The head of the Lebanese Phalange Party, Representative Sami Gemayel, confirmed that Lebanon is facing a pivotal stage that cannot end with a return to what was before the crisis, stressing that exiting it requires final decisions that re-establish the state as a single reference, foremost of which is resolving the issue of weapons outside the state and building a state capable of protecting its children and preserving its sovereignty and decision-making.
Gemayel said, during the annual dinner for the central sector in the northern Matn region, that the presence of weapons outside state institutions is no longer a matter that can be postponed, considering that its continuation prevents the establishment of a stable state, perpetuates the logic of wars, threatens the future of youth, and pushes the Lebanese to emigrate.
He stressed that Lebanon cannot, after everything it has gone through, continue to postpone its basic problems or pass them on to future generations, stressing that what is required today is to resolve the issues of weapons and national decision-making, so that the state becomes the sole authority over the entire Lebanese territory.
He believed that the experience of the Lebanese war confirms the cost of not resolving this issue, considering that if the principle of confining weapons to the state had been established in 1975, Lebanon today would be in a different position economically, developmentally, and at the level of stability, and its human energies would have remained in its homeland instead of spreading abroad.
Gemayel stressed that the state that the Lebanese want is a state of institutions, the army, the judiciary, the constitution and the law, asking: “Which army in the world would accept that there is another weapon alongside it, with a different legitimacy, that controls some areas and imposes its authority, while the army exists?”
He called for the Lebanese Army to restore its role as the army of all of Lebanon, and for it to be the sole reference state throughout the entire Lebanese territory, stressing that resolving the arms issue is not just a security issue, but rather a prerequisite for restoring the Lebanese’s confidence in their state and securing their future.
Gemayel concluded by calling for the current war to be “the last page of wars and crises,” and for Lebanon to enter a new phase entitled peace, prosperity, and openness, under one state, one weapon, and one national decision.
