Retired Lebanese Judge Peter Germanos: The Shi'ites Are Currently The Only Armed Sect In Lebanon – The Christians Should Obtain Arms As Well; The Taif Agreement Is Meaningless

Retired Lebanese judge Peter Germanos said in an August 31, 2023 interview on Voice of Lebanon Radio that the Christians in Lebanon should arm themselves. He said that in an “unstable region, where religious and ethnic cleansing take place,” the Shi'ites are the only armed sect in Lebanon. Germanous said in order to achieve a balance of power, either the Shi'ites must disarm, or the unarmed sects must become armed, and disarming the faction is harder than obtaining weapons. He said that the Taif Agreement is meaningless and there is no proper state in Lebanon. Germanos added that if Hizbullah wants Lebanon to be a federal sectarian state then the Christians should do the same.

Peter Germanos: "The conflict in Lebanon is purely sectarian. We have three major sects in Lebanon. There are others but, to keep it short, I will talk about the Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Christians. The Christians and the Sunnis are unhappy that the Shi'ites are armed, while they themselves have no weapons. The Sunnis and Christians are worried that the Shi'ite sect is heavily armed, in an exaggerated way. Regardless of the pretext behind these weapons - resistance, defiance, or whatever - we know that they are armed, while we and the Sunnis are not, in an unstable region, where religious and ethnic cleansing take place.

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"There is no balance of power. One group is armed and the other is not. There are two ways to go about this. Either you tell the armed faction to hand over their weapons - and I believe this is difficult to do - or you obtain weapons yourself. We simply cannot continue..."

Host: "Do you support arming... According to what you are saying here - and we also read your tweet about it - do you support the Christians and Sunnis in Lebanon arming themselves?"

Germanos: "The truth is that Michel Aoun perpetrated a crime against the Christians in Lebanon.

"We had the only armed Christian military from Morocco to the Himalayas. Throughout the region, there are no [armed] Christians. Lebanon was the only place. He pounced on them and said that they would be given a state. But there is no state. The Taif Agreement is like a marriage contract that a woman divorced by her husband clings to."

Host: "This is what you tweeted today."

Germanos: "Nothing in Lebanon is connected to... We are fooling ourselves, by saying this is a democratic state, with laws, a constitution, and everything. We are fooling ourselves."

Host: "You wrote that the Christians and Sunnis are nothing but décor in Lebanon."

Germanos: "They are, because they succumbed to being so.

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"If the Maronite Church and the big [Christian] political parties, decide to arm the Christians, it can be done in five minutes. If the Sunnis in Lebanon... The Sunnis are an absolute majority in the region. If they decide to bear arms, they can do it.

"If Hizbullah wants Lebanon to become a federal state, and wants to deal with this country in a sectarian manner in everything - we should do the same. The alternative is to have a (proper) state. Fine. If that's want Hizbullah wants, it must hand over its weapons, and there will be a state. But let's not be naïve. We have to tell people the truth."