Lebanese Organization for Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development
Why this organization?
Whoever knows Lebanon before 1975, can fully understand the reason for which this organization was established:
Lebanon as the democratic and civilized world knew it:
Writer Fayza Diab wrote an article published on August 24, 2018, in Al Majalla magazine, issued in London, in which she said: “There are many nicknames by which Lebanon is known. Many are the advantages that the country of 10,452 square kilometers enjoys. Despite its small area and many problems, Lebanon remained over the years and ages a lit beacon that was never extinguished by wars or disasters that ravage the country of the Cedars, shaken but never collapsed…”
They called it the Switzerland of the East, when Lebanon enjoyed its stability, economic prosperity, scientific progress, impartiality in international relations, and a superior banking system. Also, it was called Switzerland of the East because of Lebanon’s cultural openness, the multiplicity of languages, the distinctive presence of Western culture in its commercial, tourism and educational concepts, its role as a civilized bridge between East and West, the increase of freedoms, and the plurality of media institutions, parties, and non-governmental organizations. And also Lebanon was called Switzerland of the East because it has a wonderful and rare mountainous nature in the Middle Eastern region, and a history of more than five thousand years, as it witnessed the passage of all the civilizations of the world on its lands since the era of the Phoenicians, leaving many fingerprints in all its parts and considered a human heritage. All this parallel Lebanon’s historical importance with its greatest man-made heritage sites, such as the Phoenician sea wall in Batroun, the Phoenician port in Byblos, the Roman castles in Baalbek and Tyre, and others.
Lebanon is considered one of the holy lands. The Lord Christ, peace be upon him, walked to Tyre, and the cave in which he lived in Qana during his trips to that region is still standing, surrounded by many carvings left by the believers as a sign of his miracles. Lebanon was also characterized by religious openness, as several religious minorities resided in its mountains fleeing persecution or came to it as missionary missions and took root among its residents and established in Lebanon their temples and institutions such as churches, mosques, monasteries and others. Among the churches is the Evangelical Church, which opened a school in the second half of the nineteenth century in a mountainous village called Ubay, located in a Druze residential area where the Tanukhi princes used to reside.
Lebanon is one of the oldest countries in the world. Historical and religious references indicate that his history and his recorded name go back five thousand years ago, as his name was mentioned in the Ebla monuments in the middle of the third millennium BC. It is also mentioned 12 times in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and 64 times in the Old Testament. It is the country of the cedar tree whose name is glorified in the Bible, as it is mentioned 103 times. It is home to the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city to date. The history of Beirut goes back more than 5000 years. The Romans called it the “Mother of Laws” because the empire’s largest law school was built there. There is the city of Byblos, the oldest trading city since 5000 BC, and the city of Sidon, which dates back to 4000 years ago, and was the headquarters of the purple industry. Then there are images to which the Bible refers to by saying: “It is the inhabited by the sea, the famous city that was mighty in the sea.” There is the city of Tripoli, where the Crusaders built their largest fortresses in the early twelfth century. On the shores of Lebanon, are the first inhabitants, the Phoenicians, whom spread the alphabet; which Herodotus said was the basis of the Greek language. The Phoenicians are the creator of the art of sailing. Archeology indicates that they were the first to reach the American continent. They also established residential colonies in different countries, which turned into prosperous cities, such as Carthage in Tunisia, and Cadiz in Spain. They introduced the purple dye, made glass and wine, and established trade with other peoples.
The inhabitants of ancient Lebanon, like all the inhabitants of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, were Semitic Canaanites descended from Sam son of Noah. For that in the “Mormons” book for Ross T. Krittensen put forward the theory that the Molecans were “largely Phoenician in their ethnicity”. The people of Lebanon have established a variety of relationships with their surroundings. The historical and religious references refer to various information about the interaction between the original inhabitants of Lebanon and the peoples of the region, as well as to the interaction that took place between the cities and the flourishing commercial and cultural settlements over the centuries. But Lebanon and its people, as well as its immediate surroundings, have been subjected throughout history to many interventions by man and nature, such as invasions, earthquakes, wars, and migration within it and to countries of the region around it, up to the present day.
