February 1992, Page 24, 25

Personality

Lebanon's Ghassan Tueni: Philosopher at Large

By Susan Smith

Perpetuated by the idealistic but contradictory visions of 16 radicalized sects, the civil war in Lebanon took on a futility which by 1989 had caused many to conclude that Lebanon, as a nation within its present borders, was finished. Ambassador Ghassan Tueni, editor-in-chief of the country's largest daily newspaper, An-Nahar, and permanent representative of Lebanon to the UN during the Israeli invasions of 1978 and 1982, was one who, despite widespread doubts, never lost hope that his country would rise, Phoenix-like, from the ashes.

Later, in the fall of 1989, the prayers of the war-sick population were answered in the form of the Taif Agreement, which was ratified by the new National Unity Government. It laid the basis for a new constitution promising an end to confessionalism, and the Second Republic of Lebanon was born.

Tueni has waited decades for the Lebanese to turn in their confessional coats of arms for a national and secular emblem. During his first speech as a newly elected member of the Lebanese Parliament in 1951, he stressed the necessity of "constitutional reform," and lost many allies, particularly within the Maronite community. Some considered his platform sacrilege, says Tueni, and it was the "precise reason" for a string of personal political setbacks 20 years ago. In 1971, Tueni had to resign as minister of education. In 1972, he lost a re-election campaign for his seat in Parliament.

While Tueni's appeals for constitutional reforms went unrequited throughout most of his life, his tolerance for Lebanon's diverse constituencies did result in steady growth for his country's most authoritative newspaper, An-Nahar. It was founded in 1932 by his father, Gibran, and Ghassan Tueni took over as editor-in-chief in 1948.

He attributes the paper's success to his father's liberalism, and to his own political upbringing and educational opportunities. He took his BA in philosophy and political science from the American University in Beirut, and an MA in government at Harvard. He was working on his Ph.D. at Harvard when his father died, and he returned to Beirut to administer the paper. In a highly charged emotional political arena, Tueni says his education helped develop his own ethical and logical approach to politics. His tutelage under Dr. Charles Malik, one of the signers of the United Nations Charter, and his constant reading of the Western press "led me to believe in the necessity of creating the conditions of objective reporting."

As a young man, Ghassan Tueni was a follower of the "Syrian Nationalist Party," an allegiance common for Greek Orthodox and Latin Orthodox Christians who perceived non-confessional politics as their own path to free expression in a Maronite-dominated society. According to Tueni, the Greek Orthodox faith influenced his political and journalistic liberalism because, "unlike Maronites who tend to view their church as a party or a nation," the Greek Orthodox identify more with Antiochan Christianity.

"We believe we were Arabs before Islam," he explains. "We proclaim that we were Christians before Western Christendom came to our part of the world with the Crusades, of whom we are not, as some tend to believe, museum remnants or vestiges."

Tueni, who has not remarried since cancer took the life of his wife, Nadia Hamade Tueni, a poet of Druze descent, says his marriage also "had a great effect" on his life, as they lived in "great intellectual intimacy." Her posthumous book, Twenty Poems for One Love (Byblos Press, 1990), was dedicated to the children of Lebanon, whom she believed would eventually inherit a "time of peace." Published simultaneously in French and English, her translator, American poet Samuel Hazo, called the book "a map to the future."

As editor-in-chief of An-Nahar, Tueni covered a number of international and Arab conferences and was eventually chosen by his government to serve on diplomatic missions, including one on behalf of the Arab League in Washington. He also served as a deputy speaker of Lebanon's Parliament and deputy prime minister. In 1977, President Elias Sarkis named Tueni Lebanon's ambassador to the UN, and shortly thereafter he was confronted with "Operation Litani," the first of two major Israeli invasions.

After long and agonizing hours with UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, Ambassadors Andrew Young of the United States, Abdullah Bishara of Kuwait, Esmat Abdel-Meguid of Egypt, Chaim Herzog of Israel and others, Tueni, ever the robust orator, made a memorable speech, "Let My People Live," in the Security Council chambers on March 17, 1978. Two days later, the Security Council adopted its Resolution 425, calling upon Israel to cease its military action against Lebanon. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was created to assist the Lebanese army in bringing about the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Lebanese territory. Authored by Tueni, UNSC Resolution 425 became Lebanon's "principal point of reference in its conflict with Israel, solidifying in concrete terms Lebanon's rights and the United Nations' duties." Later, in 1979, he published Peace-Keeping in Lebanon (William Belcher Group, NY), presenting the full documentation of Lebanon's case before the Security Council, as debated over the course of 16 months, leading to the adoption of resolutions 425, 426, 427, 434, 436, 444 and 450.

