BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said Thursday the dialogue between Bkirki and Hezbollah focuses on the structure of the state and maintaining Lebanon's neutrality in the Middle East.
“Bkirki, which represents the Church, says the truth objectively. We are discussing three points: the entity of Lebanon as a state, the National Covenant, and keeping Lebanon neutral,” Rai told reporters at Bkirki after he met with a delegation of local media editors.
Rai added that the dialogue between the two parties, which was launched earlier this month, is not an alternative to the moribund national dialogue between rival politicians, which Rai and several lawmakers wish to resuscitate in order to bridge the gap between the countries' main political factions.
The patriarch has repeatedly urged the international community to convince Israel to fulfill its obligations under U.N. resolutions, particularly those relating to the conflict between the Jewish State and Lebanon. He has said that the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanese territories would deny Hezbollah the pretext to maintain its weapons. Israel continues to occupy the Shebaa Farms, an area claimed by Lebanon.
Hezbollah has said that its arms are the only means of defending Lebanon against Israeli aggression. It has also praised the tripartite formula of the “people, army, and resistance” as the only viable defense strategy.
On Thursday, Rai said that the dialogue between Hezbollah and the Maronite patriarchate also tackled Lebanon’s message of coexistence to the Arab world, adding that he looked forward to the country becoming a strong state.
“We should confront everything that obstructs the establishment of this state, and we should all raise ourselves to the level of the state and not the contrary,” Rai said.
Since becoming patriarch last year, Rai has reached out to Hezbollah, charting a course different from that of his predecessor, former Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, who repeatedly criticized Hezbollah's arms and voiced support for the March 14 coalition.
“I did not say that I fear for the future of Christians in the east but for the future of Christians and Muslims and the east as a whole, because emigration affects all religious communities and is common to both Christians and Muslims,” the patriarch said, clarifying an earlier statement in which he warned that the presence of Christians in the region was threatened.