Nothing has changed; the country’s political situation is still in a deadlock. Government opposition protesters’ have turned Beirut’s downtown into their permanent residence. While, Parliamentary members supporting the current government, gathered in Parliament, for the second Tuesday in the month, to demand a parliamentary session. And though the opposition considers their protest, which took over downtown’s public land as a campsite and forced the closure of many downtown businesses as legal, the MP’s move was considered illegal. Go figure. And so with the country split in two the Arab Summit started it’s session yesterday.
The Arab Summit involved 21 Arab states. Libya did not attend, accusing the Arab League of separating the Muslims into two, which is interesting since Iran, which is not an Arab state and the only Shia ran government accepted their invitation as a guest. But we will leave Qaddafi’s lunatic ramblings for another time. What I really want to discuss is how Lebanon was represented by two separate delegations, the pro government delegation lead by PM Siniora and the anti-government delegation lead by President Lahoud. Interesting how everyone calls for a united Lebanon yet they can’t agree on one delegation. I think the damage is done and their has been so much negativity that it will be hard to get the current government to unite. Hopefully they can keep the peace long enough for the next election, which supposedly both sides have agreed on its electoral law.
The former host of the Arab summit, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and the current host King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia gave the welcoming speeches. Both leaders called for a solution to the Beirut political crisis. And as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon commended Siniora on his great leadership, a quick shot at Lahoud’s face showed a not so happy president, with his ministers in the back giving a shake of the head in displeasure, the shot was priceless.
The sad thing is that a good portion of the Arab League has major anguish at home. The Palestinians, if not fighting with each other continue to have most of their land abducted by Israel. Iraq, Sudan, Somalia all have wars within. And the Lebanese can’t seem to get a long. Did I forget anyone???
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Thanks for the post Samar. What are the chances for a fair election and how are people there feeling about the election?
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Do we even begin to mention Somalia? Heh heh
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It’s sad, really. A lot of people don’t listen to what’s going on in the middle east because “they’re just killing each other.”
It’s easy for a lot of people over here to just shrug it off, because they never have to face the reality of what’s going on halfway across the world. But you have first hand experience with what’s going on.
This kind of internal bickering would be heartbreaking, if it wasn’t so commonplace. So much suspicion, hate, and misunderstanding. It’s a burning shame that two sides of the same country can’t put their heads together long enough to realize that they’ve got everything to gain by working together and nothing to lose.
It would be a great day for the world when the numerous issues in the middle east are resolved. But I don’t think I will live to see that day. If it’s not bad enough that anguish grips the lands, it’s made only worse by well intentioned meddling tainted by ill deeds from the Western hemisphere.
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Well elections are not for another 2 years… Both sides say they have agreed on the new electoral law. However, the bill has to be passed by Parliament. Now the twist is that speaker of the house, who is part of the opposition, has closed the Parliamentary offices, and so no one is available to recieve the bills inorder for them to be officially posted. It seems talk is in deed much simpler than action.
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So Government has effectively been ‘closed?’
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Well government is not closed but Parliament is. So no new laws can be passed. Sessions are not being allowed to take place because the Speaker of the House has to call for the sessions and he simply isn’t.