A view of Qornet al-Sawda. (Courtesy of: Samih Zaatar)
BEIRUT — This month's deadly shooting at Qornat al-Sawda is a "separate issue" from an ongoing water and land dispute between residents of Bsharri and Dinnieh, several northern MPs, along with mayors and mukhtars from Dinnieh, urged in a statement on Sunday.
They also called for "coexistence" between local residents after the incident raised fears of sectarian tensions.
“The first issue is the killing of Haitham Tawk, who was the victim of an armed clash, and we are waiting for the investigations to show the truth of what happened, and the killing of Malek Tawk, who was killed as a result of a clash with the Lebanese army,” the statement said.
Both Haitham and Malek, who were brothers, were from Bsharri.
“The second issue is the issue of the dispute between Bsharri and Dinnieh, which escalated from a mere disagreement over the use of snow water and livestock grazing [areas], to a dispute over the ownership of the land,” the statement went on.
Residents from Bsharri and from Bqaa Safrin in Dinnieh have often engaged in armed disputes over water and land, though the firefight on July 1, in which brothers Haitham and Malek Tawk were killed, appears to be the first time they resulted in deaths.
The statement added that the disputed administrative borders between Dinnieh and Bsharri were already "defined according to fixed and documented maps ... and this is not a subject of discussion."
“We believe that what lies behind [the linking of the two incidents] is a dangerous matter that brings strife between the two regions, and we unanimously agree to end it and stick to coexistence with our people in Bsharri,” the statement warned.
“We condemn the political and religious interference and the pressure on the judiciary to take decisions and positions that have nothing to do with the truth and reality," the signatories added, saying they were upset over the recent suspension of a committee tasked with resolving the land ownership disputes that led to the deadly fighting.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced earlier this month that he suspended the work of the committee he had appointed immediately after the killings to resolve land and water disputes in Qornet al-Sawda.
The announcement came after several parties, including Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces (LF), criticized Mikati's approach given that he heads a caretaker cabinet that is not fully empowered amid the country's ongoing presidential vacuum.
Meanwhile, Bsharri MPs Sethrida Geagea and Melhem Tawk said Mikati's commissioning of the committee "constitutes a flagrant violation of the principle of separation of powers."