I recently returned from Beirut, where I participated in what Lebanese commentators have alternatively called a “historic moment,” or Lebanon’s “Second Revolution,” the results of which will reverberate for some time to come. I had gone to Lebanon to represent Canada at the funeral of assassinated minister Pierre Gemayel, the young scion of the prominent Christian Maronite family whose destiny is an indelible symbol of Lebanese history and the struggle for independence. Pierre’s father, Amin, a former president of Lebanon, has now emerged to become a leading figure of Lebanon’s “Second Revolution.” As the Lebanese Daily Star put it, “Amin Gemayel lost a son, but became a father of the country.”

Indeed, the first Lebanese Revolution – known as the March 14 Cedar Revolution – had itself been triggered by the assassination of then prime minister Rafik Hariri, whose murder, and that of other “martyrs” since 2005, are now the object of a United Nations-mandated international criminal tribunal.

Being in Lebanon, I felt like a “witness to history.” Inside Saint George Cathedral, where the funeral was held, Christian, Muslim and Druze leaders had come together in an extraordinary expression of support, not only for a grieving Gemayel family, but in solidarity with a bereaved Lebanese people. Joining the procession of mourners at the conclusion of the funeral service, one did not have to be Lebanese to be moved by this outpouring of feeling and solidarity.

Following the service, we moved out onto Beirut’s Martyrs Square, where the massive demonstration of some 800,000 Lebanese was now suffused with posters of the assassinated “martyrs” of the First Lebanese Revolution – such as Hariri – together with the now-martyr of the Second Lebanese Revolution, Pierre Gemayel.

The united presence of the Christian, Muslim and Druze leaders in the square was as compelling as their speeches were riveting. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, whose own father had also been assassinated, said that Pierre Gemayel “had now joined the previous martyrs… who had refused the (Syrian) regime of tutelage, killings and assassinations.” He called for an international tribunal to bring the perpetrators to justice and for Hezbollah to disarm, as mandated by UN Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701.

Parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, reminding the crowd of the March 14 Cedar Revolution, called out to them that “you are here for a new revolution, to show the entire world that the sons of Rafik Hariri and the supporters of Pierre Gemayel are the majority in Lebanon.”

Amin Gemayel took the podium to hail “the start of the second revolution for the independence of Lebanon,” while calling for a renewed Lebanon “so that your voice does not whither away… so that it covers the treacherous bullets and explosions.”

We then met with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, advising him of our support for a democratic, plural and independent Lebanon, for the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, and for an international tribunal to bring the murderers to justice.

I mentioned to Siniora that, during my visits to Lebanon in the 1970s and ’80s, I would sometimes hear the refrain “I don’t know which will be the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, but Lebanon will be the second.” The prime minister’s response was that this was actually a statement made by former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, but Lebanon would not enter into a peace treaty with Israel until all other Arab countries, and in particular the Palestinians, had made peace. “There can be no resolution to the problems of the Middle East and the problems of Lebanon until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved,” he said.

I also raised the importance of the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, particularly as regards the disarming of Hezbollah (the subject of the earlier Resolution 1559), and the extension of Lebanese sovereignty throughout Lebanon.

I also brought up the reference in Resolution 1701 to the immediate and unconditional return of abducted Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Siniora said he didn’t “know anything” about the soldiers’ whereabouts or fate. He then went on to focus on the return of the Shaba farms to Lebanese jurisdiction, as an important means for the Lebanese government to “assert” its sovereignty. He added that if Israel returned the Shaba farms, that would take away the issue from Hezbollah “as the protector of Lebanese sovereignty.”

Leaving Lebanon, as I reflected on the intensity of our encounters, I could not ignore the underlying sectarian (Sunnis vs. Shiites) and political (pro- and anti-Syrian) fissures. Indeed, as if to remind us of the fragility of Lebanese politics and of this Second Lebanese Revolution, Lebanese radio was now broadcasting Hezbollah’s call for mass demonstrations against the “illegitimate” Siniora government. Both the president of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, and the Shiite speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, were leaders of the pro-Syrian forces within the government and Parliament, thereby aggravating both the political and sectarian divide; this polarization was itself accentuated by the prior withdrawal of Shiite and Hezbollah ministers from the Siniora cabinet, leaving a tenuous cabinet quorum. And more: The Siniora cabinet still had a majority to authorize the establishment of an international criminal tribunal – itself a courageous move – but now requires the signature of President Lahoud, who opposes it; there was the tabling of the legislation by Speaker Berri, who is no less opposed, and the ratification by the Lebanese Parliament – and all this was happening amid threats of more assassinations and intimidations.

These are the competing realities of today’s Lebanon: the mobilization, on the one hand, of a Second Lebanese Revolution by Sunni, Christian and Druze leaders to enhance the momentum and hope of the Cedar Revolution; and, on the other hand, the countervailing forces – Hezbollah backed by Syria and Iran – seeking a very different revolution, aided and abetted by the backdrop of intimidation, threat and assassination.

The hope of a democratic, plural and independent Lebanon – the inspiration of the Second Revolution – is Lebanon’s best hope, and that of the international community.

MP Irwin Cotler is the former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, and professor of law at McGill University (on leave).