thinking, the thinking of
annihilating the society because it does not distinguish (between military and
civil societies)"
Writer's Comment: The General has so far not
cleared the rejectionists from what he accused them of doing in 2002. Does
his alliance with them simply mean that he was wrong at that time, or that they
have abandoned such practices? Aren't these rejectionists the General's new
allies? How could he now sell his supporters such an alliance? Aren't they
still rejectionists?
One wonders whether the General's new allies, especially Hezbollah, have
abandoned this kind of thinking, or if they have succeeded in convincing the
General himself to adopt their own doctrines in this regard. It is worth
mentioning that Hezbollah has fired tens of its missiles against civilian
targets during its last war with Israel.
10-General Aoun: "I consider these martyrdom
operations wrong because, as I previously stated, they freed the Israeli
military destructive power and legitimized its usage."
11-General Aoun: "Israel owns a mighty
military and destruction power. By using the booby-trapped vehicles weapon
against them (the Israelis), we give Israel a free hand to use its power and
even legitimize it".
12-General Aoun: "The Palestinians should
know that their case can't be solved through violence. They have 45 years
experience of violence and mutual wars".
13-General Aoun: "Once engaged in
negotiations, this simply means the parties recognize each other. One cannot,
by the end of a peace process and because of not agreeing on some issues, turn
around and again deny the existence of the other party, and accordingly make
this existence a questionable matter. We can't adopt an argument that advocates
for Israel's cancellation (annihilation)".
Writer's Comment: Does the General have any
doubt that Hezbollah, his new ally, has fully freed the Israeli mighty
destructive military power when its men crossed the Lebanese border into Israel
to kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers? The perplexing question for the General
remains: Did Hezbollah and President Bashar Al Assad change their way of
thinking, or is it the General who did?
14-General Aoun: "I say the military
escalation does not help, especially when power balance (in the Middle East) is
to a great extent subjected to international constraints and not to Arab power
in the face of Israel’s power" .
Writer's Comment: If this is the situation,
how could the General justify his adaptation for Hezbollah's latest “divine
victory?”
15-General Aoun: "In Lebanon there was a UN
Resolution (452), meanwhile the resistance (Hezbollah) has prolonged the
time of occupation (for South Lebanon). There was a proposal from Israel in
1994. Would the Lebanese government tell us why at that time it withdrew
from the negotiations when the Israeli proposal for withdrawal (from South
Lebanon) was submitted".
Writer's Comment: If actually Hezbollah did
not liberate the South and instead it prolonged its Israeli occupation, how
does the general instruct his followers to share with Hezbollah and Hezbollah
supporters all over the world their annual festivities of the so-called
liberation?
16-General Aoun: "Lebanon's frontiers were
originally never closed. All Lebanon is open (not guarded). Where are the
closed frontiers? They are neither closed with Syria nor with Israel. The
Lebanese state does not exist on the frontiers. These frontiers are open and
every night skirmishes take place. I am with closing the frontiers and not with
abandoning responsibilities. But what is happening today? All are washing their
hands from all responsibilities".
Writer's Comment: Are these frontiers closed
now to make the General refuse the deployment of UNIFIL forces on the Lebanese
Israeli borders, and to oppose putting UNIFIL under the UN’s chapter seven?
17-General Aoun: "The Shebaa Farms is a big
lie; I am fully responsible for what I am saying. We can't adjust the map in
accordance to our mood. Shebaa Farms are not Lebanese. Even if they were, this
land was confiscated by Syria since a long time and Lebanon has been silent
about it. The Lebanese government did not state once that it has an occupied
land subjected to UN resolution 242 ".
18-General Aoun: "Let them leave the Shebaa
story which is originally a fabricated one, they want to keep the borders open.
Let us assume for the sake of argument that the Shebaa Farms is Lebanese, and
that we have the right to fight for it, and that we don't want to implement the
UN Resolution. But what about the Golan Heights? Why doesn’t our sisterly
neighboring Syria open its front (with Israel) at a time when it made of itself
a trustee over Lebanon?"
Writer's Comment: Based on the General's own
words, how could he and his parliamentary bloc members allege that Hezbollah's
weapons are a result of the occupation of Shebaa, and not the cause for
Lebanon's current problems? And how could he support a lie and tie the fate of
Hezbollah's disarmament with the fate of the armed Palestinian militias in
Lebanon and the erection of a strong, fair and resistant Lebanese state? One
wonders how could a strong Lebanese state be erected when Hezbollah has its own
Iranian-Syrian militant state inside the state and uses force to deny any
Lebanese efforts to rectify peacefully this bizarre imposed status.
19-General Aoun: "Emile Lahoud, as he says,
is not qualified to be president of the Republic or to head the Arabic summit
conference".
