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I realized during my recent trip to the United States how many American sisters and brothers are sincerely concerned for Lebanon and particularly for the situation of Lebanese Christians. At the same time, I also noticed the confusion over the complexities of the current situation.

Since December 1, 2006, the Lebanese opposition movement has been campaigning and camping in downtown Beirut, next to the office of the Prime Minister, calling for an expansion of the Lebanese cabinet to include more Christian representation and for early parliamentary elections. The opposition movement could represent more than half of the Lebanese population. Two major Lebanese groups lead it: Hezbollah, which is Shiite, and the Free Patriotic Movement, which is Christian. Other groups in the opposition include the Islamic Call Front, the Maradat (A Christian Maronite party of northern Lebanon), and a faction of Druze.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has insisted that the street is not the place to make cabinet changes and, with local and international backing, remains with his cabinet in office even after the resignation of several Shiite ministers and a Christian minister.

It seems to me that the real issue is lack of trust on both sides. The opposition believes that the present government did not handle the summer 2006 war or its consequences well, so it cannot be trusted to handle the future of Lebanon. Also, Lebanese citizens are facing many hardships, which the opposition feels are mainly due to corruption and mismanagement in the present government. The loyalists (the present cabinet and its supporters) feel that the opposition is carrying an Iranian-Syrian agenda, while the opposition feels that the loyalists are carrying an American-French agenda. The loyalists fear that expanding the cabinet as the opposition demands would lead to its fall, while the opposition believes that a cabinet with no Shiite ministers and not enough Christian representation is unable to govern and lead the country. The road to reconciliation is blocked until they realize that Lebanon is on its way to collapse and that they need to trust one another for the good of the country.

On Thursday, January 25, I was in Beirut trying to go home (60km east of Beirut) when I got stuck at a road blocked by opposition protestors and loyalists. The Lebanese army had announced a curfew, to begin in half an hour, and I was desperate to find a taxi. I saw dozens of tires and a minibus burning only a few yards in front of me and heard the shouts of the army, protesters, and loyalists. I was terrified. Finally, a kind driver offered to bring me home.

It's encouraging that both the opposition and the loyalists are against the idea of returning to civil war. However, I believe that if things continue to escalate as they did last Tuesday and Thursday, a form of civil war could be inevitable.

I am an ordained minister in the National Evangelical Congregational Church of Beirut, the first Arabic-speaking evangelical congregation. This historic church stands between the opposition movement camp and the office of the Prime Minister. If you walked around the streets of downtown Beirut, you might be surprised to read that several main streets were named after American evangelical missionaries: Bliss Street, Post Street, Van Dyke Street, and Evangelical Church Street. The strategic location of my church and the street names remind us that we, as evangelicals, are called to the ministry of mediation and reconciliation in a society that longs for genuine reconciliation.

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February (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51