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

The conspiracy to expulse the Lebanese in general, and the “Christians” in particular, from their country began with the start of the Palestinian-Syrian war against Lebanon on April 13, 1975. This conspiracy continues to this hour, albeit with more deadly and savage methods than war, namely by economic, social, and financial means as demonstrated by the current stifling livelihood crisis that is similar to the famine that afflicted Lebanon under the Ottomans during WWI and which caused at the time the death of many inhabitants of the Mountain and the exodus of thousands of others to the lands of immigration.

It appears that history is repeating itself today with the alarming large numbers of emigrating youth. Those who remain so far are those who have been unable to obtain immigration visas or whose financial situation makes them unable to afford the cost of travel. The reasons behind this alarming state of affairs have to do with the policy of deliberate economic starvation and humiliation that the State has systematically been using since the early 1990s. This policy consists of a rise in unemployment and a high cost of living, a rationing of electricity and water, a corrupt administration and an absolute lack of social services, etc. All these factors feed into a rising level of desperation and disgust, so much so that the Lebanese people live in constant anxiety and with the permanent obsession with emigration.

Which is why we say that all that is happening today in Lebanon serves the plan of permanently settling the Palestinian refugees and creates the conditions that are conducive to make it happen. All that the State is doing is to merely raise the slogan of rejecting the settlement and indefinitely hide behind it.

Everyone knows that the first step to prevent the settlement is to disarm the Palestinians and control their presence outside and inside the camps, after the camps have been converted into military fortifications bristling with terrorist organizations and Jihadist movements born in the bosom of Islamic fundamentalism. The big question that begs itself is: Why has the State been derelict in executing this step after receiving a green light from the Security Council via resolution 1559 and from the National Dialogue Conference which approved it unanimously? This dereliction did in fact lead to the events of Nahr Al-Bared and was the cause for the fall of this large number of the Army’s martyrs?

On behalf of all honorable Lebanese, we appeal to the State to act decisively as it did in Nahr Al-Bared and to begin subjecting the Palestinian camps to the rule of law as a prelude to subjecting all the other private security zones that have metastasized like cancer throughout Lebanon. Anything short of this will keep the country teetering on the abyss.

Lebanon, at your service
Abu Arz
September 14, 2007