Al-Rahi Calls for Neutral Cabinet to Achieve Reconciliation among Foes

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi demanded on Tuesday the formation of a neutral cabinet to bridge the gap between the March 8 and 14 alliances and achieve reconciliation.

“The March 8 and 14 coalitions sit on one table to save the country,” al-Rahi told reporters at Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport before heading to the Vatican.

He pointed out that a national unity government should be formed after the two sides reach reconciliation and amend the ties.

The Patriarch called on the Lebanese to act responsibly, stressing that there's no need to hold a spiritual summit currently as there are no disputes between Muslim and Christian spiritual leaders.

“The most important matter is to achieve reconciliation between the March 8 and 14 camps in order to maintain Lebanon's highest interest,” al-Rahi said.

He urged both sides to swiftly reach common ground over disputed matter to rectify the situation in the country.

On Sunday, al-Rahi slammed both the March 8 and 14 alliances, in a sermon at Our Lady of Lebanon basilica in Harissa, for “tarnishing Lebanon’s image” and paralyzing state institutions in addition to shoving the country in Syria's crisis.

Al-Rahi praised the role undertaken by President Michel Suleiman, describing him as the “living martyr.”

He pointed out that the Lebanese Army is fully carrying out its duties to maintain security in the country in cooperation with all the “legal” security agencies.

Al-Rahi denounced the killing of four people in eastern Lebanon on Sunday, considering that the “compromises done after each crime as the main reason that nothing is resolve,” calling on “striking with an iron fist” to control the situation across the country.

His remarks came after four people – two from the Jaafar family, one from the Amhaz clan and a Turk whose mother is Shiite - were killed on Sunday in an ambush in a barren terrain near the northeastern towns of al-Qaa and Arsal in the Bekaa valley.

The Jaafar and Amhaz clans are well-known Shiite families in the region of Baalbek and Hermel.

Al-Rahi also criticized the Lebanese judiciary system, saying that the loyalty that some judges have to politicians paralyzed the work of the constitutional council.

Last week, the three council members boycotted for two days in a row the meetings of the 10-member body that should discuss a report drafted by Judge Issam Suleiman on the petitions filed by Suleiman and the Change and Reform bloc challenging the 17-month extension of the parliament.

The lack of quorum would make the 17-month extension law, which was approved by parliament end of May, valid after the end of parliament's mandate this Thursday.