Christian Lebanon This is Me

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1. 1. www.frontpagemagazine.com

   www.frontpagemagazine.com/Arti - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/3/2005   Last Visited: 8/17/2007

   In late September 2005, May Chidiac, a prominent anti-Syrian Christian news anchor, was seriously wounded when her car exploded in Lebanon. Her left leg was blown off beneath the knee, and her left hand suffered extensive damage.
   
   Syria has denied any role in these murders, but the Damascus hand is transparently evident. The UN inquiry into al-Hariri's assassination has already led to the arrest of four pro-Syrian generals on charges of murder.
   
   All of these developments reveal that Lebanon is paying a heavy price for the freedom and independence it is now gaining.
   ...
   We would like to focus on one key central question: is this incredible development connected to the same reason why Lebanon was destroyed as a country in the Middle East? Does Lebanon have promise for modernity and freedom because it is a Christian nation? Is that why, in the last quarter of the 20th century, the Islamic-Arab world suffocated Lebanon -- because it couldn't, at that time, digest freedom?
   ...
   Has been active in the struggle to liberate Lebanon from foreign occupation and restore its sovereignty for over 28 years;
   
   Ret. Colonel Charbel Barakat, a Former Officer of the Lebanese Army, Vice President of the World Lebanese Organization and a former International Security Advisor to the President of the Lebanese Diaspora. He is a terrorism analyst for the Canadian Lebanese Council and testified on Terrorism and Hezbollah to the US Senate in 1997 & 2000;
   ...
   Joseph Farah, an Arab-American Christian journalist whose grandparents came from Lebanon and Syria.
   ...
   Tell us why you think Lebanon was at one time the Paris of the Middle East and why other Arab nations weren't.
   
   Baini: Perhaps it is easy to oversimplify the reasons in light of events of the last 30 years, however the real reasons firstly stem back in the history of Lebanon, to the era of our ancestors the Phoenicians.
   ...
   They ultimately became the most dominant yet progressive and highly productive force in the land that we now know as Lebanon. They withstood many challenges to their supremacy but always managed to remain the main power base. Their strong desire for education gave rise to incentives and stimulated the people of Lebanon onto greater endeavours and achievements in social reforms, politics and the process currently known as democracy.
   
   These basic historical facts plus many more since, have given the people of Lebanon a fundamentally strong foundation for the development of a balanced outlook on life. Notwithstanding their experience of the last 30 years, the Lebanese will never lose their passion for freedom, democracy and independence; a characteristic not seen or experienced anywhere else in the Middle East. There is no doubt that it stems from the influence of Christianity which teaches us that every one is born free and is equal in the eyes of God and the law and has the right for self determination.
   
   FP: So in many respects, militant Islam had to destroy this light of freedom within its midst? Lebanon could not be allowed to live?
   
   Barakat: I am afraid so, yes, but it is important to stress that Lebanon had different names and slogans every time. In 1920 it was the Arab Kingdom of Damascus under Faysal, the son of Sharif Hussein of Hijjaz. All the Christian villages South of the Litani river were attacked in the same terrorist way, the orders and the main bands came from Damascus. But Lebanon survived and the freedom light was kept alive.
   
   The second time was with Nasser of Egypt who wanted to "export" his revolution everywhere in the Middle East and united Syria with Egypt. For sure Lebanon had to suffer the "Brotherhood" approach of the new situation and a flow of weapons to destabilize it. Nasser, who did "monopolise" the power and "nationalize" the economy in Egypt, couldn't accept having on his "new borders" a free country with an open market and a democratic regime. But as progressive as he use to call himself, he did exploit Islam to popularize his image and have some Lebanese followers.
   
   The third time the source of the problem was Syria again. Assad wanted to wage a war against Israel from Lebanon using the Palestinians as tools. He trained and armed them, he took advantage of the free opinion and the free press in Lebanon, he used all means to create instability in the country. This led to a real war and a "brotherly" occupation that we have suffered for 30 years now. Even though he did terminate all existence of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria, he did create and support the Terrorists of Hezbollah in Lebanon which are the main problem for the return of stability and progress to the country now.
   
