The Guardians of the Cedars Party issued the following weekly communiqué:

The current Arab custodianship of the Lebanese crisis is distinct from previous ones and has greater chances of success for the simple reason that it has recognized the need to give back the Presidency of the Republic some of the authority and prerogatives that were taken away from it, namely the preponderance in decision-making at the level of the executive branch. Implicit in this recognition is an admission that the primary reason for the development of the present crisis goes back to voiding the Presidency of its constitutional prerogatives.

The Arabs are 17 years too late in recognizing the magnitude of the sin they committed in 1989 in the Saudi city of Taif in blaming the Lebanese constitution for the Palestinian-Syrian war against Lebanon since the late 1960s. At Taif, the Arabs decided to replace the existing constitution with a disfigured constitution called the Taif Agreement. They also allowed the Syrian delegate at the time to oversee the drafting and writing of its articles, which were naturally custom-designed to fit the Syrian greedy interests in consolidating the Assad regime’s grip on Lebanon by dismantling its political formula and the National Pact, and by sowing division between the poles of power in the State as is happening today and as has happened during the past two presidential terms when the troika in power – President, Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker – would travel to Anjar or Damascus in search for solutions to their endless internal conflicts and disputes.

Form day one, we warned against the danger of the Taif Agreement and the potential it harbored for sectarian and religious strife, while everyone else went parroting with complete naïvetéé that the Agreement produced civil peace and ended 15 years of “civil war”, and to this day they continue repeating this absurd and deceitful lie.

Today, we reiterate and reassure Arabs and non-Arabs, and anyone concerned with the Lebanese question, that the key to the solution begins by rectifying the historic error they committed in Taif. This is accomplished by giving back the full set of authority and prerogatives to the head of state, whichever is his sectarian affiliation, which in turn would bring back balance to the ruling authority and stability to the country, as is the case in all advanced countries. If not, the crisis will persist and internal conflicts will continue without end in sight, leaving the door wide open to all possibilities and scenarios with unforeseen consequences.

Lebanon, at your service
Abu Arz
January 11, 2008