Harvesters did not sow,
Shepherds did not Lead !!
By: Elias Bejjani
December 12/2004

According to the logic of justice and the code of  knowledge, he who sows will harvest, and he who endures with patience will get what he longs for. Almighty God rewards the righteous with his blessings and graces.

He who works hard and sweats in plowing his field, keeps his mind and soul pure and awaits the harvest day with hope, God guards his crops and grants him and his family happiness.

Our good people are well aware of the evil conduct of their leaders, shepherds and politicians who are selfish and corrupt opportunists who focus only on the harvesting season. Like vultures, they move from one field to another, devouring voraciously the farmer's seeds, only to return as wild predators on harvest day claiming to own the crops.

In this context, UN Resolution 1559 calls for a Lebanon that is independent, sovereign and free from foreign occupation. This does not bring joy or happiness to the Lebanese political dwarfs, pseudo-leaders and other bootlickers, or to the "lords" who inherited their titles from their ancestors who themselves got them by betraying the Lebanese people with the Ottoman occupiers, or to the parasites who keep fighting for political positions that require far more than their own imbecility. The people of Lebanon have exposed their evil, unveiled their hidden agendas and casted them out.

These chameleons and hypocrites have sold the temple with thirty silvers, betrayed the master, and made a bet on his garment. Lebanon does not need their services. It needs those of great leaders and honest shepherds, the ones who are endowed with the leadership traits of devotion, faith, hope, transparency, and unshakable belief in Lebanon's identity, its cause, its existence as a distinct entity, its destiny, the worth of its martyrs' sacrifices and the vows of loyalty made by generations before us.

My people, weep and wail! Our beloved Lebanon, that was the envy of the whole world, and has become a haven for terrorism, the Mafiosi gangs and fanatic fundamentalists after thirty years of a savage Syrian Baathist occupation, and the rule of its puppets. Its made-in-Syria leaders are spineless and hopeless. Its politicians are a bunch of hand-kissers and apostates.
Its shepherds are confused, unreliable and shaken. Weep the mightiness of our Marada Mountains that have been defiled and cursed by the mockeries and treason of political chimpanzees.

To our elders and shepherds, we say: No, we were not indifferent. We were filled with joy and chanted patriotic songs and danced for days when UN Resolution 1559 was passed. We loudly and proudly celebrated with delight the historic achievement of our American-Lebanese countrymen, Toni Haddad, Ghabi Issa and the many other lobbyists and activists in their blessed success of changing US foreign policy towards Lebanon through the passage of the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003. Yes, by God's will, our joy will be to its fullest, and our conscience will relax in peace and tranquility the day UN Resolution 1559 is fully implemented and the Syrian occupation is out of Lebanon. The great joy will be the day Lebanon's puppet officials, politicians and Mafiosi are thrown out in the gutters of darkness and into the refuse of history.

On that great day that is looming on the horizon, the bones of our martyrs, long sleeping in the shadows, will dance and chant "Long Live Lebanon". They will know then that their sacrifice for the return of the country's dignity was not in vain. The Cedars of the Lord, high up on the peaks where the sky meets the heavens, will sing hymns of freedom and justice, praising the good men and women who rescued Lebanon and reclaimed its sovereignty and independence.

To successfully deflate and render null and void all the vicious boasting and bragging by the hypocrites, their inflated egos and love of division, and their tactics of spreading venom among the communities of our Diaspora, let us all proudly hail and commend the patriotic activists whose peaceful, educated, and around-the-clock struggle in the US, whose devotion,
perseverance, endurance, audacity and generosity were crowned and rewarded by the passage of the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003. This American law became the foundation for the strong and solid emergence of UN Resolution 1559.

UN Resolution 1559 was the fruitful outcome of the hard work of many Lebanese individuals and organizations in several countries, especially in the US and France, and the laborious efforts of many other friendly Free World countries in Europe, who decided to assume a leading role in fighting terrorism, destroy its dens and hangouts, control its breeding in the harboring countries, and paralyze those who finance its activities and advocate for its principles  wherever they may be.

