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The Martyr and "Suicidal" Lebanon
Al-Hayat, UK,
December 13, 2007
By Zouheir Kseibati
The "ghosts"
have returned to Lebanon. The epidemic of terrorism does not
have a nationality, from Iraq to Somalia and Algeria.
However, in Lebanon it enjoys the power of a big executioner
who has held a nation prisoner for around three years,
leading it by force to suicide.
The men of
UNIFIL were lowering the flag in the morning, to mark the
loss of victims of the explosions in Algeria, and before
three months passed since the death of the martyr MP Antoine
Ghanem, the Lebanese Army had obtained its share of the work
of the ghosts. General Francois Hajj became one of the group
of martyrs. Many did not forget that the new episode in the
tragic serial, which has slapped our very consciences,
piling up pains with no dream of hope, is that it hasn't
been long since the second anniversary of the martyrdom of
MP Gebran Tueini.
Have the
"ghosts" returned to Lebanon? They never left in the first
place, even if this new death involves a new aspect, namely
a mixture of sorrow over the targeting of one of the symbols
of the army, the only institution that has not been hit by
the disease of fatal division, between politicians and in
the street.
Lebanese are
mourning the general with any "realistic" hope that the
painful process of electing General Michel Suleiman
president will end with the country's salvation, before
Lebanon is done away with by the impending evil that rejects
believing all of the brethren and friends, even if they are
divided about leaving the small nation and its decisions in
the hands of its people.
Perhaps some
hope is being spread, on the day the general was martyred,
by Walid Jumblatt, as he revived the pillars of "the march
of independence, fighting terror and protecting the
resistance." The problem doesn't only lie in convincing the
leader of half the Christian street or "the majority," as he
says, General Michel Aoun - and this is truly the problem -
or convincing the leader of the Amal Movement, Speaker Nabih
Berri, who complains about bearing the slings of all sides…
or even Hizbullah, which calls for rising above "narrow"
calculations. The problem is in the "ghosts." Who knows who
they are, so we can stop the madness of killing in Lebanon.
There's no
disagreement that, amid the din of constitutional and
political fatwas, all made by those "keen" on avoiding the
death of the nation, the Lebanese Army is the last refugee
of the institutions. Nothing will remain of these
institutions to be divided up by the majorities and the
oppositions. No one benefits by dividing things into halves
and thirds, or fourths, after the death rattle.
Before and
after Hajj's assassination, in the time remaining until the
last session of Parliament scheduled by Berri, we might see
the ending of the struggle by amending the Constitution to
elect General Suleiman president, by preventing the
government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora from any role in
the phase, which is supposed to be about salvation. Before
and after the assassination there is a warning about
"Caesarian" options and "suicidal" solutions, or other "very
painful" ones. This wasn't explicitly understood from the
comments by the head of the Lebanese Forces, Dr. Samir
Geagea. However, he certainly hinted, as did former
President Amin Gemayel, that the last chapter in the
"balance of terror" between the majority and the opposition
is approaching its end; either all make compromises or all
head for the abyss.
However, the
dual nature of this formula does not in itself produce a
solution, unless the opposition voluntarily agrees. The
political translation of Gemayel's warning yesterday means
only that the only rejected compromise among Christian
figures in 14 March is a coup d'Etat against the even
division (between Christians and Muslims), which was
anchored by the Taif Accord and a move toward coming to an
understanding about a three-way split (Sunni, Shiite and
Christian) whose final goal the opposition doesn't openly
discuss: from raising the slogan of participation, and the
sit-in, and challenging the legitimacy of the government and
its decisions, rejecting its role in legislating the
constitutional amendment to elect General Michel Suleiman
president.
If no one
denies easily Hizbullah's support for the patriotism of the
army and its call to rally around it, after Hajj's
martyrdom, one cannot ignore the positive estimation by
Berri of Jumblatt's position, and not jump over the
implication of the speaker's comments about "the basket of
the (current) phase" and a "new dialogue."
The question
is, with a funeral as a backdrop, and another scene of
tears, how much can Lebanon tolerate in searching for these
new participants in dialogue? Each basket of demands are
legitimate for their authors and each funeral only
multiplies the country's losses and do not bring rivals
closer at home.
If the matter
were in their hands alone, and this is clear, especially
with the prediction of a solution, if not this week, then
two weeks, or a month, or … what's the difference, as long
as the vacuum has only one name? |
