Long before the war erupted, the Lebanese state barely existed.

But the question is, what kind of Lebanese state?

Its frontiers, over 20 years later, would become the borders of the independent Lebanese state.

"There is today a chance for a rebirth of a strong Lebanese state," he said.

With the rise of the Palestinian resistance movement following the 1967 war, refugee areas asserted their independence from the Lebanese state.

"At any time Israel can launch a pre-emptive attack, and now, as the Lebanese state, we are responsible for the south," he said.

Power in the old Lebanese state was apportioned on the basis of the 1932 census.

In 1943, after independence, the station became the property of the Lebanese state.

That new power will make voices like the Fadlallahs' even more important as the weak Lebanese state stumbles ahead.

We want to see an independent, democratic Lebanese state.