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Representative Gebran Bassil wrote in The Republic:
Mr. president,
We meet today at the Presidential Palace on September 1, 2020, one hundred years after the declaration of Greater Lebanon with the help of France. She is with us today in the person of its president on the first centenary, expressing her enthusiasm for preserving Greater Lebanon.
This Lebanon was born from the will of its children to live together in a country that accommodates all its cultural and religious diversities to be a message of dialogue between East and West.
Despite all its contradictions, and despite the conflicts and wars of others in their land, the Lebanese carried this message well. However, they mismanaged their country and did not address their differences.
Greater Lebanon is exposed to two immediate internal dangers: the first is sectarianism, which made membership of the sect greater than membership of the homeland and divided the entity into entities, the state into states, society into societies and the public sector in centers of influence.
Second: The corruption protected from sectarianism, which has plagued the State, its institutions and its economy until it was destroyed by the alliance of the political and monetary system and its protection of a financial and economic model that impeded investment and destabilized production, for what citizens became subjects of a network of services fed by state finances instead of being agents of production in an economy that fed the state treasury.
Two internal dangers, if no matter how much the world tries to help us face them, the responsibility remains our responsibility to overcome them, and we are determined, together with the future government and Parliament, to follow and implement a reform program that is detailed, specific and time-bound, and we commit ourselves to the international community to follow through so that, in return, it commits to helping us through our ordeal.
As for external dangers, they are many, and you are aware of most of them, and it is enough to list them to show, on the one hand, the immunity of the small country in the heart of an inherently explosive region, and on the other hand, to show your need for the help of your friends in preserving your message, and you inevitably, Mr. President, are conscientious, eager and proactive.
The Arab-Israeli conflict is at the forefront of these dangers and Takfiri terrorism followed by damage, while Palestinian refugees and displaced Syrians, regardless of their nature, are equal to the devastation of their social fabric and the undermining of their economy. .
As for the conflicts in the region of all kinds, religious, sectarian, ethnic, national, expansionist and oil, all reflect the frictions of Lebanon within its complex society.
Lebanon needs a national defense strategy that its sons agree on, in order to preserve its strength and protect it from attacks from outside. It also needs an internal consensus on a position that protects it from foreign ambitions by guaranteeing the international community, keeping it away from foreign problems and keeping it away from foreign problems. Some call it active or positive neutrality, some call it neutral, and we say that it is an internal and external convergence to preserve the image of Lebanon – the message, Lebanon – the model, Lebanon – the Great.
The conflict is between those who want a big Lebanon and those who want small ones, and Lebanon continues to be bigger than its borders, because its borders are the world.
Mr. president,
A hundred years passed during which Beirut was destroyed and resurrected. Lebanon was shaken and persisted. As for its people, it was divided between those who died, those who immigrated and those who stayed.
Lebanon is steadfast and enduring and its people are rooted in it, yet crises have accumulated and their weight has become too great for the small country to bear. Your visit comes at this very moment to confirm your willingness to support him and confirm your adherence to human values and the values of the Republic. The change of our system has become a necessity to move towards a comprehensive civil state, but the republic remains constant, and is the foundation, and whatever crisis continues, the most important thing is that Lebanon fulfill its pioneering role. in this region and may, in cooperation with you, unite the two shores of the Mediterranean to be an oasis of peace and prosperity. This is like our culture, our thinking and our role.
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