Lebanon’s geographical location, as a crossroads linking the three ancient continents, Asia, Europe and Africa, caused it to be subject to external control. Lebanon was ruled by the ancient Egyptians (Hexus) and followed by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, starting with the Umayyads and then the Abbasids, the Crusaders, the Mamluks, the Ottomans, and all the way to the French mandate after the First World War. Lebanon of today started engaging in the civilized democratic process with the establishment of Greater Lebanon with its current borders in 1920, its independence in 1943, and its transformation into a republic governed by a constitution based on a free liberal economic system, and a parliamentary democratic system that preserves at the same time the advantage of coexistence of different sects within the Lebanese society, the establishment of the Bretton Woods system in 1944, and the creation of the United Nations in 1945.
There is no doubt that these events affected the current Lebanese reality. It gave it a diverse cultural and civilizational character, and turned it into a seat and a passage for many cultures that came from the Asian continent and overseas. The first printing press in the Middle East was established in the monastery of Saint Anthony of Qozhaya in 1585, and in 1610 the first book, the Book of Psalms, was published there. The Lebanese culture was characterized by openness to western and eastern cultures, so the Lebanese educational system was characterized by freedom, multitude of languages and knoweldge. The private educational sector was active during that time and the Ain Waraka School was established in Ghosta in the Keserwan Al-Fotouh region in 1798, which is considered the mother of schools in the East. It was followed by the Aintoura Schools in 1834, then the Daoudia School in Abey in 1862, and the Evangelical School in Abey in 1864, which after two years turned into the first university in Lebanon, the Syrian Evangelical College (which was renamed later to American University of Beirut). Schools and universities increased in numbers rapidly until schools and universities pervaded Lebanon.
These events gave Lebanon its historical importance. In addition, there are many archaeological sites in Lebanon that preserve and contain many secrets of human development, socially and instrumentally, technically, agriculturally and genetically, as well as about the migrations of different peoples to and from Lebanon. In the Bekaa Valley, dozens of archaeological sites have been discovered. In addition, about 80 archaeological monuments are spread across all the governorates of Lebanon. The most prominent of them are the Roman castles in Baalbek and Tyre, the historic Byblos castle built by the Crusaders in 1204 and its historical harbor, and the remains of the wall that surrounded the Byblos in the Middle Ages. Two years ago, it was announced that Greek ships from the era of Alexander the Great had been discovered submerged in the seas of Tyre. It is certain that had it not been for the wars that went through in Lebanon throughout those years, more of these important historical monuments would have been discovered.
