I came back from New York to London at seven in the morning about two weeks ago, after attending the session of the UN General Assembly. On the next day, I traveled to Riyadh at night and arrived at six in the morning, and attended the Conference on Space Technology and Aviation held at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, with the participation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (NASA). The event coincided with the 25th anniversary of Prince Sultan bin Salman's space trip. I was supposed to return to London for several days before travelling again. However, a surgery scheduled for my brother took me to Beirut and from there to Jeddah to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Arab Thought Foundation, which is chaired by Prince Khalid Al Faisal. I then returned to London last Wednesday, and left the city on Thursday for a social occasion in Istanbul, before returning to London again yesterday. I do not complain, because I am working by choice, and there is a “package” of trips (like the incentives package given to Iran) scheduled before the end of the month. I have some observations, and I shall start from the end. - In Istanbul, at the lobby of the luxurious hotel where I stayed, I met a Kuwaiti woman who said that she often reads my columns, and we exchanged a conversation about mutual friends from Kuwait to Lebanon. She pointed at some friends who were with her and said that they were all planning to spend a week in Lebanon; however, the visit of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the ensuing controversy, added to Hezbollah's threats against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, prompted the Kuwaiti group of friends to choose Istanbul instead. I told her that I am in the hotel to attend the 30th marriage anniversary of two of my very close friends, who also wanted to celebrate their anniversary in Beirut along with two hundred friends; however, they too were scared off by the political developments, and so opted for Istanbul instead. Congratulations to Turkey and the city of Istanbul, because in Turkey, we know that we are among friends. Nonetheless, I want to address myself to Hezbollah candidly to say that it is the party's policies that are responsible for "driving visitors away", and for forcing many of our Arab brethren to choose other travel destinations. This harms Lebanon in its most important revenue source, i.e. tourism, which employs many Lebanese from all the communities that make up the country. I have not turned against Hezbollah. I support it unreservedly against Israel and I consider it to be a pioneering and leading national liberation movement (as I support Iran in acquiring a nuclear weapon to confront Israel). However, it is a different matter when it comes to the Lebanese economy, and I believe that the leadership of Hezbollah can, if it wishes so, to pursue its national agenda without harming the Lebanese people. As one issue leads to another, I have another advice to give to Hezbollah, which is that it should seek and endeavor to broaden the base of its supporters in Lebanon, so that it is not limited to the majority of the Shiites alone. (I say the majority of, and not the entire Shiite community, because I know many Lebanese Shiites who oppose Hezbollah). I say clearly that, as Hezbollah's base represents only 30 percent of the people of Lebanon (including myself), it cannot impose its policies on the remaining 70 percent. However, if Hezbollah secured the support of at least half of the population, it would then become capable of using democratic means to implement its policies, instead of going the way of another May 7. This topic interests me greatly, to the point that I urged President Bashar al-Assad in the early summer to encourage Hezbollah to build bridges with other constituents of the Lebanese people, and I know that the Syrian president wants Hezbollah to become more popular and enjoy greater support among the Lebanese. I had started today with the intention to give the readers a break from politics; however, I could not help it. It is my nature. I will stick to what matters most today, and will return to humor tomorrow. The fact that I kept to my brother's side at the hospital did not prevent me from going to Damascus for a day to hear the views of some officials, including the dear friend Dr. Buthaina Shaaban. I have published some of what I heard without identifying who said it, since I heard it all in private sessions. President Bashar al-Assad and King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz went to Lebanon in one plane. Then yesterday, the Saudi King met with the Syrian president in Riyadh, which left me thinking about those who greeted the King and the president in Lebanon, and who, over several years during the crisis of the Syrian-Saudi relations, had taken the side of the King or the president, stoking fire instead of seeking to put it out. I and a few colleagues used to write during the crisis in an attempt to reconcile, while the majority of journalists and politicians kept accentuating what brought the two countries apart, instead of focusing on what brought them together. During the crisis, I never kept away from either Saudi Arabia or Syria, from the Janadriya, King Abdullah and the senior officials, to Syria, President Assad and the officials around him. I hope that the end of the disagreement will be a lesson to us all. An Arab does not serve his identity by siding with an Arab country against another, but by siding with both countries and every other Arab country against the common enemy. Tomorrow, I will continue, but no politics this time. [email protected]
