Several thousand attended Saturday’s rally in Bkirki. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
During a rally attended by thousands on Saturday in Bkirki, Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai delivered an unprecedented speech that could mark a political turning point.
Having criticized Hezbollah much more than other political parties, the patriarch’s speech is likely to further polarize the political debate around the Shiite party.
The noticeable presence of supporters of the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb parties during the rally, shouting the slogans “terrorist Hezbollah” and “Iran out,” further reinforces the risk of division.
Talk has already been sparked about a return to the rifts between the March 8 and March 14 camps, which arose in the aftermath of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and divided politics for years after the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
The Syrian withdrawal was a March 14 victory achieved as a result of the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which was voted in amid favorable international conditions, but also as a result of pressures from Bkirki, led at the time by Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, a fervent opponent of Syria and one of the inspirers of the March 14 camp.
While this coalition has since disappeared as a political force, its shadow hovered over Bkirki on Saturday, with the political parties that once formed it supporting Rai’s approach, albeit to varying degrees.
Oct. 17 uprising revolutionaries who are close to March 14 agree with and support the patriarch in his call for the “liberation of Lebanon,” which is, in their view, held hostage by regional tensions and conflicts. This further exacerbates Hezbollah’s paranoia, as the party fears finding itself alone against all the others.
Bkirki, on the other hand, maintains that the patriarch did not speak in his capacity as the head of the Maronite Church, but rather as a national figure and guarantor of the Lebanese principles, including the principle of neutrality.
Circles close to the patriarch categorically reject any suggestion of renewed polarization, arguing that Rai’s speech was addressed to a pluralistic Lebanon, whose communities all suffer from the same wound.
“The suffering of the Lebanese, including Shiites, is the same,” says Walid Ghayad, the spokesman for Rai.
Old demons
Although Rai was keen to distance himself from the dispute and deliver his speech with a national tone, the patriarch could not escape political labeling.
For the Shiite party, this scene came with a strong sense of déjà vu.
Circles close to Hezbollah remain convinced that the initiative of the head of the Maronite Church will inevitably lead to a replay of the 2005 scenario, with the same slogans and almost the same players.
Through his explicit condemnation of the “two powers within one state,” and Hezbollah’s weapons, the patriarch has awakened old demons for supporters of the Shiite party.
“We are in a climate similar to that which prevailed on the eve of the Civil War. The controversy over Shiites and Christians has already erupted,” says an analyst close to Hezbollah’s circles.
While the Shiite party has yet to officially react to Rai’s speech, it sent a first message on Sunday through its MP Hasan Fadlallah, who once again warned against the “dangers” of the internationalization of the Lebanese conflict.
His remarks aimed to calm the party’s supporters and send Bkirki’s tenants a message about Hezbollah’s concerns.
“To evoke neutrality of Lebanon or talk about an international conference under the UN auspices, as the patriarch has done when the country is neither at war nor under mandate, tutelage or occupation, is heresy,” says a source close to the party.
From Hezbollah’s point of view, the patriarch’s call is not legitimate as it does not stem from “official authorities” and has been formulated “unilaterally and outside of any national agreement.”
“If the patriarch seeks to revive the historical role of Bkirki like his predecessors, [he must know] that the circumstances are [now] different, [and] so is the balance of power,” says an analyst close to Hezbollah.
Avoiding escalation
Hezbollah, however, does not wish to clash with the Maronite patriarch. Despite the verbal escalation — tensions have been mainly engendered by slogans Hezbollah supporters consider offensive — the party has implied it is still open to dialogue. Several sources corroborated this openness to talks.
In fact, for several days now, mediators have been doing the rounds between Bkirki and Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs in a bid to bring the points of view closer together.
Hezbollah has reportedly already sent a positive message in this vein to the patriarch.
The Shiite party, however, cannot openly attack the Maronite Church, as to do so would risk embarrassing its Christian ally, the Free Patriotic Movement. The latter has praised, albeit very timidly, the patriarch’s speech.
Amal, Hezbollah’s partner, has been exercising the same caution; the political bureau of the party seems to have turned a blind eye to Rai’s speech.
Sources close to Amal say that the party’s head, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, is absolutely determined to avoid escalation.
Bkirki, however, indicates that it is aware that the idea of an “international conference” may have given rise to exaggerated fears due to a misinterpretation of its objectives.
“The patriarch’s door is open, and he is ready to discuss [the issue] to clarify his point of view and clear up any misunderstandings. Mgr. Rai’s remarks had no other objective than to find common ground and internal dialogue,” says Ghayad.
It remains difficult, however, to convince Hezbollah that Bkirki advocates any notion of neutrality when Saturday’s speech was interrupted several times by LF participants chanting, at the top of their lungs, slogans hostile to the Shiite party and its protector, Iran.
“Charity begins at home,” quips a source close to the party. “If he truly wanted neutrality, the patriarch would have called for it at home by silencing these slogans,” the source adds.
In response, Bkirki stressed that the patriarch could not interrupt an official ceremony of this scale to get into an argument with the rally’s participants.
“Bkirki condemns any attack on the dignity of any [Lebanese] citizen and does not endorse these slogans in any way,” Ghayad says.