Perhaps victory in Martyr’s Square ….

With cries of “Syria out! Syria out!”, tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens gathered today in Beirut’s Martyr’s Square, cheering the resignation of Pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami. And what an apt locale. Originally known as Burj Al-Kachaf, the square was renamed to honor Lebanese nationalists executed there by the Ottoman Empire in 1919. In it’s 4,000 year history, Lebanon has known many conquerors and many names, but the passion with which it was defended against Rome, Persia, Crusaders, Ottomans and Europeans still flows through the veins of the people. With one voice they’re making known their desire for self-determination against the forces of their neighbors that would occupy and use their land for purposes other than their own.

Beirut was once a brilliant jewel in the middle east, where ethnic and religious factions lived, traded and socialized without hatred or violence. It once boasted four universities that drew students and faculty from around the world, as well as salons, galleries, museums and monuments to three faiths. It’s hard for us to picture that now. We’re too used to images of a bombed out shell, the remains of twenty years of civil war. Lebanon has been the rag caught between the teeth of two pit bulls–Syria and Israel– as well has being ripped to shreds by its on partisan factions. Beirut has rebuilt slowly — first it’s infrastructure and now its will. This is week the culmination of that process.

The recent assassination of Rafik Hariri was the breaking point. As the masses gather in Martyr’s Square, I pray that the history of the place will not repeat itself.

I hope that President Bush takes the right lesson from this peaceful protest and does not assume that rejection of Syria means Lebanon will embrace the West in general, and the US in particular. I fear that the void left by the Karami government will encourage Washington in their endless urge to meddle in the affairs of middle-eastern states. To claim independence movement is a consequence of our war in Iraq would be a grave mistake.

Lebanon has thrown off foreign oppressors before, and will never cease to do so. Let’s not let the US become part of a long line of failed invaders. Let the people speak, and listen to what they say.

Read more about the history of Lebanon here.

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