   With all the pressures and the problems Syria caused, Lebanon managed to survive and keep freedom its main target. The weakness and strength of Lebanon is always its multicultural society. This society cannot be ruled but with democracy, which will give the country its strength, but when the dictatorial regimes of the neighbouring countries are strong or the fanatic movements are rising, Lebanon will always be put to the test and the results will be more sufferings.
   
   Gabriel: In so many respects, Lebanon's Christian influence and culture clashed with militant Islam's intolerance of anything western.
   ...
   At the heart of the Middle East and the crossroads of three continents, Lebanon is where the East meets the West. DH Lawrence described Beirut as "a chromatic Levantine screen through which foreign influences entered". It is that western influence adopted by the Christian Lebanese, the largest concentration of Christians in the region that turned Lebanon into the Jewel of the Middle East. It is that western culture and Judeo Christian values which dominated Lebanon that went against the grain of Islam, its traditions and teachings.
   
   Lebanon, also known as the land of the alphabet, is the Middle East's most liberal country, an oasis of tolerance and easy-going enjoyment in a turbulent region. On Hamra Street, Beirut's equivalent of Oxford Street, micro-skirted young Lebanese women brush shoulders with Muslim women covered head to foot in black hijab.
   
   It had been in Lebanon that celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Charles Aznavour and Johnny Halliday entertained high-rolling Arab sheikhs and European jet-setters, among them film stars such as Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren.
   ...
   It was also in Lebanon where Europeans and Arab tourists alike came to see the likes of Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Joan Baez and Herbert von Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic perform beneath the floodlit splendour of Balback's exquisite Roman temples.
   ...
   The "revolution" in Lebanon this year was very encouraging, very inspiring.
   ...
   That, I believe, is the real question for Lebanon.
   ...
   Harb: Lebanon's historical problems started with the rejection by Syria and the PanArabists of the very existence of the country.
   ...
   In 1920, after the liberation of Lebanon from the Ottoman occupation by France and Britain, the League of Nations decided that a Lebanese independent state would be created and guaranteed. Even though Syria was under the French mandate as was Lebanon, the Arab nationalist forces and the Islamic Fundamentalists refused to recognized the independence of Lebanon and waged multiple campaigns to stop Lebanese sovereignty. As soon as the French withdrew from the region in 1945, and after the country of Lebanon became independent, the new Syrian state, even before the Baath, put enormous pressures on the Lebanese Republic.
   
   In 1948, thousands of Palestinian refugees were admitted into Lebanon. Syria started to arm them as of the 1950s to attack the Lebanese Government. In the early 1960s, Damascus helped Syrian nationalists in Lebanon to organize a coup d'etat, which failed. In 1969, Damascus supported the PLO to take the control of enclaves inside Lebanon. They wanted to drag Lebanon further in the Arab Israeli conflict. And in 1970, after King Hussein of Jordan defeated them, the followers of Yassir Arafat moved to Lebanon and launched attacks against the Lebanese army.
   ...
   In June 1976, Hafez Assad ordered an invasion of Lebanon. By 1977-1978 his troops were battling the Lebanese resistance. A Syrian-PLO-Jihadist alliance was trying to defeat the Lebanese resistance Forces and regular Army till 1982 without success.
   
   In 1982, Israel invaded from the south to fight the PLO and push back the Syrian army. But in 1985, Hizbollah, the pro-Syrian militias and the Syrian forces took back most of the country except the East Beirut enclave. In 1990, and as Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Assad invaded the last free and independent enclave of Lebanon.
   ...
   Lebanon's civil society tried hard to free itself without success for a whole decade. The 1990s were very difficult, as neither Washington nor Paris were interested in liberating their old friends the Lebanese.
   
