Lebanon has historic chance to regain neutrality
The conflict between the Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon is an opportunity for Christians to revive the Baabda Declaration, which calls for Lebanon’s neutrality, a historic Christian principle.
The government formation process in Lebanon has been suddenly stalled, just as a few weeks after suddenly being facilitated by both opposing parties, the Future Movement and Hezbollah. Despite all the surprises, the new government may see the light in the coming days.
Regarding the Christian knot tying up government formation, which consists of keeping its share of cabinet seats and specified ministries, it isn’t clear whether this is impeding the government's formation or just a cover used by influential actors to block the process for regional objectives. Hezbollah had made concessions, including giving in on the blocking third that raised hopes that a new government would be formed.
No one doubts the internal dimension of the government formation problem. The delicate balances on which Lebanon depended to maintain its political stability have collapsed after the country became embroiled in the larger Middle East conflicts and after regional players started interfering in and exploiting the unique Lebanese sectarian system, which divides the positions of president, prime minister and president of the National Assembly among Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims respectively.
No one doubts that since the signing of the Taif Agreement, Christians have felt marginalized. They felt deceived, realizing that when they waived their pre-Taif constitutional privileges, the results were not as desired regarding Lebanon’s sovereignty or protecting it from the region’s conflicts. On the contrary, Taif’s first years were marked by Syrian tutelage and the erosion of national sovereignty.