Those who opposed and fought the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, the foundation upon which the UN Resolution 1559 was solidly built; Those whose priorities were Syria's interests and the continuation of its occupation of Lebanon; Those who accused with treason the Lebanese - American sovereignist activists and their Lebanese
leadership who advocated for the Act; Those who were hostile towards the Act more than the Baathists of Syria; Those who immorally played the odds, distancing themselves and their political groups from all overt stances and deeds related to the Act; All of these people cannot today and under no circumstance, after the Act has become an abiding law of the land in the
US, claim any parenthood to UN Resolution 1559 that stemmed straight out of the Act. They have renounced the tree and they cannot therefore have any merit to the fruits it bears today. They should be ashamed of themselves and spare the people their fake and rhetorical patriotism.

UN 1559 Resolution is in fact the international version of the American "Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003". It is simply unacceptable and unfair to let a bunch of political bootlickers and pathological liars to hide behind the Resolution, or underestimate the efforts and sacrifices of those activists who made the Act a reality.

We advise those who made "projection" their profession, and went on touring the Diaspora to promote their own feudal and short sighted interests, to keep their obsolete merchandise away from the Diaspora in general, and the US-Canadian Lebanese
communities in particular. There is no doubt that these "political tourists" are fully aware of the strong patriotic and nationalistic ties that unite all the Lebanese sovereignist groups and individuals in both countries. Unity based on faith, honesty, solid
convictions, mutual respect, and knowledge.

We genuinely call on all leaders, dignitaries, politicians, and parties' representatives who every now and then decide to pay sudden visits to Canada or the USA, carrying their own agendas and interests disguised under colorful tags and flags, we call on them to take into serious consideration the ongoing harmony and productive relationship between all the sovereignist groups, organizations and individuals in both countries.

There will be no harm in their striving to harvest crops from both UN Resolution 1559 and the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, provided they congregate with those who for decades have sowed the seeds, and patiently watered the seedlings and guarded the fields. And most importantly, to harvest the crops into Lebanon's barns
of freedom, liberation, democracy, prosperity and human rights, and not in their own banks coffers and Ali Baba's caves of thieves. Thanks to our heroic activists, the harvest is plentiful, but few croppers have showed up in the field.

In spite of the many wrongdoings that were intentionally committed by individuals and groups alleging to be fighting for the same cause, the covert and overt plots orchestrated by the made-in-Syria politicians and officials, the vicious attacks by harvesters who did not sow, the hesitating shepherds, and the negative reports and analyses attributing Diaspora Lebanese achievements to individuals and groups who had nothing to do with them, and in spite of many, many other obstacles and hardships, the
ongoing authentic patriotic cooperation between the Lebanese sovereignist activists in both Canada and the US will continue unscathed, longing for the liberation of our beloved occupied Lebanon, and for the reclaiming of its confiscated independence and sovereignty.

The people of Lebanon are no longer capable to change the occupation status quo imposed on their country without full support from the international community through the UN. Lebanon's current status quo is similar to that of a critically sick individual who has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, is being fed through tubes and is breathing through a ventilator. Unconscious and paralyzed, his five senses are numb and non-functional. UN Resolution 1559 is his only hope, the kind of physician that is able to treat his ailments and get him safely out of the hospital.

We call on our shepherds and elders, to whom glory and authority were given and to whom we answer, we call on them not to oppose UN Resolution 1559, the only means left to reclaim Lebanon's independence, sovereignty and freedom.

To Lebanon's shepherds and elders, we say, "For heaven's sake, do not delude yourselves anymore. Avoid falling again and again preys to the Syrian Baathists' camouflage tactics of cajoling, appeasing, compromising and making empty promises. They never intended to deliver, and they never will. Meanwhile, Syria's servants, its Beirut official mouthpieces, cannot be trusted. Let us all never forget that they have betrayed you and the country over and over. The last thing on their sick minds is the recognition of your authority, or offering any gratitude for keeping your doors open for them.

"If the lion shows his canines, do not think that he is smiling", said Al Mutanabbi.
We end by asserting the fact that the lion who guards his den does not permit division among his cubs.

Elias Bejjani
*Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
*Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
*Media Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com