Mr. President Donald Trump, I hope this message finds you well.
You are about to invite the President of Lebanon to a meeting at the White House, bringing him together with the Prime Minister of Israel under your auspices. I wish to speak to you frankly and clearly, hoping you will receive this with an open mind. I believe you will, because you love my country and want to save it—two goals you have repeatedly declared to be dear to your heart. I take you at your word.
Deep down, Lebanon cannot go to the trilateral summit you want it to attend. Such a meeting would ignite Lebanon—and the region—rather than lay the groundwork for peace.
Our problem with Israel cannot be resolved in the manner you propose, even though our President, our Prime Minister, and the government openly and firmly seek a final solution—indeed, peace.
Let me remind you that Lebanon hosted the Arab Summit in Beirut, which launched the Arab Peace Initiative on March 27–28, 2002. We want this initiative to succeed, and we want peace to be realized during your tenure and by your hand.
Believe me: Lebanon does not want to be dragged into any more wars. This war is not its war—nor was the previous one, nor the one before that, nor any of them.
The complexities of Lebanon’s internal situation—the fragility of its structural components, the existence of a state within the state, and the inability of the state to monopolize arms in the hands of legitimate authority and the Lebanese armed forces—are far more dangerous and burdensome than our country can bear in facing such a meeting.
The explosion that awaits Lebanon as a result of such a summit would leave this country with no hope of survival.
It would be an explosion surpassing all the wars and conflicts whose tragic images we Lebanese have not yet been able to forget, nor erase from our collective memory and wounded consciousness.
Please, Mr. President, do not place the Lebanese President, the government, and the Lebanese people before such an ordeal. It would be unjust to Lebanon. We can no longer endure the ongoing double infernal blackmail imposed on us by Israel, Iran, and Hezbollah.
I have previously outlined a vision for resolving the Lebanese question—one that leads to the peace you seek:
The sovereign and final neutralization of Lebanon, through an international and Arab will—naturally with Lebanese consent—under UN protection; the consolidation and irreversible demarcation of internationally recognized borders; the exclusive control of arms by the state; and the deployment of the Lebanese army, strengthened by international will and protection.
This must be accompanied by a new founding process for Lebanon, under strict and effective international and Arab sponsorship, to produce a modern republic: one state, one army, one weapon, one decision, and one definitive set of borders. This should go hand in hand with deep judicial, financial, and administrative reforms, for secure borders alone cannot save a corrupt state, just as integrity alone cannot save a lawless one.
Lebanon has repeatedly proven incapable of achieving such a transformation on its own.
Ask your son-in-law Michael, and ask his father, Mr. Massad Boulos. They will surely understand what I am pointing to. They are Lebanese, from the town of Kfaraakka in Koura, not far from my modest village of Bziza. Between us are old ties, shared bread and salt, and the kinship of olive trees.
If you wish to be a great president for Lebanon, then this is what would make Lebanon a viable and great country—a safe country for your Lebanese-Kourani grandson, Alexander, son of Michael and your daughter Tiffany.
Respectfully.