Lebanon is a victim of others

Today and into future, political clashes will remain raging on the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, given its danger to the country’s political structure. Lebanese are not against humanitarian action, and we were not against it when hundreds of thousands of Syrians were forced to flee to Lebanon due to the war that broke out in 2011. However, we are against the chaos that accompanied this unorganized asylum, which has violated Lebanon’s sovereignty.

We have repeatedly warned in the Middle East Times of the seriousness of this issue and considered it like a time bomb that could explode in Lebanon at any moment. And here is the Maronite Patriarch, Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, warning of the issue after clashes that occurred between Lebanese and displaced Syrians that coincided with the Syrian elections, stressing that it is unacceptable for the displaced to remain waiting for a political solution. He said, “We regretted in recent days the clash that took place on the Nahr al-Kalb highway between some Lebanese and Syrians, and it provoked the feelings of the Lebanese in a region teeming with martyrs, at a time the file of the missing Syrians is still stuck and it is known that Lebanon has fulfilled its duties towards the displaced Syrians, so we are not a country waiting for the region’s conflicts to end, “ Neither logic nor formula allows this”.

We will not wait if a new “Ain Rummana” post ignites a civil war. Lebanon, as His Beatitude said, fulfilled all its duties with the Syrian refugees as it did its duties in the past with the Palestinians, whose leadership violated the authority of the Lebanese state since the Cairo Agreement. So, the Palestinian leadership at that time became a state within the state and raised the slogan of the Palestine Road passing through Jounieh, which ignited the wars in Lebanon and led to its destruction since 1975. We are still suffering from the scourge of these wars, as our state has disintegrated, and our people are unable to secure basic living requirements.

We are with the return of the Palestinians to Palestine, which we hope will achieve the dream of an independent state, and we have been and still reject the resettlement that harms Lebanon and the Palestinian cause. And we are still with the humanitarian aid for the Syrians who are in Lebanon, but with their return today to their country after the end of the hostilities, where they are able to return and contribute to the reconstruction of their country instead of spreading chaos in the country that hosted them.

The international community is called upon to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, especially after the recent war against the Gaza Strip. These countries must help Lebanon and others that have been affected by displacement and asylum and financially support it due to the great burdens it incurred. The Lebanese state, or what is left of it, is now called upon to form a government whose urgent tasks are to deal with economic, social, and living crises.

One of the most important challenges is the rejection of Palestinian resettlement and the return of refugees to their country. We raise our voice with all those who are loyal to Lebanon to lift the injustice against it and its people. Enough of Lebanon’s oppression and displacement because of others.

Editor in Chief