Who wants to assassinate Lebanon? By Salim Nazzal

Who wants to assassinate Lebanon?

By Salim Nazzal

Al-Jazeerah, November 28, 2006

No doubt that the Pier Al-Jumaeil assassination has shocked Lebanon, yet it was not an

unusual incident in a country that witnessed the Al Harare assassination last march in serious of assassinations. The assassination has an old history in Lebanon which has witnessed since its independence from France in 1946 the assassination of three prime ministers (Riad Al-Solh, Rashid Karami and Rafiq Al-Hariri) and two presidents (Rene Mu'awad ,Bashir Al-Jumaeil) and several intellectuals,( Hussein mrewe, Mehdi Amel) religious leaders (The republic mufti Hassan Khalid and Sobhi Al-Saleh) ,thinkers and politicians (Kamal Jumblat) and journalists (Nassib Al-Matni, Mechel Abo Joudeh)

Pier Al-Jumaleil belongs to the young generation of a Maronite family that has a history in the politics of Lebanon.

The grandfather Pier founded the Kataeb party in the thirties of the past century under the motto (God, the homeland, and the family). Under the Lebanese struggle for independence from France the Kataeb stood against the France rule in Lebanon and at the same time against joining Syria as one country. The guidelines of this policy was drawn by two major Lebanese who influenced the shaping of the independent Lebanon, the patriarch Areda, the spiritual founder of Lebanon and Michal shiha the ideologue “of the unique position of Lebanon”. Following this policy the grandfather Pier raised the motto that Lebanon strength lays in its weakness. Accordingly no serious efforts were made to arm the Lebanese army which stood neutral in the Arab Israeli wars. Yet time has demonstrated the shortcoming of this view. Since its attack on the Beirut airport in 1968 and in the recent times Israel has shown no respect to the Lebanese sovereignty.

The Kataeb stood against all the voices that wished for a Lebanese active role in the conflict with Israel .For this reason they stood against Nasser in the sixties, battled with the PLO in the seventies and stood against Syria in the eighties.

The murder of the young Pier has come at a time when Lebanon witnessed intensive debates on a number of disputed issues. One of these issues is to approve the establishment of the international court to investigate the assassination of the Prime Minister al Harare. The Kataeb , which is member of the predominately right wing 14th of March coalition (which form the current government) accused Hizbu Allah of taking a half hearted position if not a hindrance towards this issue. The 14th of March coalition has openly accused Syria of standing behind these murders .Sa'ad Al-Hariri the powerful man in the 14th march coalition called the Syrian regime “the murderous regime”. In view of this coalition, Hizbullah is attempting to protect Syria from the international court. Hizbullah is also accused of linking Lebanon with the Iran/ Syrian alliance. The July war between Hizbu Allah and Israel has intensified this debate and Hizbullah was accused of investing the victory over Israel to implement his Lebanese agenda which is to overthrow the current government. Hizbullah rejected these allegations and accused the 14th of March coalition of opening the doors of Lebanon to the Us .To respond to these developments Hizbullah took an offensive position by calling to form a national government instead of the one color government. For that reason Hizbullah withdrew his ministers from the government and set the 22nd of November as the date to begin with a series of demonstrations to force the 14th of March government to step up.

Amid this tense situation the murder of Al-Jumaeil has transpired to put all the political parties in a new limelight. Despite this all parties condemned the assassination yet each interprets its timing differently. The 14th of March coalition linked it with the general security meeting held the same day to authorize the court, while some of the 8th of March coalition enforces the view that the murder was an attempt to hinder the demonstrations that begin on 22nd of November. In the view of a Lebanese journalist whom I spoke at length with the question of the international court is the mask which covers up the real conflicts which were unsolved since the first Lebanese republic. In that period the accord was between the Sunni prime minister and the Maronite president that Lebanon has an Arab face but international dimension .Today the Arab identity of Lebanon is not disputed. The question is what role Lebanon should play in the region. This old /new question is particularly linked to the political choices of Lebanon in light of the Arab Israeli conflict. The 14th of March coalition states clearly their rejection to link Lebanon with the Syrian Iranian alliance. Meanwhile Hizbullah insists on the role of resistance to defend Lebanon from any possible Israeli attack. In fact this debate is, as old as the plantation of a Zionist state in Palestine which marked the beginning of a cycle of violence in the whole region. Remone Eddy one of the most respected Maronites Lebanese politicians thought that Israel is the most beneficial in damaging the peaceful co existence between Muslims and Christians in Lebanon. If Israel succeeded in damaging the coexistence in Lebanon it will have a strong argument against the Palestinian goal of a democratic secular state in all Palestine. The question is not who murder pier Al-Jumaeil but rather the culture which created the atmosphere which permits it: whether Israel is responsible directly or not, there is no doubt that the culture of violence which Israel planted in the region is greatly responsible for much of the violence that charactarised the region for more than half a century.

In the view of this Lebanese journalist the western world will know one day what a grave mistake they committed by planting a racist state in the heart of the region. However at these sad times the Lebanese have to move from the period of shock to the period of finding solutions towards consolidating the civil peace in the country. The peaceful coexistence between the 18 religious sects in Lebanon is after all the best answer to the Zionists and to all who agitate cultural based conflicts.

Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian historian. He has written extensively on social and political issues in the Middle East .E mail: gibran44@hotmail.com

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

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