These events also gave Lebanon two distinct economic and political importance. On the one hand, Lebanon has turned into a headquarters for multinational companies, and for major international banks active in the region, as well as for major international airlines that made Beirut airport a transit airport to Asia. The annual economic growth in the sixties was 4.9%. Agriculture grew annually by 6.3%, industry by 4.5%, and services by 4.8%. Gross domestic product was divided into 12% for agriculture, 33% for industry, and 55% for services. In 1960, the Lebanese gross domestic product amounted to 830 million US dollars, which was higher than Singapore (700 million US dollars), which is close to it in terms of population. Today, Lebanon’s output is $38.5 billion, compared to $210 billion for Singapore. On the other hand, Lebanon has also turned into an international media platform. The “Akhbar Garden”, issued by Khalil al-Khoury in Beirut in early January 1858, was the mother of Arab newspapers, and the first unofficial periodical on Arab land. It was followed by the newspaper “Nafeer Syria” in 1860, founded by the teacher Boutros Al-Bustani, which called for national unity following the sectarian events that took place in 1860. In the meantime, the media outlets doubled, reaching 52 daily political publications, and 42 special weekly and monthly magazines. Lebanon also witnessed the birth of many parties as a result of its democracy. The first party present in Lebanon since 1800 was the Armenian Tashnaq Party. Then, the parties multiplied since the establishment of the state of Greater Lebanon in 1920, and in 2015 there were 166 parties. Since its independence in 1943, Lebanon has contributed to the establishment of the United Nations, the League of Arab States, the Organization of French-speaking Countries (Francophone), the Non-Aligned Countries, and the GATT (Tariff and Trade Agreement). It is an observer member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and has permanent missions to the United Nations and some specialized international organizations. Leabnon also established more than seventy diplomatic missions in a large number of countries in the world and on all continents. Lebanon was a member of the committee that launched the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and of the drafting committee for the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 1998. It has also hosted, since the early fifties, one of the UNESCO headquarters in the world. Its representatives participated in the drafting of many agreements and resolutions regulating human relations between peoples. Lebanon is a peace-loving country that participated in only one war after its independence, the war against Israel in 1948, which ended with the signing of an armistice agreement between the two sides in 1949, which is still valid to date. After that, Lebanon refrained from engaging in any military battles, despite the fact that Lebanese soil was the scene of the most horrific wars in the region over the past fifty years.
Why did Lebanon slip into the arena of wars?
Despite everything we have indicated in the above introduction, Lebanon has turned into an arena for wars in the region from 1969 to date, which led to internal wars among its residents, described by some as civil wars. It also led to wars with other international parties, as well as wars between these parties on its own land. Those wars resulted in incalculable damage, killing thousands, wounding tens of thousands, displacing more than two-thirds of the people, destroying hundreds of villages and cities, and emigrating more than a third of its population. Then came the wars in the region to add to the suffering of its people, and more than a million displaced people and refugees poured into their land. Lebanon has turned into a failed state. Lebanon declared its inability to pay its debts, poverty prevailed, and Lebanese institutions and infrastructure were destroyed.
Why did these wars happen? Why does the suffering of this people, whose human being has proven superiority in all parts of the world, continue?
The Lebanese people, who have been resilient living all the misfortunes that have befallen on Lebanon, have not given up, and insist on returning to the fold of civilized society. Lebanese have launched a massive revolution on October 17, 2019, and Lebanon needs great support and tremendous efforts on the part of the international community, to help it restore peace in the country, and restore its normal relations within the framework of international law, internationally and regionally, and actually enable Lebanon to build peace and achieve sustainable development in This little home.
The Lebanese Organization for Peacebuilding and Sustainable Development (LOPSD) was created to answer these questions and to enable the international community to help Lebanon. LOPSD is an Organization that aims to work for peace building in Lebanon
What is the idea of peacebuilding?
Building peace in countries such as Lebanon, which suffered from wars, has been a major topic in the discussions of the United Nations Security Council, since the end of the Cold War in 1990. The United Nations Security Council held a historic summit in 1992, after the end of the civil war, which was similar to the Versailles Summit and the Yalta Summit in 1945, on the eve of the end of the Second World War. The United Nations Security Council asked the Secretary-General of the United Nations to summarize his vision for the principles to be adopted by the international community to ensure international peace and security in the world. Indeed, the Secretary-General executed this demand. The Secretary General presented several principles that included the principle to help countries that suffered internal wars and needed help, such as Lebanon, to restore peace in these countries, and to rebuild their national system, in a manner that is in line with existing civilized developments in the international community; and enables these countries to achieve sustainable growth. The Secretary-General considered that post-war peace-building is a necessary principle to maintain international peace and security.
