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

We wish the Bkerke meetings all the success in unifying the discourse and the ranks. But our experience in this area does not induce us to optimism. In 1978, the leading Maronite figures met under the leadership of Patriarch Koreish to resolve the conflict which existed then between the Marada Movement and the Kataeb Party, and we were among the attendees. Barely a few weeks later, the Ehden massacre took place and the “Eastern areas” were divided into two parts.

In 1989, the leading figures of the Maronites were called to a second meeting under Patriarch Sfeir’s leadership to resolve the conflict which was at its paroxysm between the Army and the Lebanese Forces, and we were also among those attending. A few months later, the fighting erupted between the two sides, which led to the fall of what was left of the “Eastern areas”.

As “things come in threes” as the saying goes, could this third time be the fatal one? Only God knows.

As for the measure taken by the government to send a memorandum to the United Nations in which it accuses the Syrian Intelligence Services of being behind the Fatah Al-Islam organization, it was on target (ignoring the other memo sent to the Arab League because it is a useless), provided it is followed by submitting an official complaint to the Security Council accusing the Syrian regime openly and unambiguously of being behind all the political assassinations that have occurred on our soil, at least those ranging from Marwan Hamadeh to Antoine Ghanem, in addition to the roving bombings that have targeted the Lebanese people in all regions and that continue to haunt them day and night.

We hope that the government has finally awaken from its deep slumber and realized that the first condition to fighting terrorism is to refrain from policies of evasiveness, appeasement of criminals, hiding in fortified locations, issuing condemnations and denunciations, waxing poetic in eulogizing the dead, visiting bombing sites and weeping over them, as has so far been the case. Rather, fighting terrorism consists of adopting a different policy of confronting the terrorists courageously and directly, and by all available means as the Army did in Nahr Al-Bared.

Needless to say, but the international community stands ready today, more than at any time in the past, to support Lebanon in all that it demands, particularly in rescuing it from the claws of the Syrian regime which has become isolated and rejected regionally and internationally. However, the international community cannot substitute itself for the government, nor can it take decisions on its behalf or dictate to it what it wants. Will the government be ready then to display the courage and responsibility of exploiting this favorable – and maybe last – opportunity before it is too late? That is the ultimate question and therein lies the problem.

Lebanon, at your service
Abu Arz
October 12, 2007