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The President of the Council
of Ministers, Mr. Rafic Hariri, held a press conference after he was
granted the 2004 Special Citation of the Habitat Scroll of Honor Award
of the UN Habitat during the opening ceremony of the World Urban Forum
in Barcelona, Spain.
Attending
the press conference were Mr. Joan Clos, president
of the Forum 2004 and Barcelona’s mayor; Mrs. Anna
Tibaijuka, executive director of UN-HABITAT; and
Mrs. Mervat Tallawy, executive secretary of the
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
The conference was opened by a speech by Mr. Joan
Clos. The Spanish official then gave the floor to
Mrs. Tibaijuka, who praised Prime Minister Hariri
for the work he has done in the post-conflict
reconstruction process of Lebanon. Having visited
Lebanon herself lately, she said what she saw was
“beyond description.” She emphasized that the award
was also for the people of Lebanon.
For her part, Mrs. Tallawy said, “For me as a
non-Lebanese, it was a surprise to see Lebanon
before and after the war. And this is what shocked
me and that’s why I asked Mrs. Tibaijuka to consider
Lebanon for the award – because it is a real miracle
to see before and after. So they deserve it by all
fairness, and to be fair, I asked Anna to come
because seeing is believing. After so many years of
real war from street to street, house to house,
Lebanon came out a united Lebanon, not divided, not
cut into pieces. We hope the same situation will
happen in Iraq.
“Why did I propose to give the award to Lebanon? As
I said, it was a shock for me to see how Lebanon was
built in a very short time, how they could build all
those roads and bridges and also the human lives. It
is a mix for the rich and the poor, the able and the
disabled. The next thing that made me propose this
is to show the world that the Middle East has
positive ideas, development ideas; that not only war
and killing is coming from them. This is a great
example of how in the midst of the rubble you make a
center of beauty.
“I liked very much what Prime Minister Hariri said
in his statement, for all the Arabs they want peace,
not only for themselves but also for Israel, and
this is the true conviction of the population in all
the Arab countries. We want peace and we want Israel
to live in peace, and it’s up to them to answer this
call. He said also, ‘I would like to thank my wife,
Mrs. Hariri for all the suffering she had felt
during these difficult times.’ I thank you very
much, Excellency, for this reference because women
are always neglected in war and peace and here you
mentioned Nazek Hariri because she was a real
comrade to you. So congratulations to you, to her
and to Lebanon.”
Prime Minister Hariri then answered questions by
journalists:
Q: In this friendly gathering that celebrates with
Lebanon the UN-HABITAT award, can we say that
Lebanon is isolated from the international community
and needs reconciliation with the international
community?
PM Hariri: “Of course, not. Lebanon is not isolated.
Lebanon is open to all countries in the world. If we
are facing some problems these days, we can overcome
these problems through dialogue and through our
friends in the world. So, no, we’re not isolated.”
Q: But you’ve asked the international community to
stop pressure on Lebanon. How will Lebanon face
these challenges? Was it because of the resolution
1559?
PM Hariri: “I’m hopeful for the future, and I’m
always hopeful that Lebanon can overcome the
problems and challenges and succeed to face them.”
Q: Will you resign from the government?
PM Hariri: “Of course, I will. I said this before
but I don’t think this is the proper place to
discuss the situation of the government.”
Q: Does that mean you won’t be heading the new
government to be formed in Lebanon later this month?
PM Hariri: “You know, it’s quite normal that my
government will resign before the end of the month,
and it’s up to the Parliament to decide whether I’m
going to head a new government or not. But I’m going
to resign before the end of the month, this is for
sure.”
Q: First of all, congratulations for the award. I’ve
been before in Beirut; we used to call it the
“Switzerland of the Middle East.” Do a large number
of skilled and experienced Lebanese expatriates come
back to their country?
PM Hariri: “There are so many Lebanese who left
during the war and before and after the war. So many
others came back when the war ended. Thus, the flow
of people in and out is continuing. Some people go;
others come. Beyond any doubt, we have so many
Lebanese who lived abroad during the war, gained
experience and are now participating in the
rebuilding of the country. By the way, I have spent
myself 28 years in Saudi Arabia before I became the
Prime Minister. I came straight from Saudi Arabia to
be the Prime Minister in 1992.”
Q: Given what’s happening in the Middle East region,
what’s happening in Iraq and building pressures on
Syria, today you mentioned you wanted to see peace
for the region, including Israel. What’s your
concern about the possibility of war and conflict
returning to your neighborhood, to your country in
the years ahead, destroying what today you’re being
honored for helping to lead to rebuild?
PM Hariri: “I’m optimistic by nature, and I think
human nature can always find means and ways to stop
the aggression. I don’t think that Israel has any
interest to launch a war against any of the Arab
countries. The interest of the United States and the
free world, the entire world, is to see peace and
stability in the Middle East. The Arabs are ready to
go ahead with the peace process, provided that
Israel respects the UN resolutions and withdraws
from the occupied territories in Palestine, Syria
and Lebanon. You remember that President Bush said
that he wanted to see two states, a Palestinian
state and an Israeli state. US elections are now
close. Let’s see the results of the elections. I’m
hopeful that Iraq will find peace one day and that
the Palestinian-Israeli question will be solved. It
needs lots of efforts, will and determination. From
our side, we believe that peace is the solution. War
is not a solution. War creates violence and
destruction and leads to nowhere. You have seen the
film today. What came of it (war)? Destruction. So
we don’t celebrate destruction, we celebrate
construction, life, the future and hope for the
people. I hope that everybody will use his mind and
go ahead with peace and continue the peace process
until it reaches the end.”
Q: Cultural diversity and multiplicity that Lebanon
has enjoyed before could have been an element that
caused that war, and yet the same diversity and
multiplicity are being used today to bring people
together to live in peace and coexistence. What are
the lessons that you have learnt from this past
experience of diversity and multiplicity in order to
be sure that what happened in Lebanon in the 1980´s
shall not recur in the future?
PM Hariri: “The Lebanese learnt the hard way that
war and conflict would not lead anywhere; they only
lead to destruction. They learnt that the common
ground they have among each other is much wider than
their differences. Besides, when we say that war
occurred in Lebanon because of the differences
between the Lebanese people, we are simplifying the
problem. Don’t forget that the creation of Israel in
1948 played an important role in making the
situation in Lebanon boil and reach that level. Now
everybody knows that the only way for us is to live
together, there is no other way. We paid a very high
price, but we learnt that we had to live together
and that there is no other way. This is why you see
the Lebanese today wanting to live together and are
living together; no one can break their ranks,
whatever the reasons are, because the price is very,
very high. And there is no result, just violence,
killing, destruction and people leaving the country
and it’s in nobody’s interest.”
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