For 5000 years, the people of Lebanon faced waves of invasions, settlements, natural disasters, and wars. From ancient Phoenicia to modern Lebanon, we overcame adversity and our civilization survived against all odds. We have navigated the oceans, planted colonies, spread knowledge and cultivated trade. We brought the Alphabet to the world. From every downturn in our history, we always came back, wiser, stronger, and culturally richer. We are builders of civilizations and not quitters. Today, at the doorstep of the 21^st century, Lebanon shall rise again, with its eternal identity, united, and with a purpose. The long sleep is coming to an end, and the Giant is awakening. The New Republic will soon be born; a free, independent, democratic, equalitarian, secular, and humanitarian society.

In the age of the Internet and global communication, no prison or forced exile can refrain our ideology. The same winds of Freedom which spread like wild fire behind the Iron Curtain and brought down the Berlin wall are now storming our land. The cries of the oppressed shall be heard, and we will bring down the dictatorships and liberate the people. The light of our Freedoms shall penetrate all the dark alleys of the Middle East. And together with the other democracies in the region, we shall form a front to stand against the forces of totalitarianism and cruelty. We shall uphold human rights for our people and all people within and outside our land. We shall extend our hand for cooperation, coexistence, cultural and economic exchanges with all our neighbors, with no complexes or hesitation. We shall make a warm peace, and be an instrument of peace, from a position of strength, ideologically and materially. We will ally ourselves with anyone who respects our people, our identity, our values, our sovereignty, and their own people’s human rights. We shall not start wars with those who do not understand or respect us, but we will be watching them very closely and guarding our freedoms vigilantly.

The New Republic will see numerous reforms and transformations debated and voted for democratically by all the Lebanese. These changes will occur after all the traces of the occupations have been erased; both Israeli and Syrian. We will not fear Change, for without it there is no new birth. Our new society needs to embrace it and allow peaceful transformations to occur, so that we can evolve. Stagnation is a form of death.

We shall also declare void and null all treaties signed between the Syrian Dictatorship and the puppet regime it installed in Beirut. Syria’s signature on treaties regarding Lebanon has very little credibility due to its track record. Syria has violated the principles of the Arab League by attacking and occupying a neighboring Arab nation. It has refused to implement the Taef accord. It continues to occupy Lebanon in violation of UN resolution 520. It has engaged in mass murders, kidnapping, assassinations, and outright bombardment of Lebanese civilian populations. All demographic changes forced upon Lebanon during the occupation will be reversed. All occupation troops will withdraw. The Syrian dictatorship shall fall and be replaced by either chaos or a democratic Syria. In either case, we should never allow Syria to become a threat to us, ever again. Then our region will enter a New Age of Enlightenment.

Let us not wait for liberation, let us enounce our program now.

The signing of a Peace Treaty with Syria to end its war of aggression against Lebanon. The treaty may include the following:

• All Syrian troops shall withdraw from all Lebanese territories as required by United Nations resolution 520, the Taef accord, The Arab League Charter, and United Nations charter.
• All accords signed between Syria and Lebanon during the Syrian occupation are void and Null. New accords can only be negotiated with a democratic Syria.
• All Syrian workers who entered the country before and during the occupation shall be repatriated in a civil and peaceful manner. The borders will be regulated and Syrian nationals will require a visa to enter Lebanon.
• All the nationalizations that have occurred under occupation shall be reversed.
• Syria must renounce all its weapons of mass destruction and downsize its army.
• The Fall of the current Syrian dictatorship and the establishment of a new democratic regime. Then complete humanitarian, commercial, cultural, and other cooperation may be established.
• Syria will acknowledge the historical atrocities it committed in Lebanon. International war crimes tribunals will investigate and try Syrian and Lebanese officials who committed crimes against humanity against civilians of all nationalities.
• Syria will open an embassy in Beirut and exchange ambassadors.
• The educational curricula in both countries shall be changed to reflect the historical truth of the Syrian wars of aggression against Lebanon since 1921. The Historical lie of one people, two states shall be exposed. New generations will be taught to respect each other’s culture.
• War reparations shall be paid by Syria to Lebanon for the loss of life and damage to properties incurred as a result of years of Syrian saturation bombardment of Lebanese residential districts, infrastructure, and economic installations.

• Establish a New constitution based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All statutes and laws will follow according to, and inspired by such constitution.

• In massive national rallies celebrating the liberation, Lebanese citizens will pledge allegiance to an eternal, united, free, democratic, and sovereign Lebanon and to the New Lebanese constitution. Pledging Allegiance to the nation should become a daily morning ritual to all the school children of the nation.

