Senator Mitchell: The Issam Fares Conferences are renown in developing international relations
 


Excerpts from the Fares’ address:

This is a special occasion for me and a unique opportunity for the Issam M. Fares Lecture Series at Tufts University. It is special because our Speaker this evening is half Irish and half Lebanese. However, above all, he is all American. Our speaker is a great Statesman, a leading conciliator on world stage and a man for difficult missions. I would have said he is the man for “mission impossible”. But he made the “impossible possible”. This is Senator George J. Mitchell.
In addressing the problems of Northern Ireland and the Middle East, our Speaker is addressing the problems of diverse societies under stress, and the process of bringing about peace and stability in these societies through compromise and conciliation.

The main issue facing the world today is the persistent conflict between different ethnic communities, different religions, different linguistic groupings, and different nations with different ideologies. The challenge is how to recognize the other, understand the other and live with the other in peace and dynamic interaction. This will not be easy, but it is something that we must work for, if civilization is to progress and endure.
Two major conflicts dominated the international scene for the past decades. These are Northern Ireland and Lebanon. Books will be written on how the Northern Ireland conflict was resolved by our Speaker.
The experience of Senator Mitchell, as a negotiator in international conflicts is relevant to the process that concerns us in the Middle East. As he activated his Irish component to help resolve the Northern Ireland conflict. I am sure he will not shirk from activating his Lebanese dimension to help resolve the conflicts - potential and actual – that impact on peace, stability, and progress in Lebanon and the Middle East.

Senator Mitchell made his career as legislator. He crowned this career by becoming a missionary of peace. To move from the status of an American statesman to a world statesman, is not only a great honor, but, more importantly a great responsibility. As Chairman of the International Crisis Group, of which I am privileged to be a member, he works with a team of specialists throughout the World to resolve potential conflicts before they erupt into violence and war. This is a new approach to world affairs and one of great importance to the future of peace.

Summary of Mitchell’s address:

Senator George Mitchell started by expressing his happiness and pride to participate in the series of Deputy Issam Fares conferences at the Tufts University that is renown in the field of developing international relations. It is a special mixture of two schools; the Tufts University constitutes an international center and Deputy Issam Fares has become a school in his special field because he acquired an international reputation and big success in his own fields and in his country and also because he is someone who deals with public matters and is engaged in the principles of peace and democracy in the Middle East and the world.

Mitchell said that he was very pleased to be in Boston at the same time with Deputy Issam Fares and hoped that Lebanon and the countries of the Middle East would enjoy permanent peace just like Ireland.
Senator Mitchell also talked about the stages of the talks for installing peace that he led in Ireland. He said that the principles of peace in Ireland and the Middle East are almost the same even if they bear some differences in some chapters and some elements. However, the peace tracks here and there pass directly by the USA.
Mitchell said that the only alternative to peace was death. The authorities that are aware of the interests of their people are the ones that can achieve the ever-wanted peace and put and to the conflicts. The success of any peace in Ireland depends on the cooperation of the Irish leaders on one hand and the role of the USA, the development of its power, its international influence and the economic and financial assistance it provides on the other hand.
Mitchell also said: “The main objective of the US Administration should be to spread and preserve peace and to install prosperity and democracy because the USA has a big influence on the world. The last agreement in Ireland is due to the personal engagement by the US President to succeed in the peace efforts.”

Mitchell considered that the peace negotiations had been very difficult although they were a historical achievement. Peace cannot be achieved by waving a magic wand and the peace principles are not the same everywhere. Each country has its own entity, specificities and logic. However, every conflict has its solution and the one who believes in peace and who aware of the reason of the dispute anywhere can really find solutions to it. There should only be the will to achieve peace and no matter how difficult the circumstances are, we should provide opportunities for peace and search for the ways that we should follow in order to achieve peace finally.
Mitchell talked about the situation in the Middle East and mentioned armed operations that had led to killing, awful destruction and armed conflicts and if the violence continues this means that the peace intentions are weak. If positions based on violence and power persist, this will not help the peace efforts reach the expected results.
Mitchell also considered that, in order to give impetus to the peace process in the Middle East, there should be a sincere desire amongst leaders and the logic of reason, right and courageous dialogue adopted by courageous leaders should prevail over violence and the logic of force in order to continue to push forward the peace process.
Mitchell stressed the necessity to have a US Administration that is attached to the peace process in the Middle East and he said that he believed in the possibility to reach a just, global and permanent peace in the region because all the parties want such a peace.

However, political leaders should show restraint and make safe negotiations that are based on the right and the will to undertake mutual concessions; they should also be ready and determined to bear the load of the expected peace process and to implement the existing agreements on the international arena.
Senator Mitchell ended his speech by talking about his Lebanese mother and his love and his will to participate in anything that could help him achieve his hope for a just, permanent and global peace because Lebanon has a big share in such a peace. He said that his mother and father did not know how to read and write but they worked had and with faith to make their son become the leader of the Majority at the US Parliament and the Senate and a successful leader for the peace process in Ireland.
Mitchell hoped finally that the beginning of the 21st century would witness peace and prosperity in a world that suffered from problems, difficulties and crises during this century. We want peace to be installed in this world and especially in Lebanon and in the countries of the Middle East for the sake of our children.
Mitchell had mentioned in a press interview upon his arrival to Boston the determined will of the USA to support Lebanon and preserve its sovereignty and independence. He called for the implementation of all international resolutions in order to end the conflict in the Middle East.

Mitchell said he was proud of the origin of his Lebanese mother and Irish father. He said that he had not met the newly elected president Emile Lahoud in person but that he heard much about him and about his getting strong Lebanese support and being characterized by a sharp personality that would be useful for him in leading Lebanon.
President Clinton and his Administration were satisfied to see him elected and are looking forward for receiving him in the United States as soon as possible. He said that the Lebanese Americans are undertaking positive efforts to consolidate relations between the two countries. Lebanon has also a very important role in its neighborhood. If the Lebanese are left outside the international and region conflicts, they will be able to achieve what they are hoping for like prosperity and reconstruction in their country.