Joseph Aoun, President of Lebanon, Warns: ‘We Are Not Helping Palestine Amid Regional Crises’
March 6, 2025What a BRILLIANT speech by the new president of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun.
At the Arab summit in Cairo, dedicated to the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, the president stated that Lebanon would not give up its land and that “every inch” of its territory would be liberated. The Israeli army still maintains positions in southern Lebanon despite its official withdrawal from the country on Feb. 18.
“In my country, just as in Palestine, there are still lands occupied by Israel. Lebanese prisoners are in its jails,” Aoun said. “We do not give up our land, we do not forget our prisoners, and we do not abandon them.
“There is no peace without the liberation of every inch of our territory—internationally recognized, documented, validated, and delineated by the United Nations. And there is no peace without a Palestinian state.”
Aoun said Lebanon “has suffered greatly but has learned from its sufferings.”
“It has learned not to be at the mercy of other people’s wars. It has learned not to be a headquarters or a corridor for foreign policies. It is also not a stronghold for occupations, tutelage, or hegemony,” he said.
He also emphasized that Lebanon’s “existential interests are with its Arab environment” and that its role in the region is to be “a country of meeting, not a land of conflict.”
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English Script:
President Joseph Aoun: Dear esteemed brothers of majesty, sovereignty, and highness, and His Excellency the Secretary-General of the Arab League.
I am probably the last newly-elected President to join your Council.
Hence, I am not entitled to give lessons on Palestine, the subject of our summit and our constant commitment.
But I come to you with forty years of service as a devoted soldier in the service of my country and my people.
Firstly, Lebanon has taught me that the Palestinian cause is a just cause and that justice always requires power, and that the power of peoples’ struggles lies in the power of reason, of position, of persuading the world, of mobilizing the public opinion, and maintaining the comprehensive balance of power.
Secondly, Lebanon has taught me that the Palestinian cause is a triad of Palestinian national right, Arab national right, and universal human right.
And that the more we manage to showcase the noble dimensions of the Palestinian cause, the more we will champion it and triumph with it.
Alternatively, every time we narrow it down and reduce it to the issue of a certain group, faction, or axis, and every time we let Palestine be dragged into the alleys of authoritarian struggles here or conflicts of influence there, the more we lose it, and lose with it.
Dear brothers, the wars in Lebanon have taught me that the Palestinian dimension of the Palestinian cause requires us to always stand with its people, both in principle and in practice.
The wars of others on Lebanon’s soil have taught me that the Arab dimension of the Palestine issue compels all of us to be strong, so that Palestine can be strong.
For when Beirut is occupied, when Damascus is destroyed, when Amman is threatened, when Baghdad is groaning, or when Sana’a is falling, no one can claim that this could be in support for Palestine.
By ensuring that our Arab countries are strong through their stability, prosperity, peace, openness, development, and growth, and vocation, is the best way to support Palestine.
Just as Lebanon’s full and stable sovereignty is fortified by full recovery in Syria and total independence in Palestine, the same goes for each of our countries, in their relations and interaction with every Arab neighboring country and our entire Arab region.
Any ailing Arab neighboring country is an ailment for all of its neighbors, and vice versa.
In this very context, Lebanon has taught me, after decades of conflicts, crises, and problems, that any delusional contradiction or alleged conflict between our historical and accomplished national identities on one hand, and our single and inclusive Arab identity on the other, is simply invalid. Rather, they are complementary and cumulative.
I am 100% Lebanese and 100% Arab, and I take pride in both. I belong, both nationally and missionally, to both.
For Palestine to be a cause of human and global justice, it requires us to be open to the world, not isolated; to be friends with its active forces, engaging with decision-making centers, conversing with them, not fighting them, and being influential, not outcasts.
In my country, just as in Palestine, Israel is still occupying lands, and holding Lebanese captives in its prisons. We do not abandon our land, nor do we forget our prisoners or give up on them. It is still launching daily aggressions, and claiming innocent lives every day, leaving my people martyred or wounded, amidst destruction, bloodshed and tears. I bow before their suffering. I am proud to say that I come from the same country as them.
There can be no peace without the liberation of the last inch of our homeland, whose borders are internationally recognized, documented, proven and demarcated. There can be no peace without the formation of a Palestinian State. There can be no peace without the restoration of the legitimate and full rights of the Palestinians.
Dear brothers, Lebanon has suffered a lot, but it has learned from its suffering. It has learned not to be a battleground for other peoples’ wars, not to be a doorway or a hallway for foreign policies of influence, not to settle for occupation, tutelage, or hegemony, and not to allow some internal parties to seek foreign backing in an attempt to bully their compatriots, even from friendly or brotherly states.
It has learned that its role in this region is to serve as a land of encounter rather than an arena of conflict. And that its raison d’être lies in safeguarding freedom, forging modernity, and creating joy. The joy of living a free, dignified, sovereign, prosperous and blossoming life that is open to everything that embodies beauty, truth, goodness, justice, and living universal human values.