• Elimination of Confessionalism in all public and Private organizations.

• Balance of Power; Government by the People, from the People, and for the People. Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, and Free uncorrupted Press. Establisment of a parliamentary system – British Style – where the head of the winning party may become Prime minister and responsible for the executive branch until the next elections.

All current political parties would need to either be disbanded and re-apply for new permits, or amend their charter to include the following:

• A declaration in the belief in Lebanon as a final nation, one, sovereign, undivided, secular, for all its people regardless of color, race, religion, age, sex, or ethnic origin.
• Declaration of Belief and Practice of democracy from the base to the top. Party officials must be elected by members and term limits will apply to them.
• Educational, Legal, Financial, and ethical standards must be applied to all candidates.
• Party membership is open to all Lebanese citizens with no discrimination.
• All parties may describe their platform and will engage in peaceful elections and civil democratic processes.
• Pledge of allegiance to the constitution of Lebanon at the beginning of every meeting or public event.

As it is no guarantee to Lebanon’s independence to have a Maronite president, it is equally no danger to have a Muslim one. (It is actually an offense to consider that Muslim Lebanese are any less loyal to Lebanon that other ethnic groups). Example in point is Elias Hrawi, a Maronite, a collaborator, one that is going down in history as a traitor to his people. Example 2 is martyr Mufti Hassan Khaled, a Lebanese patriot of the highest noble class in heart and practice.

Lebanon’s identity and cultural affiliation should only be based on the human being. We are human beings created by God. Next we are Lebanese. And last we are citizens of the world. It is irrelevant to speak of any other affiliation, western or eastern. For the world has watched our agony for years and did not lift a finger to help our people.

The guarantee to Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty is not derived from our President’s or Prime Minister’s religious faith or ethnic groups, rather it comes from a constitution and laws that protect the citizen’s rights and safeguard the nation’s sovereignty. All public officials will have to operate within the scope of the constitution. The system will be guarded through a balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, as well as a free uncorrupted Press, in other words Democracy. The final real protection is the educated citizen.

We cannot build a nation with political powers divided among ethnic groups as percentages. When demographic changes occur in 10 or 20 years, do we go through another crisis to re-divide the spoils? That is not a way to build a nation. We should rather base everything on the only common denominator; the Lebanese Human Being, the Citizen. We are not a nation made up of 17 sectarian groups, rather we are made up of 3.5 million individual Lebanese. The rights of the individual give strength to the rights of all. And the security of all is derived from the protection of the individual’s rights. We are all diminished when any of our citizen’s rights is diminished. And we all rise as a civilization by the same measure of how we treat the smallest of us.

Complete elimination of confessionalism in all private and public institutions is required. Discrimination should be outlawed. Equal opportunity promoted. Compassion, openness, and social work encouraged.

There should be a complete separation of Church and State. All public officials may work 6 days a week and rest the seventh day. Religious bodies should on the other hand, rest 6 days a week, and work the seventh. The church will mind the spiritual affairs of the faithful and the state will mind the affairs of the citizen. The religious bodies should not engage in any political activities whatsoever unless it is geared towards upholding human rights. Civil laws should take precedence. Church leaders are not elected by the people and therefore are neither representative nor accountable in a civil society, by consequence we cannot grant them authority since in the New Democratic Republic, all authority comes from the People. They should simply be a bridge between a human being and God. They may be actively involved in the nation’s humanitarian work but without discrimination against any citizen.

The Lebanese people cannot request that Human Rights apply only to them, for Human Rights apply to all humans including Palestinians, Israelis, Syrians, SiriLankis and others. Of course citizen rights and privileges are different for a Lebanese national than for a non-national. The New Republic will have to address the Palestinian issue with energy and determination early on. We cannot create a great society and yet continue to have half a million human beings living in ghetto-like quarters as a sub-class, denied equal access to the blessings of liberty and opportunity.

