The Future of Lebanon
By Dr. Jospeh Gebeily, May 19, 2005
The withdrawal of the Syrian occupation forces from
Lebanon would not have been possible without the
United States adamant support of the Lebanese
opposition and its unrelenting pressure on the
Syrian regime. While we congratulate ourselves for
this necessary and long awaited phase we do realize
that more should be done to consolidate the Lebanese
recovery.
The next challenge is to pursue our American Foreign
Policy Strategy of standing firmly for the
nonnegotiable demands of human dignity: the rule of
law; limits on the absolute power of the state; free
speech; freedom of worship; equal justice; respect
for women; religious and ethnic tolerance; and
respect for private property.
The President spoke repeatedly of the
need in Lebanon for “free and fair elections”, “true
representation”, and “the rights of minorities”.
It is crucial at these times of major
US involvement in all the Middle East Initiatives
promoting freedom and democracy, to ensure that the
upcoming parliamentary elections in Lebanon are a
successful experience in democracy.
It is a fact that the Lebanese
society is a pluralistic society, with a long
history of inter-religious conflicts, mixed with
periods of stability and peaceful co-existence. It
has also been evident that the Lebanese domestic
problems would degenerate into full blown wars,
mostly because of detrimental regional interference,
whereas times of peace were due frequently to the
beneficial intervention of world powers in
negotiating comprehensive agreements among the
different Lebanese factions.
The last serious effort brokered in
Lebanon among the various communities, under
international and regional auspices, was the Taef
Accord of 1989, a new National Pact based on
sovereignty, equal power-sharing, pluralism, and the
respect of human rights and freedoms. In addition,
the Accord aimed to end the Lebanese War which was
on-going since 1975. Hence it clearly stipulated the
dismantling of all armed militias and the withdrawal
of the Syrian forces. It also set an agenda to
achieve national reconciliation including a general
amnesty to cover the period of the war, and the
formation of a government of national unity to
incorporate all the different Lebanese factions. An
Arab Tri-Partite (Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and
Morocco) Committee was established to ensure the
application of the Accord.
But in 1990, Syria invaded the
totality of Lebanon and gained control of the
country’s national decision and has been intervening
in all forms of Lebanese life, social, financial,
and political. Since then, Lebanon has witnessed a
reversal in the process of the implementation of the
Taef Accord: no withdrawal of foreign forces, no
disarming of militias, no sovereignty, no amnesty,
no reconciliation, basically no end to the Lebanese
War, and a perpetuation of the conflict.
Finally, UNSC Resolution1559,
introduced by the US and France in 2004, started to
revive Taef and created the proper momentum to get
Syria out of Lebanon, and to, hopefully soon,
dissolve the remaining militias. But what about the
future of democracy and governance in Lebanon? What
about the inter-communal relations and the
consociational formula of the state?
For the past 15 years, the principle
of equal Christian-Moslem participation in running
the affairs of the nation has not been applied.
Since the end of the war, Christians have been
neglected and sidelined: their parties, leaders,
militias, their refugees, their institutions all
targeted by a pro-Syrian regime supported by the
Moslems of Lebanon. Regretfully, it took Hariri's
assassination to cause the Moslems to join the
Christians in their revolt against the Syrians, and
to restore national unity, in face of foreign
aggression. Still, a stable future for Lebanon
requires true power-sharing and equality among the
different communities. This should start by
insisting on the proper political representation for
Christians and Moslems alike, and by repairing the
damages and injustices caused by the Syrian
oppression.
In this context, it is constructive
to go back to the spirit and text of the Taef
Accord. After all, this important agreement intended
to solve the Lebanese conflict, and to lay down the
foundations for the new Lebanese republic. But it
was never fully implemented. Therefore, a Follow-up
committee formed by Representatives of the US,
France and the Arab League should be established
with the mission to help the Lebanese implement the
Document of National Entente in its entirety, since
the Tri-Partite Committee failed to do so.
And among the most pressing issues
that need to be addressed are:
-
Ensuring a free and fair electoral
process in the upcoming Parliamentary elections
of May-June to allow a true representation of
each and every component of the Lebanese society.
-
Releasing all the Lebanese
prisoners from the barbaric and inhumane Syrian
jails.
-
Disarming all militias, eliminating
the security islands currently not under the
Lebanese authority, and deploying the Lebanese
army and security forces on all the Lebanese
territory.
-
Reconsidering all bilateral
treaties which were imposed on Lebanon by the
Syrian occupier.
-
Reinstating the freedom of all
Lebanese political parties under Lebanese laws,
particularly the ones banned by the pro-Syrian
Lebanese Regime, like the Lebanese Forces Party.
-
Achieving true national
reconciliation and turning the page on the
Lebanese War by freeing Dr. Samir Geagea.
Now that Lebanon is free from the
Syrian occupation, we have a duty and an interest,
as Americans, in completing the effort we started
with the Taef Accord in 1989 and with UNSC
Resolution 1559, in the hope of securing a peaceful
and prosperous Lebanon.
© 2005
Lebanese Information Center – www.licus.org
