Higher Islamic Shiite Council Objects to 'State’s Right to Liberate its Land'

The Higher Islamic Shiite Council’s objections against the Christian-Islamic summit’s closing statement reflected the turbulent political situation in Lebanon and raised questions over the possibility of holding another summit in the future, reported As Safir on Friday.

“Should the summit have been held without an agreement being reached or was it better that it not be held at all?” it asked.

The Higher Islamic Shiite Council objected to the closing statement’s position on the conflict with Israel, in that it called it a “Palestinian-Israeli” conflict instead of “Arab-Israeli” conflict.

Such phrasing has never been adopted by Islamic leaderships, especially Dar al-Fatwa and the Shiite and Druze councils, said As Safir.

It pointed out that changes on the final printed version of the closing statement were done with ink, which raises questions that the change was deliberate in order to spark a dispute over this matter.

Another change was made to the statement regarding Lebanon’s role in confronting Israel.

Vice President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan had insisted that the closing statement demand that Lebanon, meaning its people, army, and Resistance, has the right to liberate its land, reported An Nahar on Friday.

The final version stated however that “the Lebanese state has the right to liberate occupied territory.”

This prompted the Higher Islamic Shiite Council to issue its statement in objection to the change, saying that an agreement was reached at the summit that issues of dispute would not be addressed in the closing statement.

It revealed that only matters that had enjoyed consensus at the meeting would be addressed in the final statement.

This raises questions over who decided to include contentious issues in the closing statement and their motivations for such an action, said As Safir.

It also wondered why other religious and political leaderships, including Sunni authorities, Speaker Nabih Berri, Hizbullah, and PSP leader MP Walid Jumblat, did not issue objections over the summit’s closing statement.

The Higher Islamic Shiite Council meanwhile stressed that it was not concerned with the Christian-Islamic summit’s statement.