Religious summit demands Trump reverse Jerusalem call

Dec. 15, 2017

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s religious leaders gathered at an Islamic-Christian summit Thursday in rejection of United States President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and demanded he reconsider the move.

A final statement issued at the summit carried by the state-run National News Agency said that the American decision harmed what the city of Jerusalem symbolizes, was based on political calculations and “challenged more than 3 billion people,” referring to the global population of Christians and Muslims.

“Arab and international political leaders should work together to pressure the U.S. administration to back away from this decision, which lacks the wisdom that real peacemakers need,” the statement read.

During the summit, held at the seat of the Maronite Church in Bkirki, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai reportedly said that “Trump’s decision is unjust to Palestinians and Arabs, and is contrary to international legitimacy and international law.” He noted that “various parties condemned the decision and rejected it, demanding [that Trump] reconsider it.”

“Most of us have expressed rejection individually or collectively, but today, we express our position together in full view before public opinion and the countries of the world,” local media quoted the patriarch as saying.

He added that it was unfortunate that “the president of a great state” had made such a decision, which Rai said violated the rights of the Palestinian people.

“We do not know if the American people agree with their president’s decision, but we know that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rejected such a decision in 1984,” Rai reportedly said.

“The Catholic bishops conference issued a written declaration rejecting the transfer of the American Embassy to Jerusalem, and said that such a decision is unwise and does not achieve peace.”

Rai went on to express his hope that the U.S. conference of bishops “will support our demands at this spiritual summit, and we will wait for the same position [to be taken] by the Episcopal Conferences in the world.”

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian said at Thursday’s summit that “Trump’s decision is a violation of all divine religions and [a violation of] Arab Muslims and Christians.”

He was quoted by local media as calling for the restoration of Jerusalem’s lands to the Palestinian people, referring to the holy city as “the Arab capital of Arab Palestine.”

Derian said that “We do not just express the opinion of the religious communities in Lebanon, but also the position of all Lebanese people.”

The positions expressed at the summit, he stressed, were a call to all Arabs to reconsider their position and return to “their main cause,” referring to Palestine.

“[This is] because Arabs have no dignity as long as Palestine is usurped and Jerusalem is violated by the Israeli enemy and the American president’s unjust decision,” he said.

“Zionists must know that we will not recognize something called the State of Israel and that we are with the liberation of the land of Palestine,” Derian said.

Vice President of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan said during the summit, “We are one nation, and we ... work in God’s cause to help the oppressed and put an end to injustice.”

“I cannot but thank President Mohammad Michel Aoun and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil for their stance which represents me,” he said, adding Mohammad to the Christian president’s name to mark his promotion of coexistence.

“Lebanon is a small and weak country but strong in its moral and in the unity of its people,” the Shiite leader added.

Addressing Rai, Qabalan said: “Our hand is in yours and our heart with yours, always be with the Lebanese people without distinction or discrimination.”