The recent explosion in Beirut, leading to the deaths of over 150 people, and making 300,000 people homeless, could not have come at a worse time for Lebanon. The country's economy was already in tatters, reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention the ongoing presence of Syrian refugees that is putting a massive strain on the country's already beleaguered social services. The Lebanese people's trust in the government and its institutions was already at an all-time low. Now, that trust is practically non-existent.
Threatened by the wrath of their people, the Lebanese government resigned and new elections are on the horizon. But it will take more than resignations and new elections to steer Lebanon out of what appears to be its greatest crisis since its civil war. Indeed, the country is very likely headed for another civil war if drastic changes aren't made soon. Everything about the way Lebanon is governed needs to change.
As with most of the other countries of the Middle East, Lebanon's borders were artificially created by European colonial powers. It was created as a French mandate in 1920, when the French merged the former autonomous Ottoman province of Mt. Lebanon with territory adjacent to it to create what now constitutes the Lebanese Republic. But doing this forced people of different religious sects together. The result? Inter-sectarian conflict, political instability, and ultimately, war, which is exactly what has occurred in other Middle Eastern countries drawn up by the European powers.
There is a significant difference, however, in the situation in Lebanon, vis-à-vis other countries in the Middle East. Whereas other countries like Iraq and Syria can theoretically be partitioned along ethnic and religious lines thereby significantly reducing, if not eliminating, the prospect of inter-ethnic or inter-religious conflict, Lebanon cannot, because the various sects that compose Lebanese society are not distributed throughout the country in such a way that would allow for an easy partition. Lebanon is not like Iraq, where the country could be easily divided into Sunni Arab, Shiite Arab, and Kurdish states, nor is it like Syria, which could easily be divided into Alawite, Druze, Sunni, and Kurdish states. Lebanese society consists of various pockets of each religious sect that do not allow for territorial contiguity.
So what is the alternative? One option is moving the populations of the various religious sects into specific areas of the country so that they could be partitioned into separate states. But doing this would constitute ethnic cleansing, and the arbitrary displacement of millions of people from their homes, something that has already happened too often in the Middle East. The other, more practical option is to somehow create a non-sectarian Lebanon, in which a person's religious sect has no bearing on how that person is treated. Basically, a country in which a Lebanese is a Lebanese, regardless of how they worship.
Creating a non-sectarian Lebanon would essentially be like creating a country from scratch. It would be necessary, first of all, to dismantle the country's current sectarian-based political institutions. This would mean that Lebanon's parliament, for example, would no longer be one in which a certain number of members must be Muslim while some must be Christian or Druze. A person could be the prime minister or president of the country, regardless of that person's faith. I understand that Lebanon's political institutions were set up to guarantee fair representation for all of the country's different sects, but rather than encourage the people of Lebanon to unite in order to create a better country for all, these institutions have just encouraged division and conflict amongst the Lebanese people. I am not the only person to say this. Many people protesting in the streets of Lebanon now have called for the dismantling of the country's sectarian-based institutions.
What Lebanon needs now is a brand new, non-sectarian leadership that will be able to create new, non-sectarian institutions. But it will be difficult for such a leadership to emerge as long as the old guard runs the show in Israel's northern neighbor. This old guard includes not only the country's current politicians but also the various militias that have helped to keep the Lebanese people apart. Hezbollah may be the most infamous armed group in Lebanon, but it certainly isn't the only one. All of Lebanon's armed groups must be disarmed and dismantled so that there is only one army in the country, the Lebanese Army.
I understand that disarming Lebanon's various armed groups sounds like an impossible feat, especially since some of these groups have powerful supporters, such as the Iranians and Syrians that bankroll Hezbollah and provide it with some of the most sophisticated weapons that a terrorist organization could ever have. But it is possible if the Lebanese people want it to be. If the Lebanese people unite with one voice and tell armed groups like Hezbollah that they are no longer welcome in Lebanon, these groups will have no choice but to either give up their weapons or seek refuge elsewhere. If this sounds like a fantasy, remember that fifteen years ago, during the so-called Cedar Revolution, the Lebanese people forced Syrian troops out of their country with their popular will alone. This same popular will can free Lebanon from divisive sectarianism and armed groups like Hezbollah, who benefit from keeping the people of Lebanon divided.
