Written By A Lebanese Freedom Fighter
The Arab world is today in the darkest moment of its history ever. Not one country, from Morocco to Egypt, from Lebanon to the Gulf, has a democratic regime. Some, like Morocco and Jordan, are having a good, yet timid start towards it, but have yet to reach the human rights standard.
Despite the great tradition of Shoura, Democracy has long become an alien and extinct concept in the Arab world. The Arabs have not yet awakened from the deep sleep they entered since the fall of the Abbasside Khalifades. Today, at the doorstep of the 21st century, 250 millions Arabs are still governed by middle ages-like regimes, frozen in history and refuse to evolve. The psyche of the Arab nation has long lost enthusiasm since the eclipse of Egypt's Nasser. Most of today's Arab leaders engage in massive abuse of their citizens human rights. From the Pacific to the Gulf, everywhere, bloody Dictators, Sheiks, Warlords, Lunetics, and often outright murderers rule the land and the souls. Arab rulers do not answer to their people or their own laws. Endless stories of corruption, theft of public funds, abuse of power, sexual deviance, and drug and alcohol abuses abound.
The Arab leaders' word is not honorable neither. They have long engaged in acts of sabotage against each others. Certainly Syria dictator; Hafez Assad, is the most successful, being the most treacherous and deadly. Assad is an expert in fomenting civil unrest. He is famous in nurturing terrorist groups, engaging in drug trade, masterminding hijacks, assassinations, torture, sellout of causes, and outright warfare and bombardment of civilian populations. His continuing war of aggression against Lebanon has lasted 22 years longer than Iraq's aggression against Kuwait.
Democracy presumes that power flows from the people towards a balanced system of government, geared towards upholding the citizen's rights in an equalitarian and humane society. Can you find one single Arab nation today that meets these simple criteria? Observe the abandonment of Lebanon by its Arab neighbors who call themselves "Brothers". With brothers like those, who needs enemies. Arab nations today recognize the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and the puppet regime installed in Beirut. Except for the courageous stands of King Hussein of Jordan, and King Hassan of Morocco, none of the Arab leaders have recognized the great evil Syria is committing in Lebanon. But how can we expect them to do so, when they show so little respect for their own people's human rights.
Since 1948, the Arabs have committed far more atrocities against their Palestinian brothers. In 1970, Black September, 20,000 Palestinians were slained. In Egypt and other nations, the Palestinians are watched and restricted. After the Kuwait war, hundreds of thousands were deported. In Syria they are under torture and have no civil rights. In Lebanon, they were massacred in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps by Elie Hobeika, a sitting cabinet member in the Hariri occupation regime. Saddam Hussein's barbaric invasion of Kuwait, his massacre of half a million Shiite in the south and the marshlands, his gassing of the Kurds in the north, his unprovoked attack against Iran and the subsequent slaughter of one million human souls, his destruction of the environment in the Gulf and the marshlands, all these tragedies are a shameful chapter in Arab history. Assad's annihilation of Lebanon and his outright bombardment of Lebanese civilian district for years, is another.
Dozens of thousands of Arabs have died, and continue to die, at the hands of their Arab brothers. When the Syrian city of Hamah revolted against the Assad dictatorship, the Syrian special forces obliterated it to the ground with massive artillery, tank, and air barrage, killing 10,000 people. The Syrian massacres in Lebanon of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians are also well documented. Israel use of rubber bullets seems far more civil in comparison. The Arabs remain in self-denial, and continue to blame Israel and colonialism for their misery, but it is hard to ignore their own doings. They should only blame themselves. At least Israel does not torture its own citizens. How can they expect their enemies to make peace with them when they engage in wars of annihilation against those whom they call "Brothers".
Long Live Lebanon, with its entire people, regardless of religion, skin color, facial features, gender, age, cultural background, and ethnic origins.