Three weeks after he was elected President of Lebanon, on 14 September 1982, Bashir Gemayel delivered a speech at Dayr-Salib.

Here are some extracts from his fateful speech:
“…In the name of all the Christians of the Middle East, and as Lebanese Christians, let us proclaim that if Lebanon is not to be a Christian national homeland, it will nonetheless remain a homeland for Christians. Above all a homeland for Christians, though one for others as well if they so choose a homeland to be protected and preserved, in which our churches may be rebuilt at the time and in the manner we desire. Yasser Arafat has transformed the church of Damur into a garage. We forgive him, and though they defiled, sullied and pillaged the church of Damur, we will rebuild it. Had we been in Egypt or Syria, perhaps we would not even have had the right to rebuild a destroyed church. Our desire is to remain in the Middle East so that our church bells may ring out our joys and sorrow whenever we wish!

We want to continue to christen, to celebrate our rites and traditions, our faith and our creed whenever we wish! We want to be able to assume and testify to our Christianity in the Middle East! And whatever may be the difficulty in offering this testimony, we will never renounce it. We will testify to our Christianity in Lebanon!

We will testify to our Christianity in the Middle East!…So that Lebanon may truly be the Lebanon we desire, it must perforce remain the land of freedom, the homeland of civilization. Otherwise it will resemble Yemen or those countries wherein there remains not the slightest trace of our existence, nor the least reason for it. As a Christian part of the Middle East, we want to be different from others and possess a land which, without being – let it be repeated – a Christian national homeland, shall be a country for Christians, where we may live in dignity, without being forced by anyone to deny our faith, as we were in the time of the Turks when we were ordered to walk on the[ir] left because we were Christians. We do not want to be forced to wear any sort of discriminatory badge on our body or on our clothes – so that one might know that we were Christians – and we do not want to be transformed into citizens existing in the “dhimmitude” of others!

Henceforth, we refuse to live in any “dhimmitude”!

We no longer wish to be under any protection!

Our martyrs have defended us!

Our martyrs have defended our cause!

For eight years, our martyrs have defended our freedom and our presence in the Middle East, during which the whole world repudiated us, during which the whole world disinherited us, during which the whole world ignored us; and when we emerged victorious, all became our friends, all sought to befriend us.

In the future, it is our duty to deal with the whole world devoid of any sort of complex.

No one can outwit us!

No one can outrank us in bravery!

And no one has defended his country more than we have defended ours!

No civilization is superior to ours to be imposed upon us, pretending to be closer to the truth than we.
We are not backward.

We are not Bedouins; we have no camels.

Have we not a history of 6,000 years of which to be proud, and do we not know what is to be done to preserve this heritage?

… and my wish is that from this day forth, as Lebanese, we may no longer have any complex toward anyone, without fearing to speak the truth to anyone.

Only the truth will redeem us now.

Only the truth will allow us to abide in dignity.

Because we have mocked the world for forty years, the world has mocked us.

Because we have deceived the world for forty years, the world in turn has deceived us.

Because we deemed ourselves totally insignificant, the world has disregarded us.

… And just as we vanquished through our resistance, so we must today conquer all Lebanon, all its 10,452 square kilometers! We must conquer the whole country and this land must be free unto all its sons, without distinction of religions, beliefs, and opinions. Above all, this country must remain a haven of security and tranquility for the Christian society of the Middle East, for we are no longer prepared to suffer exile in the United States or in Europe; we are no longer prepared to step to the[ir] left, nor get down on our knees, nor to suffer defeat!

We want to live here with dignity!

We no longer wish people to preach morality or philosophy to us, to give money or to inform of the proper manner in which to act. We alone knew what was expected of us, for had we not done what we did, we would not be here today and there would not have remained a single nun, priest, or cross!…”

Bold words indeed! President Gemayel paid for them with his life! He was assassinated in East-Beirut the very afternoon he gave this speech.

His words tellingly describe the fate of non-Muslims living under Islamic rule -- “dhimmitude”. His assassination in itself is an example of the fact that the condition of dhimmitude(1) was one of abasement and humiliation, and was maintained by severe punishment of all those challenged it.

Islamic law divides mankind into three groups:

• the believers;

• the dhimmis, the followers of other monotheistic faiths (like Judaism, Christianity, and sometimes Zoroastrianism)

• and the kafirs (infidels) (polytheists, Hindus, Buddhists, animists).

While kafirs merit immediate death, dhimmis can live under Islam, provided they agree to abide by a humiliating pact called the dhimma, which involves several of the disabilities Gemayel has referred to in his speech, and many others. The people of India should technically have been kafirs (and thus dispatched long ago), but were too powerful – so powerful that the school of Islamic law current in India (the Hanbalite law) decided to grant dhimmitude to the kafirs of India. (1) Some of the humiliating conditions that the dhimmis were subject to involved:

• A poll tax – the jeziya

• Vestimentary discriminations (dhimmis have to wear distinctive clothing, so that they could be distinguished from the Muslims

• Prohibition of the right to bear arms

• Prohibition of the right to repair houses of worship

• Discrimination in matters of testimony – dhimmi testimony would not be acceptable as equal to that of the believers

• Dhimmis had to convert to Islam upon marrying a Muslim, for the marriage to be valid

• A convert to Islam would automatically inherit all the family wealth, to the detriment of family members who remained dhimmis.

But perhaps the most significant problem was the psychological effect of dhimmitude on the dhimmis. Dhimmis who learned to endure these disabilities had to learn to see things from the point of view of their Muslim overlords. Their lands were turned by jihad into fayy – a trust which the Muslim Umma (3) held for posterity. The dhimmis were reduced to the position of subalterns in their own ancient homelands, notwithstanding their long and glorious history, which may have involved far greater things than camel herding. They grew to hate themselves, and pretend to the world that all is well. They mocked at the world, which was a perennial reminder of the reality, and the world in turn mocked at them by ignoring their plight. This has been the fate of the Hindus of Kashmir. This has been the fate of the Hindus of all India. The way out is the way suggested by President Gemayel to his people.