Al-Rahi meets Abi al-Mona as he tours Chouf, Aley on reconciliation anniversary
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi started Friday a tour to the Chouf and Aley regions on the anniversary of the 2001 Mountain Reconciliation.
After meeting Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Sami Abi al-Mona in the town of Chanay, al-Rahi highlighted the diversity of Lebanon.
"Lebanon cannot be a land of diversity, unity, and openness without being neutral," he said.
For his part, Abi al-Mona said that Druze and Christians "hand in hand, will set the (Chouf) Mountains as a good example for all of Lebanon, from Chanay to Barouk, Baakleen and al-Mukhtara," as he offered to al-rahi the Key of the town of Chanay.
In August 2001, late Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir brokered a historic reconciliation between Maronites and Druze, who fought a war in 1983. He later toured the predominantly Druze Chouf region of Mount Lebanon and visited al-Mukhtara.
Abi al-Mona and Al-Rahi visited Friday al-Barouk and the Maronite Diocese in Beiteddine, before heading to Baakline and later to al-Mukhtara, where they will meet with former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jubmlat and head of the Democratic Gathering bloc Taimour Jumblat.
Al-Rahi had said that if a Lebanese dialogue happens in spite of the bickering, it would require going to it without prejudgments nor the will to impose ideas, projects and viewpoints, which some interpreted as a call for parliamentary blocs to engage in a seven-day dialogue proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri, and rejected by the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb party.
"Dialogue is a means and not a goal," Abi al-Mona said from Baakline, calling for a dialogue that aims at breaking the impasse and reaching a consensus.
"Why don't we call for it, not to bypass the constitution, but for the beauty of consensus," he said.
Source: Naharnet
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