Ya Libnan

Christian leaders agreed to form a follow up committee

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The Christian political leaders met for the second time under the sponsorship of Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai at Bkirki. Their first meeting was held in April .

Following their Friday meeting, the participants issued a statement calling for partnership between the Christians, equitable public-job distribution between all sects, and the preservation of the land.

The gathering also discussed studies on Christian participation in public administration, the statement added.

An agreement was reached to form a committee to follow up “on all matters that are important for Lebanon and the Christians’ role in the country ,monitor the cooperation between them, Bishop Samir Mazloum who read the summit’s closing statement said.

The meeting was attended by 34 MPS and the leading Christian leaders, including former MP Nayla Mouawad , Former Lebanese president and current Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea , Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh

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22 responses to “Christian leaders agreed to form a follow up committee”

  1. josephphdman Avatar
    josephphdman

    this is agood positive meeting ,these leaders are meeting to form a committy to look after the lebaneese people problems and help the community, regardless of faith ,  so this a positive  move ;all lebaneese leaders should meet the same way and work harder on resolving the social and economic issues , and help  improve the state ,to  become a better place  to live for the lebaneese people.

  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    this is agood positive meeting ,these leaders are meeting to form a committy to look after the lebaneese people problems and help the community, regardless of faith ,  so this a positive  move ;all lebaneese leaders should meet the same way and work harder on resolving the social and economic issues , and help  improve the state ,to  become a better place  to live for the lebaneese people.

  3. In_a_Mosh Avatar
    In_a_Mosh

    on the whole, I am against religious leaders getting involved in politics, but I guess in lebanon the two are inseprable- for now at least.

    Also, I am against alliances being formed along sectarian lines as that is the root of the lebanese problem imo.

    having said all that, I’m gonna go against my principals and give these meetings my blessing (for what it’s worth), as I think all lebanese parties should interact a lot more in an effort to bring lebanese society together.

    another point to make, I am anti M8 and M14 as I don’t trust their leaderships. But I like a lot of the principals of FPM, without liking their personnel or their relationship with Syria/ Iran. I also think that a new leadership should arise to lead the country into a better future, and my view is that this new leadership must come from M14 as they’re more open to the rest of the world than M8 are. FPM may hold the keys to a better future if they can manage to get over Aoun’s personal ambitions and seriously consider what the country needs. a new leadership for FPM may not be on the agenda, but I think they should consider a new leader that can bring them back into the M14 camp, and work on cutting out the corruption throughout public service from within.

  4. Avatar
    Anonymous

    on the whole, I am against religious leaders getting involved in politics, but I guess in lebanon the two are inseprable- for now at least.

    Also, I am against alliances being formed along sectarian lines as that is the root of the lebanese problem imo.

    having said all that, I’m gonna go against my principals and give these meetings my blessing (for what it’s worth), as I think all lebanese parties should interact a lot more in an effort to bring lebanese society together.

    another point to make, I am anti M8 and M14 as I don’t trust their leaderships. But I like a lot of the principals of FPM, without liking their personnel or their relationship with Syria/ Iran. I also think that a new leadership should arise to lead the country into a better future, and my view is that this new leadership must come from M14 as they’re more open to the rest of the world than M8 are. FPM may hold the keys to a better future if they can manage to get over Aoun’s personal ambitions and seriously consider what the country needs. a new leadership for FPM may not be on the agenda, but I think they should consider a new leader that can bring them back into the M14 camp, and work on cutting out the corruption throughout public service from within.

  5. Avatar
    Anonymous

    on the whole, I am against religious leaders getting involved in politics, but I guess in lebanon the two are inseprable- for now at least.

    Also, I am against alliances being formed along sectarian lines as that is the root of the lebanese problem imo.

    having said all that, I’m gonna go against my principals and give these meetings my blessing (for what it’s worth), as I think all lebanese parties should interact a lot more in an effort to bring lebanese society together.

    another point to make, I am anti M8 and M14 as I don’t trust their leaderships. But I like a lot of the principals of FPM, without liking their personnel or their relationship with Syria/ Iran. I also think that a new leadership should arise to lead the country into a better future, and my view is that this new leadership must come from M14 as they’re more open to the rest of the world than M8 are. FPM may hold the keys to a better future if they can manage to get over Aoun’s personal ambitions and seriously consider what the country needs. a new leadership for FPM may not be on the agenda, but I think they should consider a new leader that can bring them back into the M14 camp, and work on cutting out the corruption throughout public service from within.

