Remarks by Deputy Boutros Harb, Member of Parliament
Luncheon Speaker, Beirut, Lebanon - Friday, November 10, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me start by thanking Mr. Walid Maalouf and the LARP for giving me the privilege and the opportunity to be the speaker at this lunch and to share with you my thoughts and hopes for a better future for Lebanon. Your meeting in Lebanon has several meanings: it's an act of solidarity with our bleeding country, it's an act of faith in Lebanon’s future, it's a commitment to face with your fellow citizens in Lebanon, the challenges of the coming period. It is a practical step that can help to lift up the Lebanese morale.

Meeting in Lebanon to explore the possibilities of investment, is maybe the beginning of a new era in your relations with your mother country .You have decided not to be distant watchers to what is happening in Lebanon any more, but to have an active role in our struggle to restore our sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity. With you we feel stronger, more confident in our future. So welcome to the party!

Thank God it is not a nostalgic relation with your country anymore. Let me tell you that we have always wished that we gather our resources and forces to change the destiny of Lebanon. Being involved and committed to Lebanon is being ready to share its joys, hopes, deceptions, sufferings, successes and failures. Fortunately we are Lebanese. But unfortunately Lebanon is placed geographically in a very sensitive place in the middle of the battlefield between the West and the East, of all the conflicts between Israel and the Arab world and the different religious ideologies. That is why your role is crucial; you are capable of changing the course of events and change what we are not able to do alone.

Lebanon is a country destined to survive if it overcomes the dangers and the challenges that threaten its existence. Lebanon is a small country sometimes dispensable when its interests contradict with the interests of the big powers especially that it has been proven that the principles of justice, democracy and self-determination become illusions when they clash with the interests of the major players in the world. When our national interests meet the international ones, we are backed and when they don’t we are left alone.

Lebanon nowadays is in its lucky period because the international community is helping it. This situation is not eternal. Things may change in the future; we should never forget this, and we should work in order to achieve our national goals as soon as possible and before the international circumstances change. Lebanon has achieved two very important goals the liberation of the South (except for Sheba’s farms) and the Syrian troops withdrawal from Lebanon and therefore the end of the official tutelage. Does it mean that Lebanon is out of danger and that the road for a better future is open? The answer is not yet unfortunately.

We are not yet totally out of danger. The course is still long. We are still in the recovery period and there are many steps to be taken in order to reach the safe side. What is happening in Lebanon now proves that we are still balancing between safety and uncertainty. From outside, our relations with our neighbors are still very critical. On one hand, Syria left Lebanon, but it left with hard feelings and anger, with the determination to avenge the humiliation. Many of Syria's supporters who have lost their roles and influence are working hard to reverse the new situation. Syria is the closest Arab Country to Lebanon and it is the only door to the Arab countries the major market for Lebanon. Syria is a big player in the region and it has several interests in the conflict. It is a key to the stability of Lebanon and to the solution of the Arab Israeli conflict. Syria is used to play a regional role through its control of Lebanon and of some of the Palestinian military groups in Lebanon and outside.

Added to all that, some Lebanese are still vassals to the Syrian regime and the Syrians are worried about the investigation of President Hariri’s assassination specially that the first reports of the international investigation indicated that some Syrian officials are implicated in this assassination. Yes, the Syrian troops and its intelligence apparatus are out of Lebanon officially, but Syria is still involved in what’s happening in Lebanon. Syria is still refusing to delineate the borders of Sheba’s farms obstructing the withdrawal of the Israeli troops and Syria is not facilitating the talks with the Lebanese government to establish diplomatic relations and solve all the problems with Lebanon.

On the other hand we are the center of the Arab confrontation with Israel which is still occupying Lebanese land and which has destroyed Lebanon during its war with Hezbollah, and is still violating our sovereignty and the UNSC resolution 1701 and jeopardizing the opportunity we have to rebuild a respectable state. Let us never forget that Israel is the real enemy who wishes to destroy the Lebanese political formula and let us never neglect the importance of the U.S support to Israel and its effects on the Arab and Muslims world.

We still have to face the Palestinian armed presence in Lebanon and its consequences on the unity and the sovereignty of Lebanon and we are afraid of an international understanding to resolve the Palestinian Israeli conflict by implanting the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon which can certainly affect negatively the unity of the country.

We also know that Lebanon is now the real confrontation ground between Iran and the Western world and specially the U.S. We realize that the growth of fundamentalism and extremism in the world is the real threat to the Lebanese spirit, which is based on tolerance and coexistence. These are the dangers from outside Lebanon. Unfortunately we have some others from inside.

