First a Unified Lebanese Government

By Prime Minister Selim Al-Hoss

All Lebanese share equally the same grief with no distinction between Christian or Muslim or between residents of East Beirut or West Beirut. Although their differences have pulled them apart, their suffering has united them.

My intention is not to provoke you or to urge you to support one side or the other. Those who dedicate themselves to Lebanon cannot take sides. Their cause is strictly a united Lebanon.

We have no right to involve you in the conflict, especially since for the first time opinions are divided over the legitimate government. Those who wrongly dispute our legitimacy and the constitutionality of our government are trying to involve some of you on their side. The intention is to fragment the community abroad as it is being fragmented inside Lebanon.

Everyone knows that the Lebanese conflict cannot be resolved through wars of any kind, but through building up a rational consensus between the citizens of our nation.

We strive to free our country from the Israeli occupation and to stop the continuous Israeli aggression against our people. Lebanon is calling upon you to devote your energy to help it fight those who invaded its territory and dispersed its people. Call upon the decision makers in the country of your residence to support the United Nations resolutions which urge Israel to withdraw, immediately and unconditionally from Lebanon.

We also seek freedom within our country. We seek the liberation of the citizen from backwardness, sectarianism, and all forms of discrimination and fanaticism. Channel your anger to protect human rights in Lebanon and achieve equality and justice.

The task of any interim provisional government should be to prepare for the presidential elections and to hand over power to a new government which truly expresses the unity of our country and its people.

Everyone knows that the Lebanese conflict cannot be resolved through wars of any kind, but through building up a rational consensus between the citizens of our nation. Liberation wars are waged against outside aggressors who occupy our land, and not against Arab forces that entered Lebanon initially in response to an official Lebanese request. These forces were invited again to areas they had left, including the capital Beirut, as a result of an official Lebanese request.

Whenever stability prevails, they will also leave Lebanon, in response to an official Lebanese request. Such a decision cannot be taken in a divisive atmosphere, by one party, whose authority extends over less than 25 percent of Lebanon. It should be taken only, in an atmosphere of national reconciliation, by the elected constitutional authorities, which means, when Lebanon has a president and one authority exercised by one government using effective legitimate institutions and a unified and strong army.

We seek a political solution to our national crisis. No solution could be constitutional and feasible without the Parliament exercising its due role, and no solution is complete without the election of a president.

I know you to be totally committed to a unified, sovereign, and independent Lebanon, an Arab Lebanon in its identity and affiliation. The Lebanon we all want could only be the homeland of the noblest human values. Consequently, I urge you to support the cause of political reforms in Lebanon, a cause which would lead to a genuine and effective democracy, a non-sectarian democracy which guarantees the rights of the citizens, equality, justice, and equal opportunities.

Salim El Hoss, a Sunni Muslim, is prime minister of Lebanon. This article is abridged from an appeal he has directed to the Lebanese-American community.