The Faith and Hope of the Lebanese Will Defeat Hezbollah

By: Elias Bejjani*

Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Sfeir ended an official visit to France last week in which he loudly told the French officials and the whole world that "Hezbollah has its own army and receives weapons and financial help from its neighbors". He stressed the fact that no independent and sovereign country can maintain its territorial integrity, governance, justice and order when it has two armies and too many mini states stronger than the state itself.

His Beatitude is the conscience of Lebanon and the guardian of its glory. He stands tall like her cedars and refuses to bend or succumb to threats made by Syria, Iran or their terrorist proxy, Hezbollah. His patriotic and moral stances are as solid as Lebanon's high mountains and transparent as her beautiful skies. His stances inspire the majority of the Lebanese people and keep their dream of a free and peaceful country alive.

As the Lebanese saying goes: "always expect hardships and persecution when witnessing loudly for the truth and always be ready to be lonely when walking the righteous path, for few are those who are courageous enough to witness for the truth or choose righteous paths". His Beatitude, because of his clear stances, has been the target of many media attacks by Hezbollah and other Syrian-Iranian Lebanese mercenaries. These attacks have never affected his pro-Lebanon stances and, by God's grace, they will never do so.

The above saying portrays authentically the current stance of the patriotic Lebanese who defend daringly their beloved country by struggling to protect Lebanon's blessed soil, resisting to preserve its deeply-rooted 7,000-year history, and advocating for a decent life for their people. They are fighting for a life of dignity and freedom in which they can democratically elect their own officials without oppression or persecution, and freely choose their own leaders who represent their hopes and aspirations.

Sadly, although the Syrian occupation army officially left Lebanon in 2005, the country is still occupied. Hezbollah, the terrorist militia that Syria and Iran founded and nurtured during the Syrian occupation era of Lebanon, is now the actual occupier. Lebanon's officials in all levels of government and in all parts of the country are either Hezbollah's men or were handpicked by its leadership.

Lebanon, under Hezbollah's hegemony, has become a state ripped of its sovereignty, freedoms, and independence, alongside an apparent moral collapse of officials leading at all levels of government. This is an era of Lebanon's history where opportunism and egotism have pushed aside the values of patriotism. Instead of transparency, darkness is rampant in Lebanon and standards of right and wrong have been turned on their heads. Like whores preaching about chastity, traitors preach about patriotism and thieves lecture endlessly about trust and safety.
Despite this bitter and painful reality and because of courageous figures like the Maronite Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Sfeir, the Lebanese are solidifying their faith and holding dear to the hope of their country's resurrection. They are enduring the hardships inflicted on them without losing hope and at the same time strengthening their quest for liberty and freedom. They despise the regime's puppet officials and mercenary dignitaries who side with every tyrant and flatter anyone who happens to be in power.

History tells us that demise, humiliation and defeat is the ultimate fate of tyrants and occupiers no matter how powerful they might be for a time. In this context, the fate of Hezbollah, which falsely alleges to be a resistance movement, will not be any different. This Iranian-Syrian proxy will sooner or later be defeated and Lebanon will be victorious as it has been for the past 7,000 years. The rock carvings at Nahr Al-Kalb are a vivid example of the fate that awaits every occupier who foolishly believes that Lebanon can be tamed and that her people are easy prey.

The Lebanese factions, leaders, clergymen and individuals who believe they are winners because of the power given to them by the Syria, Iran and Hezbollah at the expense of their fellow Lebanese should wake up. They should recognize that they are day-dreaming and committing a crime against themselves, against their own people and against their own country. They must know that the sword they are using to slaughter their own people will soon slaughter them.

These Lebanese ought to understand that any humiliation, marginalization, oppression or pain that is inflicted on any one Lebanese faction will negatively affect all the other factions. They should realize that the eighteen different communities that make up Lebanese society are like the organs of one body, and what affects one organ affects the rest of the body.

They should be aware that the occupier is using the vicious colonialist strategy of "divide and conquer" and has already succeeded in splitting most of the political parties, many families, and even some religious denominations. Hezbollah will remain strong only if the Lebanese allow it to be so, and will be weak if the Lebanese are united against its terrorism with one heart and one goal.

The Lebanese factions should not allow Hezbollah, Iran or Syria to play on their differences or take advantage of their vulnerabilities. When dealing with each other they should remember that they are not saints, but ordinary humans with both weaknesses and strengths. They should remember that their greatness lies in preaching and practicing tolerance and acceptance of each other.

The Lebanese ought to know that the silent majority of our people are patriotic and believe in one united, strong, pluralistic, multi-cultural and independent Lebanon, whereas the collaborators are always ready to side with foreign powers and change their skins like a chameleon.

Hezbollah and its local puppets are deluding themselves if they think they can succeed forever in dividing the Lebanese people and exercise hegemony over their government. Their delusions will remain delusions and will never become a reality because:
Lebanon is love and doubters do not understand love,
Lebanon is intelligence and intelligence is persecuted by the ignorant,
Lebanon is justice and justice is a slap on the criminal's face,
Lebanon is peace and peace is a thorn in the terrorist's side,
Lebanon is a live conscience and conscience is agony and torture for the murderer,
Lebanon is history and transients do not relate to it,
Lebanon is holiness and sinners fear holiness,
Lebanon is an identity and a message, and thieves envy both,
Lebanon is openness and transparency, and both are opposite to isolation,
Lebanon is tolerance and tolerance is the enemy of hateful fundamentalism,
Lebanon is forgiveness and forgiveness alienates the advocates of vengeance.
Lebanon above all is her people and their authentic quest for the truth.
All those who fight the truth will be defeated sooner or later.

Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/