Talfan Ayash
By Ghassan Teffaha, Staff Writer

Beirut, Lebanon - Samuel Becket himself wouldn’t have written a better version of what is happening in Lebanon these days. We have been waiting for “Godot” for more than 6 months now, and when it was finally the time for “Godot” to arrive, “Godot” teases, flirts and waives but never comes.

In my last article, I wrote that the Lebanese people were in the state of waiting. Hariri’s assassination came as an earthquake to all and its repercussion and consequences were still evolving and their outcome was mostly unclear. The Lebanese people were first waiting for the election law then the elections themselves and finally the election results. Some were waiting for their leaders either to come from their exile or to come out of the prison. The rest was for the “Truth” to be revealed, stumbled on or even fabricated. After all this time that passed, the situation might look different when you first look at it, however it is very much similar when looked at closely.

Let us start with the elections, although we do have a new parliament which arguably is more representative of the Lebanese people, we still lack a valid and agreed upon electoral law. If agreeing on a few security posts between all the various Lebanese factions took 3 months, agreeing on a new electoral law would take years in the making.  Needless to say, we also have the presidential elections to agree or disagree upon also, independently if President Lahood stays in power or leaves. Thus regarding “Democracy” in Lebanon, things are not in any way better now than they were a while back

As for the return and release of certain political figures and leaders from abroad or prison, a move which should have strengthened the ranks of the ex-opposition which was also known as “the 14th of March coalition”, it proved to have the opposite affect on the political scene in Lebanon. Instead of creating a united front in the parliamentary elections which would have stood up to the “old security regime” and its allies, the coalition disintegrated and each side starting bad-mouthing and digging up dirt on the other. The War rhetoric quickly came in handy and suddenly it felt like it was 1975 all over again. What was once a fearful coalition that united most Lebanese people, a coalition that was able to amass half of Lebanon’s official population onto the streets suddenly became a thing of the past. The slogans which were waived by the masses; “Freedom”, “Sovereignty”, “Independence” where discarded, they were not of use anymore because what became important now to the political elites was to win a seat in the parliament at any cost. I don’t blame the politicians; it is their right to want to win any election; that is what their ultimate aim is. I blame the people, starting with myself! We are the ones who choose our representatives and we chose almost the same faces that we have been complaining about for so long… democracy in action! We used to say that the elections were a farce, all the winners were pre-picked and the actual Election Day was only a façade to maintain the democratic face of Lebanon. We had a responsibility, we were supposed to be changing and evolving from being subjects into citizens and we failed. Most of us either voted with our hearts and not our minds or didn’t vote at all. After nagging for so many years for freedom, what do we do? We blew it….

Ironically, we have more members of Parliament and Political leaders outside Lebanon now than we had ever before!

Last but not least, the “truth”… We were waiting for the Mehlis report to come out as if we were waiting for our salvation. The report was no more about finding the truth about the assassination of Prime Minster Hariri but rather became the miracle cure for all the problems of Lebanon. Everything in Lebanon depended on the findings of the Report. Therefore, when the report actually came out as a report and nothing more, many people were shocked.

Having said that, the report does do what it sets up to do. First of all, it states that it is not final and therefore it shouldn’t be taken as is now but rather as a foundation on what comes later on. It sets the background and the atmosphere for the assassination by stating and linking the events that have been taking place in Lebanon during the past year or more. It shows how Lebanon was ruled by the Syrian/Lebanese security apparatus. The report also shows under what circumstances the amendment of the constitution took place so that President Lahood gets an extension on his term. The report also ends the debate on how the assassination took place by stating that it was a suicide bomber driving a white Mitsubishi Van with around 1 ton of explosives packed into it. The report gives two significant conclusions which should be the basis of any further investigation. First it says that something of the magnitude of the assassination that took place could not have taken place without the knowledge of the Syrian Security regime that ruled Lebanon and rules Syria. Moreover it provides some circumstantial evidence about the involvement of certain Lebanese and Syrian political and security officials in the assassination and the preparations that went into it. Secondly, the report lays the ground for any follow up investigation that should take place by stating that the only real thread that can lead to any real evidence are the telephone calls and the 10 telephone cards  bought and used for the planning for the assassination.

The Lebanese Media and Lebanese political players in addition to some regional and international powers hyped up the report into something of mythical proportions. However, if you look and read the report from unbiased and legal point of view, the report comes out to do what it set out to do in the first place, find the truth about the assassination of Prime Minster Hariri.

In conclusion, after 6 months or so of waiting, very little has changed for the better. We are being asked to wait a little bit more, maybe something will come up, something new that can change the unchanged, maybe we will get the truth, don’t they say the truth shall set you free…

Maybe Ayash will call!

تلفن عياش - زياد الرحباني
تلفن عياش لما توقعنا و ناطرينه
تلفن عياش تلفن يعني الله يعينه
تلفن عياش تلفن، تلفن عياش تلفن
كذب عياش لما توقعنا و ناطرينه
كذب عياش ما بيحلف إلا بدينه
تلفن عياش كذب تلفن عياش كذب
تلفن عياش و قال الاشيا مظبوطا
جود عياش و عرفينا مش مظبوطا
بيقلك كل شي تمام غط حمام و طار حمام
تلفن عياش و حرفه بيعرف كيف يزينه
موفق عياش كيف لالله عم بيعينو
تلفن عياش و خبر ليه ما بيتلفن
يكذب عياش يكذب راقي و بيجنن
بيقلك هوي مظلوم هوي واضح و مفهوم
فشط عياش ومتل العادة منعرف مينو
تلفن عياش فشط يعني الله يعينه
تلفن عياش فشط تلفن عياش فشط
و أخيرا تلفن عياش متل ما كأنو ما تلفن

Talfan 3ayash is a song written by Ziad Rahbani and sung by the late Joseph Sakr and Ziad Rahbani, I strongly urge the readers to listen to it before and after reading the article.

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