Nayla Assaf’s article “Jumblatt’s call for referendum on Syrian presence draws no interest” (Feb. 28)
 

Although I respect Dr Naim’s opinion I disagree with his definition of the Lebanese Christians’ identity. The Lebanese Christians’ identity is not an Arab one. It was the Maronites who fostered what is known to be the revival era of the Arabic literature and language. We were then under the Ottoman Empire’s grip. The Maronites contributed in safeguarding and rescuing the Arabic language from oblivion because the Turkish language had started to invade the Arab countries. The Arab nation should always be grateful to this major contribution of the Maronites. However, make no mistakes the true identity of the Christians of the Orient and more specifically the Lebanese Christians is Aramaic/Syriac. We spoke the language of Christ until the 19th century. We still use the same Aramaic/Syriac language in our church’s liturgy. To appease the Arabs, our Christian political leaders were unfaithful to our identity when they accepted this caption in the 1943 consti! tution: Lebanon has an Arab vocation. I wouldn’t be surprised if within a few years the current corrupt Lebanese Christian politicians (or their sons and daughters) will rubberstamp ­ for 30 silver quid ­ the Arab Islamic Republic of Lebanon.