Your Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio Monsignor Gabriele Caccia, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps,
Your Excellencies the Representatives of the Diplomatic missions accredited in Lebanon,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you, for the first time during this Presidential term, at the Presidential Palace. I would like to thank you for your greetings on the New Year, and for the kind words Monsignor Gabriele Caccia, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Lebanon, has extended to me, on your behalf.
On this occasion, I would like, in turn, to express to you, to your families and to your colleagues, my best personal wishes. I hope that you would convey to the heads of the States and Organizations that you represent, and to your friendly and brotherly peoples, my heartfelt wishes for further determination to walk on the paths of stability and prosperity, despite all the difficulties.
Your Excellency the Dean,
I cannot but mention His Holiness Pope Francis, in the hope that you would send Him our respects and prayers. We certainly share His vision for a non-violent world in which peace, nurtured by the respect of mercy, justice and rights, prevails, as His Holiness stated, on January 1st, 2017, on the commemoration of the Fiftieth World Day of Peace.
We too believe in non-violence. For a quarter of a century, we have embraced this belief which bore fruit to a freed nation. It is, hence, in this perspective that we constantly strive for peace to reign over our nation.
My will, in my quality as President of Lebanon, is to consecrate this position to protect the unique Lebanese composition that rests on pluralism, which proved, throughout history, to withstand and overcome internal and external crises.
After the fall of unilateralism, be it political, racial or religious, pluralistic societies are shaping the future of the world, in spite of the fanaticism that it is witnessing. Adhering to this purpose, the Lebanese society ought to be a living example of peaceful coexistence.
My will is to ensure stability at the security, political, economic, social and financial level, so that the Lebanese, wherever they may be, shall feel reassured about their nation. It is in this context that Lebanon can reassume its traditional positive role on the international scene. In this respect, we have started setting up the plans, whereby a number of them have proceeded down the path of execution.
My will is to protect the sovereignty of the State, preserve the national unity, and prevent strife dragging onto our internal scene.
My will is to have capable, efficient and transparent institutions which restore the citizens’ confidence in their State, so that they would cooperate with these institutions and resort to them for reference and support.
During the past months, the constitutional institutions in Lebanon have resumed their normal course. Indeed, we have had a government which earned the confidence of the Parliament, on the basis of an all-encompassing Ministerial Statement. The House of Representatives has embarked on its extraordinary session to deal with late and urgent proposals and draft laws, namely the budget and the electoral law. Our top priority is to organize parliamentary elections according to a new law that ensures proper representation for all segments of Lebanese, thus ensuring political stability. The fear of a proportional law that is expressed by some political parties is misplaced, as only a regime based on proportionality can ensure a correct and fair representation for all. True, some may lose a few seats but we shall all gain the stability of the nation.
Excellencies,
Economic problems have aggravated lately in Lebanon, in light of the international crises and regional turmoil which increased deprivation and widened the scope of poverty in large categories of the Lebanese society. We have made the commitment to counter the deterioration that affects most of our production sectors. Still, the obstacles that hinder the course of our economic recovery are numerous, notably the repercussions of the Syrian crisis that resulted in the heavy displacement waves of Syrians into Lebanon.
Lebanon has offered more than its capacity when it comes to extending a helping hand to its Syrian and Palestinian brothers. Nevertheless, we are staggering under the burden of a number of refugees that amounts to half of our population. No country in the world can bear a 50% increase in its population. The demographical density in Lebanon was already high. It used to be around 400 people per square kilometer, and it has reached 600 at present. We are therefore unable to revive our economy as we would have liked to, especially given that one fourth of Lebanon’s youth has become unemployed.
This burden cannot be thrust upon Lebanon alone. We therefore appeal to your countries to shoulder their full responsibilities and to act, with no delay, to preserve your interests and those of your peoples. They ought to bear in mind that the fallout of the unprecedented heavy displacement waves, in our contemporary history, threatens the existence and stability of all nations. Against this background, we call on the international community to acknowledge the specificity of Lebanon and refute any idea of integration of the displaced therein. We also urge your countries to support our efforts to reach the only sustainable solution for the crisis of the Syrian refugees in our country, namely their safe return to their home country.
In this respect, Lebanon welcomes any initiative likely to lead to a political peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria. We wish that all initiatives become consistent and pull in the same direction, in order to lay the foundations of a long-term solution to the conflict in Syria.
The international policies are held accountable for the status quo in the Middle-East. The extinction of the fires is not only a need but also an interest to all concerned parties, because the trap is closing on its own initiators.
