Maronite Patriarch asks for international help for Lebanon - full statement

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Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and the head of the Maronite Church, gave an overview of the situation in Lebanon on Tuesday evening, explaining that the country needs help from the United Nations and called for a resolution to address the situation in Palestine.

The Patriarch, who is visiting the UK on a trip organised by Fellowship and Aid to the Christians of the East, (FACE) said Lebanon in the past had been "exposed to greed" and was "a venue for wars, hostilities, occupation, assassinations and injustices."

Patriarch al-Rahi told a press conference at Archbishops House, Westminster, that now his country is facing a "demographic problem and an economic problem" due to shocking inflation, and having to take in millions of refugees from Syria and Palestinian which has put a strain on the country.The Patriarch said: "In order to protect Lebanon, keep it secure, stable and united it ought to be removed from regional and international conflicts, while remaining committed to legitimate Arab just causes, particularly the Palestinian cause, and to the United Nations resolutions."

"We ask the United Nations to call for a Special International Conference on Lebanon," he added.

Such a conference, according to Patriarch al-Rahi, would support "devising a solution for the Palestinian problem; the facilitation and encouragement of Syrian repatriation and their assistance in their own country; the declaration of the positive neutrality of Lebanon through a Security Council Declaration."

Patriarch al-Rahi also had some warm words for the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who visited Lebanon in 2012.

Explaining how the speech of any pope "carries a lot of weight," he said: "The pope made three main speeches, besides his sermon. He spoke about the importance of Lebanon and the identity.

"If you read his speeches you will see a lot of his ideas being held [today]. The speeches of any pope in any country have a permanent impact."

Patriarch al-Rahi asked people in the UK to "invest in Lebanon", advocate on the country's behalf, and support a two-state solution in Palestine.

He finished by saying: "I can assure you that the Maronites present throughout the world are carrying the cause of Lebanon with them."

The full text of the Patriarch's statement follows:

1. Lebanon's identity and political system

Lebanon's identity is based on religious cultural and ethnic pluralism. All Christian and Muslim denominations as well as Judaism and those of no religion are living in it peacefully side by side. This pluralism has been, on the one hand, a source of richness for the country, but created, on the other hand, some disharmony in social behaviour. This made of Lebanon a mosaic and a project to be built every day; and it remains liable to experiencing tension and clashes every time one of its components pledges greater allegiance to another country; over and above constant attempts of neighbouring countries to violate its territorial integrity and steel some of its natural resources.

Its pluralistic identity made of Lebanon's political system a parliamentarian democratic republic based on the respect of all public liberties, starting with freedom of conscience, freedom of opinion, social justice and equality in rights and obligations. The tenets of that political system were based on the National Pact which consists in Christians and Muslims co-living, within a balanced participation in government and administration provided that, as stated in the preamble to the Constitution,(j) "There is no legitimacy to any authority contradicting the Charter of co-living." This National Pact started with the independence in 1943 and confirmed in the Taef Agreement in 1989.

The value of the Lebanese political System, with the above mentioned distinctive features, made of it, a venue of encounter, dialogue and effective cooperation between Christianity and Islam and gave it, as an agent of peace, a role to play in the resolution of Arab questions dealing with justice, peace and human rights. Such role could be played by Lebanon because it is unique, in an Arab environment, where countries have one religion and where authority and decision making are in the hands of one person.

The geographic position of Lebanon on the Mediterranean shore, made of it throughout history, a cultural, commercial and economic bridge, between East and west. It introduced the West to the culture of the East, and the East to the cultural realities of the West. We should not forget that the written alphabet originated in Byblos which is presently part of Lebanon.

The Maronites, and especially the graduates of the Maronite College in Rome (1584) were quite instrumental in the cultural exchange and in bringing about the Arab Renaissance, especially through the schools and universities they founded, alongside other people, starting in the sixteenth century. The Maronite Patriarchs, graduates of that College, assisted the Emir Fakr Eddin the Great, in building good commercial, developmental and economic relations with Italy and more specifically with the king of Toscana, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. And in Lebanese monasteries the first printing press in the whole of the East was built.

Lebanon ought to be able to reclaim its role, on the condition that it holds on to its political System mentioned above, and succeed in distancing itself from the conflicts, coalitions and wars, and establishing its sovereignty over the totality of its territory, gathering all illegal arms under the authority of the Lebanese armed forces, and succeeding in maintaining the decision of war and peace in the hands of the government with a two third majority, in accordance with Art. 65/5 of the Constitution.

The difficulties facing Lebanon

The land of Lebanon became, perhaps because of its openness, exposed to greed and a venue for wars, hostilities, occupation, assassinations and injustices. The Lebanese resisted and succeeded in liberating their land and keeping it.

Because of the Palestinian problem which started in 1948, Lebanon has since taken half a million refugees which we refuse to integrate and demand their repatriation and the establishment of a Palestinian State for them.

The presence of more than a million and a half Syrian citizens who emigrated gradually to Lebanon since 2011, multiplied and turned into a heavy burden economically and financially, on a country already in deep crisis have now become a real demographic, political and security threat. We ask that they be repatriated to their country Syria to protect it and rebuild it. We demand also that the international donor agencies offer them assistance inside their own country, not in Lebanon, knowing that they go back and forth to Lebanon through legal and illegal crossings.

Solutions

In order to protect Lebanon, keep it secure, stable and united it ought to be removed from regional and international conflicts, while remaining committed to legitimate Arab just causes, particularly the Palestinian cause, and to the United Nations resolutions and every other humanitarian cause (hence the acceptance of Palestinians and Syrians on its territory).

Lebanon as described in section II is a neutral country. Its neutrality was declared in the 1943 National Pact which said "no to the East and no to the West" and therefore "yes to Lebanon", who establishes good relations with the Eastern Islamic States, without however exposing the Christians to be drowned into the Islamic environment, and equally good relations with the Western world without exposing Muslims to be cut away from their Muslim Arab world. Every time this balance was shaken all of Lebanon shivered.

Lebanon's neutrality was determined by the "Lebanese Parliamentarian Board" in July 1920, composed of the various Christian and Muslim Lebanese denominations, which states: "For the sake of the security of the two neighboring countries, Lebanon and Syria, and the safeguard of their interests and good neighbouring future relations, the political neutrality of Lebanon ought to be guaranteed so that it may neither wage war, nor war be declared on it, and be removed from political interference."

The content of such Declaration ought to be valid for Israel as well, which was established in 1948, that is 28 years after the institution of the State of Greater Lebanon, established on September first 1920, knowing that a cease fire agreement between the two countries was established in 1949.

The United Nations Security Council adopted the "Baabda Declaration" of 2012, declaring in section 12 that "Lebanon should eschew block politics and regional and international conflicts", gave it a serial number and included it among its Declarations, but when some of the signatories felt that it no longer served their own interests they withdrew, thus putting their own interests above the interests of Lebanon.

We ask the United Nations to call for a Special International Conference on Lebanon to deal with the following so called "conflictual issues":

a. The implementation of the Taef Agreement in its spirit and true content.

b. The implementation of the UN Resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701.

c. Devising a solution for the Palestinian problem.

d. The facilitation and encouragement of Syrian repatriation and their assistance in their own country.

e. The declaration of the positive neutrality of Lebanon through a Security Council Declaration