A Review of Lebanese Women's Activity in Our Present Crisis

Statement of the League of Women's Organizations

No sooner had the present crisis in Lebanon taken on the aspect of violence than the League of Women's Organizations in Lebanon called two meetings, from which the women came out with a statement over the signature of the president, Mrs. Laure Tabet, appealing to the two parties — the authorities and the opposition — to settle the dispute standing between them by the fairest of means, far from chaos, sedition, and bloodshed. It was agreed to dispatch the executive committee of the League of Women's Organizations to visit the responsible authorities and lay the problem before them by word of mouth.

The Meeting of the Lebanese Women's League

A week after this statement appeared, the situation grew worse and each of the two parties held fast to its point of view, which moved the Lebanese Women's League to hold a general meeting at the home of the League's president, Mrs. Heneni Tarcha. The meeting brought together the presidents of the women's associations in Lebanon, and its atmosphere was a splendid one, in which the president appealed to those present to rise above private considerations and to deal with the crisis as conscious citizenesses whose aim is the public good, far from their personal ends.

An Appeal to General Chehab

At this meeting it was decided to address an appeal to the commander of the army, General Chehab, entreating him to take up the reins of government, in deference to the wish of all the parties and communities, as the wise commander whom all hearts unite in respecting and loving. A delegation of nine women went in person to call upon the commander of the army; he thanked them for their confidence and excused himself, saying that he was a military man who did not understand politics and had no experience in the running of governments...

Two Telegrams to His Excellency President Chamoun and His Excellency the Foreign Minister

Following the meeting of the Lebanese Women's League, two telegrams were sent over the ladies' signatures, the first to His Excellency the President of the Republic and the second to His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs, demanding that the Lebanese government withdraw its two complaints against the United Arab Republic — before the Arab League and before the international Security Council — and attempt to solve the crisis on the national plane, to preserve Lebanon's safety and to guard its good name.

The government, however, paid the two telegrams no attention worth mentioning; we were regarded — so it was reported to us — as intruding upon the affairs and responsibilities of authorities ever watchful over the good of Lebanon and over its remaining the land of brotherhood, freedom, and stability.

Mrs. Heneni Tarcha declared in this connection that the first spur to these activities was, and still is, zeal for Lebanon, the sparing of its blood, and the keeping of its innocent people from entanglement in petty political straits remote from the public interest... For Lebanon is the land of love and security, and we do not want it, for petty reasons, to be turned into a second “Korea”...

The Lebanese Red Cross to the Rescue

Meanwhile, from the beginning of the succession of painful events in Beirut and the other provinces, the activity of the Lebanese Red Cross, with all its units, has been directed toward the work of rescue, first aid, consolation, and succor... The members, every one of them without exception, have volunteered, working in silence to lighten the woes of the calamity and to give of their means — material and moral — to aid the wounded and to console and help the stricken, with all the love and mercy that lie in the humane principles of their association.

On the 30th of May last, the central president, Mrs. de Freige, and the vice-president, the wife of the late Riad al-Solh, addressed a warm appeal to the citizens, broadcast by the radio station and published in the newspapers, entreating them to come back to their senses and to desist from acts of crime and destruction that harm nothing but their own interests and wreck nothing but their own peaceful homes — the innocent victims being none but their brothers and their neighbors, and Lebanon none but their own dear homeland.

The Lebanese woman knows that what she has done toward restoring security to Lebanon is small... but in her heart of hearts she believes that chaos, sedition, and bloodshed are things for lands other than Lebanon — this gentle, faithful country...