Excellencies,
In his message on the World Day of Peace, His Holiness the Pope quoted his predecessors: “To prevail, peace must rely on law, justice, equality and freedom”. Where does the world stand today from these values? And where are the international institutions that are supposed to protect them and to strive for their implementation and consolidation?
In the aftermath of World War II, the ‘United Nations’ was founded. Pursuant to Article 1 of the first chapter of its Charter, its objectives include “maintaining international peace and security”, “settling international disputes in conformity with the principles of justice and international law”, ensuring “equality in rights among the peoples” and “the right of self-determination”, as well as “promoting the respect of human rights and freedoms”…
The debilitated world placed high hopes upon this institution and other similar ones, to help it break free and to protect it from the tyranny of the powers that try to dominate it. What has this led to? Were these institutions able to honor their commitments?
Besides our occupied land, let us take a look at an extremely close and neighboring scene which highly concerns Lebanon, due to the repercussions it has had on it for around seven decades. I am, indeed, talking about the Palestinian scene.
Palestine was divided, by the international UN Resolution 181, into two parts: one for the Jews and another for the Arabs. But the Israelis, prompted by greed for the Arab part as well, did not bind themselves with this resolution. They expelled the Palestinians thereof, after waging a war of ethnic purification, documented by the Israeli writer Ilan Pappé in his book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”.
The Palestinians adopted then the principle of non-violence. But when “non-violence” is countered by an “excess of violence”, while the observing parties turn a blind eye or even encourage the hostilities, the situation shall explode eventually, in an endless bloodbath, as it has happened in Palestine.
The first UN resolution in regards to Palestine ignited a war, while the other ones remained unimplemented. What have the international institutions done about it? Why don’t they adopt a resolution that binds Israel to restore the agreed upon land to the Palestinians and acknowledge their identity? And why are the Israelis still biting off the land of the Palestinians till present? Why are they destroying their houses, burning their groves and expropriating their lands to build settlements? Israel is taking advantage, today, of the world’s preoccupation with the crises of the region and with the failure of peace endeavors, to perpetually undermine the Palestinians’ rights, to transgress its neighbors’ sovereignty and to impose an irrevocable fait accompli.
Excellencies,
During the past years, a so-called “creative chaos” project began in our region, sparking internal wars in the Arab countries. It was dubbed “the Arab Spring”, but what have we seen from this spring? Does the spring mean wiping away the landmarks of the ancient civilizations that laid the foundations for our actual civilization? Does it mean destroying churches, mosques and houses of worship, and breaking archaeological milestones to pieces? Does it mean slaughtering innocent people and demolishing cities??!! This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the “hell” of the Arabs and not their “spring”.
What has this “creative chaos” produced other than grudge, hatred, suffering and victims?? And when was chaos ever “creative”? Where does the Declaration of Human Rights stand amid everything that is happening?
We have all the right to ask these questions and we address them to the countries that ignore human rights and only recall them according to their interests. We are all concerned, and we are all signatories to the Human Rights Treaty.
We address them to those countries that call everything that affects their security “terrorism”, and all the terrorism that serves their interests “uprising”!!
Terrorism is terrorism, wherever it strikes; car bombings, wandering assassins, and suicide bombers who blow themselves up among innocents, are all “made by terrorism”, whether they strike in the West, East, South or North.
Excellencies,
Lebanon is not isolated from its environment. While we were busy tidying up our interior, we did not forget the danger of burning flames around us. Mistaken is everyone who thinks that a certain State, be it large or small, can keep itself outside the circle of global crises and stand idly by, as a passive spectator. Either we all survive thanks to cooperation and dialogue, or we all fall victim to what is going on.
The terrorism the world is suffering from is not new to us, for Lebanon was among the first countries hit by it and losing many martyrs to it, civilians and military. We were the first to stand up to it and we still do today, at the front line, rolling with the punches of the outcomes and repercussions.
Cooperation at the security and intelligence level is a vital need to fight terrorism; yet, terrorism feeds on the lingering crises East and West. It spreads and expands by the Takfiri obscurantist ideology that rejects the other, and is revitalized by the financial, logistic and military support that it is supplied with.
Therefore, we reach out to the world, to the great powers, to the United Nations and to all the international institutions: the right track is drawn by an international will which is really determined to save the world from terrorism and to establish peace.
If we want peace, we have to find solutions to the problems of the region, solutions that do not rely on force, but rather on justice, which, in turn, eradicates injustice and gives the rights to their rightful claimants.
If we want peace, we have to put out the fire at its ignition sources, for flames cannot quench themselves as long as they are kindled with firewood.