   But after September 11, the US Congress and Administration realized the importance of Lebanon in the War on terror.
   ...

2. 2. Free Muhamad Mugraby  Syria

   www.10452lccc.com/daily%20news - [Cached]

   Published on: 4/11/2005   Last Visited: 1/24/2006

   UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The top U.N. envoy for Syria and Lebanon said Wednesday he was encouraged by the Hezbollah leader's recent comments about the prospects of the militia eventually disarming, even though the remarks were extremely tough.
   ...
   Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasralla had responded there was no point in dialogue if disarmament was the only U.N. option, but said his group would consider a dialogue on how to protect Lebanon and the role of the resistance.
   ...
   "I hope that will pave the way for and form the basis for a constant dialogue with the government of Lebanon," he told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council on his report.
   ...
   In addition to demanding the disarmament of the militias, Resolution 1559 called for the withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence operatives from Lebanon.
   ...
   Yet it also said that Palestinian militants in Lebanon are getting more weapons from Syria, and Hezbollah shows no sign of disarming. U.S.
   ...
   Israel captured the area from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, and it is now claimed by Lebanon with Damascus's consent. Israeli troops have retained control of the area since their withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000 after two decades of occupation.
   ...
   Israel captured the area from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, and it is now claimed by Lebanon with Damascus\'s consent. Israeli troops have retained control of the area since their withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000 after two decades of occupation.
   ...
   Officially, Lebanon is now free, and its former Baathist overlords in Syria are isolated from the international community following initial findings by United Nations investigators that high-ranking Syrian government officials and their Lebanese sidekicks were behind the bomb murder in February of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri. A Security Council resolution passed unanimously on Monday requires Syria to stop obstructing the U.N. investigation. The Syrian army officially left Lebanon this spring. But Syria still casts a long shadow across Lebanon--a nation on the front lines of the struggle to shed despotism in the Middle East. In that gloom, rocked by the recent series of bombs targeting Lebanese patriots, one finds the case of one of Lebanon's leading human rights lawyers, Muhamad Mugraby.
   ...
   Lebanon's government remains stacked by Syria.
   ...
   In the early 1970s, Yasser Arafat arrived in Lebanon, bringing his trademark carnage with him.
   ...
   In 1975, Lebanon descended into violence that soon after gave Syria its opening to invade, and, with the assent of the world community, to dig in--running a ruthless secret police force, disappearing Lebanese dissidents into Syrian jails, and serving as a corridor for traffic between terrorists based in Lebanon and their mentors in Iran.
   ...
   In April, 1989, just six months before the international community nodded assent to Syria's grab for Lebanon via the Taif Accord, Mr. Mugraby wrote another letter to the New York Times:
   ...
   In translation from the original Arabic, the report summed up that Mr. Mugraby, in that meeting, "repeated what he already said about the bad situation of the judicial body and the regime in Lebanon.
   ...
   In late September 2005, May Chidiac, a prominent anti-Syrian Christian news anchor, was seriously wounded when her car exploded in Lebanon. Her left leg was blown off beneath the knee, and her left hand suffered extensive damage. Syria has denied any role in these murders, but the Damascus hand is transparently evident. The UN inquiry into al-Hariri's assassination has already led to the arrest of four pro-Syrian generals on charges of murder. All of these developments reveal that Lebanon is paying a heavy price for the freedom and independence it is now gaining. Lebanese citizens are clearly no longer afraid of the Syrians and are moving quickly toward regaining their independence and becoming a truly democratic society. This phenomenon obviously poses a huge threat not only to Syria, but also to Islamists throughout the Middle East terrified of liberty in their midst. Today, FrontPage Magazine would like to discuss this first true pro-democratic revolution in the Arab world. We would like to focus on one key central question: is this incredible development connected to the same reason why Lebanon was destroyed as a country in the Middle East? Does Lebanon have promise for modernity and freedom because it is a Christian nation? Is that why, in the last quarter of the 20th century, the Islamic-Arab world suffocated Lebanon -- because it couldn't, at that time, digest freedom?
