A glimpse of Beirut

PEACE-MAKER

Our Philippine Embassy in Lebanon has called on some 11,000 Filipinos in the country to leave immediately, following the series of explosions in the capital Beirut, South Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley, resulting in about a dozen deaths and some 3,000 injuries. 

We remember visiting this Middle Eastern country the first time almost 50 years ago, when we were a young pioneering entrepreneur in the Middle East and North Africa. We were impressed by how cosmopolitan Beirut was in the early 1970s. The city was vibrant. The streets, shops, and restaurants reminded us of Paris. Indeed, it was once dubbed the “Paris of the Middle East,” until civil war broke out in 1975. 

In February 2019, we visited Beirut where we had the opportunity to confer with senior leaders of parliament and political parties, who are members of ICAPP, the International Conference of Asian Political Parties. Lebanon’s Future Movement Party and Free Patriotic Movement Party sit in the 39-member standing committee of our organization, which currently represents 352 ruling, opposition, and independent political parties from 52 countries in Asia. We also had the opportunity to rekindle old friendships, built some 50 years ago.  

We were heartened to meet with a dear friend of many years, Hany Salaam, who is one of the successful business leaders in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Hany Salaam, who has been living in London for many years, flew to Beirut to welcome us. His daughter, Ghida, is married to Prince Talil bin Muhammad of Jordan, first cousin of the current King Abdullah II. If he wanted to, with his experience in economics, entrepreneurship, and diplomacy, he could have been a great prime minister which had been offered him in the past as were his uncles who served in Lebanon.

We also remembered meeting Anthony Peter Khoraish, a Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, who became a friend, during our visit in Beirut in the 1970s. He passed away in 1994. 

Lebanon is the most religiously diverse country in the Middle East, composed of the two divisions of Islam (Sunni and Shia) and Christianity (Maronite Church, Orthodox Church, Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Protestant churches, and the Armenian Apostolic Church). 

It is interesting to note that in the country, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of Parliament a Shia Muslim. This arrangement helps provide unity and stability in a nation of diverse religions. 

Lebanon was once part of the great Phoenician Empire, composed of states located along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea stretching through what are now Syria, Lebanon, and northern Israel. It is said that the Phoenicians were “the best sailors of the Ancient World, exploring the Mediterranean region and made advances in shipbuilding, maritime trading, and maritime technology.” 

Lebanon is rich with history and scarred by conflicts. We hope that one day, this country will find the peace it so desperately deserves.