20-General Aoun: "Didn't you hear the
speeches threatening us with a civil war in case we call for a Syrian
withdrawal (from Lebanon). Hezbollah is the one that threatened and who else has
weapons. Hezbollah said we want to erect another Kosovo (in Lebanon) and it
intents to confront this matter. Hezbollah said that they are on the front at
the border to defend Syria. This is exactly what Al Syassa Kuwaiti newspaper
quoted Sayed Hassan Nasrallah as saying. It seems that he was threatening us
with a civil war if we called for a Syrian withdrawal".
Writer's Comment: Isn’t Nasrallah now
resorting to the same kind of speeches and threats? And is it not true too that
the General is now on Nasrallah's side? And aren’t both Aoun and Nasrallah
threatening the Lebanese people with a civil war if the Siniora government does
not give them the power to run the country?
21-General Aoun: "We have the independence
pact, as well as the foundations of the country. None of them could build on
any contracts Hezbollah forges with foreign countries. The country's
foundations are sovereignty, independence and the unity of both the people and
land".
22-General Aoun: "What is the military value
of the Syrian Army in the power balance in case a war erupts with Israel? Do
you really believe peace and tranquility in the East are sustained by power
balance? What actually preserved tranquility up till now is the international
will. Military skirmishes (on the borders with Israel) occurring these days
could lead to the freeing of these constraints. We live these days a very
delicate situation because if Hezbollah and Syria are serious in their
escalation and not merely theoretical, then the possibility of the plight of
war is serious".
Writer's Comment: Here the General has a
great deal of explaining to do in regards to his groundless and non-military
support for Hezbollah's last devastating war against Israel. Hezbollah did or
did not free the destructive Israeli mighty military power when it kidnapped
the Israeli solders from inside the Israeli borders? Meanwhile and based on his
own words in 2002 how could he declare Hezbollah victorious in the last war?
Isn’t the General contradicting himself between 2002 and 2006? In
2002, he said that Hezbollah’s skirmishes with the Israelis could lead to
war. Now he says that the July War was a war that the US had been preparing for
regardless of what Hezbollah does or does not do in the south?
23-General Aoun: "Hezbollah can not forge
partnerships (with foreign countries) and then tie all the country (Lebanon) to
its opinion. Such partnerships are unacceptable. I refuse both religious and
political Dhimmitude. These days we live a state of political Dhimmitude in
Lebanon".
Writer's Comment: The General, for the sake
of credibility, ought to inform at least his party members and supporters if
Hezbollah has severed its financial, military, strategic, and ideological ties
with Syria and Iran? He should also tell them if he approves today of political
Dhimmitude? [A “Dhimmi” is a second-class non-Moslem citizen in a State ruled
by Moslems].
"Did the General renege on his own words when he signed the so-called "Paper of
Understanding" with Hezbollah while its leadership openly and daily declares
that they are allies with Syria and Iran? Didn't Hezbollah’s General Secretary
loudly say over and over that if and when Syria is forced to withdraw from
Lebanon, we [Hezbollah] will be its own army? Does the General recall to whom
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah bestowed the recent so-called divine victory? It was for
Syria and Iran. He should remember that because his delegation was in the front
seats during that huge victory celebration.
24-General Aoun: "No one is armed except the
state's parties: the Syrian National Social Party, the Baath Party and
Hezbollah. These are the supporters of the authority. All of this is used under
the resistance tag. They keep the weapons in a bid to threaten others with
killing and a civil war. We do not fear killing, but if violence is forced on
us we will defend ourselves".
Writer's comment: "Aren't these same armed
parties the General's new allies today on the ground in Beirut? Aren't he and
them threatening the rest of the Lebanese with massive demonstrations and
aren't they threatening the Siniora Government to resign or otherwise?".
25-General Aoun: "It is impossible to tag
those who want to go to the West Bank for help as agents. What is this complex?
Are all the Palestinians there Israeli agents. This same complex was practiced
in South Lebanon when its citizens were dealt with as agents and put in jails".
Writer's Comment: "It would be great if the
General tells our people that his current ally Hezbollah was the authority that
tagged and still tags the South Lebanese Army members, their families and many
other security zone citizens as Israeli agents".
26-General Aoun: "And this subject, the
dialogue I have put it forward for others and in particular for Hezbollah. That
was through our youth who were engaged in a dialogue with Hezbollah between
1993 and 1994. These youth visited me at that time in France (Haute
Maison) and asked for my opinion. I requested that they put forward this same
question for Hezbollah: "If we reach the national borders (Israeli-Lebanese
borders) tomorrow by one way or another, does the role of the rifle end there
and the Lebanese state is erected, or we will keep holding to the rifle for
other things? The Hezbollah response was:" the matter will be left for an
assessment of the situation at that time". This simply means and in a very
diplomatic way that they don't want to give up the rifle".
