Hichem Karoui
November 28, 2001 Palestine Chronicle ; Middle East News Online.
Just after my story about Lebanon and terrorism has been published, last week end, I read Saturday’s editorial of Mr. Gebran Tueni on Annahar, wherein he deplored a recent police thrust into a university campus, and wondered when would we stop repeating the famous verse of Al-Mutanabbi: ‘idun bi ‘ayyati halin ‘udta ya ‘idu! Which is quite untranslatable, though perfectly understandable to whoever never sees any joy in the returning feast! Mr. Tueni’s words were simple, but so touching because of the great pains we feel between the lines. I cannot help but quote here some of his most significant sentences:
“When would the state stop behaving in that occasion as if it were its own enemy and the enemy of its people? And why are we still adamantly waiting for the least sign from Syria in order to turn the page of the past and to get ahead? Isn’t that the reason that let so many Lebaneses consider the so-called Syrian service in Lebanon- which we distinguish from the Syrian presence- as the main disservice factor as regards the full independence of Lebanon and its sovereignty?”
Thus, storming the campus of St. Joseph University, ” as if it were an enemy base”, and holding the students guilty of demanding Lebanon’s independence back, is not the right way to commemorate such a day, contends Mr. Tueni, and he adds: “a state that does not believe in freedom should not be trusted with the welfare of a nation whose basic fabric is freedom.”
Well said! Yet, after all what he mentioned, which is perfectly ordinary in an Arab state, it was expected that this editorial would never see the day so that only its writer could read. But Lebanon is not any Arab state to be sure; neither Annahar is any newspaper, not to say more about the editorialist himself who does not need to be introduced.
In fact, this is a source of amazement. For despite all these acerbic – and even deadly – criticisms Mr. Tueni directed to the state, and indirectly to those who are in charge, the newspaper has not been shut down, and neither his owner nor his editor have been sued, so far.
I am not taking here the defense of the Lebanese government, whose crackdown on the students has been condemned even by some of its ministers, but I mean only to show the positive side in Lebanon, which is exclusive in the Arab world. The fact that the state allowed Mr. Tueni to publish such an editorial- although I concede this is a right – means that maybe there is still a hope in this country, and that in spite of the negative aspects mentioned by Mr. Tueni, Lebanon remains still democratic and tolerant as we know it, as we like it, and as we want it.
However, one can perfectly understand what Mr. Tueni and so many Lebaneses he voices, feel. Which is mostly indicating the existence of a problem, and a huge one. And despite Mr. Tueni avoided any blunt clash with Syria, as he did with the Lebanese government, it is crystal clear that Damascus is responsible for an important part of the internal Lebanese problem. He mentioned, by the way, the fact that there are no diplomatic relations between the two states, as it is the case for the rest of the Arab countries. And though he sought some reassurance that Syria does recognize actually the independence of Lebanon, it is hard for whoever read his editorial not to wonder: What is this relationship between two states wherein there is no diplomatic representation and no protocol? Why is it not the same between the other Arab states and Lebanon? This is certainly to add more ambiguity to an already obscure relationship.
It is no secret that some Lebaneses are talking about a disguised Syrian occupation of their country, since it is Damascus that decides who will be appointed at such or such key-position, according to its interests. So, what if Damascus undertakes today to lift these ambiguities?
