USCFL - LEBANON AFTER PEACE: A ROLE MODEL

For 5000 years, the people of Lebanon faced waves of invasions, settlements, natural disasters, and wars. From ancient Phoenicia to modern Lebanon, they overcame adversity and their civilization survived against all odds. They navigated the oceans, planted colonies, spread knowledge and cultivated trade. They brought the Alphabet to the world. From every downturn in our history, they always came back, wiser, stronger, and culturally richer. Today, at the doorstep of the 21st century, it is hoped that Lebanon will rise again, with its eternal identity, united, and with a purpose.

What kind of Lebanon do we want to build for our children to ensure that what happened in the history of Lebanon does not happen again?

We believe the following should serve as an inspiration to all those seeking a free, independent and sovereign Lebanon.

Before delving into building the Lebanon of tomorrow, it is imperative that Lebanese first free themselves from feudalism, denominational, tribal and financial patterns of behavior that govern the current electoral system so that together they start building a healthy nation in which they will all be able to enjoy genuine national democracy based on respect for human rights, justice, freedom, prosperity and security.

All current political parties from the Lebanese Forces to the National Liberal Party, Kataeb, Amal, Hizballah and all of the Syrian Ba’athist groups would need to either be disbanded and re-apply for new permits, or amend their charter to include the following:

* A declaration in the belief in Lebanon as a final nation, one, sovereign, undivided, secular, for all its people regardless of color, race, religion, age, sex, or ethnic origin.

* Declaration of Belief and Practice of democracy from the base to the top. Party officials must be elected by members and term limits will apply to them.

* Educational, Legal, Financial, and ethical standards must be applied to all candidates.

* All parties may describe their platform and will engage in peaceful elections and civil democratic processes.

* Pledge of allegiance to the constitution of Lebanon at the beginning of every meeting or public event.

Signing a Treaty with Syria to end its war of aggression against Lebanon is key in building the Third Republic. The treaty must include the following:

* All Syrian troops must withdraw from all Lebanese territories as required by U.N Resolution 520, the Taif charade, The Arab League Charter, and United Nations charter.

* All accords signed between Syria and Lebanon during the Syrian occupation should be declared void and null. New accords can only be negotiated with a democratic Syria.

* All Syrian workers who entered the country before and during the occupation must be repatriated in a civil and peaceful manner. The borders should be regulated and Syrian nationals will require a visa to enter Lebanon.

* All the nationalization that have occurred under occupation should be reversed.

* Syria must renounce all its weapons of mass destruction and downsize its army.

* Syria should acknowledge the historical atrocities it committed in Lebanon. International war crimes tribunals should investigate and try Syrian and Lebanese officials, and in particular the gentlemen mentioned above, who committed crimes against humanity and civilians of all nationalities.

* The educational curricula in both countries should all be changed to reflect the historical truth of the Syrian wars of aggression against Lebanon since 1921. The Historical lie of one people, two states must be exposed.

* War reparations should be paid by Syria to Lebanon for the loss of life and damage to properties incurred as a result of 23 years of Syrian saturation bombardment of Lebanese residential districts, infrastructure, and economic installations.

The transition plan defines a scenario consisting among other things the formation of a national salvation government, and the conduct of free democratic elections with the help of United Nations forces. The following may also be considered:

* Establish a New constitution based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All statutes and laws could follow according to, and inspired by such constitution.

* In massive national rallies celebrating the liberation, Lebanese citizens should pledge allegiance to an eternal, united, free, democratic, and sovereign Lebanon and to the New Lebanese constitution. Pledging Allegiance to the nation should become a daily morning ritual to all the school children of the nation.

* Balance of Power; Government by the People, from the People, and for the People. Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, and Free uncorrupted Press. Establishment of a parliamentary system – British Style – where the head of the winning party may become Prime minister and responsible for the executive branch until the next elections.