Today, more than 13 years after UNIFIL's inception, and with Israel more entrenched than ever in Lebanon's south, the former ambassador has mixed emotions about the automatic nature of the UNIFIL mandate renewal, which he describes as "an alibi on the part of the Council for not doing much." Tueni admits that, as ambassador, he often "struggled without much success" to add a new dimension to UNIFIL and to the US rule, such as attaching to the mandate a phased program of action, or asking UNIFIL to support the Lebanese government in bringing the army to the border.

As the peacekeeping troops devolved to more an international symbol than a deterrent force, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon launched a full-scale invasion of Lebanon in June of 1982. Tueni admits that while he had no doubts about Israel's coveting the Litani River, or its desire to use the south to destabilize Lebanon, he never visualized that Israel would go so far as to occupy Beirut.

Times change, however, and the former ambassador asserts that the role of the international organization has evolved, particularly since the Israeli invasions of 1978 and 1982. "If we are to be realistic today, we must speak of a different United Nations and entertain different expectations," he says. He adds that while the UN "speaks very highly in terms of ideals, it does not always act accordingly." Realism, he explains, requires the acknowledgment "that Lebanon does not weigh as much as oil in the eyes of the world community."

Tueni concedes that the "new world order" bears directly on his country, but not in the commonly accepted manner. War in Lebanon, he says, was not so much a "civil" war as it was "a confrontation between the regional and international parties which were using Lebanon as a theater for their different wars. Some Lebanese were proxies in a vicarious struggle for reasons beyond Lebanon," he says. He is convinced that Iraq and the Gulf today provide a better theater.

Tueni says it is no accident that the Lebanese war ended when the Gulf war started. The Taif Agreement offered a solution to Lebanon's problems, and came about because the various regional and international parties decided to cease warring in Lebanon. "The Taif Agreement must not be looked at in a vacuum," he says. "Under the regional umbrella, it took only a few days to end 15 years of war."

Further, he says, circumstances bearing directly on Lebanon's political situation changed. These included an end to the Cold War and a weakening of Soviet influence in the Middle East. He laments that since the Gulf war the implementation of Taif "has unfortunately been totally entrusted to the Syrians, which means that the ensuing intimidation is not always true to the spirit that brought national reconciliation."

"The Price of Peace"

The signing of the Brotherhood, Coordination and Cooperation Treaty by the governments of Lebanon's Elias Hrawi and Syria's Hafez Al-Assad is viewed by Tueni as unbalanced and the inevitable cconsecration of a de facto situation. Yet, he calls it "the price of peace," and warns that much rests on the treaty's implementation and the country's ability to oppose "Syria's almost instinctive inclination to hegemony."

If the Lebanese are able to restructure their government and create better cohesion and develop a policy of consensus, then he feels the Taif Agreement will have been implemented in a fair and proper manner. If not, he thinks it may become another form of Syrian domination, but less severe than Syria's military presence, or what he calls, tongue-in-check, "brotherly occupation."

When asked if he believes Syria and Israel are scheming to swallow up Lebanon, Tueni answers that he does not. Since the first Israeli invasion in 1978, he has fought what has since been labeled Israel's "Open Game Strategy" with Syria, in which both parties "exchange signals and tolerate each other's activities so long as their own interests are not threatened." Still, he stresses there are parallel interests which give the appearance that the two are acting in concert.

The former ambassador sees the United States involved in any prognosis for peace in Lebanon, or the region as a whole. "I cannot visualize. . . America, given its present role in the world today, accepting that this area should remain in a state of flux," he says.

Concerning Syria's hegemony in the region, he perceives a link between "Syrian irredentism" and the political itinerary of the US. Tueni says that when the time comes that the superpower "does not see that it needs Syria in Lebanon," then the Lebanese must be able "to build their own political and security structures that can fill the present vacuum."

A Positive Prognosis

In the final analysis, Ghassan Tueni is cautiously "hopeful" about Lebanon's future and gives a positive prognosis for his country's democratization process. While he calls the appointment of Chamber of Deputies members "a horrible departure from Lebanon's heritage," he expects direct elections to be held within the year.

As for Tueni himself, at the age of 65 he is still the larger-than-life editor-in-chief of An-Nahar, though he claims he's no longer the 22-year-old who took over the paper. In spite of his complaint of old age, however, he now is president of a new university, Balamand, which since 1988 has been developed in a Cistercian Abbey of the 12th century.

The American University of Beirut is another pet project. As a member of the Board of Trustees, he regularly attends its annual meetings in the US. He was in New York in November for AUB's 125th anniversary fund-raising dinner at the Waldorf Astoria.

Sadly, the event coincided with a car bomb attack on AUB, which destroyed College Hall, the oldest and largest building on campus, along with its clock tower and part of the library. The following Monday, however, the AUB student body turned up for classes in full force.

It is this truly Lebanese spirit of resilience and determination that Tueni exemplifies.

Susan Smith is a free-lance journalist based in New York City. She has studied at the University of London and Tel Aviv University and holds a master's diploma from the American University in Cairo.

 

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