April 15, 2010 - Now Lebanon - The undermining game

Lebanese leaders agree to waste time during the national dialogue session. (NOW Lebanon)

Thursday’s national dialogue session was another waste of time that saw the committee simply kick the proverbial can further down the road. It was symptomatic of the events of the last week, all of which have demonstrated that Syria doesn’t want to play ball – or may we say football – with the new Lebanon.

Last week’s fighting between rival Palestinian factions in the Bekaa town of Kfar Zabad between members of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), which later spread to military bases in nearby Qosaya, was another reminder of the cancerous tumor that must be excised if the Lebanese state is to progress. The violence was, if one is to believe that there are no coincidences in the Middle East, a message from Damascus that it still controls Lebanon and that instability is a tap that can be turned on and off at will. An insignificant spat between two armed gangs in a remote part of Lebanon was nothing; worse could follow.

Then, last weekend, Damascus, which is still smarting over Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s insistence on backing the STL and maintaining a strong alliance with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, upped the ante further by objecting to the composition of a ministerial delegation tasked by Hariri to go to Damascus on Wednesday. Its job was to act as an advance party to renegotiate earlier Lebanese-Syrian bilateral agreements, especially the future of the controversial Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council (SLHC), as well as nail down new, more equitable, treaties.

Syria wheeled out Wiam Wahhab, its most unabashed spokesman, on Hezbollah’s Manar TV to reinforce the message. The former environment minister, who now spends his time doing little except Syria’s bidding, said the visit was postponed due to “lack of cooperation and seriousness on behalf of Lebanon,” whatever that means.
It was a tactic designed to once again paint Hariri as the main culprit, stalling on a golden opportunity to mend bridges. In reality, the veto was a message to the young prime minister that if he thinks he can treat his neighbor as a statesman, on equal terms, he should think again. Damascus doesn’t deal with delegations.

And so to Thursday's national dialogue, a process that initially incurred Syrian displeasure when it was announced by Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, and which was the catalyst for the withering attack on the president – a campaign that has since seen him adopt a more conciliatory stance vis-à-vis the Resistance and its weapons, one of the key items on the committee’s agenda.

Thus, real progress on the much-touted national defense strategy is becoming increasingly quixotic and bearing little fruit. It is clear that President Sleiman, PSP leader Walid Jumblatt and Michel Aoun are all throwing their weight behind the Resistance and the rest of the March 8 bloc. Put their positions against those of Geagea and the remnants of March 14 who have not yielded to the new reality and who still maintain that decisions of matters of war and peace are the sole preserve of the state, it is clear that stalemate is the only outcome.

At a time when Syria is turning the screw on the Hariri government, the only way to move forward in future sessions of the national dialogue and ensure it doesn’t become totally irrelevant is to insist on the immediate creation of a mechanism to implement the 2006 decision to disband the armed Palestinian groups that exist outside the camps. There is nothing to discuss. The decision has been taken. It would force the so-called unity government to act and demonstrate, whether Syria likes it or not, that Lebanon is the master of at least part of its destiny.

Lastly, Syria must recognize once and for all that the days when it micro-managed Lebanese affairs are long gone. They went one sunny day in March 2005. It is true that their allies have restored some ballast to its sway in the country, but there is a difference between working to achieve genuine bilateral relations as partners and allowing Lebanon to further submit fealty to Syria.

Lebanon needs to remain steadfast. Football matches are all very well, but we must ensure no one moves the goalposts.