True Friendship

(Written in the 1990s during the darkest moments of the Syrian occupation)

By: Charles Jalkh (Freedom Fighter)

The French government has protested this week the Israeli raids against Syrian-sponsored Palestinian camps based in occupied Lebanon. The official communiqué called the raids "An attack on the integrity of the country". Similar calls have been heard from some Arab countries. Numerous times in the past we heard token support from a variety of nations including the United States but no real help.

What escapes us is how the world chooses to ignore that the integrity of Lebanon has been continuously violated by Syria for the last 23 years. For years, Syria has bombarded Lebanese towns and villages with hundreds of thousands of bombs until it finally occupied the country completely in 1990 and appointed a puppet government. Syria reneged on its promises in the Taef accord, and has refused to withdraw from Lebanon. Syria is also in violation of UN resolution 520 which requires its withdrawal from Lebanon. The territorial integrity of Lebanon is grossly violated on a daily basis due to the Syrian occupation. Yet, French officials can only see an Israeli violation and still do business with the Syrian regime at the expense of millions of oppressed Lebanese citizens.

The Chirac government claims historical roots with Lebanon and proclaims a friendship that is impartial. The Lebanese see it differently. France has only stood with the powers in charge in Lebanon. In the past, it supported the Christian-dominated first republic. Now it supports the Syrian rule. France stands with whomever is currently standing. This is not a friendship that the Lebanese people seek and we are very disappointed with France. We do not want a friendship with a particular group against another. We specially detest powers who befriend our oppressor; the Syrian Dictatorship. True friendship is when they stand with the rights of all Lebanese for a free, independent, sovereign, and equalitarian Lebanon. True friends will witness to the truth, will speak the truth, and will protest the violation of our human rights.

The Chirac government has opened our eyes to the reality of the ferocious beast that calls itself the civilized world. Long is gone the France of principles and human values. In its place, is a conglomerate of interests and political bribery. It is well known that the current appointed Lebanese Prime Minister, Billionaire Rafik Hariri, has been a major contributor to Chirac’s electoral campaigns. President Chirac has proved to us that money buys France’s friendship to a regime that has betrayed its people to the Syrian occupiers. To accept the Syrian occupation of Lebanon as a reality of life is obscene, inhumane, and evil. Governments of the world who are willing to deal with the Assad dictatorship and the appointed police state in Beirut are not friends of Lebanon. They are accomplices to the Syrian murderers.

The US does not fare any better than France in its policy towards Lebanon. For years, the American song has been that the US stands for the "Sovereignty and Independence of Lebanon, as well as for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from its land". The US has effectively murdered Lebanon when it cut a deal with Assad during the Gulf war. To liberate tiny Kuwait from the Saddam dictatorship and obtain Syrian support, the US allowed the Assad dictatorship to take over Lebanon. In the eyes of the Bush-Baker administration, Kuwaiti green was more precious than Lebanese red. Oil is thicker than blood. The Henry Kissinger school of thought has raised a generation of narrow minded and morally bankrupt foreign policy officials who are programmed to only serve "national interest". Their cynical views produce policies that pursue material gains at the expense of morality and human values. Since World War Two, we have witnessed the sellout of the American ideals in many nations when material interests were at stake. The US has abandoned its moral core, and has done business with dictatorship and oppressive regimes when it suited its purposes at the expense of millions of enslaved people. In the immediate past, we have heard praises from the US officials to the Beirut regime and witnessed cajoling to Syria’s dictator. Everyone is running their business at the expense of Lebanon and the Lebanese people.

We do not need friends like those; wolves in sheep’s clothing. They murder you then eulogize you in your funeral. They sell your land and freedoms and proclaim loudly how profoundly they respect your sovereignty and independence. Hypocrites who pursue interest, power, secret deals, sellout of nations, and enslavement of mankind. This world order is the most evil that has befallen humanity, for it practices Evil under the mask of Good. It is the beast of the apocalypse. We pray for an end to this slavery. Nature and the forces of existence will respond to the anger of millions of beings. Perhaps God will give us all a chance to either end it all, or restart with fresh humane foundations. One way or another, Lebanon shall rise again!