Sfeir warns against “widening gap” in Lebanon

 

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir urged politicians Sunday to find “common ground” for agreement in order for Lebanon to avoid plunging into more chaos and violence.

 

“On February 14 we saw two distinct scenes which reflect the widening gap among the Lebanese,” Sfeir said during the weekly Sunday mass at the Notre Dame Church in Bkirki.

 

On Thursday, hundreds of thousands of pro-government supporters rallied in Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut to mark the three-year anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, while Hizbullah held a massive funeral for Imad Mughniyeh, a top commander assassinated in Damascus last week.

 

“The gap between various Lebanese groups is widening by the day … and politicians are urged to settle their differences before a disaster takes place,” Sfeir said.

 

Meanwhile, Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani on Sunday discussed with Muslim religious leaders the possibility of holding a joint summit to consider the “serious situation” in Lebanon.

 

Sheikh Qabbani also discussed with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces General Michel Suleiman recent rioting in Beirut, according to a report distributed by the state-run National News Agency.

 

Qabbani stressed that criminals should not enjoy impunity, adding that “what has happened should not be repeated.”

 

Clashes erupted in the Lebanese capital late Saturday between supporters of ruling majority leader MP Saad HaririSaad-Hariri-Profile Sep-07  and followers of the opposition Shiite Amal movement.

 

Rioters threw stones at each other and the Lebanese Army has been deployed in the Ras al-Nabeh neighborhood to contain the violence. Similar clashes over the past week between supporters of the government and the opposition have raised tensions in a country already embroiled in its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 Civil War.
 

“What happens in the capital reflects on Lebanon,” Qabbani said.

 

Also commenting on Saturday”s incidents, vice president of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan warned against street clashes saying that such clashes “are likely to have drastic repercussions on the overall situation in Lebanon.”

 

“We urge all parties not to take to the street because brothers do not fight,” Qabalan said in a statement on Sunday.

 

Qabalan also urged politicians to put an end to the continuing political bickering “and find a conclusive solution to Lebanon”s crisis.”

 

“Let us learn from past lessons and avoid for our children and the next generations all the atrocities we have lived and encountered,” he added.

 

Tackling the 14-month-old political deadlock in Lebanon, Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said Arab countries should start by settling their differences before attempting to help Lebanon solve the impasse.

 

“Those who are unable to arrange the Arab home are unable to arrange the Lebanese and Palestinians homes,” Fadlallah said in a statement on Sunday.

 

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is leading mediation efforts to help solve the crisis in Lebanon.

 

A three-point Arab League plan to solve the crisis in Lebanon calls for the immediate election of Lebanese Army Commander General Michel Suleiman, the formation of a national unity government and the drafting of a new electoral law.