Al-Rahi Urges Officials to Heed Suleiman’s Call to Resume National Dialogue

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged on Sunday the participants of the national dialogue to assume their “historic responsibilities” towards their country.

He called on them during his Sunday sermon “to heed President Michel Suleiman’s invitation to attend the national dialogue session where they can tackle all pending issues, which are at the heart of the chaos in our state institutions.”

“Division leads to chaos and misery. This is our tragedy in Lebanon and the Arab world,” he added.

“At the heart of division lies unilateral decision-making and lack of understanding over decisions,” he continued.

“At the heart of division lies the hegemony of a group, whether it is a party or movement. At the heart of division lie personal goals and hidden ones that contradict join ones,” noted the patriarch.

“At the heart of division lies money, power, and weapons,” al-Rahi declared.

“We all belong to one family of diverse members, who are all equal before the law and state duties,” he stressed.

The March 14 camp recently announced its boycott of the national dialogue over the failure to hand over telecom data linked to various assassination attempts to the security forces.

President Michel Suleiman is exerting efforts to resume the dialogue, set for August 16, amid reports that the data has indeed been handed to the concerned powers.