'The ideology of the 'Guardians of the Cedars'

        The political parties of the East in general, and the parties of Lebanon in particular, were born and evolved around the thought of the person and his very existence. It began with the person and ended up with him. This case is typical of almost all the Lebanese parties which began to fade away and disappear upon the death of the person.

        This ailing situation, compelled the people who founded the political program of the 'Guardians of the Cedars' to rely on thought and thought alone, as the ideological framework based on their belief that thought remains while persons are bound by death. Henceforth, the ideology is a complete framework in time and place and the persons serve it successively contrary to what most parties did when they subordinated the ideologies to the servitude of the persons and their continuity, the thing that led to their demise with the death of the persons.

        All the positions which has been taken by the parties and the governors over the last 50 years of ruling in Lebanon was divided to 3:

• The Illusionists: represented by those who run away from facing the dangerous present with its hardships and tend to lock themselves in a non-realistic, imaginary, and non-applicable framework.
• The Anecdotal: represented by those who glorify the past without enhancing the present and observing the future.
• The Detached: represented during the war in Lebanon with the so-called Silent Majority that took a nonparticipating position under the claim of renouncing the violence. They were human beings in form but empty of any human context on the level of mind, imagination, heart and passion.

        The Guardians of the Cedars did not subscribe to any of these groups but rather took an outstanding position that is firmly established on objective understanding of the reality at hand and to confront it and develop it towards the better with great emphasis on the heritage of the past, the intensity of the present and a good observant look to the future. This position is based on several historic facts and universal constants that would insure the continuousness of the ideology as long as God exists, the universe is there and man is the image of God.

The ideology of the 'Guardians of the Cedars' is based on an undivided trinity that is God, Man and Lebanon.

A - God

        The First Being; Creator of man and the universe; Owner of eternity; time and place are within him; all creatures turn to him; he is their life-force; from him springs love, freedom and knowledge; this is the trinity that man and the universe are based upon, hence, the faith in God for the 'Guardians of the Cedars' is the beginning and the end and is the lighthouse that lights the way to a safe shore.

B - Man

As much as the 'Guardians of the Cedars' believes in God, they also believe in everything that comes from him. Based on this formula, they believe in man who is born in the image of God, endowed with immortality after death and shares eternity with God. Man's beginning and end are the three qualities that God honored him with: Love, Knowledge and Freedom.

• Love
  The basic quality which when it enters the composition of man, fills him with peace and joy, and he will have the power to change and will gain the greatest quality a man can get, and that is justice.

• Knowledge
  The grace that enables man to discover the mysteries that surrounds him, whether it is seen or unseen, it also enables him to reach the ultimate truth and march steadily towards perfection; bring him closer to the Creator to feel his presence; transform him into a creative Condition, a super-creature that will fulfill what he was created for: to conclude what God has started.

• Freedom
  The existence of freedom, is the basic condition to speak about man. Without it, what we speak about is anything but a man. In absurdity, freedom is that endless space where all components of man floats without restrictions, while in reality it is directly interrelated with all the elements of society, and at this point it is essential that it becomes a responsible freedom firmly established on love and knowledge. The greatest nation is one that can preserve and nourish the freedom of society and the freedom of individuals at the same time. This is done by eliminating the elements of slavery from the society which are symbolized by Fear, Ignorance and Need that are the result of social, political and economical injustice.

C - Lebanon

        The historic holy land; temple of God on earth: this description was considered romanticism a short time ago, but what His Holiness the Pope has said during his visit to Lebanon is a definitive proof for what we believe and will remain to believe in. Pope John Paul II literally said: "We are on a pilgrimage to Lebanon". These words need no further comment.
        Lebanon will remain, as always, Lebanese without any labels. The French passed through it yet it remained Lebanese. The Ottomans ruled it and it remained Lebanese. The stinky winds of Arabism blows through it, but the wind will wither away and Lebanon will remain Lebanese. I do not know what will become of those wretched people who claim that Lebanon is Arabic when Arabism disappears from the map of the Middle East and a new Middle East would emerge, which is clean from Arabs and Arabism.

Based on three principles, that are Geography, History and the People, the 'Guardians of the Cedars' believes in the Lebanese Nationalism as a developed, firm and definitive ideology.

• Geography
  The geography of Lebanon is characterized from the rest of the Middle East with a mountainous terrain. It is composed of two main parallel ranges - Mount Lebanon in the west and Anti-Lebanon in the east - that runs along the coast from north to south. The mountainous ranges are God's natural boundaries that separated Lebanon entirely from the desert and protected it, throughout history, from invasions and attacks. From the beginning of creation, the picture of Lebanon was with its eyes towards the sea and its back to the desert. This explains the reason why the Phoenicians spread all over the Mediterranean basin instead of the desert. The man follows the extent of his eyesight, and the extent in Lebanon is the sea.

