Batroun: The Batroun ‘Capitale de Noel’ Committee inaugurated this year’s Christmas Festival and Batroun Christmas Fair under the headline, ‘Christmas of Hope in Lebanon’, in the presence of MP Gebran Bassil, Batroun Mayor Roger Toubia, and President of the Union of Municipalities of Batroun Region, Batroun Municipality Head Marcelino El Hark, alongside several prominent figures and dignitaries from the region.
According to National News Agency – Lebanon, in his inaugural word, Bassil said: “Batroun, as every year, wears its Christmas attire and is dedicated as the capital of this holiday, spreading a message of joy, love and giving…These are the meanings that Batroun lives, for just as it welcomed its people from the Bekaa, the South and Beirut, today it welcomes all the Lebanese to live the joy of giving and love.”
He added: “We insist every year, despite the difficult circumstances, to celebrate Christmas in Batroun and to dedicate it as one of the Christmas capitals in the world, by defying difficulti
es, especially war, which can only be defied with peace.”
“Each time we are faced with the choice of either breaking in the face of war or continuing, we continue,” Bassil asserted.
He further elaborated: “This is the meaning of Christmas, the birth of peace, the birth of Christ who brought peace to humanity, and this is the most important meaning of our struggle and our fight, which is peace.”
“War can only be stopped by peace,” Bassil maintained, stressing that “truce, cessation of hostilities and ceasefire are not peace. Rather, peace is achieved by rights and justice.”
He concluded by emphasizing that “it is true that peace is discussed and negotiated by rulers, but it is the people and the children, the children of Christmas, who create it.”