August 14, 2016 5 News & Analysis Lebanon Lebanon’s Druze-Maronite reconciliation: An example for a war-torn region?

Dalal Saoud

Beirut

t is high time to forget and forgive,” said Weeda “ Hamzeh, a Druze woman from the Mount Lebanon village of Abey where there wereI massacres between Christians and Druze at the height of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. Hamzeh’s parents escaped shortly before Christian militias stormed her village, executed the Druze in- habitants and destroyed their hous- es in 1983, but now she is renewing the bonds with her returning Chris- tian neighbours. That would not have been possi- ble without the reconciliation pact signed in 2001 between Druze lead- er Walid Jumblatt and Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, the then Maronite pa- triarch. However, it took 15 years to seal the Druze-Maronite reconciliation. Another highly symbolic step was made August 6th when Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi joined Jumblatt to consecrate a Maronite church not far from the Druze leader’s stronghold of Al Mukhtara in the Chouf Mountains. When the guns fall silent in the war-torn Arab region, the battle for “forgiving and forgetting” will start. A file picture shows Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai (R) greeting Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, in 2014, as part of the Protecting plurality and diversity in reconciliation process between Lebanese Christians and Druze. the region will be a big challenge. Lebanon, which has escaped the that the war between the Druze and pleted without the families of the Lebanon is still far from achieving be adopted. cycle of violence ravaging the re- Christians is over for good, Leba- disappeared knowing what hap- its dream. “The day the bloody struggle gion, has apparently learned its les- non’s reconciliation process remains pened to their beloved ones… They “We don’t have a success story,” in Syria is over, there should be a son. incomplete. don’t want to try anyone. They sim- Baroud argued. “We didn’t know mechanism to restore unity among “Lebanese finally admit that their “We still live in a state of unde- ply want that their fate be disclosed how to deal with our internal prob- the Syrians,” said Baroud. “That wars were futile and that no one can clared war at various levels,” said so that they can rest,” Baroud said. lems.” should include a new constitution, cancel the other,” said Abbas Halabi, Ziyad Baroud, Lebanon’s former “The war is over for many but not to But the fact that Lebanon has a fair amnesty law, a process to re- a member of the National Commit- minister of Interior and civil society them.” managed, with all of the turmoil in integrate the fighters, new educa- tee of Muslim-Christian Dialogue. activist. “No stability is one form of the region, rising extremism and tional curricula among many other “Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya will incomplete reconciliation,” he said. It took 15 years to seal Sunni-Shia conflict, to preserve its things.” also realise that they will be not able Baroud explained that, unlike Druze-Maronite stability, safety and the peaceful The Syrians, he said, could be as- to continue with their futile wars other countries that witnessed wars reconciliation. coexistence among its various sects sisted by parties that did not take endlessly. This region is bound to and achieved reconciliation such as reinforces hope that living together part in the war, including the United restoring the idea of reconciliation South Africa, Lebanon failed to ad- Lebanon’s 1991 Amnesty Law is still possible. Nations and independent experts. and there will be no salvation with- dress the many causes that led to its “that distinguished between one “When the time of big settlements Despite the present gloom, Ba- out establishing a civil state.” war and has fallen short of healing victim and another is another mis- comes, ISIS [the Islamic State] will roud appeared a bit optimistic. “It The church consecration in the the wounds. take”, he added. The law covered fall apart and the people of the re- is not true that we are doomed, if Chouf Mountains, Halabi said, was The issue of the many thousands political and wartime crimes prior gion will realise that they are bound we are now passing through this “a clear message to emphasise the who went missing during the war to March 28th, 1991. to formulate internal solutions that bloody phase. After all, Europe went need to revive the idea of diversity remains unresolved, with no real With almost all the warlords still could lead to reconciliation that through even worse than that and in our societies and that diversity effort exerted by the political lead- in power since the Saudi-brokered would restore peace and coexist- look at it now.” is a source of richness and not, as ers — most of whom were war mi- Taif reconciliation accords ended ence,” Halabi said. some extremist parties are trying to litia leaders — and military officials the war in 1990 and their ex-fighters To achieve real reconciliation, Dalal Saoud is the Deputy portray, a reason for anger”. responsible for their disappearance. and followers now in the army, se- many issues should be dealt with in Editor-in-Chief of The Arab Weekly. Despite Jumblatt’s assurances “Reconciliation cannot be com- curity services and public positions, depth and a clear mechanism should She is based in Beirut. Dim prospects for electing a new Lebanese president