However, the Palestinian tragedy is not Lebanon’s sole responsibility, neither in its causes, nor should it be, in its remedies. The world must take the lion share responsibility in the solutions. This is not a racist position and the issue is simple demographics. Lebanon has one of the highest population density in the world, and it is impractical and contrary to the coming peace spirit to force upon Lebanon conditions that will delay if not torpedo its recovery. For brainstorming sake we propose the following solutions:

• The Palestinian Authority and/or Israel resettle the Palestinians of the Diaspora. That is the just and ideal solution.
• All Arab Nations and other nations of the Worlds open their doors to the Palestinian refugees in numbers proportional to their own population. The Palestinians would have options to resettle in Canada, the US, Arab Nations, or anywhere of their choosing. Recipient nations should receive financial aid to help the resettlement process. And in a similar way to the International program of Pollution credits that was signed in Rio De Janeiro, some nations may settle more refugees in exchange of increased financial aid.
• While the resettlement program is running, immediate International funds should be made available to the UNRWA to dramatically expand the help provided to the Palestinian refugees and better their living conditions. The expanded funds should also finance under UN auspices, the return of the Lebanese refugees who where uprooted during the last 23 years of war back to their villages within Lebanon.
• The resettlement program can start today, and may be concluded within 3 years.

Let us remember our roots for they are the foundation of the New Republic. Lebanon has always been a shelter for the refugees and the oppressed. The Maronites came to Lebanon in the third century to escape persecution. The Arabs and Crusaders came as conquerors but then settled and became natives. The Druze found a haven in the 10^th century. The Armenians at the turn of the 20th century, and finally the Palestinians after the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. Since the dawn of humanity, Lebanon has opened its doors to all the persecuted. We are the model of the New World Order. A civil and humane society that respects its citizens, regardless of race, gender, age, religion, or ethnic origin.

The Turkish-Ottoman administration will need to be uprooted along with all the corrupt practices. A New, young, ethical, and qualified administration will replace it. The new state will be based on modern Political Science principles and on the ethics of public service. A government official is a public servant and not a ruler. Appointment by Qualifications. Promotions based on merits. Rewards of good performance and accountability for failures. We should downsize bloated bureaucracies since government employment is not a jobs program. We should also re-enable vigilant Control and Oversight Agencies as legislated by the parliament, to regulate and enforce standards, dictate transparency of operations, and measure performance in conformance to policy. There can be volumes of reforms in this particular area, and the post liberation government will have plenty of work on its hand to reform the administration through the help of technocrats.

Let us take a quick look at where we stand today. A nation rampaged by 23 years of combined Syrian-Israeli occupation. Its per capita income stands at less than $3500 a year, ranking amongst the bottom 50 nations in the world. An internal and external national debt exceeding its GNP. Fiscal deficits of over 50% of the total budget, and 40% of revenues are channeled towards paying the interest on the debt. A puppet regime established by the Syrian Dictatorship governing through a police state apparatus. Public freedoms denied and the press ganged. The democratic process canceled. Pollution and abuse of the environment at a large scale at the hand of corrupt government officials and private interests. Population, Capital, and Brains have fled the country and fear returning because of the oppression they face at the hands of the occupation regime. Chaotic and corrupt reconstruction drive has effectively siphoned billions of dollars away from productive sectors into the pockets of the regime officials, their families and cronies, and the Syrian ruling class. International monetary institutions have downgraded the credit rating of the nation. A puppet government that refuses the liberation of its own Israeli-occupied land to please the Syrian occupier… And many more countless problems that have accumulated since 1975.

How do you remedy that?

You don’t. The situation needs to be turned upside down. Syrian aggression against Lebanon will have to terminate. Unfortunately, the historical track record of the Syrian dictatorship and its proclaimed intentions on Lebanon does not convince us that Syria will exit voluntarily. There is a mentality in Syria today that denies the very existence of Lebanon and the right of self-determination for its people. This is the same regime that claims to stand for Arab causes and protests against Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian People’s right to self-determination.

We have to be honest with ourselves. The only option we have left is the total destruction of the current Syrian regime and the installment in Syria of a democratic government that respects its own people as a proof that it will respect its neighbors. Anything else short of this, is wishful thinking. Can you recall any peace treaty signed in this century between a democracy and a dictatorship that resulted in a lasting peace?

Justice brings Freedom and Peace, and Peace will bring Prosperity. True peace has not yet been achieved in Lebanon, rather we have a relative quietude imposed through the tank barrels of 40,000 Syrian occupation troops. Underneath the occupation blanket simmers a volcano that will surely explode. Liberation shall free dormant Lebanese energies and create the new society. Our people from the Diaspora will return and together we shall erect a Free and Prosperous New Lebanon and bring back the Lebanese economic miracle. We will then partner with any of our democratic neighbors to increase the welfare of all people in the region.

When a nation resists change then its old structures will break. Our challenge in the New Republic is to embrace change within the boundaries of our sovereignty and independence, and with respect to the human and civil rights of our citizens. Our strength comes from our diversity. Fellow Lebanese; the Resurrection of Lebanon is very near.

Long Live Lebanon