Is it time for Lebanon to suffer tragedies? [Archives:2007/1058/Opinion]
By: Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh
The heated and recurrent events in the small Arab country, which has a greater role in the intellectual, political, and cultural life of Arabs, imply that it is the turn of Lebanon in the rotation of tragic events. Lebanon is the country, which I imagined as a high mountain challenging strong storms and restoring vitality to the daily life of people, but now it turned into a ground for tragic events.
It is the turn of the small Arab country. It is the turn of Lebanon, the country of Shukaib Arsaln, Jubran Khalil Jubran, Michael Naeema, Hussein Marwah, Subihi Al-Saleh, Kamal Jumblat, and other well-known personalities. Lebanon is the country of resistance, poetry, poets, as well as printing houses and publishers. It is the country that dispelled its opponents by peaceful negotiations at first and then by the gun.
Arabism was the slogan of the country and love is its message. It is the country that used to play an integral role in resolving the Arab issues, not the ground of civil wars or street conflicts that lead to fragmentation of the people. It is the country of humans not ghosts, and it is the land artists and creative people, but not the land of breaking the principles of citizenship. It is the country of peaceful coexistence and equal living opportunities.
Regretfully, the Arab street says, nowadays, that it has nothing to do with the crisis because it is the turn of Lebanon to experience the tragic situations like Iraq, Palestine, and other Arab countries. Further, it adds that it is time to avenge the peaceful country as a reaction to the widely spread respect for press freedom, coexistence, and free thinking. Two years now, the strange bats' calls for fragmentation which lead the Arab countries to be multiplied. These calls aim to stain the civilized landscape of the attractive country and transform it into a chaotic environment.
Lebanon has been listed in the dictionaries of Arab development as a strong defender of public freedom as well as a fighter of slavery and servitude. The country is beloved by hearts of the Arab people as its conducts are totally different from those exercised by the regimes of traitors, who are responsible for the repeated tragedies and sufferings of people.
From this point, we realize that there are certain forces insisting to destroy the nice Arab country, waste its components and resources via means, which are very difficult for the devil to machinate. But those who outperform the devil in such tricks and means of fragmenting the nation are unlikely to reach their malicious goals. They will ultimately discover that Lebanon is a strong mountain in the face of difficulty. Also, they will find that it has a long experience qualifying it to remain secure and safe.
The Arab role required from Lebanon is totally different from the other roles designed by pirates and those who trigger wars. What is required from Lebanon is to fence and protect itself from being engaged in the sectarian and ethnical conflicts. The small Arab country has demonstrated an exceptional attitude toward the Palestinian Cause by defending the occupied state and housing the displaced people, as well as confronting the Israeli aggression.
Neither in the present nor in the future, the Lebanese showed or will show a different attitude despite the presence of wolves who seemingly allege to play the role of advisors and rescuers. The country is lucky enough to escape the trick of malicious forces. The talk of making Lebanon like Iraq is not that easy as one of the sedition experts believes, as the country cared for avoiding the situation of fragmentation like Iraq or Balkan since its natives had selected the right path several years ago. They selected the path of democracy and respect for the other opinion. It is the path of objective difference that may be longer, but is impossible to lead the country and its natives to the situation machinated by the malicious enemies.
Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Maqaleh is Yemen's prominent poet and intellectual. He is the director of the Yemeni Center for Studies
Source: Al-Thawra State-run Daily
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[archive-e:1058-v:15-y:2007-d:2007-06-11-p:opinion]