   ...
   Has been active in the struggle to liberate Lebanon from foreign occupation and restore its sovereignty for over 28 years; Ret. Colonel Charbel Barakat, a Former Officer of the Lebanese Army, Vice President of the World Lebanese Organization and a former International Security Advisor to the President of the Lebanese Diaspora. He is a terrorism analyst for the Canadian Lebanese Council and testified on Terrorism and Hezbollah to the US Senate in 1997 & 2000;
   ...
   Joe Farah, an Arab-American Christian journalist whose grandparents came from Lebanon and Syria.
   ...
   Tell us why you think Lebanon was at one time the Paris of the Middle East and why other Arab nations weren't. Baini: Perhaps it is easy to oversimplify the reasons in light of events of the last 30 years, however the real reasons firstly stem back in the history of Lebanon, to the era of our ancestors the Phoenicians.
   ...
   They ultimately became the most dominant yet progressive and highly productive force in the land that we now know as Lebanon. They withstood many challenges to their supremacy but always managed to remain the main power base. Their strong desire for education gave rise to incentives and stimulated the people of Lebanon onto greater endeavours and achievements in social reforms, politics and the process currently known as democracy. These basic historical facts plus many more since, have given the people of Lebanon a fundamentally strong foundation for the development of a balanced outlook on life. Notwithstanding their experience of the last 30 years, the Lebanese will never lose their passion for freedom, democracy and independence; a characteristic not seen or experienced anywhere else in the Middle East. There is no doubt that it stems from the influence of Christianity which teaches us that every one is born free and is equal in the eyes of God and the law and has the right for self determination. FP: So in many respects, militant Islam had to destroy this light of freedom within its midst? Lebanon could not be allowed to live? Barakat: I am afraid so, yes, but it is important to stress that Lebanon had different names and slogans every time. In 1920 it was the Arab Kingdom of Damascus under Faysal, the son of Sharif Hussein of Hijjaz. All the Christian villages South of the Litani river were attacked in the same terrorist way, the orders and the main bands came from Damascus. But Lebanon survived and the freedom light was kept alive.
   ...
   Assad wanted to wage a war against Israel from Lebanon using the Palestinians as tools. He trained and armed them, he took advantage of the free opinion and the free press in Lebanon, he used all means to create instability in the country. This led to a real war and a "brotherly" occupation that we have suffered for 30 years now. Even though he did terminate all existence of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria, he did create and support the Terrorists of Hezbollah in Lebanon which are the main problem for the return of stability and progress to the country now. With all the pressures and the problems Syria caused, Lebanon managed to survive and keep freedom its main target. The weakness and strength of Lebanon is always its multicultural society. This society cannot be ruled but with democracy, which will give the country its strength, but when the dictatorial regimes of the neighbouring countries are strong or the fanatic movements are rising, Lebanon will always be put to the test and the results will be more sufferings. Gabriel: In so many respects, Lebanon's Christian influence and culture clashed with militant Islam's intolerance of anything western.
   ...
   At the heart of the Middle East and the crossroads of three continents, Lebanon is where the East meets the West. DH Lawrence described Beirut as "a chromatic Levantine screen through which foreign influences entered". It is that western influence adopted by the Christian Lebanese, the largest concentration of Christians in the region that turned Lebanon into the Jewel of the Middle East. It is that western culture and Judeo Christian values which dominated Lebanon that went against the grain of Islam, its traditions and teachings. Lebanon, also known as the land of the alphabet, is the Middle East's most liberal country, an oasis of tolerance and easy-going enjoyment in a turbulent region. On Hamra Street, Beirut's equivalent of Oxford Street, micro-skirted young Lebanese women brush shoulders with Muslim women covered head to f

3. 3. FrontPage magazine.com :: Symposium: Lebanon: The Spark of Liberty in the Middle East by Jamie Glazov

   www.frontpagemagazine.com/Arti - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/3/2005   Last Visited: 1/17/2007

   In late September 2005, May Chidiac, a prominent anti-Syrian Christian news anchor, was seriously wounded when her car exploded in Lebanon. Her left leg was blown off beneath the knee, and her left hand suffered extensive damage.
   