In 1995, a working group, open to all UN members, was formed to discuss this issue. The primary elements of this principle were possible to identify. However, the discrepancy in the reasons that led to those wars, and the reality of each of those countries that need such international support, made it impossible to reach agreement on a single text. Therefore, this issue remains, until now, on the agenda of the Security Council. A report from the World Bank revealed that countries emerging from conflict are facing extraordinary development and security challenges as they move towards economic recovery. Most of these countries experience increased growth after the end of the war. Foreign aid certainly helps it to make the most of the peace dividend, especially to promote growth. Good governance is also closely related to growth. However, it has been observed that in post-violent war societies, aid has failed to create an influence to increase growth. Civil wars, the most common type of violent, large-scale, prolonged and brutal conflict, continue to harm societies even after they have ended. It is not clear what types of assistance and the nature of aid that promotes growth, nor is it clear what policies should have priority. Case studies are needed to better understand the relationship between security guarantees and economic stability.
The aforementioned World Bank report emphasized that the impact of United Nations missions did not necessarily lead to economic growth. Indeed, all the efforts made to rebuild peace in Lebanon so far, have not led to the intended results. The Security Council decided in 2005 to establish the Peacebuilding Commission, as an intergovernmental advisory body, with a permanent organizing committee responsible for developing its rules of procedure and defining its working methods. During the subsequent years, the Security Council urged all countries, United Nations organizations, and specialized agencies to provide more ideas that would improve coordination between to achieve a beneficial result in post-conflict peace-building process.
Now, more than thirty years after the end of the Cold War, and about twenty-five years since the adoption of the principle of post-conflict peace-building, the United Nations has not been able to complete its mechanism for deterring hostilities and preventing wars as stipulated in its charter. Some wars inherited from the Cold War are still ongoing, such as the war in Lebanon. New wars, more terrible than the previous ones, were born. The Arab countries neighboring Lebanon were subjected to civil wars, bloodshed, and frightful criminal acts, which reached the state of genocide. Despite all this, the United Nations did not move to stop it. Why? Militia groups emerged that possessed weapons, equipment, money, strength, and technological expertise, that exceeded the capabilities and strength of the countries in which they operate. These militia groups owned the decision of war and peace in those countries, attacked other countries, and turning the country in which they resided-in a battlefield. How did that happen? Is it sufficient to say that these militias are part of a civil conflict? Where is the United Nations in all of this?
Lebanon continued to suffer. The nature of the war and the wars on his land varied, but they did not end. Lebanon is still exposed to new wars and suffers from lack of security and development challenges. Lebanese are still scattered. War and peace decision is controlled by, local militia that are not subject to the state law, and the militia own definition of peace and war that is not aligned with state policy. These militias adopt a strategy and an ideology drawn from relationships with foreign governments, where the state is unable to control it. These militias did not care about the threat to international peace and security resulting from their activities or Security Council resolutions related to them. Those militias were able to seize power in the country and declares that it receives funding, support, armament and training from the army of a foreign country openly. Despite this, the United Nations was not able to end this reality. The UN issued several resolutions addressing these militias but failed to implement them. So why? How can the Lebanese and the United Nations rebuild peace in Lebanon in light of this reality? Then, how is such a situation described in international law? Are the concerned foreign governments subject to the crime of aggression?
The Coordinator of Humanitarian Aid in Lebanon, who is responsible for coordinating post-conflict peace-building programs in Lebanon, said that Lebanon is a very rich country, because it enjoys great human wealth. Why have these programs not succeeded so far in saving Lebanon? For all this, we chose to establish this organization. Of course, what concerns the organization is the scientific duty, in addition to serving peace in Lebanon and national unity. We, citizens, have lived through events in Lebanon since their beginnings, and we must reveal them honestly, as we have known and experienced, not only in the spirit of the researcher, but also with the fervor of the concerned citizen. By focusing on the causes and results, and the solutions it thus assumed that we will serve the national interest, and stop what exposes it to fracture and danger.
Our Vision
We want to enable the Lebanese people to live in peace and achieve prosperity by restoring and strengthening their homeland’s sovereignty, national unity, and establishing a rational government capable of activating Lebanon’s role as a neutral country serving humanity, as a center for dialogue among civilizations, and as a bridge for cultural exchange between the West and the East.
