On March 14, one month after the new Lebanese cabinet's formation, it agreed on a statement facilitating the presentation of its policy to the country's parliament, set to take place on March 19.

While three cabinet members belonging to the Phalanges party expressed disagreement with what remained for them a contentious issue, the cabinet agreed on its responsibility to preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity through all legitimate means, affirming the right of Lebanese citizens to resist Israeli occupation, respond to Israeli aggression and liberate Lebanese occupied territories. This formula replaced the earlier cabinet’s “people, army, and resistance,” on which Hezbollah had insisted and which had been a contentious matter for many, many months.

Now that the cabinet has been formed, and the position of Lebanese citizens on resisting Israeli aggression clarified, we can safely state that the caretaker government, which was in charge for nearly 11 months, is no longer. The present cabinet will appear before parliament — whose sessions were suspended for many months — and possibly offer long-awaited relief to the Lebanese people. I mention this unprecedented level of governmental dysfunction because, hopefully, it will lead to a serious reassessment of Lebanon's political and constitutional system.

The Lebanese must begin to rethink sectarianism, since it is a serious threat to future generations of Lebanese, as it remains to the present one, especially in the context of dangerous ferment throughout the Arab world. Many regional changes will directly or indirectly affect Lebanon, and this necessitates that the Lebanese rethink their future, seriously involve civil society, secular forces and women — all practically marginalized now — and redefine Lebanon as a state, not as a framework for sectarian pluralism.