   Syria has denied any role in these murders, but the Damascus hand is transparently evident. The UN inquiry into al-Hariri's assassination has already led to the arrest of four pro-Syrian generals on charges of murder.
   
   All of these developments reveal that Lebanon is paying a heavy price for the freedom and independence it is now gaining.
   ...
   We would like to focus on one key central question: is this incredible development connected to the same reason why Lebanon was destroyed as a country in the Middle East? Does Lebanon have promise for modernity and freedom because it is a Christian nation? Is that why, in the last quarter of the 20th century, the Islamic-Arab world suffocated Lebanon -- because it couldn't, at that time, digest freedom?
   ...
   Has been active in the struggle to liberate Lebanon from foreign occupation and restore its sovereignty for over 28 years;
   
   Ret. Colonel Charbel Barakat, a Former Officer of the Lebanese Army, Vice President of the World Lebanese Organization and a former International Security Advisor to the President of the Lebanese Diaspora. He is a terrorism analyst for the Canadian Lebanese Council and testified on Terrorism and Hezbollah to the US Senate in 1997 & 2000;
   ...
   Joseph Farah, an Arab-American Christian journalist whose grandparents came from Lebanon and Syria.
   ...
   Tell us why you think Lebanon was at one time the Paris of the Middle East and why other Arab nations weren't.
   
   Baini: Perhaps it is easy to oversimplify the reasons in light of events of the last 30 years, however the real reasons firstly stem back in the history of Lebanon, to the era of our ancestors the Phoenicians.
   ...
   They ultimately became the most dominant yet progressive and highly productive force in the land that we now know as Lebanon. They withstood many challenges to their supremacy but always managed to remain the main power base. Their strong desire for education gave rise to incentives and stimulated the people of Lebanon onto greater endeavours and achievements in social reforms, politics and the process currently known as democracy.
   
   These basic historical facts plus many more since, have given the people of Lebanon a fundamentally strong foundation for the development of a balanced outlook on life. Notwithstanding their experience of the last 30 years, the Lebanese will never lose their passion for freedom, democracy and independence; a characteristic not seen or experienced anywhere else in the Middle East. There is no doubt that it stems from the influence of Christianity which teaches us that every one is born free and is equal in the eyes of God and the law and has the right for self determination.
   
   FP: So in many respects, militant Islam had to destroy this light of freedom within its midst? Lebanon could not be allowed to live?
   
   Barakat: I am afraid so, yes, but it is important to stress that Lebanon had different names and slogans every time. In 1920 it was the Arab Kingdom of Damascus under Faysal, the son of Sharif Hussein of Hijjaz. All the Christian villages South of the Litani river were attacked in the same terrorist way, the orders and the main bands came from Damascus. But Lebanon survived and the freedom light was kept alive.
   
   The second time was with Nasser of Egypt who wanted to "export" his revolution everywhere in the Middle East and united Syria with Egypt. For sure Lebanon had to suffer the "Brotherhood" approach of the new situation and a flow of weapons to destabilize it. Nasser, who did "monopolise" the power and "nationalize" the economy in Egypt, couldn't accept having on his "new borders" a free country with an open market and a democratic regime. But as progressive as he use to call himself, he did exploit Islam to popularize his image and have some Lebanese followers.
   
   The third time the source of the problem was Syria again. Assad wanted to wage a war against Israel from Lebanon using the Palestinians as tools. He trained and armed them, he took advantage of the free opinion and the free press in Lebanon, he used all means to create instability in the country. This led to a real war and a "brotherly" occupation that we have suffered for 30 years now. Even though he did terminate all existence of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria, he did create and support the Terrorists of Hezbollah in Lebanon which are the main problem for the return of stability and progress to the country now.
   
