When a body is severely injured and nothing is done to heal it, it can become infected and threaten the life of the patient. Unfortunately, this is the case for Lebanon. As we see with the attacks against Lebanon from the refugee camps, the untreated wounds of both, the Palestinians and Lebanon have led to a severe infection that threatens the already weak health of the Lebanese Republic. Following the July War, little has been done to heal the country or repair the damage done to the infrastructure or economy. People have suffered tremendously while the politicians on all sides have squabbled about their differences. The deadlock that 14 March and 8 March have come to has allowed the rest of the country to go untreated and the conditions that have resulted have allowed Fatah al-Islam to rise up from the Nahr al-Bared camp and cause heavy damage. The group has also hit targets in Beirut aside from the assault near Tripoli.

            The government and the opposition share blame in allowing these conditions to arise and for not paying more attention to the situation inside the country than they have to the proposed international tribunal. Rafiq al-Hariri, among others, absolutely deserves remembrance and those responsible for their killings deserve to be brought to justice. However, this cannot be an obstacle to the peace or security of the country as a whole. Sheikh Hariri spent his life trying to grow and build Lebanon following the horrible civil war. Now, ironically, the tribunal being proposed to capture and try his killers is threatening the very growth he oversaw. The country absolutely must come together to resolve this situation and get through this impasse in order for them, as a whole, to tackle the security issue festering in the camps and from all external threats. As former US President Abraham Lincoln said in an 1858 speech, "a house divided against itself cannot stand." It is imperative that Lebanon learn this lesson and do so soon.