  6. ghzayel Avatar
    ghzayel

    Letter to his Holiness the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al Rai,
     
    Your Holiness,

    I would like to bring to your attention the difficult political and economic situations the lebanese people and the Christians in particular have been experiencing  for quite some time; a situation that is provoking massive sell outs of lands to non Christian buyers coupled with a  renewed wave of emigration mostly to western countries.

    According to the latest synod that was held in Rome, which you are fully aware of, the number of Christians living in the Middle East and specifically in Lebanon is steadily and alarmingly declining.

    Having mentioned that, it is not my intention here to jump to conclusions and advocate drastic measures geared at preventing the Christians from selling their properties to whomever they want.

    these measures will  do nothing more than increase people’s burden and panic, especially  if they are not accompanied by a series of incentives to make Christian land owners willingly change their mind.

    nevertheless and in order to consider any solution to this dilemma, I will try to briefly highlight some of the most important reasons behind this shift in the lebanese Christian demographics and why Christians are opting for the final emigration solution:

    1- the Christians in Lebanon are getting to the point of losing hope in a great number of their current representatives as being able to carry their grievances to the proper local and international decision makers.

    Your holiness as well as most of the other Christian religious leaders are receiving on a daily basis the complaints of the Christian population, among others, and trying so far unsuccessfully, to relay the message to the political leadership that seems impervious to your repetitive calls.  

    what is making the situation worse for the Christians in lebanon is the paralysis of their diametrically opposed political leaderships since they are split between those who represent most of  the aspirations of the population but somehow are failing miserably to carry their message to a fruitful conclusion and those who got elected on the premises of promoting the welfare of the Christians but once elected, switched 180 degrees and started promoting different agendas  sometimes totally foreign to the needs and wants of the Christian population.

    2- We all know the Lebanese government was always lacking behind in terms of services offered to its citizens but while for most of the other Lebanese, it is business as usual to rely respectively and  exclusively on their sectarian political leaders and their different foreign sponsor countries and institutions to support them economically, financially, militarily and ideologically and fill in the government gap, the Christians in Lebanon, as Christians per say, do not have any similar significant internal or external support to remedy this gap.

     Most of the Christian representatives or leaders, operating with a guilt complex of not being patriotic or not serving Arab or regional  causes enough and with the fear of being labeled traitors by some other Lebanese, if they reach out to western countries, are acting  a lot of times contrary to the mandate they were given by their Christian constituents.  

    3- The Christians, who founded the modern country of Lebanon, do not feel secure in their own country anymore while some illegal armed and uncontrolled groups of Shias and Palestinians continue running their own states within the state, constantly challenging the basic foundations of the central government.

     Consequently, growing numbers of Lebanese Christians are considering selling their properties and rejoining their families conveniently settled abroad after witnessing helplessly the disintegration of their government day by day, realizing the military establishment is unable or unwilling  to spread  its authority except on a reduced area of the country, while lawlessness is becoming a daily event  throughout the remaining territories.

    For all these reasons, we feel it is about time for a concerted effort with the help of the Vatican, the concerned western nations and the United Nations organization to safeguard the Christians in Lebanon from the tragic fate that befell to their Christian brothers in several countries in the Middle East. 

    While we are grateful to the efforts of your holiness to bring the” Christian political leaders” together at a round table of negotiations in Bkirki, we feel imperative to have a referendum done as soon as possible covering the Christian lebanese population, inside and outside the country, to determine their true aspirations.

     This referendum could serve as an important basis for future nationwide dialogue in order to come up with appropriate solutions benefitting not only the Christians but the majority of the Lebanese as well.   

    The main objectives for the referendum would be to clarify the ambiguous stand of the Christian Lebanese population as portrayed wrongly by some of their current leaders and provide accurate answers regarding:

    1-      How the Christians in Lebanon consider the Taef agreement and its faithful implementation?