Writer's Comment: The irony here is that the
General has kept a blind eye on his own theory and prediction when signing the
so-called "Paper of Understanding" with Hezbollah, which subsequently linked
its weapons to the “Sacred, honor, dignity, defense strategy, a strong, fair
and resistant State and until a time when Israel would not be able to fly a
kite over Lebanon”. Does the General recall who ignited the last war?
27-General Aoun: "I know that Lebanon will
not be divided. It will return again a country for all of its people, even in
the presence of supporters for Syria whose role in the end will cease to exist
because they can't stand against nature on the account of the country and its
foundations. But if one does not believe in a sovereign, free and independent
Lebanon, then everything is finished".
Writer's Comment: "What is funny here is
that the General himself, and after his return from exile, has aggressively and
enthusiastically joined the Syrian supporters through his alliance with
Hezbollah, General Lahoud and the rest of Syria's agents in Lebanon, including
the pro-Syrian Baath Party...One wonders if the General's perception of what is
‘nature’ and ‘the foundations of the country’ has been revolutionized,
Syrianized, and baathized?".
28-General Aoun: "Up till today I notice
that the Lebanese Forces Party and the "Qornet Chehwan" (political Christian
coalition) are very persistent in their support of the "Taef Accord" as if it
is another bible, while in fact it is a ploy that they were dragged in. Some do
not know how to get out because they refuse to admit they were cheated and that
their choice was wrong".
Writer's comment: “It is no secret that the
General has revolutionized his position on the "Taef Accord" and became, like
those ploy victims, one of its major supporters. He even scolded some of his
prime supporters when publicly they reiterated his original "Taef" opposition
stance. Is his new choice righteous in his own eyes? And if so, how could he in
2002 say that the accord was a ploy? I believe he owes our own people a
great deal of explanation.”
29-General Aoun: "We start from the southern
region. If it does not return back to the (state's) legitimate authority, to
the jurisdiction of the law and to the legitimate Lebanese armed forces, then
we can't consider it liberated, but still under the control of a militia and
that it has been transferred from two occupations to one.
Writer's comment: "It is worth noting
that when the General signed his " Paper of Understanding" with Hezbollah, this
armed militia was still in full control of the southern region (now it is under
the control of the UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army), and at that time too there
was no existence there whatsoever for the state's authority, jurisdiction of
law, or Lebanon's legitimate armed forces. This same militia is the one that
still holds tight to its 40,000 missiles and to its destructive arsenal,
refusing to disarm with the full support of the General. This is the same
militia with which the General has forged with not a mere “understanding” as
both parties allege, but a full alliance accord".
30-General Aoun: "The issue is not that of
an ally, I am America's ally. I went there (to the USA) to call for Lebanon's
independence. We do not forget that America is the sole mighty country and its
policies affect the whole world whether we like it or not. America has a power
formula. If one can make this formula to his advantage he will be able to save
his country. Although America and Israel had hurt me the most in the world, I
can't ignore America' power and influence in the world. We should understand
that a mistake was committed against Lebanon who fell a victim for terrorism.
The mistake should be rectified. I showed them (the USA) the assassination and
explosion schedule that Lebanon had been exposed to. I told them, I did not
want to accuse anybody, but requested they ask their Intelligence. I asked them
not make parties accountable because these parties have ties with regimes. The
organizations that you consider terrorists are tied to regimes. These
organizations should be disarmed and the regimes rendered democratic and to
help in developing the poor people".
Writer's comment: The General instead of
working hard to disarm these organizations, and in particular Hezbollah, has
forged an alliance with them and has become a guardian angel for their
weapons.
31-General Aoun: "Not at all, attacking
Hezbollah is not requested. Our call for Hezbollah has always been a peaceful
one. We told Hezbollah's leadership, ‘Your liberation role has finished and you
should not be a tool in the hands of others. Come and play your political role’.
It is true that I reject many of their ideas, because they have somewhat
strange ideas as far as our society is concerned. These ideas do not comply
with our society nor with Lebanon's traditional mission. But they are a part of
the Lebanese society. I call on them not to be an outside (foreign) dimension n
Lebanon, but a Lebanese dimension abroad. It does not bother me whether their
religious loyalty is in Qom or in Iraq. This a religious authority with whom we
have no relations. But what is rejected, is the turning of any Muslim or
Christian faction into a dimension in Lebanon for the outside (foreign
countries).
