The arabs love Lebanon, but its people don’t

Were it not for the fact that I had ten witnesses, I would not have told the story of what had happened last weekend in London. We were in a restaurant, and then left to the street after dinner, and stood, husbands and wives, saying goodbye to one another. Then two young women in their early twenties were preparing to enter the restaurant, but when they heard us speaking in Arabic, one of them told me: We love Lebanon. We would have preferred to be Beirut. The two young women were from Riyadh. They exchanged phone numbers with the wives, and promised to call us when the situation calms down, and they return to Lebanon on the nearest possible holiday. All Arabs love Lebanon, but its people don’t. Perhaps I would have moved on from what the Saudi women said, were it not for the fact that on the following day, I read the piece written by my colleague Ghassan Charbel, the Editor of Al-Hayat, entitled “Michel, Michel and Michel”. He was speaking about President Michel Suleiman, General Michel Aoun and former minister Michel Samaha. […] The main issue of his article was the dismal level to which Lebanese politics have stooped, and the maliciousness – and not only machinations – of the politicians towards one another. President Michel Suleiman is a good man, and he is doing his best, and the same applies to Prime Minister Najib Mikati. There are also patriotic ministers in the cabinet, such as for example my friend Ghazi Aridi, as well as politicians in the opposition who seek the wellbeing of the country. Despite this, the sum total of politicians makes one big mess, and the day when I had hoped that Hezbollah would elevate the level of Lebanese politics to that of the purity of resistance is long gone. Indeed, Hezbollah ended up stooping to the level of disputes, wrangling and bickering, becoming yet another political party in the process. Since Eid al-Fitr, there have been thousands of Arab visitors, and ever after the holidays ended, most of them have stayed. I saw friends from Qatar, who are like family to me, and they said they wished they had spent their holiday in Lebanon. We were together a few months ago, but kidnappings or threats of kidnapping discouraged them from going to Lebanon this time. I also met friends from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and other countries. I can say that half of them would have wanted to spend the holiday in Lebanon, had it not been for the fact that the Lebanese each year choose to publicize their differences out into the open, in conjunction with escalation, threats and harassments, to drive away Arab visitors who seek peace of mind in London, Paris, Rome, the Greek islands and the southern coast of Turkey instead. Some of my friends even called me all the way from the Maldives. I wish I could curse, but if I did I would be speaking about Lebanese politics in its own language. Tourism in the summer specifically is the most important working season for all the Lebanese, and is the backbone of the economy. To be sure, tourism is not a factory that churns out canned goods where the biggest beneficiary would be the factory owner. Instead, it is a sector that provides income to drivers and waiters, all the way to banks, hoteliers, restaurants and those who work in them, as well as retailers of all kinds. Revenues from tourism alone would benefit all the Lebanese, and would not stop at a particular faction, region, or community. Despite this, we find some parties subverting it each year, and whether this is deliberately or through ignorance, the result is one and the same. Even the best dish of tabbouleh in the world can be spoiled if one ingredient of it is spoiled. In Lebanon, politics thus impact the whole country, despite the presence of good people such as the ones I mentioned earlier. To those I add the gentlemen mentioned in the article on “Michels”, who were Major General Ashraf Rifi and Colonel Wissam al-Hassan from the Information Branch in the Internal Security Forces. Yesterday, Al-Hayat ran a story that caught my eye, which was the hacking incident targeting the Al-Jazeera mobile service, where two messages about Sheikha Moza, wife of the Emir of Qatar, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr, were sent out. I will let Sheikh Hamad defend himself, but I want to say that Sheikha Moza is one of the finest Arab ladies, who works hard the advancement of Qatar and all the Arabs, and who is seeking to elevate the status of Arab women. Therefore, all those who attack her are doing injustice to an honorable Arab lady and condemning themselves in the process. I conclude with the red fancy Rolls Royce I have seen in London, with only one number on its license plate, and nothing to identify its country of origin. I have taken a picture of it on my mobile phone, which I still have. I saw it time and again around the famous Harrods store in the city. The number does not belong to any European country, and most probably the car is Qatari, so I hope it belongs to Sheikha Moza to spite the backwards people who envy an Arab woman for her success. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.