Arabs Not Welcome?

The Lebanese government is thinking of no longer issuing visas to visitors with Arab nationalities at the airport. Is that a sensible idea?

The Lebanese security forces have been unearthing many would-be terrorists with sinister plans to blow up the country. What they all have in common is an Arab passport. But does that mean that the Lebanese government should only issue visas at its embassies in Arab capitals?

We should first ignore the nonsensical and xenophobic debate the topic raised in Naharnet’s comments section about whether or not we are Arabs and think with our minds: Rushing into such a move without proper debate will be wrong for two major reasons:

The first and obvious reason is convenience, cost and lost tourism income. Our diplomatic missions in Arab countries are already understaffed, counting on them will cause long waits for visas, which will push the remaining hard-core tourists to find alternatives.

The other more important issue one should think of is reciprocity. 
Many Lebanese who make use of the visa-free days allowed in Dubai to look for jobs will be terribly hurt if the UAE government reciprocates and demands visas for Lebanese passport holders.

This is why such measures cannot be implemented without a proper public debate and without a diplomatic push to convince Arab neighbors of their worthy, and more importantly, temporary nature.