We are former fighters who come from different factions. The Lebanese civil war started as we are the heirs of a culture known for centuries for its sectarian clashes which result in the displacement of people who find themselves forced to migrate. We inherited a culture that denies the right of others to share different views than ours; a culture that uses only violence as a tool to resolve conflicts. This culture resulted in bloody wars that always ended in fragile agreements that serve some parties involved over others. This civil war was serving tribal, sectarian, and regional interests and not the interest of the country as a whole. This country respects the rights of its citizens to safe housing, mobility, health, employment, and education. This country should look at the diversity of its citizens as a sign of richness; it should work on organizing and developing common goals for these different citizens. It should facilitate and develop political consensus between the different citizens to promote the possible opportunities.    

We are former fighters who agreed to demolish this violence-promoting culture. We want to demolish this culture that used to bring down all the elements of unity and to establish, instead, a culture that respects diversity and works on protecting it with peaceful democratic mechanisms. 

We are former fighters who decided to be promoters for peace. We direct this call to the current fighters.

This call comes from our deep sorrow for what is currently taking place in our beloved country, Lebanon. We are sad to see the Lebanese people slipping into civil wars similar to the wars that we experienced for years. We feel pain watching Lebanese young people driven to carry arms choosing violence over dialogues. They are doing what we used to do at the beginning on the former civil war when we were using arms, killing, believing that we alone are right. We were harming our humanity the most. We were killing, kidnapping, participating in battles on several fronts, sniping and shelling. We burned and destroyed buildings and residential neighborhood. This went all in vain making no remarkable change. You should believe us when we tell you that you alone will carry your sins for the rest of your lives and at that time even a sense of regret won’t make a difference.     

We ask the current fighters to realize, as we recently did, that there are several forces and actors that benefit from our political and sectarian differences. These forces work on separating pushing us to fight. Do not commit the same mistakes we did. In civil wars, all parties lose, even who thinks to be the winner, as they result in only death and destruction.

The damage caused by civil wars affects only innocent people. They are harmed and terrorized them and their homes and property at risk. On the other hand, the leaders of these wars are barely affected and remain untouched.  Civil war leaders deliberately exploit people’s fears and capitalize on their confrontations in order to gain more benefits, as they wait for the people to resort to them asking for their protection. This all tears more bridges and builds more walls.    

Let’s all rebuild the bridges and tear down the walls. 

Lastly, in all countries, the future is always close and people from different backgrounds have to come together building their country and their society. So why do you burn this country if you will regret later? You will regret refusing to understand, listen to, and respect the other. Change is possible, as it happened to us. Let’s choose peace over killing, dialogue over fighting, and love over hatred.

“Fighters for peace”

Fighters from all the different factions who participated in the civil war (1975-1990), and who changed.