Because of my own perception of the current situation in the Middle East, allow me to write a brief account of what the Maronite priest Habib Stéphan said in 1918, without getting into the deep esthetics of the matter.
If you could see things from my perspective, it would be quite obvious how this short account is relevant.
On that day, the priest from Btater-Bhamdoun was on the balcony of the “Grand Serail” for the Faysali Proclamation . The “Grand Serail” is the headquarters of the Prime Minister today; it sits atop a hill in downtown Beirut and served many purposes since the 1800s. Its facade is austere and copies
s that of the Suleymie Ottoman barracks.
Prince Faysal, third son of Hussein Bin Ali, Grand Sharif of Mecca, had entered Damascus and ended the Turkish rule. He set up an Arab government with the help of the British that was meant to rule the Greater Syria, the Arab crescent. The crescent extends from Iraq to Palestine.His proclamation declared that the government of Prince Faysal, son of the Sharif Hussein, was an Arab government founded on justice and equality, in favor of all Arabs enjoying the same rights irrespective of their religions, whether they are Christian, Moslem or Jewish. Not too sure if he also meant women though. In short, it was a recognition of citizenship for all to share.
Father Habib, God bless his soul, declares from the top of his balcony in Arabic, to the Turcs (well the Ottomans):
“O nation of Turks whose destiny destroyed the throne built on oppression and adversity
The East belonged to you and you ruined its values until making their traces disappear
I pity the East of which you divided the people, while they are brothers and friends
I pity the East, will its greenery still smile while thanks to you it’s promised nothing but aridity and dryness
Once upon a time, our vessel transported but raw silk and corals
Once upon a time, our wisdom lit the way for men of the West and today in front of the West, we are merely children”
The dream of Prince Faysal and of the priest crashed to pieces on the evening of the Battle of Mayssaloun. It was July 24, 1920. But until our day, this dream of claims and aspirations to “Arab Unity” has gotten us in trouble over a billion times. And it’s almost getting us to WWIII.
Frankly: Enough neo-Arab-Unity aspirations for a unified islamic Middle East (it won’t work, don’t you get it! we -the minorities- are rooted here!) and enough turkish childish and thoughtless meddling (though stopping now sadly will not turn back time to the day when Syria was still a peaceful and beautiful place!!!!!!).