We Do Not Want Lebanon to Be Outside of Lebanon
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said Thursday the message behind his statements was for a Lebanon that handles its own affairs and is not subjected to outside interferences.
Sfeir”s remarks came a day after Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah strongly criticized the patriarch for a pre-elections statement in which the latter warned that "Lebanon”s entity and Arab identity will be in danger" should the opposition win.
While he did not mention Nasrallah”s speech, Sfeir said: "We regret that matters had to reach this point.
"But in the elections some were winners and others were losers. Of course the loser will devise excuses to justify his loss," he told visiting Phalange party member Sajaan Qazzi, who deplored Nasrallah”s speech.
Standing by his statements, Sfeir said: "We said what we said with the certainty that Lebanon has a past, a history and a future. Lebanon will remain true to its identity thanks to the determination of its people. We do not want Lebanon to be outside of Lebanon."
"We said we do not want Lebanon to go East nor West … but we want it to handle its own affairs and be a meeting point of East and West," he added.
Sfeir said some sides wanted Lebanon to be aligned only with the East. "We told those that Lebanon is Lebanon. It will not be with the East or the West."
"Some did not like what we said, while others did. This is politics and we do not want to go into that," he said, adding that it was the patriarchy”s "duty to say what”s white is white and what”s black is black."