NNA - Caretaker Minister of Information, Ziad Al-Makary, patronized a ceremony honoring the late minister, writer and journalist George Wadih Skaf at the Municipal Palace in Zahle, at the invitation of the Zahle and Taanayel Municipality, the Lebanese Press Syndicate, the Editors’ Syndicate, the Oriental College and the Zahle Judicial Council.

In his word during the honoring cerrmony, Makary expressed his joy to be present in the city of Zahle, the hometown of the late Skaff who greatly contributed to his city and country at the humanitarian, political, and national levels.

Makary paid tribute to the lifetime achievements of the late Skaff, saying: "He was a great writer, an authentic journalist, a successful minister, and a mentor in journalism, politics, and loyalty...He was proud of his beautiful city of Zahle...He was seduced by the press, so he achieved an advanced position in the world of this profession, as a correspondent, analyst, writer, and publisher of Al-Jarida newspaper, its editor-in-chief, deputy head of the press syndicate, general director of the Lebanese Television, and minister of information during the mandate of the late President Sleiman Franjieh...Throughout the stages of his life, journalism remained his stable juncture, and he crowned his professional life with a collection of books and memoirs, in which he combined literature with politics, poetry, and memories.”

Referring to the late's book “Our New Lebanon”, Makary wondered how to tell the late author what has become of our new Lebanon "as it is camped between a group of Syrian and Palestinian camps, with a strong international desire to change the identity of Lebanon, which we have always considered a message...and that the reckless weapons of Ain al-Hilweh are killing our Lebanon..."

He continued to wonder how to explain the current reality of our new Lebanon that has been without a head of state for the last eleven months, and that Syrian displacement has risen to the level of an invasion and now represents an existential threat to Lebanon?

Makary concluded by stressing that "it is our duty to raise our voice in rejection, and not to submit to internal and external destinies that insist on defeating us. Lebanon is ours, and we have the right to work together so that it remains ours!"

==========R.Sh.