We are living an exceptional experience where Christians and Muslims work together to preserve a democratic peaceful State. We know that our experience is a difficult one especially when the world is suffering of a real clash of civilizations and an open war among different religions, when terror is becoming an arm in this conflict, when nobody is accepting the other and bloodshed is becoming a part of our daily life. In this atmosphere the Lebanese face a real challenge because it is up to them to give the proof that it is still possible to live together in peace and democracy and that Lebanon is not only a nation but also a humanitarian message as Pope Jean Paul II said once. We all know the difficulties we are facing especially that our national interests are sometimes organically related to the problems of the region. What we are facing these days is the example.

Some of our Lebanese co citizens see things in a different way than ours. They refuse to abide by the rules of our democratic system. They are trying to impose an amendment to our political system that gives them the possibility of paralyzing the State and forbids the constitutional institutions from assuming their responsibilities. They are doing so by threatening to topple the government in the Street. We cannot accept to be blackmailed and surrender under threat. They are the minority in the Parliament and their rights are respected. What they are asking for is to exert a dictatorship on the elected majority. They know that this is a very dangerous game, a game that can jeopardize Lebanon's stability and unity. Unfortunately in spite of all the risks, they pretend that they are ready to do it. They want to control the political decisions of the country and unfortunately everybody knows that those who are going down this road have the same agenda but not the same long-term goals. Some for tactical precarious reasons, some others, for strategic historic reasons.

People may criticize this because everybody was expecting to see the Lebanese united after the war to rebuild their Country. What we want you to understand that we are fighting to avoid having Lebanon taken hostage again. We cannot accept the rules of the Streets and the chaos. We didn't finish building our security institutions yet. Going to the Streets is the golden opportunity to those who want to create incidents and chaos. Maybe our destiny is to live struggling to preserve our democracy and dignity and perhaps we have not matured enough to live with our differences in peace, and the real challenge is to be able to do it.

It is a challenge that we are proud to face. Our task is difficult but we have no other choice because if we fail, Lebanon will collapse and this is a price that we cannot afford or accept to pay. We will keep working to build our modern state where people have their rights guaranteed by the law and the right to be free, equal and to live in peace and dignity. We will keep on believing in God, in ourselves and in our nation. We will not weaken and Lebanon will have the right to stand among all the democratic nations with pride. These are our goals and we need your help to achieve them.

We need you to help us by using your influence in the U.S, to explain our situation and the importance of our success to the whole world. Nobody can understand how the U.S claims that it is working to spread democracy around the world when it does not help the only Arab democracy to survive. The challenge is not only for Lebanon it is for the whole democratic world because if we succeed, democracy may prevail in the Arab world, but if we fail, God forbids, the whole theory of spreading democracy in the region collapses. We need your help to convince your administration to back the Lebanese efforts to restore their sovereignty and their right to self-determination and to strengthen their democratic system. We need you to convince the U.S administration to put pressure on Israel to withdraw from Sheba’s farms and to cease its violation of the Lebanese sovereignty, to revive the 1949 armistice agreement between Lebanon and Israel, to forbid Israel any future violation of our sovereignty like it did with Syria, on its boards with Israel, awaiting for a comprehensive peace settlement of the Palestinian Israeli conflict. We need you to explain to the U.S administration that a peace agreement should be reached as quickly as possible to put an end to the Arab Israeli conflict by giving the Palestinian people the right to have an independent state and to find a solution to the Palestinian refugees and not at Lebanon's expense. We need you to convince the U.S administration that an equitable solution of the Palestinian problem will change the feelings of the Arab and Muslim world toward the U.S. America needs to make a courageous decision, to change the dramatic course of events in the world and we are counting on you to help that this decision is made in the near future.

To encourage LARP to be efficient, Lebanon should meet you at the middle of the road. Lebanon should take all the necessary measures to facilitate your task and to strengthen its relations with you. Because I believe in your role to help Lebanon, I have signed with some other colleagues in the Parliament the draft Law that permits you to participate in the Lebanese elections without being in Lebanon and I promise you that we will work in order that this draft will be adopted. We should also take into consideration your Lebanese origin to facilitate your future investments in Lebanon through some measures to lighting the taxes and shortening the bureaucratic formalities. You heard lots of ideas and suggestions during your conference and you may hear a lot more. Let me add to what you have heard an act of faith in the future of our Country. Lebanon is our Nation and your mother Nation and it is a treasure that we should preserve at any cost. We will never abandon our faith in its future what ever happens and in spite of all the mistakes that we may commit against it. We believe in our Country, we are proud to be Lebanese. And regardless of the circumstances, we remain Lebanese.

We invite all Lebanese to renew their faith in the future, because without faith nothing good or great can be achieved. A country like ours, which has the support of its citizens, those living inside and outside cannot die. God created it and all the powers of evil shall not prevail over it. Welcome to your Country. Let us join our efforts, Lebanon needs us and we should not deceive it. God bless the Lebanese people, God bless the Lebanese Americans and God bless Lebanon.