• History
  The Lebanese historian Jawad Boulus once said that history is the son of geography, and that is true. The land of Lebanon differs from that of the desert, and because of this rough and rigid geography the Lebanese were characterized from the others that surrounded them with strength, so their history was full and strong. All those who remained behind from the nations that once conquered this land, voluntarily gave up their traditions, adapted themselves to the Lebanese condition and melted in it.. This is so because the consecutive generations reacted with geography and were made to resemble it.

• People
  History is the son of geography, but the people is the son of both geography and history and since the geography is distinctive in nature, history was great and both gave birth to a great people. In a quick and concise look to what the Lebanese people gave the world throughout the ages we mention:

Yl, god of love and peace.
Cadmus, who carried the alphabet to the world.
Mokos, the first to talk about the atom.
Democracy and the trust of the two councils, from Tyre and Sidon.
Euclid, founder of engineering and geometry.
Thor the Babylonian, Phythagoras, Aristotle, Homer, Zeno of Citium.
Olpianus, Aemilius Papinianus ... and many other great names in history who were either born, educated or lived in Lebanon.

        The Lebanese traveled the Mediterranean and beyond with their ships carrying knowledge and science to the world, as explorers and not as conquerors, and established great cities that were splendid and distinctive in history. These cities were founded on knowledge and civilization and never had to carry the sword except to defend its freedom that was equal to its existence. In defending their freedom, the Lebanese have a great and dignified history and here are some of the great spots:

• Around 650 BC, the Assyrians under the rule of king Shalmaneser attacked by siege the city of Tyre. The city resisted the conquerors for five years after which Shalmaneser signed an armistice with the city.
• 580 BC, the city of Tyre resisted a 13-year siege conducted by the Chaldean king Nebuchadnessar II. After his failure to conquer the city, the king signed an armistice with it.
• 347 BC, Sidon resisted the Persian king Artaxes III, then burned itself to commit the first mass suicide in history.
• 332 BC, Tyre offered an obstinate resistance to Alexander the great. The city fell after a siege of seven month.
• 264-146 BC, the Phoenician wars led by Hamilcar Barca and his son Hannibal whose March on Rome from Spain across the Alps in 218-217 BC remains one of the greatest feats in military history.
• 636 AD, the 'Marada' put up a stubborn resistance in face of the Islamic conquest and the Khalifa Bin-Marwan was compelled was compelled to pay the 'jizya' to the Lebanese. This resistance allowed the Lebanese to maintain their independence at the time when Arab armies reached the heart of Europe.
• 670-700 AD, the wars of the 'Mouqaddams' against the Arabs were they held their independence in face of the Umayyads Caliphs.
• 950 AD, the revolt of 'Ibn Allaqa' against the Fatimids led to the independence of Tyre.
• The Lebanese joined the Crusaders in their campaigns against the Ayoubites, the Kurds, the Hamdanites, the Seljuks and the Turks. A total of 25000 Lebanese soldiers fought with the Crusaders.
• 1250-1526 AD, the wars of 'Kiserwan' against the Mamluks in which Lebanese from all communities took part.
• 1590-1635 AD, the wars of the 'Maanies' against the Ottomans. Their greatest leader, prince Fakhruddine II defeated 'wali al-Sham' in the battle of Anjar.
• 1711 AD, the battle of 'Ein-Darah' where prince 'Haydar Shihab' defeated the Yemenites who where supported by the Ottomans.
• 1838 AD, the resistance of the Lebanese against Ibrahim Basha under the command of 'al-Shantiri' and 'Abu Ghanem Samra'.
• 1861 AD, the revolt of 'Yosef Karam' against Daoud Basha, the first appointed foreign governor in Lebanon.
• The battle of 'Bir Hakim' during World War II. The Allies were amazed with the splendid and rare courage of the Lebanese who fought this battle.
• 1958 AD, the Lebanese resisted Jamal Abd al-Nasser and shattered his dream in making Lebanon part of the so-called Arab Unity.
• Since 1975 and up till this very moment, the Lebanese are in continuous struggle and resistance against the Palestinians, Syrians, Iranians and their local mercenaries.

        We were mindful in this presentation to ensure those who are weak-hearted, ignorant and have doubts that regardless of the rough times and difficult crisis, Lebanon will endure and prevail because its resistance, that is firmly established in history, never stopped and it is continuous in time and place.
        For the 'Guardians of the Cedars', the emphasis on Lebanon's history is not meant for exultation about the glory of the past but to enhance the present, reject its menacing reality and then, based on our past and heritage, we move forward to a better and magnificent one. This is the outstanding position which we embraced in our struggle.
        If the present is a continuity of the past, accordingly the future is a continuity of the present and there will be no disruption but rather endless giving.