The Turkish-Ottoman administration will need to be uprooted along with all the corrupt practices. A new, young, ethical, and qualified administration should replace it. The new state should be based on modern Political Science principles and on the ethics of public service. A government official is a public servant and not a ruler. Appointment by Qualifications. Promotions based on merits. Rewards of good performance and accountability for failures. Bloated bureaucracies should be downsized since government employment is not a jobs program. Vigilant Control and Oversight Agencies as legislated by the parliament should be re-enabled to regulate and enforce standards, dictate transparency of operations, and measure performance in conformance to policy. There can be volumes of reforms in this particular area, and the post liberation government will have plenty of work on its hand to reform the administration through the help of technocrats.

6. Elimination of Confessionalism and establishment of a modern Secular State:

Lebanon’s identity and cultural affiliation should only be based on the human being. We are human beings created by God. Next we are Lebanese. And last we are citizens of the world.

The guarantee to Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty should not derived from our President’s or Prime Minister’s religious faith or ethnic groups, rather it should come from a constitution and laws that protect the citizen’s rights and safeguard the nation’s sovereignty. All public officials will have to operate within the scope of the constitution. The system should be guarded through a balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, as well as a free uncorrupted Press, in other words Democracy. The final real protection is the educated citizen.

Complete elimination of Confessionalism in all private and public institutions should be required. Discrimination should be outlawed. Equal opportunity promoted. Compassion, openness, and social work encouraged.

There should be a complete separation of Church and State. The church will mind the spiritual affairs of the faithful and the state will mind the affairs of the citizen. The religious bodies should not engage in any political activities whatsoever unless it is geared towards upholding human rights. Civil laws should take precedence. Church leaders should not be elected by the people because they are neither representative nor accountable in a civil society, by consequence they cannot be granted authority since in the New Democratic Lebanon, all authority should come from the People. They should simply be a bridge between a human being and God. They may be actively involved in the nation’s humanitarian work but without discrimination against any citizen.

A nation cannot be built with political powers divided among ethnic groups as percentages. When demographic changes occur in 10 or 20 years, should Lebanese go through another crisis to re-divide the spoils?. Time has come for the Lebanese to understand that the only common denominator is the Lebanese Human Being, the Citizen. The rights of the individual give strength to the rights of all. And the security of all is derived from the protection of the individual’s rights. All Lebanese are diminished when any of its citizen’s rights is diminished. And all rise as a civilization by the same measure of how the smallest of us is treated.

The Lebanese people cannot request that Human Rights apply only to them, for Human Rights apply to all humans including Palestinians, Israelis, Syrians, and others. Of course citizen rights and privileges are different for a Lebanese national than for a non-national. The New Democratic Lebanon will have to address the Palestinian issue with energy and determination early on. Lebanon cannot afford to create a great society and yet continue to have half a million human beings living in ghetto-like quarters as a sub-class, denied equal access to the blessings of liberty and opportunity.

However, the Palestinian tragedy is not Lebanon’s sole responsibility, neither in its causes, nor should it be, in its remedies. The world must take the lion share responsibility in the solutions. This is not a racist position and the issue is simple demographics. Lebanon has one of the highest population density in the world, and it is impractical and contrary to the coming peace spirit to force upon Lebanon conditions that will delay if not torpedo its recovery. For brainstorming sake we propose the following solutions:

* The Palestinian Authority and/or Israel resettle the Palestinians of the Diaspora. That is the just and ideal solution.

* All Arab Nations and other nations of the World open their doors to the Palestinian refugees in numbers proportional to their own population. The Palestinians would have options to resettle in Canada, the U.S, Arab Nations, or anywhere of their choosing. Recipient nations should receive financial aid to help the resettlement process. And in a similar way to the International program of Pollution credits that was signed in Rio De Janeiro, some nations may settle more refugees in exchange of increased financial aid.

* While the resettlement program is running, immediate international funds should be made available to the UNRWA to dramatically expand the help provided to the Palestinian refugees and better their living conditions. The expanded funds should also finance under UN auspices, the return of the Lebanese refugees who where uprooted during the last 23 years of war back to their villages within Lebanon.

