ISRAEL In the darkness of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s ‘unity and humanity’

In the face of the escalation of the war, there has been an outpouring of solidarity, empathy and compassion between Christians and Muslims. Doctors and nurses are working tirelessly to care for the victims of the explosions and to welcome those forced to flee their homes. In the face of the “unacceptable” massacre of civilians attacked by Israeli warplanes, the Lebanon of “coexistence” exists and goes beyond politics.

Beirut () – In these days of war, which have been bringing their daily load of dead, wounded and displaced people since September 17, Lebanon is giving an exemplary lesson in humanity and unity to Israel, Iran and Hezbollah, with an outburst of solidarity, empathy and compassion.

Faced with the horror of faces disfigured by the explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies – and of them at least 500 will never recover their sight – doctors and nursing staff worked tirelessly on October 17 and 18, until dawn, until they were exhausted. From those who tried the impossible to reconstruct faces to those who worked to save eyes, remake lips and noses and sew fingers together. They were all the protagonists, the first heroes of what has been defined as the recovery of national solidarity.

“In the operating theatres, the scene was unbearable,” an ophthalmologist told on condition of anonymity. He and his colleagues stayed awake all night to treat people who were blind, deaf, disfigured and burned by bombs that had exploded in their faces, cutting off their fingers or amputating their hands. “Sometimes the whole face had disappeared,” says the specialist, who remains stupefied by the evil and horror that had suddenly erupted, and deplores the “collateral victims” of these booby traps: children, hospital staff and complete strangers who in many cases have been as deeply affected as the owners of the explosive devices.

Added to this is the fact that since 23 September we have been witnessing the funeral dance of the Israeli F-35s. The Jewish State’s fighter jets fly unhindered in Lebanese airspace, mercilessly and relentlessly attacking Hezbollah’s supposed military targets and the homes of the Shiite population, the vast majority of whom support the “Party of God”. This massacre, which Pope Francis has deemed “unacceptable”, has already left more than 600 victims, including 50 children and 94 women. A number that increases hour by hour, with no end in sight.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the roads, often in appalling conditions, to escape the deadly Israeli warplanes. In an exhausting journey amid traffic jams and queues, this flood of displaced people headed inland and were welcomed with renowned Eastern hospitality in public and private shelters in cities such as Saida, Beirut and Tripoli. The luckiest found a place with relatives. The most fearful continued on to Syria. In a sense, in contrast to the Iranian military doctrine of “unity of the fronts” that dictated Hezbollah’s entry into the war against Israel, Lebanon knew how to wield the supreme, peaceful weapon of its unity.

Of course, this extraordinary surge of solidarity has not and cannot eliminate the profound political disagreement among the Lebanese over Hezbollah’s military initiative, which has brought them to this deep state of misfortune. However, the Lebanese have shown the world that this fundamental disagreement stops at the threshold of suffering, pain and human tragedy.

“The death of human empathy is one of the first and most revealing signs of a culture on the brink of barbarism,” said Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt. In a sense, we have shown the world that the Lebanon of “coexistence” exists and that it goes beyond politics; that it is rooted in a patriotic soil that is not an empty word or cheap sentimentality. What has happened and continues to happen today in the Land of the Cedars should help us to believe in ourselves. Secular segregation is the antithesis of Lebanon.

This is also a strong argument against those who regret that “Greater Lebanon” was not conceived from the beginning as a “Christian home”, rather than a land of Christian-Muslim coexistence. It is already too late to make this claim out of pure complacency, when Francis travels the world to defend the cause of coexistence. Are we sure, moreover, that this path would have ensured a better future for Lebanon, in a regional context over which we have no control?

In this regard, let us listen to Pierre Rondot, the great specialist in the Middle East: “[…] If Lebanon were to lose its mixed character, it would become a sort of Christian enclave in the East, whose relations with the rest of the Arab world could be difficult; one might even wonder whether under these conditions it would be able to maintain its natural role, always very fruitful, as a link between East and West. But above all, this would mean abandoning a formula of parity and Islamic-Christian symbiosis, a formula which to a certain extent, as we have said, paralyses the modern evolution of Lebanon, but which has the great merit of demonstrating the possibility of such an understanding and offering an example of incalculable moral significance. Would not renouncing this symbiosis mean accepting a deliberate step backwards towards religious segregation, in the only corner of the East from which it has always been traditionally excluded?

Greater Lebanon is a risky bet, but it remains a possible one. It requires exceptional, visionary, committed, honest and skilled leaders. It is up to us to elect them as soon as possible.

Le Liban et les foyers chrétiens en Orien