Mashghara is its people, its fame does not lie in its sites or its squares or its avenues. Its name comes from the secret of its water and its springs, from as-Shaghour, sacrament of bounty and generosity, according to students of the history of Lebanese names, this having a Syriac root... The people of Mashghara are heirs to a pride and to an openheartedness like the broad horizon they see before them on Mount Hermon... This was how Mashghara was known even during the crisis. Its prudent inhabitants long succeeded in sparing for themselves and for their region the tragedies that devastated other areas of Lebanon, until finally all forms of authority collapsed, notably after the spring of 1985, and this prosperous centre of commerce, industry and agriculture became a buffer on the main front-line between alien armies. It matters little whether those who were the authors of destruction or the instruments of conspiracy came from inside Mashghara or from the outside. What matters is that it must never be forgotten that for a long time its people succeeded in repelling the spectre of the plot, becoming a stanchion for all the western Bekaa and bearing outstanding witness to the Lebanese experiment of co-existence, until the harsh blows came as the result of foreign factors known to all.
But Mashghara will always be what it always was, for any change in its destined role will mean the transformation of a whole countryside between the Bekaa and the South. Displacement, destruction, massacres and so-called military victories have proved their hollowness for all to see. The facts concerning Lebanon are more deeply rooted in its soil than any of the recent events. Mashghara has its moon as a witness and what has happened during these sad years is nothing but a passing cloud over its face, which is a symbol of light and freedom for all its children wherever they may be... For the moment the many inhabitants of Mashghara whether now in Lebanon or elsewhere must be silent, for what they have suffered is the price to be paid for belonging to Lebanon...