Salam: “The state we want can only be built on one national decision, one weapon, and one law”

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said during a dinner hosted by the Makassed Association that “our country is going through its most dangerous crisis since the establishment of the Lebanese state. For many years, it was treated as spoils rather than as a unifying framework for all Lebanese.”

He added: “How can any country recover if its youth continue to emigrate, its middle class is eroding, and its universities, hospitals, and schools are struggling to survive?”

He continued: “Any real rescue of Lebanon today is impossible without a clear return to the logic of the state — a state that is sovereign over its own decisions, respects its constitution, applies its laws to الجميع, and rebuilds its administration on the foundations of competence, accountability, and transparency.”

He noted that “after all the killing, destruction, displacement, and tragedies it has brought, some still come before us trying to insult our intelligence by calling that victories.”

He stressed that “the state we want can only be built on one national decision — that of its constitutional institutions; one weapon — that of its national army; and one law, above which no one stands and outside of which no one remains.”

He pointed out that “enough of futile adventures in the service of foreign projects and interests, most recently a war we did not choose but was imposed on us, and which led to Israel’s occupation of 68 towns, villages, and sites after we had been seeking to force it out of five points. Enough incitement and accusations of treason — this does not and will not intimidate us. We remain steadfast in our national choices and strong through the support of the majority of the Lebanese for them.”

He affirmed that “there is no way out of our ordeal except by confronting the full truth, however bitter, so that we can fortify our internal structure, strengthen our institutions, and rally all Arab and international support to reinforce our position in difficult negotiations as well as in international forums.”