Bristol - January, 31, 2010
Lebanese!
You who are steeped in Liberty, Sovereignty, Independence and the mission for peaceful coexistence,
We shall talk of a memory deeply carved into our minds and being:
• Six hours after the assassination of Premier Hariri, at 12:55 on Monday 14th of February 2005, "calls were made by the leaders of various oppositional liberationist factions for a meeting in the mansion of the great martyr". A joint statement was then issued which said: "this criminal explosion reached a level never reached before since the end of the Civil War in Lebanon, neither in terms of what Premier Hariri symbolized for Lebanon nor in those of the critical moment that our nation was going through . . . Due to the dangerous developments that this action shall lead to, the Opposition demands that the International Community upholds its responsibility towards Lebanon, this captive nation, and calls on the Community to setup an international Investigative Commission that shall lead to a closure on the perpetrators of this heinous crime."
• On the 18th of February 2005, the opposition announced the launch of an " Intifada of Independence" and called for all factions in Lebanon representing all political powers to unite over the demands of "Sovereignty and Truth".
• On the 14th of March 2005, two thirds of the Lebanese then resident in Lebanon, and from all regions, sects and all walks of life, met around the shrine of the great martyr, demanding Liberty, Sovereignty and Independence as well as the immediate exposure of the truth behind this heinous crime. In that massive demonstration, the Lebanese expressed their wish to overcome all barricades of the Civil War and all that came after the Civil War, repeating in one unified voice: "We swear by God Almighty, both Muslims and Christians, to stay united, forever and ever, in defense of our great Lebanon".
• On the 26th of April 2005, the Syrian forces started their complete withdrawal from Lebanon.
Lebanese!
You are now united and you have reached your independence . . . the rest is in the details.
Lebanese!
Between the assassination of Premier Hariri and the Intifada of Independence there grew a pact and a vow, dotted by a caravan of innocent martyrs and communal suffering which we overcame with faith and patience.
Between the assassination of Premier Hariri and the second Lebanese Independence, a Moment of Truth glowed, fueled by the blood of our Martyr and his companions on a long path. You, yes, you of the "Revolution of the Cedars" decided that this path linked the blood of Kamal Jumblatt, Bachir Gemayel, René Moawad to that of the martyrs of the National, Lebanese and Islamic resistance and to that of Bassel Fuleihan, Samir Kassir, George Hawi, Gebran Tueni, Pierre Gemayel, Walid Ido, Antoine Ghanem continuing on to François El Haj, Wissam Eid and all the martyrs of the Lebanese armed forces who fell in the battles of Nahr Al Bared and other situations. The path was also linked . . .
• To every drop of blood that was spilt by the innocent killed or wounded bystanders
• And to every captive lifted by the arms of oppression and despotism from Lebanese soil
• And to every prisoner kept in the jails of the occupying Israelis
• And to every disillusion faced by young Lebanese men and women who left Lebanon looking for a better future in another country
• And to all those who remained in Lebanon, patient and hoping for a better future to this nation
Lebanese!
In the past 5 years, your united stand, Muslims and Christians and the vital forces in love with liberty, independence and democracy in this land of peaceful coexistence, you have achieved 7 historical achievements that may have looked impossible at any other moment in time:
1. You achieved an effective national reconciliation that irrevocably snuffed out the dark moments of the Civil War and which let you remold your national and unifying identity.
2. You gave birth to a national public view that must be the widest in scope and the most robust and visionary in the history of Lebanon.
3. You caused an oppressive system, one that rules through a security apparatus, to fall by the mere force of your Peaceful Intifada, surely, the first such example in this region.
4. You caused the Syrians to withdraw their forces from your nation in 2005 as you did with the Israeli forces in 2000.
5. You caused the International Community to take stock of its responsibility and setup an International Tribunal especially convened to expose the guilty parties involved in the assassination of Premier Hariri and all related crimes.
6. And through the fair use of your ballots, you succeeded to thwart the effect of intimidation through the use of weapons that aimed at the spread of strife and the threat to change the face of Lebanon
7. You launched an Embassy for Lebanon in Damascus and you welcomed a Syrian Embassy in Beirut. And here you are, once more, ensuring that relations between these two countries remain serious, truthful and steady on the path of corrected relations between two fraternal peoples and two independent nations.
Lebanese!
We sincerely and truthfully need to turn over all the dark pages in our past, yet we also require the opening of new and hopeful page for our children, in harmony with our identity, enriching our mission and upholding our Lebanese dream.
And that is why we have placed the case of the assassination of Premier Hariri in the hands of an International Tribunal whose responsibility is to expose the truth and issue a fair verdict.
And the reason is that the future we require cannot rise except on the basis of fairness and truth and our beloved national shall not be built on the escape from justice.
And so, Lebanese, we shall go on vowing to hold on, most securely, to our national unity and widen its scope because it is the basis of our independence and the security of our mode of living as well as the source of our capability to face future challenges. Yet, our unity, in spite of our diversity, both legitimate and desired, cannot be based on conditions placed by one sect amongst us nor on other external conditions but based on conditions that arise from a unified nation:
• A nation that is based on a pact of peaceful coexistence, on the basis of governance by constitutional and legal estates and through democratic, parliamentary and republican processes.
• A nation that has complete sovereignty over all its land and inhabitants and that uniquely relies on its own armed forces to achieve peaceful internal rule and nation defense.
• A nation that insists on unifying the realized achievements of liberation and independence rather than keep them outside, in conflict and strife.
• A nation that upholds its commitment to Arab and International communities because such commitments do not represent chains that weaken our nation, rather, umbrellas that protect it.
• A nation that refuses and whose sons refuse to have external interests and links that overrule its national Lebanese interests.
• A nation that is based on a fair and equitable consensus by all and not on the dualistic or tertiary logic that has caused Lebanon to pay a heavy price in the past
• A nation that is a home to free citizens, diverse religious groups, believing in peaceful coexistence and from which it extracts confidence and graceful living, throwing behind it the harmful feelings of worried and complicit minorities.
• A nation that appears harmonious in the image of its people and not in that of one of its factions.
• A fair nation that is not hated by its people, a nation that chases corruption out of its midst causing its citizens to remain proud of it.
Lebanese!
Between the 14th of February and the 14th of March 2005, you created the Spring of Beirut and throughout the last 5 years, your achieved a life of peaceful coexistence during the most difficult times and the darkest of circumstances. So, you became the best salute to your Arabian community that found in Lebanon a new focus for Arabism. You said: our mission is peaceful coexistence. You said, the Arab culture of moderation, tolerance, dialog and solidarity is our firm ground. You said that all space is our life where diverse men live free and equal.
Lebanese!
For all that, we shall meet on the 14th of February, in the same location, with the same resolve to renew our vow and hopes.
Long may you and Lebanon Live
