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June 9, 2014 Special Dispatch No. 5760

Al-Hayat Editor Ghassan Charbel: Lebanon's Maronites Are Orphans Facing Disaster

June 9, 2014
Lebanon | Special Dispatch No. 5760

In a recent article, Ghassan Charbel, editor-in-chief of the Saudi London-based daily Al-Hayat, discussed the repercussions of the Syrian crisis and the rise of religious extremism in the Middle East on the Maronite community in Lebanon. The article was published one week before Lebanese president Michel Suleiman finished his six-year term and Lebanon entered a presidential vacuum due to the Maronite community's inability to agree on a successor. [1] Charbel argued that the current standstill in the selection of a president could prove fatal for the Maronite community. Mentioning the crises facing Christian minorities throughout the Middle East, he called upon the Maronite presidential candidates, Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea to either agree on a mutually acceptable third candidate, or divide the positions between them, with one serving as president and the other as leader of Lebanon's Maronite community.

Below are translated excerpts from the article:[2]


Ghassan Charbel

"The [Lebanese] Maronites look at the region and ponder their children's [future]. The Christians in Iraq have disappeared, and the Christians in Syria are on their way [to disappearing]. A record number of churches have been burned in Egypt. The 'Arab Spring' has hastened the autumn of minorities. Leafing through a newspaper, the Maronite feels afraid: Al Qaeda flags fly in Yemen, [Iraq's province of] Al-Anbar, Syria, Libya and Somalia, and ISIS[3] is but a stone's throw away. Every time [the newspaper] mentions [Al Qaeda's and ISIS's] message to Christians living under their rule and the topic of the jizya [i.e., a shari'c poll tax that ISIS has imposed on non-Muslims living under its rule],[4] a look of concern crosses the Maronite's face…

"The failure of modern Arabism is a tragedy… Regional coexistence has failed. Old wars have been renewed after hundreds of years. Sectarian affiliations have toppled the artificial international borders. Military units are on the move and fighters are migrating [to Muslim fronts from various parts of the world].

"The recent decades have been hard for the Maronites [in Lebanon]. They fought, killed, and were killed. They confronted Palestinian arms and some of them turned to the 'Satan' [Israel] for assistance. Their image was tarnished and their isolation grew. When Syria came to their rescue, it demanded a high price in return for guaranteeing their safety. When they confronted it, [Syria] it dealt with them harshly, imposing leaders upon them and appointing presidents for them...

"A strong Syria is a problem [for the Maronites] – [but] a dismembered Syria is a disaster. The Maronites look about them with concern: Syria is threatening to become a Sunni-Shi'ite Vietnam. Hizbullah [fighters] are coming back from there in coffins; displaced Syrians in Lebanon make up almost a third of the country's population. This is a terrible human tragedy which also raises security and demographic concerns and portends economic disaster. The Maronites look at Lebanon with concern...Their wars with others weakened them, and their internal wars destroyed what remained of their powerful figures. They are emigrating, and their presence on the country's map and in decision-making is dwindling…

"The Maronites feel like orphans. The Shi'ites have a party of steel [Hizbullah] that has reunited their community and has firmly harnessed their fate to a rising regional power [ Iran]. The Sunnis [too] have a strong leadership. Though unarmed, it has an 'arsenal' of relations with the world's countries, [particularly] with Arab countries who preserve [the Lebanese Sunnis'] status. The Maronites are orphans. The West is no longer Christian and the Vatican's prayers do not suffice. This is the last week of President Michel Suleiman's term. The [upcoming] presidential elections are a cup of poison for both the Maronites and the [Lebanese] republic. The restriction of the president's powers has not diminished the Maronite politicians' appetite [for power]. 'It's either me or nobody, either me or let the country burn,' [they say]…

"The curse of the [presidential] palace has weakened the Maronites. Bachir Gemayel[5] created a dangerous precedent when [he decided that], in order to become leader of the Christian community he had to take over the presidential palace. Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea failed when they were seduced by Bachir's rules of the game [and followed his example] – and as a result the Maronites are on their way to disaster.

"Lebanon cannot endure further adventures. A [presidential] vacuum will harm the country and will prove fatal for the Maronites. Time is running out and their leadership must consider history's verdict. The Maronites have no more blood to shed in the wars between their leaders. The failure of coexistence and the collapse of the borders have made Lebanon meaningless and have put the Maronites on the road to disaster…

"I call upon Aoun and Geagea to limit the damage and consider a third person whom they both support, on the basis of a realistic plan to keep the dream of a [Lebanese] state alive, amid an effort to revive the political partnership [between the religious communities]… I urge both [Aoun and Geagea] to take pity on the Maronites and consider the story of [the Kurdish Iraqi leaders, Iraqi President] Jalal Talabani and [Kurdistan President] Massoud Barazani, which somewhat resembles their own saga. Namely, let one of the two [Aoun and Geagea] become president and hand leadership of the [Christian] region to the other.

"The world is changing but the Maronites are not. That is their story and that is their tragedy. I write about them out of loyalty to the old illusion that they are vital to Lebanon and the Arabs…"

Endnotes:

[1] According to the confessionalist system practiced in Lebanon, the president is required to be a Maronite.

[2] Al-Hayat (London), May 19, 2014.

[3] The jihad organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, headed by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, which has split off from Al-Qaeda and is challenging it.

[5] The Maronite leader who headed the Christian militia during the Lebanese civil war. He was elected president in August 23, 1982 and was assassinated on September 14, 1982.

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