   With all the pressures and the problems Syria caused, Lebanon managed to survive and keep freedom its main target. The weakness and strength of Lebanon is always its multicultural society. This society cannot be ruled but with democracy, which will give the country its strength, but when the dictatorial regimes of the neighbouring countries are strong or the fanatic movements are rising, Lebanon will always be put to the test and the results will be more sufferings.
   
   Gabriel: In so many respects, Lebanon's Christian influence and culture clashed with militant Islam's intolerance of anything western.
   ...
   At the heart of the Middle East and the crossroads of three continents, Lebanon is where the East meets the West. DH Lawrence described Beirut as "a chromatic Levantine screen through which foreign influences entered". It is that western influence adopted by the Christian Lebanese, the largest concentration of Christians in the region that turned Lebanon into the Jewel of the Middle East. It is that western culture and Judeo Christian values which dominated Lebanon that went against the grain of Islam, its traditions and teachings.
   
   Lebanon, also known as the land of the alphabet, is the Middle East's most liberal country, an oasis of tolerance and easy-going enjoyment in a turbulent region. On Hamra Street, Beirut's equivalent of Oxford Street, micro-skirted young Lebanese women brush shoulders with Muslim women covered head to foot in black hijab.
   
   It had been in Lebanon that celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Charles Aznavour and Johnny Halliday entertained high-rolling Arab sheikhs and European jet-setters, among them film stars such as Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren.
   ...
   It was also in Lebanon where Europeans and Arab tourists alike came to see the likes of Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, Joan Baez and Herbert von Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic perform beneath the floodlit splendour of Balback's exquisite Roman temples.
   ...
   The "revolution" in Lebanon this year was very encouraging, very inspiring.
   ...
   That, I believe, is the real question for Lebanon.
   ...
   Harb: Lebanon's historical problems started with the rejection by Syria and the PanArabists of the very existence of the country.
   ...
   In 1920, after the liberation of Lebanon from the Ottoman occupation by France and Britain, the League of Nations decided that a Lebanese independent state would be created and guaranteed. Even though Syria was under the French mandate as was Lebanon, the Arab nationalist forces and the Islamic Fundamentalists refused to recognized the independence of Lebanon and waged multiple campaigns to stop Lebanese sovereignty. As soon as the French withdrew from the region in 1945, and after the country of Lebanon became independent, the new Syrian state, even before the Baath, put enormous pressures on the Lebanese Republic.
   
   In 1948, thousands of Palestinian refugees were admitted into Lebanon. Syria started to arm them as of the 1950s to attack the Lebanese Government. In the early 1960s, Damascus helped Syrian nationalists in Lebanon to organize a coup d'etat, which failed. In 1969, Damascus supported the PLO to take the control of enclaves inside Lebanon. They wanted to drag Lebanon further in the Arab Israeli conflict. And in 1970, after King Hussein of Jordan defeated them, the followers of Yassir Arafat moved to Lebanon and launched attacks against the Lebanese army.
   ...
   In June 1976, Hafez Assad ordered an invasion of Lebanon. By 1977-1978 his troops were battling the Lebanese resistance. A Syrian-PLO-Jihadist alliance was trying to defeat the Lebanese resistance Forces and regular Army till 1982 without success.
   
   In 1982, Israel invaded from the south to fight the PLO and push back the Syrian army. But in 1985, Hizbollah, the pro-Syrian militias and the Syrian forces took back most of the country except the East Beirut enclave. In 1990, and as Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Assad invaded the last free and independent enclave of Lebanon.
   ...
   Lebanon's civil society tried hard to free itself without success for a whole decade. The 1990s were very difficult, as neither Washington nor Paris were interested in liberating their old friends the Lebanese.
   
   But after September 11, the US Congress and Administration realized the importance of Lebanon in the War on terror.
   ...