* The resettlement program should start today, and must be concluded no later than January 1, 2001.

Let Lebanese remember their roots for they are the foundation of the New Democratic Lebanon which has always been a shelter for the refugees and the oppressed. The Maronites came to Lebanon in the third century to escape persecution. The Arabs and Crusaders came as conquerors but then settled and became natives. The Druze found a haven in the 10th century. The Armenians at the turn of the 20th century, and finally the Palestinians after the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. Since the dawn of humanity, Lebanon has opened its doors to all the persecuted. Lebanon is the model of the New World Order. A civil and humane society that respects its citizens, regardless of race, gender, age, religion, or ethnic origin.

Where does Lebanon stand today, economically? A nation rampaged by 23 years of combined Syrian-Israeli occupation. Its per capita income stands at less than $3500 a year, ranking amongst the bottom 50 nations in the world. An internal and external national debt exceeding its GNP. Fiscal deficits of over 50% of the total budget, and 40% of revenues being channeled towards paying the interest on the debt. A Lebanese banking system which extends loans to the extent that the borrowers are people in power. A company called "SOLIDERE" which will prove to be one of the biggest flops in Lebanese corporate finance history. A puppet regime established by the Syrian Dictatorship governing through a police state apparatus. Public freedoms denied and the press ganged. The democratic process canceled. Pollution and abuse of the environment at a large scale at the hand of corrupt government officials and private interests. Population, Capital, and Brains out of the country and fearful of returning because of the oppression they would face at the hands of the occupation regime. Chaotic and corrupt reconstruction drive siphoning billions of dollars away from productive sectors into the pockets of the regime officials, their families and cronies, and the Syrian ruling class. International monetary institutions downgrading the credit rating of the nation. A puppet government that refuses the liberation of its own Israeli-occupied land to please the Syrian occupier… And many more countless problems that have accumulated since 1975. The irony of all is the nonchalant attitude of the Lebanese business leaders towards the situation like if everything was normal and the obnoxious speeches of Fouad Siniora like if he had everything under control.

The situation needs to be turned upside down. Syrian aggression against Lebanon should terminate. Unfortunately, the historical track record of the Syrian dictatorship and its proclaimed intentions on Lebanon does not convince anybody that Syria will exit voluntarily. There is a mentality in Syria today that denies the very existence of Lebanon and the right of self-determination for its people. This is the same regime that claims to stand for Arab causes and protests against Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian People’s right to self-determination.

The only option left is the total destruction of the current Syrian regime and the installment in Syria of a democratic government that respects its own people as a proof that it will respect its neighbors. Anything else short of this, is wishful thinking. Can you recall any peace treaty signed in this century between a democracy and a dictatorship that resulted in a lasting peace?

Justice brings Freedom and Peace, and Peace should bring Prosperity. True peace has not yet been achieved in Lebanon, rather there is a relative quietude imposed through the tank barrels of 40,000 Syrian occupation troops. Underneath the occupation blanket simmers a volcano that will surely explode one day. Liberation shall not only free dormant Lebanese energies and create the new society; but the Lebanese people from the Diaspora will hopefully return and together with the people in Lebanon will bring back the Lebanese economic miracle.

When a nation resists change then its old structures eventually break. The Lebanese challenge in the New Democratic Lebanon is to embrace change within the boundaries of its sovereignty and independence, and with respect to the human and civil rights of its citizens and stop blaming U.S foreign policy on all of the country’s woes.

It is hoped that Lebanese people stop blaming the world for all their pleas and start looking more closely as to the capability and track record of their leaders before electing them to such positions of power. Unless they find this opinion utopian, but then again, didn't controversy always bring change to society?

Would you like to comment on this article?

If you would like to send us your thoughts on this article, please click the button below:

If you would like to read feedback submitted by other visitors, please click on the link below:

Article:	LEBANON AFTER PEACE: A ROLE MODEL
Author:	Ziad K. Abdelnour -- e-mail: ziad@freelebanon.org
Date:	May 1998