    2-      How the Christians perceive the United Nations resolutions pertaining to Lebanon and their implementation on the ground?

    3-      How they regard their relation with their neighbors and the world or the lack of it starting with Syria, the Arab countries, Iran, Israel, the Vatican, the west the United Nations and the rest of the world?

    4-      What needs to be done to curtail the Lebanese emigration and how to assist the Christians to remain in their home land?

    5-      How to start a reverse immigration process from overseas to Lebanon and bring back the large number of Christian expatriates to the land of their ancestors?

     Your Holiness, we need Your help to spread our aspirations around in the religious and  diplomatic circles in Lebanon and overseas and would like you to consider adopting a similar proposal on the next Bkirki meeting.

    Thank you for all the care and attention you devote to our beloved Lebanon.

    1. libnan1 Avatar
      libnan1

      @ghzayel:disqus  bravo…. Even though we have different political points of view, I strongly agree with you about the preservation of our Christian presence in Lebanon and the coexistence with Muslims. 

      1. ghzayel Avatar
        ghzayel

        we should not let the diversity of the christian lebanese opinions be perceived by some as a sign of weakness.

        i personally do not believe that the opinions of the christian lebanese, if given the opportunity to express these opinions freely, like in a referendum for example, would differ as much as the “leaders” would like them to believe so.

        anyways, if the referendum is done and after finding first hand what the majority of the christians truly wants, the results of such referendum or vox populi should be adopted by any christian “leader” as inescapable guiding principles on which to build his future political decisions.    

      2. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        Yes, bravo … ghzayel makes an attempt – as more should. Difficult as it seems that a ‘turn-the-other-cheek’ religion might find coexistence with a ‘anyone-not-us-should-die’ religion, it HAS been possible over many more millennia than it hasn’t – not that anyone seems to care to read the ancient history of that end of the Mediterranean any more.
        Get all the bloody religions OUT of government and politics and run a country FOR the benefit of ALL it’s citizens – with freedom to practice bowing to whatever god they choose. Then you might have a better chance of keeping them around … perhaps even until the next evolutionary changes.

    2. libnan1 Avatar
      libnan1

      @ghzayel:disqus  bravo…. Even though we have different political points of view, I strongly agree with you about the preservation of our Christian presence in Lebanon and the coexistence with Muslims. 

      1. ghzayel Avatar
        ghzayel

        we should not let the diversity of the christian lebanese opinions be perceived by some as a sign of weakness.

        i personally do not believe that the opinions of the christian lebanese, if given the opportunity to express these opinions freely, like in a referendum for example, would differ as much as the “leaders” would like them to believe so.

        anyways, if the referendum is done and after finding first hand what the majority of the christians truly wants, the results of such referendum or vox populi should be adopted by any christian “leader” as inescapable guiding principles on which to build his future political decisions.    

    3. Michael Avatar
      Michael

      I am very happy to see this,I really believe and always said dialogue is the key to our internal problems,

      but my question is if geagea gmayel,franjeih and aoun can find a way to sit together,than whats the problem

      for the whole representations of both sides to sit together…..if they can do it for the greater gain of the cause

      and ther religon,than why cant all do it for the greater cause of there nation,whats next the shia will have a

      sit down forum, than sunnies,than druze,than the armenians,and than finally and just maybe the nation as

      one…..once again this just shows whn politicians want to set there differnces aside and sit and talk they can

      make it happen,but for example if Berri issues a parlimnentary meeting on the 8th of june most sides reject

      that idea,makes no sense…any opportunity you have to sit and talk should not be waisted,cause one day

      god forbid if civil strife breaks out,all these leaders are gonna wish they can go back in time and sit and talk…

      This is a good start and bravo for al rahi on accomplishing this,but lets start reconciling people of a nation

      and not just ones faith in the nation….Good Day

      1. ghzayel Avatar
        ghzayel

        michael,

        in order to find a solution to the complex lebanese political problems and if we want to facilitate the task ahead, we have to start analyzing each segment of the population separately.
         
        in a sectarian system composed mainly of christians, shias, sunnis and druze, and since the christians, being currently the weakest link, are the most negatively affected by the current chaotic situation and since they are the ones selling and emigrating the most, so the logic would dictate they should be the ones that need the most attention right now; this exercise, if successful, could be later on generalized to encompass all the other lebanese partners nationwide .      
           

