Open letter to the Lebanese people

Dear People of Lebanon,

Images. Images of wide-spread destruction, of death and human suffering, and of mass exodus of people trying to flee their country for safe havens in Cyprus and other locations. These are the images shown to the world by zealous news commentators from CNN, Sky News, The BBC, and a host of others, including even Israel’s own dedicated journalists and broadcast teams. What has been going in Lebanon, seemingly almost like a re-run of both the Lebanese civil war and the 1982 Operation Peace for Galilee has once again turned the Country of the Cedars into a scene of destruction and chaos. Watching this human drama unfold has become prime-time viewing for us all, particularly for those who feel that those who are involved in creating this destruction (i.e. the Israeli military forces) appear to be overzealous in their pursuit of their sworn enemy, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and his Hezbollah organization. All of this appears to be going unabated, including the death and destruction that has been rendered upon Israel by the Hezbollah, who refuse to agree to a cessation of hostilities, including the release of two Israeli soldiers being held captive by them, and one of the primary causes for this tragedy to begin in the first place.

Lebanese Refugees This situation has unfortunately led to all-out warfare, with hundreds of thousands of innocent Lebanese caught in the middle between the two warring sides. You, the people of Lebanon, composing a variety of religious backgrounds, and living in a land that has contributed much to the history of the region, including a people known as the Phoenicians; whose colorful sailing vessels plied the trade routes of the Mediterranean, and whose people built the mighty City State of Carthage in what is now modern day Tunisia. Your ancestors also helped to build the Israelite Temple in Jerusalem. That is correct; one of your illustrious kings, Hiram of Tyre, was hired by King Solomon to build the Temple; partially made with giant cedar trees cut and brought by sea to ancient Israel in order to be used to construct the innermost chamber of the Temple as commanded by God.

It has been most unfortunate that you, the people of this land with so rich a heritage have not been able to live in peace with the descendants of ancient Israel, as you once did during those glorious days when the combined Phoenician and Israeli commonwealths contributed so much to the cultural and commercial life of the entire eastern Mediterranean. You may not recall, but, before Israel became an independent country in 1948, thousands of Jewish Palestinians used to vacation in Lebanon and go skiing on the slopes of the Souf or Lebanon Mountains during the winter months. Your unwillingness to be at peace with your Israeli neighbors has done you more harm than good; especially due to groups like the Hezbollah being allowed to thrive there and conduct their terrorist operations. No doubt, many of you are not supporters of Sheikh Nasrallah and the Shiite Islamic ‘fiefdom ‘ he created. In fact many of you, especially those of Christian or Druze persuasion, may even live in dire fear of this organization, whose main aim is to turn your country and a big part of the surrounding area into a strict Islamic fundamentalist Caliphate with Nasrallah as its leader.

Nasralla on poster in Damescus I assure you, people of Lebanon, that your neighbors to the south do not want to occupy you, and do not want to be your enemy. They would like nothing better than to be at peace with you; a peace similar to the one they have with another nearby country, which is more than 95% Muslim, i.e. Turkey. In case you not aware of it, more than 400,000 Israelis visit Turkey annually: spending millions of dollars in tourist resorts, casinos, and other attractions offered by a country who decided many years ago that the was a better way to ‘fly’. Why can’t this happen in your country as well, with Israeli tourists skiing once again in the Souf as their great grandparents did, enjoying the casinos, hotels and discotheques of a rebuilt Beirut, and investing capital into your banks and other financial institutions. If you truly want your country to once again be called the ‘Switzerland of the Middle East’, then this is the best way to accomplish this goal, and not by siding with one of the world’s most vociferous terror organizations whose ranks and leader are no less heinous than the Al Qaeda organization and Osama bin Ladin himself.

So, People of Lebanon, the choice is yours. As has been said so correctly by Dr. Phil McGraw, one of America’s most popular television show psychologists: “you either get it, or you don’t”. At this moment, dear Lebanese people, as you watch your country being torn apart once again as your board ships and other conveyances provided for your escape: you apparently don’t get it.

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