Federalism?

I happen to be reading Thomas Friedman's "From Beirut to Jerusalem" and things since the late 70's have not changed.

1)We are still divided into opposing Tribes.
2)Each fraction needs a leader.
3)We feel that we need so stab anyone in the back and try to get a bigger piece of the pie.

Maybe Bachir Gemayel was right in 1978. Maybe Samir Geagea was right 10 years later, in 1988.

Let's put an end to this masquerade. Federalism.

According to Albert Dicey, federalism depends on two prerequisites: One is "the
existence of a body of countries so closely connected by locality, by history, by race, or the like, as to be capable to bearing, in the eyes of their inhabitants, an impress of common nationality". The second condition is "the desire for national unity and the determination to maintain the independence of each man's separate State". It sounds like what we need.

At least then, we wont have a reason to argue anymore.

It is not giving up, it is not admitting defeat, but looking back since the early 40's we had sunni's siding with maronites, early 80's until early 90's tripartite pact of sunni-druze-chiites and now it looks like a new maronite-chiite agreement. And then what? vicious cycle over and over again.

Federalism is not dividing the country per se. Each fraction will have its own space, its own rules.

This is far from being ideal but living in continuous turmoil isn't helpful either.

What about those who believe that we feel we should be able to co-exist? What about idealists like Samir Kassir or Gebran Tueni who gave up their lives for that? Don't they deserve something?

Solutions such as overthrowing the current regime, getting rid of politicians who have been there since the civil war (examples too numerous to count; people like Jumblat, Berri or Geagea who few years ago were killing each other and now what?), changing the laws, and most importantly changing how people think about their national identity is a goal that looks so far away. Worse is, since the last year, since Beirut spring, this tension is gaining momentum. Instead of lebanese sticking together, they are as divided as hell.

WE NEED NEW BLOOD, NEW IDEAS, NEW POLITICIANS.