Happy New Year,
Long Live Lebanon.
Address of H.E. Archbishop Gabriele Caccia
Apostolic Nuncio and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps
on the occasion of the Presentation of New Year Greetings
to H.E. Michel Aoun
President of the Republic of Lebanon
Baabda, 17 January 2017
Mr President,
It is a particular pleasure for the Diplomatic Corps accredited to Lebanon to meet in the Presidential Palace after a two year absence, and to present to you, and through you to the whole Lebanese people, our most cordial greetings for this New Year 2017.
After your election on 31 October 2016, you received the letters of credence of most of the Ambassadors present today. They were happy to meet you and offer congratulations on your election, which ended the long presidential vacancy that had hampered normal relations between Lebanon and many of its friends in the international community.
I take this happy occasion to renew the good wishes of Pope Francis, who recently addressed to all Heads of State and all civil and religious leaders an important Message entitled: “Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace”.
His Holiness is joined in these sentiments by the Heads of the States and International Organizations represented here, all of whom share in the same responsibility for the common good of each country and the whole world.
This much-needed appeal for peace, everywhere and at all levels, takes on a special significance in the Middle East, which has all too long been marked by the suffering and devastation caused by ongoing wars and hostilities in many countries in the region, to say nothing of the growing scourge of global terrorism. It is clear that we need to invoke the gift of peace, and to strive, each in his or her own way, to achieve it. Today we can all echo the desire expressed by the Holy Father in his Message: “I wish ‘peace’ to every man, woman and child, and I pray that the image and likeness of God in each person will enable us to acknowledge one another as sacred gifts endowed with immense dignity. Especially in situations of conflict, let us respect this, our ‘deepest dignity’, and make active nonviolence our way of life.”
Certainly, in this troubled region, we can be grateful that in Lebanon stability has been ensured thanks to the fine work of the Army and of Security and Defense Institutions, which has kept the various communities safe from outbreaks of violence. A strong domestic desire, and a regional and international consensus, have helped this beautiful land of cedars to surmount delicate and difficult moments, and to avoid reverting to a situation experienced for long years in recent times.
However, it turned out that this was not enough. Institutional and democratic stability needed to be ensured, for this is the essential and natural guarantee for the development of the country at all levels, and ensures the rights and necessary protection for each individual and for all communities. Here we Ambassadors readily share in the sense of relief of the Lebanese people as they see the return to normality of their State institutions: a new President and a new Government that has already gained the support of the Parliament and is working to schedule legislative elections in coming months.
The adoption of Resolution 1701 in 2006, and the creation of the International Support Group for Lebanon in 2012, likewise show the constant interest and concern of the international community in preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty, stability and independence, as well as the effective functioning of its state institutions.
All of us present here today, and our respective governments, trust that the broad consensus that allowed Lebanon to reach an agreement among all its political components and forces, will prove the first step in a process that can spread throughout the region, and thus help attain the peace so greatly desired by all, particularly those who have suffered the most. In view of this, we congratulate you on your first travels abroad, guided by this spirit of agreement and by this commitment to dialogue as the means of resolving the differences, concerns, interests and preoccupations of the regional actors.
Here we cannot fail to thank your Country for the great generosity with which it took on the heavy burden of an enormous number of refugees. We commit ourselves to continuing our countries’ help in the efforts to relieve the sufferings of millions of people. We also share the hope that the regional situation will soon allow them to return in safety and serenity and to rebuild their great countries, where their presence is greatly needed.
Within Lebanon too, a number of situations need to be resolved on different levels, and are anxiously awaited, especially with regard to economic and social issues. We offer our good wishes, Mr. President, to you and the new Government, for the work that lies before you, and we assure you of our faithful friendship and cooperation. We are well aware that Lebanon can count on that network of invaluable resources which is the Lebanese diaspora, present and prosperous the world over.
Mr President, in the spirit of renewed confidence that Lebanon is experiencing today at different levels, allow me to conclude these brief words by recalling that the year 2017 also marks the twentieth anniversary of the historic visit of Pope Saint John Paul II to the land of cedars. Here he consigned the Apostolic Exhortation A New Hope for Lebanon, which concludes with words that remain timely today: “May Lebanon, the happy mountain, flourish once again and fulfill its vocation to be a light to the region and a sign of the peace that comes from God”.
Mr President,
To you and your family, the institutions of the Republic, the Members of Government, and through you, to the entire people of Lebanon, we offer best wishes for a happy New Year!
Long live Lebanon!