ANSD : Druze up in arms over summit invite

TUE 26 - 11 - 2024

Date: Jan 22, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Druze up in arms over summit invite

_{Emily Lewis & Ghinwa Obeid| The Daily Star}
BEIRUT: The members of Lebanon’s official Druze spiritual leadership Monday decried the invitation of a Druze sheikh from outside their ranks to Sunday’s Arab economic summit, even as the presidency’s media office lauded the summit’s success.

Spiritual Druze affairs in Lebanon are led by Sheikh Naim Hasan, who heads the Druze Spiritual Council, although not all members of the sect see him as their true representative.

The official Druze body said in a statement that Hasan alone should have been invited to the 2019 Arab Economic and Social Development Summit, held in Beirut over the weekend. The Druze leadership objected to the presidency having also invited opposition Druze Sheikh Nasreddine al-Gharib.

Both Hasan and Gharib attended the summit.

According to the official Druze leadership, the president had a “duty to respect and preserve the Constitution and respect coexistence,” and Gharib’s invitation represented “a flagrant violation of national values and a blatant violation of the Constitution, laws and regulations.”

In response, the president’s office issued a statement saying, “The invitation of any religious or nonreligious figure to an official ceremony doesn’t in any way constitute the ‘presidency’s violation of national values.’”

It added: “The presidency is keen on respecting the Constitution, protecting it and applying the laws as much as it is keen on the unity of all Lebanese sects and respects their [leadership] and their representation in official ceremonies.”

The official Druze spiritual leadership also alleged that “some” were attempting to undermine the national unity “that brings Lebanon’s spiritual families together,” saying this had “reached a dangerous level that can no longer be ignored,” implicitly referencing Talal Arslan, the leader of the Lebanese Democratic Party, a Druze political party.

Arslan has on several occasions accused the Druze Spiritual Council of being politically aligned with his rival, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt.

In 2006, Arslan declared Gharib a Druze spiritual leader in opposition to rules announced at the time to organize the sect.

In a tweet Monday, Arslan thanked President Michel Aoun for Gharib’s invitation, saying it demonstrated “the president’s respect for the diversity and democracy” within the sect, and that Aoun would “not submit to a policy of elimination, hegemony and domination” among the Druze people.

Aoun was one of only three heads of state to attend Sunday’s summit, alongside the president of Mauritania and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who visited the summit, though he departed after its opening statements.

However, all Arab League nations, except Libya, sent delegations to the summit.

The North African nation announced it would boycott the economic conference after supporters of Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement tore down and burned a Libyan flag near the summit’s venue and threatened to block the delegation’s route from the airport.

Berri and Amal oppose Lebanon having ties with Libya because of Imam Musa Sadr’s disappearance during an official visit to the country in 1978.

Berri Monday lauded a speech given at the summit by caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, during which he pressed Libya’s current leadership to work to uncover the circumstances behind Sadr’s disappearance.

“His speech reflected that of a statesman, and hopefully he will continue with this spirit,” local daily Al Joumhouria quoted the speaker as saying.

The dearth of heads of state and the controversies aside, Rafik Chelala, the summit’s chief spokesman and the head of the Lebanese presidency’s media office, said the event was a success.

Many important decisions were made during the conference, Chelala said, which had focused on “the human” in relation to agriculture, children, the environment, industry and women.

One key triumph Chelala noted in particular was the launch of an “Arab Bank for Reconstruction and Development,” which Aoun announced during his introductory speech. Aoun called on Arab financial institutions and funds to meet in Beirut in the next three months to put in place a plan to establish the fund, which Chelala said would “help all Arab countries and peoples affected” by war.

Unlike other Arab funds that provide assistance only for a limited period of time, the fund proposed by Aoun would guarantee continuous and sustainable financial support, Chelala added.

Aoun will proffer proposals to kick off its implementation to the Arab League’s Economic and Social Council during another Arab League summit to be held in Tunis in March.

Aoun also proposed that the bank be headquartered in Beirut.

Chelala also pointed out what he claimed was a second major success of the summit: the achievement of a unified Arab stance on refugees.

Tensions ran high just before the event, as Bassil opposed including the word “voluntary” in an agenda item related to refugee returns, while a number of Gulf officials insisted the word remain.

However, the issue was resolved on the sidelines, and in a closing statement, Bassil called on the international community to shoulder its responsibility to address the crisis and promote circumstances that would encourage refugees to return to their homeland, as well as financially assist host countries.

While many states had tried to sideline the issue of refugees after the early dispute, Aoun and Bassil redoubled their efforts to ensure that the representatives came to an understanding on the issue, which Bassil expressed in his closing speech, Chelala said.

Thanks to Lebanon’s insistence, he added, the summit was the first time the refugee issue had been discussed with such clarity.

Not all of the conference’s participants were as satisfied with the summit as Chelala.

A number of journalists complained that they were not able to directly interact with heads of state or delegations at the summit.

In response, Chelala said, “I have participated in more than 18 summits and attended many more. You can never have direct contact ... unless they themselves say they want to have interviews.”

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