Viewpoint carcely has the election fiercely opposed. Lebanese politics — Saudi statehood are missing. That allows of a new president of The case has been the same with Arabia and Iran — were deeply There is a several political forces to increase Lebanon been an issue almost every presidential election. antagonistic to one another. Their their strength at the expense of of parliamentary votes. What varied was the identity of differences stretched from Bahrain lot of talk as the central government and its Through recent history, the players who had a say in who to Yemen and Iraq and did not to whether apparatus. It seems that the state is especially after gaining might become the next president. exclude Lebanon. Hezbollah, the weakest player in the Lebanese Sindependence in 1943, Lebanon In certain instances, for example, Tehran seems to be reluctant political scene. and Iran has been dependent on regional it was the Soviets, the Americans, to ease the Lebanese presidential Despite uninterrupted calls by and international stakeholders to the Israelis, Egyptians, Syrians as deadlock before it ensures a eventually the international community for broker a deal in the final stages of well as others. During the Syrian political prize somewhere else, or, wish to ever Lebanon to elect a new president, Rami the six-year presidential term. hegemony of Lebanon, then Syrian at least, before the outcome of the elect a new no serious indications reveal that Rayess The anticipated 2014 election president Hafez Assad “informed’ Syrian war becomes clearer. such an eventuality is imminent. was no exception. Former, and the Lebanese people of “their” will There is a lot of talk as to Lebanese The distribution of power in the most recent, president Michel to extend the term of late president whether Hezbollah, and Iran president. Lebanese parliament does not Suleiman was elected as a result of Elias Hrawi in an interview eventually, wish to ever elect give an upper hand or sufficient a national-regional-international with the Egyptian Al-Ahram a new Lebanese president. majority for any group to elect a compromise brokered by Qatar in newspaper. Discussions on this issue stem president without the consent of May 2008 after Lebanese parties In 2014 the scene was quite from the benefit this axis, along the other. appeared on the verge a new civil different. The Syrian revolution with the Syrian regime, can At the regional level, the war. Hezbollah had occupied that had erupted three years make from keeping Lebanon a unprecedented crisis in Saudi- Beirut and headed towards the earlier was descending into playground after it exhausted its Iranian relations makes an mountains where they were civil war as the regime refused role as a battleground in the 1975- imminent election improbable. The to acknowledge the minimum 90 civil strife. hot spots in various Arab states are legitimate rights of its people It is true that the Lebanese but a proxy confrontation between Scarcely has the for dignity and democracy. president, after the Taif agreement Tehran and Riyadh. Therefore, is Some Lebanese factions were in 1989 has lost some prerogatives it in anyone’s interest to surrender election of a new increasingly involved in the in a constitutional rearrangement the presidential election for free? president of Lebanon strife which aggravated internal of authorities, yet, the presence political divisions and reduced of the president would, at least, Rami Rayess is editor-in-chief been an issue of the possibility of reaching an guarantee the proper functioning of Lebanese Al Anbaa Electronic agreement on presidential of institutions instead of Newspaper (anbaaonline.com) and parliamentary votes. elections. sustaining paralysis. spokesman for the Progressive At the regional level, the two With a presidential vacuum Socialist Party in Lebanon. Follow players that highly affected the minimum requirements of him on Twitter: @RamiRayess.