Writer's Comment: Hezbollah's ideas are
still the same and even more crystal clear. Meanwhile, Hezbollah is not only an
internal dimension for outside powers, but in fact an Iranian-Syria armed
militia in Lebanon. Its leadership is not hiding this fact, can the General do
otherwise?
10/04/02: Below
are Excerpts from the Aoun MTV interview, the subject of our editorial, as
published in the As-Safir Lebanese Arabic-language daily one day after its
airing.
("Aoun: The Shebaa Farms are not Lebanese and the Resistance (Hezbollah)
has prolonged the Occupation.
General Michel Aoun appeared live yesterday from Paris and presented his views
and positions regarding the developments in the region. Aoun described the
martyrdom missions executed by the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli
occupation as "suicide missions" and not "missions of martyrdom". He added that
such operations "reveal an uncivilized conduct," and that the use of
booby-trapped vehicles against Israel is an act of terrorism.
Aoun, in a televised interview with MTV, fiercely attacked Hezbollah and Syria
and accused them of nurturing the rejectionist discourse of the Palestinians.
He also accused them of wanting to annihilate the Israelis, and of prodding the
Palestinians to destroy a whole population. Aoun criticized the military
operations undertaken by the resistance (Hezbollah) in the Shebaa Farms stating
that "the Farms issue is a lie: the Shebaa Farms are not Lebanese; let Syria
give us an official document that these Farms are Lebanese then we will work at
liberating them."
Aoun described Hezbollah's and Syria's position regarding the developments in
occupied Palestine as "an extremist position stemming from either political
recklessness or collusion with Israel." Aoun criticized “the rejectionist
discourse that rejects even the human Israeli existence, such as the Hezbollah
discourse that considers the killing of anyone in the Israeli society as ´fair
game', and the discourse of President Bashar Assad that is identical to
Hezbollah's and proclaims that ´there are no civilians in Israeli society'.
Aoun added: "We reject this kind of discourse. We reject such policy of
extermination. Such things are contradictory to any human or civilized conduct.
They are calling for the destruction of a whole people through terrorist means,
and this is unacceptable. The use of such means released the destructive
military power of Israel and legitimized it."
He also stated that the military victory of Israel "will not eliminate the
Palestinian State nor the rights of the Palestinian people. However, those
goals cannot be reached by the extermination of Israelis and wiping out Israel,
as Hezbollah and Bashar Assad want." And regarding the resistance (Hezbollah)
that liberated the South from Israeli occupation, Aoun said: "The resistance
prolonged the occupation. There was an Israeli proposal of withdrawal in
1994. Why did Lebanon withdraw from the negotiation process? Lebanon
attached itself to the Syrian tractor and dissolved its own political and
diplomatic identity… the resistance prolonged the occupation and damaged
Lebanon economically". He called for the "disarming of Hezbollah that keeps
threatening us with civil war."
Aoun attacked Syria fiercely and said: "Is it allowable for Syria to kill in the
name of brotherhood? Is it allowable for Syria to occupy Baabda (Presidential
Palace) in the name of brotherhood? Why did it greet me with hostility from my
first day as head of the interim government?"
Aoun described the Lebanese constitutional institutions as "farms" (in a veiled
reference to the Shebaa Farms) and said: "The Baabda farm (Presidential Palace)
needs to be liberated, so does the Qoraytem (Prime Minister’s Office) and the
Nejmeh Square (Parliament) farms. There is no free decision in any of these
places."
On the future of the region, Aoun said: “Peace in the Middle East is a
civilization condition that must evolve against the politics of violence. It
rests on the acceptance of the "other", the right to be different, and the
democratization of the political systems. It is impossible to build a new
Middle East with a war mentality. Competition through development and pluralism,
which arises from the acceptance of those who are different, the plurality of
races, genders, and origins, and the freedom of creed, is consistent with the
stipulations of the Charter of Human Rights.
I do not trust States that engage themselves in the path of peace and try to
develop their systems, but that do not recognize the right of freedom of creed,
which by the way is not limited to religion, but also includes political and
all other forms of freedoms. There are underdeveloped autocratic and theocratic
states that are anachronisms and are incompatible with the times in which we
live. The Bin Laden School is such a belief system and it cannot survive. The
slogan of war on Christians and Jews is an aberration that cannot survive,
neither in the East nor in the West. Lebanon is the only oasis for the
reconciliation of cultures because of its Moslems and Christians who have lived
the experience and found it to be viable. Aoun said his return to Lebanon is
tied to "changes on the ground" he expects to happen soon and which are linked
to regional developments." )
Note: To read the five previous editorials of
this series
click here
http://www.10452lccc.com/eliasbejjanienglish06.htm
N.B: All above quotes were translated by the writer from
the original Arabic sources.
*Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site
http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com