This is an opinion article and may not necessarily represent khazen.org views
by thearabweekly.com — Khairallah Khairallah — The Lebanese only want to know one thing: When will banks release their hold on people’s deposits? It’s not just a question of freeing Lebanese and Arab deposits, but also of playing with the country’s fate. Of course everybody is now busy with the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Lebanese are also worried about the future of their country, not knowing if it can survive if its banking system collapses. It is no secret that Lebanon is a bank. It is primarily thanks to this role, in addition to its other roles since before independence in 1943, that the country has remained steadfast in spite of the ongoing war since 1975. What has enabled Lebanon to survive is its banking system and its continued efforts to protect a vibrant culture of life over the culture of death advocated by Hezbollah, and before it by Christian and Islamic militias and Palestinian factions. They all played a role in the destruction of Beirut, which the Syrian regime was able to fully exploit for a long time. Despite many trials and tribulations over the past 45 years, Lebanon has always kept the foundations of life in the country. Among these foundations are Beirut’s port and airport. Beirut itself was vibrant with life, with all of its newspapers, magazines, cultural life, cafes, hotels, restaurants and nightclubs. It was a city that loved life and people loved to live in it.
On the margins of the crisis of Lebanon’s banking sector, which is crucial to the country’s survival, there is one remark that must be made. It concerns the role of certain Christian groups in bringing the political situation in Lebanon to where it is now, that is to say, to having a “Hezbollah government” in place during this “Hezbollah era.” The original sin of Lebanese Christians is not just the acceptance by some of their senior leaders, including former President Camille Chamoun and Sheikh Pierre Gemayel, of the Cairo Agreement in 1969, but, to a greater degree, their acceptance of the election of Suleiman Franjieh as president in 1970, less than a year after the Cairo Agreement. No one doubts Franjieh’s patriotism and intimate sense of Lebanese identity, but 1970 was one of the most dangerous years in the Middle East. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser died that year, and Hafez Assad fomented a coup against his Baathist comrades as he prepared to become the first Alevi to take over the Syrian presidency in February 1971. In 1970, Jordanian King Hussein managed to preserve his throne and expel Palestinian fighters from the country. Miraculously, these fighters ended up in Lebanon at a time when the country was, more than ever, in need of political leadership that could understand the developments taking place in the region.