  7. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Letter to his Holiness the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al Rai,
     Your Holiness,
    I would like to bring to your attention the difficult political and economic situations the lebanese people and the Christians in particular have been experiencing  for quite some time; a situation that is provoking massive sell outs of lands to non Christian buyers coupled with a  renewed wave of emigration mostly to western countries.
    According to the latest synod that was held in Rome, which you are fully aware of, the number of Christians living in the Middle East and specifically in Lebanon is steadily and alarmingly declining.
    Having mentioned that, it is not my intention here to jump to conclusions and advocate drastic measures geared at preventing the Christians from selling their properties to whomever they want.
    these measures will  do nothing more than increase people’s burden and panic, especially  if they are not accompanied by a series of incentives to make Christian land owners willingly change their mind.nevertheless and in order to consider any solution to this dilemma, I will try to briefly highlight some of the most important reasons behind this shift in the lebanese Christian demographics and why Christians are opting for the final emigration solution: 1- the Christians in Lebanon are getting to the point of losing hope in a great number of their current representatives as being able to carry their grievances to the proper local and international decision makers.
    Your holiness as well as most of the other Christian religious leaders are receiving on a daily basis the complaints of the Christian population, among others, and trying so far unsuccessfully, to relay the message to the political leadership that seems impervious to their repetitive calls.  what is making the situation worse for the Christians in lebanon is the paralysis of their diametrically opposed political leaderships since they are split between those who represent most of  the aspirations of the population but somehow are failing miserably to carry their message to a fruitful conclusion and those who got elected on the premises of promoting the welfare of the Christians but once elected, switched 180 degrees and started promoting different agendas  sometimes totally foreign to the needs and wants of the Christian population.2- We all know the Lebanese government was always lacking behind in terms of services offered to its citizens but while for most of the other Lebanese, it is business as usual to rely respectively and  exclusively on their sectarian political leaders and their different foreign sponsor countries and institutions to support them economically, financially, militarily and ideologically and fill in the government gap, the Christians in Lebanon, as Christians per say, do not have any similar significant internal or external support to remedy this gap.
     Most of the Christian representatives or leaders, operating with a guilt complex of not being patriotic or not serving Arab or regional  causes enough and with the fear of being labeled traitors by some other Lebanese, if they reach out to western countries, are acting  a lot of times contrary to the mandate they were given by their Christian constituents.  3- The Christians, who founded the modern country of Lebanon, do not feel secure in their own country anymore while some illegal armed and uncontrolled groups of Shias and Palestinians continue running their own states within the state, constantly challenging the basic foundations of the central government.
     Consequently, growing numbers of Lebanese Christians are considering selling their properties and rejoining their families conveniently settled abroad after witnessing helplessly the disintegration of their government day by day, realizing the military establishment is unable or unwilling  to spread  its authority except on a reduced area of the country, while lawlessness is becoming a daily event  throughout the remaining territories.For all these reasons, we feel it is about time for a concerted effort with the help of the Vatican, the concerned western nations and the United Nations organization to safeguard the Christians in Lebanon from the tragic fate that befell to their Christian brothers in several countries in the Middle East. 
    While we are grateful to the efforts of your holiness to bring the” Christian political leaders” together at a round table of negotiations in Bkirki, we feel imperative to have a referendum done as soon as possible covering the Christian lebanese population, inside and outside the country, to determine their true aspirations.
     This referendum could serve as an important basis for future nationwide dialogue in order to come up with appropriate solutions benefitting not only the Christians but the majority of the Lebanese as well.   
    The main objectives for the referendum would be to clarify the ambiguous stand of the Christian Lebanese population as portrayed wrongly by some of their current leaders and provide accurate answers regarding:
    1-      How the Christians in Lebanon consider the Taef agreement and its faithful implementation?
    2-      How the Christians perceive the United Nations resolutions pertaining to Lebanon and their implementation on the ground?
    3-      How they regard their relation with their neighbors and the world or the lack of it starting with Syria, the Arab countries, Iran, Israel, the Vatican, the west the United Nations and the rest of the world?
    4-      What needs to be done to curtail the Lebanese emigration and how to assist the Christians to remain in their home land?
    5-      How to start a reverse immigration process from overseas to Lebanon and bring back the large number of Christian expatriates to the land of their ancestors?
     Your Holiness, we need Your help to spread our aspirations around in the religious and  diplomatic circles in Lebanon and overseas and would like you to consider adopting a similar proposal on the next Bkirki meeting.
    Thank you for all the care and attention you devote to our beloved Lebanon.

