A friend of mine, who was once a member of the Phalange Party then he moved to the Lebanese Forces and back again, called me in reproach: Why did you mention the story of the Sunni woman whose mother was killed  on the doorsteps of her home, whose disabled father was burned in his bed by supporters of Phalange Party (Lebanese Front) and who elected or supported Antoine Zahra because she was afraid of Hassan Nasrallah? Why didn’t you mention other stories?

Why didn’t you mention that Orthodox woman from Al-Mina-Tripoli who voted for Bilal the son of Said Shaaban, who had once declared Tripoli a citadel for Muslims, sowing fear in the hearts of the city’s Christians and accelerating their departure or displacement?

Why didn’t you mention that mother in West Beqa’a who supports the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and whose son was killed by Hizbullah gunmen and yet voted for March 8?

The conversation ended after the friend stirred up even more memories… what about the so-called “War of the Mountain” and the massacres committed mutually by Druze supporters of Kamal and Walid Jumblat and by Maronite followers of Bashir Gemayel and Samir Geagea? The massacres were committed against each other and against civilians who did not belong to either side: Weren’t Walid Jumblat and George Adwan elected by those same people and those same victims?

Didn’t the “Arab Deterrent Forces” of 1976 serve as a cover for the displacement by Al-Marada and the Lebanese Front of Koura residents, who became divided between March 8 and March 14? Didn’t the Sunnis vote for Nadim Bashir Gemayel, who would have been killed by Al-Murabitoun had he passed through one of their checkpoints (had he been born then)? Or perhaps not since he is Bashir’s son, otherwise he would have definitely been forgotten along with the thousands who disappeared at the checkpoints of our leaders who insist on passing over the reins of leadership to their relatives and sons. 

There are some who say “La Tanka’a Al-Jirah” translated as “don’t pick the wounds” but did the Maronite and the Sunni vote hand in hand as a sign of love and forgiveness? Or did they do so out of hatred and fear of the Shia’a and loyalty to the leader?

Did the Christian and the Shia’a vote together as a sign of love and forgiveness or out of hatred and fear of the Sunni and loyalty to the leader? Did the Druze and Maronite forgive the crimes of their wars or is this a temporary demonstration of solidarity?

A society that was polarized in the civil war because the Muslim left and the Christian right is now further fragmented by the greater vertical rupture that was demonstrated in the parliamentary election between Shia’a, Sunni, Druze and Mawarineh (Maronites).

We did not wish to explore the civil war causes and consequences and now we do not want to discuss the electoral law and the election expenditures. The important thing is that our leaders are well and what they have done and what they are capable of doing, no elected member of Parliament anywhere in the world has the nerve to do and now we hear talks about amending the constitution.

The interest of the Druze requires so, the interest of the Maronite requires so, the interest of the Sunni requires so and the interest of the Shia’a requires so and everybody understands “the so” of the other.  Why don’t we then amend the constitution so each confession elect its deputies, in fact let us abolish the elections altogether and declare Lebanon an emirate and let them canonize themselves as official princes of money, weapons, confessions and tribes. Let us drop the charade of a republic and statehood.

Lebanon, the playing field and the laboratory, is not a necessity for its people but a detriment. Lebanon the emirate or the emirates is the reality of the matter and the need now is to amend the constitution in that direction and to “dot the I’s and cross the T’s”.

Each and all are for this Lebanon which is not-united not-Lebanese.

Jawad N. Adra