Parolin meets spiritual, political leaders in Bkerki amid Shiite boycott

A “spiritual-national summit” was held Tuesday in Bkerki in the presence of the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, amid an apparent Shiite boycott over recent remarks by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

The summit was attended by al-Rahi, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan, Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Sami Abi al-Mona, Orthodox Armenian Catholicos Aram I, Catholic Armenian Patriarch Raphaël Bedros XXI, Islamic Alawite Council chief Sheikh Ali Qaddour, MP Pierre Bou Assi representing Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, and MP Nadim Gemayel representing Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel.

According to MTV, the summit witnessed a handshake and a conversation between Bassil and Franjieh.

Media reports said the summit tackled the pressing issues in Lebanon and the region, especially “reaching a unified stance on the need to end the presidential crisis and dissociate it from what’s happening in Gaza, in addition to rejecting war and emphasizing the need to keep it away from Lebanon.”

“We are going through a very difficult situation, that’s why we will launch a call and prayer for peace and in rejection of war, seeing as our people cannot bear the consequences of this war,” al-Rahi said during the summit.

Parolin for his part hope there will be solutions in Lebanon while acknowledging the suffering of the Lebanese people.

The summit, which was called for by al-Rahi, was boycotted by Higher Islamic Shiite Council deputy head Sheikh Ali al-Khatib.

Outspoken Shiite cleric Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan meanwhile appeared to explain the reason behind the Shiite boycott.

“Some spiritual leaders in my country see the actions of (the Shiite community) and its resistance fighters as deplorable terrorism that should be deterred and prevented,” Qabalan said.

Al-Rahi had on Sunday that Lebanon should no longer be “a launchpad for terrorist actions that undermine the region’s security and stability.”

Higher Islamic Shiite Council sources told Annahar newspaper that Khatib would boycott the summit “in protest at the stances against the resistance.”

Sources close to Bkerki had clarified, in remarks to al-Jadeed TV, that al-Rahi “has never called Hezbollah terrorist,” and that his remarks were about “the irregular and non-Lebanese factions that launch their operations from Lebanon as if we have returned to the Fatah Land era.”