Lebanon Political Instability

Lebanon is facing another political upheaval. Prime minister Sa’id Al Hariri’s government collapsed as a result of his support of the International Court of Justice, which is investigating the assassination of his father Prime Minister Rafiq Al Hariri in 2005.
Hizbu Allah who refused to cooperate with the International Court withdrew its support to the Hariri’s cabinet when the latter directed its investigation towards members of Hizbu Allah.
The US government, through the United Nations, was instrumental in the appointment of the International Court to investigate the murder of the Lebanese Prime Minister. It should be added here that rumors were circulating that both Syrian agents as well as Israeli agents planted the explosion. Syria was then classified as a terrorist state. Not only because of the Hariri’s murder, but also because of its close association with Iran and Hizbu Allah whose members were classified as terrorists!
The International Court of Justice dropped its investigation regarding the Syrian involvement when it found out that the witnesses provided by the Lebanese securities gave false information. The Court then accused some members of Hizbu Allah who refused to cooperate stressing the fact that the Lebanese judicial court should investigate the matter. The United Nations and the US government continue to support the International Court of Justice. This disagreement is now politicized, and has some disturbing repercussion.
On January 24, the Lebanese President conducted discussions with various political groups to appoint a Sunni Muslim candidate to replace Sa’ad Al Hariri. Najib Muqati was asked to form a new cabined. This is creating chaos, since the Hariri’s supporters are opposing any candidate that might replace their candidate.
One of the major problems faced by the Lebanese politicians is the fact that the political system is based on sectarianism. A division created by the French colonial administration during their occupation of Lebanon during the 1940s. A gentleman agreement was established which was not drafted as part of the Constitution. The agreement was that the President should be a Christian Maronite, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of Parliament a Shi’a Muslim. This agreement is presently not taking in consideration the demographic composition of each group. Hence, we cannot classify Lebanon as a democracy based on the majority of voters.
Unfortunately, different governments, regional and international manipulate sectarianism in Lebanon to advance their own interest: such as Syrian, Israeli, Egyptian, Saudi Arabia, France, Britain and the USA.
The tragedy behind the USA political role in Lebanon’s internal affairs is that the Israeli government who is strongly supported by the USA Congress manipulates it. The latter considers Syria and Hizbu Allah as the enemy of Israel.
Since Syria was not considered a suspect anymore, the UN Security Council and the USA government should have requested the International Court of Justice to end its investigation in Al Harir’s assassination and allow the Lebanese Judicial Court to assume such responsibility.