During his presentation to the Argentine-Arab community on the World March for Peace and Nonviolence made last Tuesday, September 22 at the Fundación Los Cedros headquarters in Buenos Aires, the Ambassador of the Republic of Lebanon to Argentina, Hicham Hamdan, reaffirmed his support for the global initiative while also demanding that the press back the worldwide project. “The role of the press is very important. If the press does not participate in this march, if they fail to give importance to this march, there will be a significant defect. I am personally cooperating so that the press in Lebanon support this march”, noted Hamdan.
“Decommissioning of nuclear arms is very important; we are fighting in our region for a arms-free zone. We are living in very difficult times. With the daily threat of a terrible war, which could be a world war, due to these types of weapons. For a great while, we have been discussing in the United Nations the necessity of creating a nuclear arms-free zone in the Middle East. We had a serious problem because, as we speak, there is a country in the region that has not signed the international Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. I’m talking about Israel”, noted Hicham Hamdan during his speech.
At the event, organized by the Centro Árabe Humanista de Argentina (Arab Humanist Center of Argentina), the Ambassador alluded to the violent conditions resulting from military clashes in his country: “since 1965, when the internal war began in Lebanon, thousands of our boys have been killed, have been mutilated, more than one million Lebanese have immigrated to other countries. Those who have visited Lebanon know that it is a truly beautiful Middle Eastern country and that it has been totally destroyed by this war”. Nevertheless, Hamdan pointed out that the Lebanese economy has been growing since 1990, that cities destroyed by the war have been rebuilt and there have been important achievements favoring life.
As regards the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, an initiative of the humanist organization World without Wars that demands the decommissioning of the nuclear arsenal and an end to war, the Lebanese Ambassador to Argentina emphasized that “The March for Peace must take concrete actions in order to achieve its objective, one cannot speak of the goal without speaking about actions for achieving it. This group movement occurring through the March is part of the actions, but more actions must follow. This is a mass longing. I don’t think there is one person who doesn’t want peace, but the issue is that peace depends on well-being and a sense of security. A person cannot be at peace if his rights as a human being are not recognized”.
Throughout his speech, which was attended by Argentines of Arab origin, but also by Senegalese residing in Argentina, the diplomat recognized the contribution of the pacifist leader Mahatma Gandhi: “we believe that Gandhi’s legacy in India should be made a working model for the international community. The international community must possess peaceful means for resolving issues that give rise to war”. Hamdan also reiterated that conflict negotiations between States should be arbitrated pursuant to United Nations guidelines.
Hamdan concluded his chat, which was about 30 minutes long, by expressing his belief that “the human mind is capable of finding solutions, all that is necessary is the will to do so”.
*(Translation provided by Iuslingua LLC)*
