Sleiman Frangieh (L) meeting Samir Geagea (R) in Bkirki, Lebanon in presence of Patriarch Rahi (C) Frangieh and Geagea's reconciliation ending four decades of enmity between the two parties Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Sleiman Frangieh of the Marada Party shook hands wednesday, ending four decades of enmity between the two parties. Nov. 15, 2018 BEIRUT: "Lebanon is a need of a national unity, which cannot be achieved unless our Maronite components are reconciled," Rai said, according to An-Nahar newspaper. “We stress the reconciliation today, and we will move forward together with the Lebanese people,” Rai said in a speech before he and the two political leaders withdrew into the private meeting. Geagea and Frangieh met in the past, but Wednesday marked the end of a rivalry tainted with blood. In 1978, members of the main Christian militia killed Frangieh's father, Tony, as well as his mother and sister and 30 Marada fighters and supporters. Frangieh, who was a child at the time of the massacre in Ehden, was not home. Geagea led the raid in the mountain resort town but was seriously wounded and withdrew from the operation. The Frangieh family has for decades blamed Geagea for the murders, but he claims he was injured before the killings and they were carried out before his arrival. Geagea and Frangieh have stood on opposite ends of the political aisle since 1990. The LF is part of the pro-Western March 14 coalition and is strongly opposed to Syrian influence within Lebanon. The Marada Movement is part of the pro-Syria, pro-Hozballah March 8 coalition. A joint statement from Geagea and Frangieh detailing the reconciliation was later read by a Maronite bishop. “The Marada Movement and the Lebanese Forces expressed their willingness to turn the page on the past and head toward a new future for Lebanon’s best interest,” the statement read. Frangieh’s son, MP Tony Frangieh, told reporters that “martyrs fell for the unity of Lebanon, and it is our duty to maintain this unity.” Reconciliation was “the only way to turn the page [on the past]. This is a national reconciliation for all Lebanese people. And its timing shows that it was not made for a particular [political] reason,” the MP added. Wednesday's reconciliation between Geagea and Frangieh also comes amid worsening relations between the LF and Marada Movement on one hand and the Free Patriotic Movement on the other. The FPM is Lebanon's largest Christian party and was founded by the country's current president Michel Aoun. Sami Nader But Sami Nader, a political analyst and director of Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, said the timing of the reconciliation had a definite political element to it. “Both Geagea and Frangieh are trying to contain the dominance of the Free Patriotic Movement as a major representative of the Christians,” he told press. “In terms of timing, it comes after the FPM improved itself as the prime stakeholder – it also proves that the Maarab understanding did not achieve its objective, mainly when it comes to the Lebanese Forces’ representation in the government,” he said. Amer Mashmoushi Political analyst Amer Mashmoushi said that, while Geagea and Frangieh had been working on reconciliation for years, “it was expedited by Geagea’s disagreement with Aoun.” In a tweet Wednesday, FPM leader Gebran Bassil, who is also Aoun’s son-in-law, acknowledged the former Army general had influenced the meeting. Bassil congratulated the LF and Marada on their reconciliation, “which came to heal 40-year-old wounds and to continue the path toward reconciliation that began with the return of General [Aoun to Lebanon] in 2005.” Meanwhile Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri tweeted: “The reconciliation between the Lebanese Forces and the Marada Movement is a fresh page that turns past pages of pain, hostility and tension.” Former President Amine Gemayel, the brother of slain Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel, also sent his congratulations to Frangieh and Geagea, “with hope that it establishes a general approach at the national level to heal wounded Lebanon and comfort its good and repressed people.” The meeting is the latest postwar reconciliation effort, after the 2016 meet between Geagea and Aoun, and the reconciliation between the Druze sect and the Maronite Church in 2001. At that time, former Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir made a historic visit to Chouf, known locally as the Mountain, and met with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt. |