We must engage in a long and patient work

The attached is my aided translation of Dikran Jinbashian’s article in Azrag Daily titled “Waiting for Blessed Days - Երանելի Օրերու Սպասումով”, yesterday November 12, 2025. Vaհe H Apelian

Upper row: An Armenian cultural event.
Lower row, LtoR: Southern border, Dikran Jinabashian, Lebanese president Aoun meeting press representatives

A pre-war atmosphere in Lebanon is gradually becoming more and more palpable. Israel, under the pretext of Hezbollah rearming, carries out daily strikes, murders, and destruction. Not agreed upon observation posts in the border zone are multiplying. Israel has not even allowed the residents of the pacified villages to repair their destroyed homes.

Hezbollah boasts that it is now stronger and more organized than before the war. It refuses to disarm, arguing that its weapons serve to defend Lebanon. It has not responded to Israeli attacks, upholding the ceasefire agreement with Israel.

US-led International Monitoring and Implementation Mechanism (IMIM) is responsible for monitoring the ceasefire, with the participation of Lebanon, France, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). A key part of monitoring involves the Lebanese army and UNIFIL peacekeepers jointly patrolling the border to ensure compliance. The IMIM receives reports of alleged violations from both Lebanon and Israel. We hear and learn that the committee meets periodically, but we know nothing of the result, or rather, of the lack of result.

The Lebanese government assures that it has adopted the presidential promise to reserve the possessing of weapons only by the state. This promise was made by the newly elected president in his inauguration speech. The implementation is entrusted to the army, which has even been ordered to counter Israeli military operations. The army is clearly unable to carry out the order. The army has neither a sufficient number of soldiers, nor the appropriate weapons, nor the necessary armament. 

The Lebanese government is looking for a solution. Envoys come, they talk, sometimes they threaten, other times they inspire hope, they pretend to negotiate, but to no avail. The President of the Republic of Lebanon even shows a willingness to negotiate directly with Israel, to which the Speaker of the Parliament opposes, but Israel does not respond. Israel demands, before any negotiations, the complete disarmament of Hezbollah and the creation of a demilitarized zone on the southern border.

How do the Lebanese live in such a hostile atmosphere? 

Human nature seems to be able to adapt to the worst that comes after the worst. The Lebanese pound has depreciated. The economic crisis has intensified. There is no electricity. There is a shortage of water. Enemy planes are circling overhead. Here and there missiles are hitting cars; houses are being destroyed. But life goes on. We use Lebanese pound, but the basis of the economy is measured in dollars. The Lebanese have managed to invent a new facade. The traffic jams and crowded cafes and restaurants create the illusion of a normal life, a new way of life.

When I started the article, I had intended reflecting on our intra-communal life. After the school reopening in mid-September, we witness a surge of cultural activities, the intensity of which is astonishing. Theatrical performances, musical auditions, dance group events, book exhibitions, book presentations, art exhibitions and other events that had been forgotten, are in display. All this is done in the space of one and a half to two months. Are we witnessing a cultural reawakening?

Unfortunately, many of these events are held with a small number of participants. We have turned our backs to the crisis and are trying to revive our communal activity. However, the main consequence of the prolonged crisis is the deculturalization of our community. This barbaric word means that our communal society, lacks the desire to uphold our culture, to live by it and to make do with it for the long haul.

We must engage in a long and patient work to bring back the days when more than one performance was held in the same evening, in halls  full to capacity, and the organizers did not need to worry about selling out tickets for performances, which were repeated dozens of times.

Those blessed days must return.