BEIRUT LETTER: Building is booming in Lebanon, but nation-building is at a complete standstill
THE MORNING is soft and damp, the sea flat, the 180 degree view from the veranda 12 floors up is bracketed by the black and white striped lighthouse and rust-bucket tankers anchored outside the port. Joggers and walkers are taking constitutionals along the corniche. Prayers broadcast by mosques float in the air.
Today is the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the feast that ends the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
A yellow crane stands idle over an eight-storey concrete shell. The deafening barrage of jack-hammers finishing off graceful old houses has been stilled. High-rise buildings are in fashion and flats in up-market neighbourhoods sell at $10,000 per square metre.
Buildings and banks – real estate and money – are the solid foundations of an economy which is growing at the rate of 6 to 7 per cent, in spite of the country’s massive $47 billion deficit.
Lebanon has prospered during the global financial meltdown, prices of land and apartments are soaring and banks are swamped with deposits from abroad. Tourism is booming. But all is not well.
Lebanon’s politicians are as unsteady as the morning breeze that caresses the surface of the sea and becomes a raging tempest overnight. The country’s current cabinet crisis began in December 2006 when the Shias, the largest community, withdrew from the government.
They returned, following street fighting in May 2008 as a result of Qatari mediation. But powersharing was not accepted by all as the mechanism of governance. Last June’s parliamentary election was won by the Western backed Sunni-Christian bloc headed by Saad Hariri.
He was designated prime minister but failed to form a government because the Shia-Christian opposition, supported by Iran and Syria, refused to allow him to appoint its ministers. A week ago he resigned.
Although Hariri was given a second chance, he has been weakened by initial failure. Parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, an opposition stalwart, has withdrawn support.
Druze chief Walid Jumblatt, a Hariri ally, is criticising his right-wing Christian partners for scuppering a unity formula brokered by Syria and Saudi Arabia. Hariri needs the co-operation of both Berri, who can deliver the opposition, and Jumblatt, who holds 11 seats in Hariri’s 71-member bloc, for cabinet-making to succeed.
Both insist on a national unity cabinet. If Hariri goes ahead without the opposition, he risks boycott and a return to violence.
Hizbullah leader and opposition head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is urging Hariri to take his time to avoid “dragging the country into chaos.”
Pundits argue that US envoy George Mitchell’s failure to secure an Israeli settlement freeze in the Palestinian ter- ritories is having a negative impact on cabinet formation here. Therefore, the Obama administration must rein in Israel in order to secure concessions from the opposition. Syria, Iran and Hizbullah are prepared wait to see what the US does.
But the regional dimension of the crisis is only part of the picture. The squabbling politicians do not seem to care if there is a government or not.
Each is interested in personal advantage only. Pollster Abdo Saad says that the politico-com- mercial elite cares nothing for Lebanon.
Many Lebanese shrug their shoulders. “We don’t need a government. Ministers are interested only in stealing” is the refrain.
Muhammad Shatah, finance minister in the caretaker government, warns that the political crisis “will have a nega- tive impact on the economy,” particularly on investor confidence.
Ramadan’s bright lights and bunting cannot disguise unease.
Lebanon has been a country in crisis ever since it gained independence in 1943 due to the character of its people, the flawed quasi-democratic political system, and strategic location.
Lebanese are as inconstant as the Mediterranean lapping their rocky coast. One moment the sea is sparkling silver and Lebanese are charming cosmopolitans; the next, black waves pound the coast and some Lebanese become confessional killers.
During its 66 years of independence the country has been devastated by two civil wars, the second lasting 15 years, and frequent Israeli military offensives.
Two presidents, three prime ministers, a dozen politicians, and thousands of citizens have been slain.
After every disaster the Lebanese rebuild their lives and physical infrastructure. But the scars left by conflict are deep and lasting. Lebanese fear peace and good government are out of reach.
Dr Munir Shamaa, an octogenarian who has seen it all, remarks: “The situation is the worst since Lebanon’s independence . . . I’m ashamed.
“We’re not a nation, we’ve never been a nation, we’ll never be a nation.
“Nevertheless, we are charming. Beirut is a great place to live.”