    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      @ghzayel:disqus  bravo…. Even though we have different political points of view, I strongly agree with you about the preservation of our Christian presence in Lebanon and the coexistence with Muslims. 

      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        we should not let the diversity of the christian lebanese opinions be perceived by some as a sign of weakness.

        i personally do not believe that the opinions of the christian lebanese, if given the opportunity to express these opinions freely, like in a referendum for example, would differ as much as the “leaders” would like them to believe so.

        anyways, if the referendum is done and after finding first hand what the majority of the christians truly wants, the results of such referendum or vox populi should be adopted by any christian “leader” as inescapable guiding principles on which to build his future political decisions.    

      2. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Yes, bravo … ghzayel makes an attempt – as more should. Difficult as it seems that a ‘turn-the-other-cheek’ religion might find coexistence with a ‘anyone-not-us-should-die’ religion, it HAS been possible over many more millennia than it hasn’t – not that anyone seems to care to read the ancient history of that end of the Mediterranean any more.
        Get all the bloody religions OUT of government and politics and run a country FOR the benefit of ALL it’s citizens – with freedom to practice bowing to whatever god they choose. Then you might have a better chance of keeping them around … perhaps even until the next evolutionary changes.

    2. Michael Avatar
      Michael

      I am very happy to see this,I really believe and always said dialogue is the key to our internal problems,

      but my question is if geagea gmayel,franjeih and aoun can find a way to sit together,than whats the problem

      for the whole representations of both sides to sit together…..if they can do it for the greater gain of the cause

      and ther religon,than why cant all do it for the greater cause of there nation,whats next the shia will have a

      sit down forum, than sunnies,than druze,than the armenians,and than finally and just maybe the nation as

      one…..once again this just shows whn politicians want to set there differnces aside and sit and talk they can

      make it happen,but for example if Berri issues a parlimnentary meeting on the 8th of june most sides reject

      that idea,makes no sense…any opportunity you have to sit and talk should not be waisted,cause one day

      god forbid if civil strife breaks out,all these leaders are gonna wish they can go back in time and sit and talk…

      This is a good start and bravo for al rahi on accomplishing this,but lets start reconciling people of a nation

      and not just ones faith in the nation….Good Day

      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        michael,

        in order to find a solution to the complex lebanese political problems and if we want to facilitate the task ahead, we have to start analyzing each segment of the population separately.
         
        in a sectarian system composed mainly of christians, shias, sunnis and druze, and since the christians, being currently the weakest link, are the most negatively affected by the current chaotic situation and since they are the ones selling and emigrating the most, so the logic would dictate they should be the ones that need the most attention right now; this exercise, if successful, could be later on generalized to encompass all the other lebanese partners nationwide .      
           

  8. PROPHET.T Avatar
    PROPHET.T

    I dream of a day where we don’t  hear that  “Christian leader(s)”  or “Muslim leader(s)”  said this  or did that.
    I drean of a day  where  we only  hear “lebanese leaders”or “a lebanese politician” or this  party leader  or that , did this or  said that.
    would this  dream  ever  come  true? Even Prophets  dream of what they  can’t  predict ,when it  comes to a country  like lebanon.lol

  9. PROPHET.T Avatar
    PROPHET.T

    I dream of a day where we don’t  hear that  “Christian leader(s)”  or “Muslim leader(s)”  said this  or did that.
    I drean of a day  where  we only  hear “lebanese leaders”or “a lebanese politician” or this  party leader  or that , did this or  said that.
    would this  dream  ever  come  true? Even Prophets  dream of what they  can’t  predict ,when it  comes to a country  like lebanon.lol

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