Beirut
(AsiaNews) - Two of the highest religious authority in Lebanon, the Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai and the Grand Mufti Mohammed
Rashid Qabbani have intervened to demand politicians overcome their
divisions to
elect the President of the Republic, vacant since May 25.
Card. Rai, in his homily at Mass celebrated yesterday
in Diman appealed for a head of state who does not belong to the opposing coalitions of '"March 8"
and "March 14". He noted "as long as the March 14 coalition will not
allow the March 8 candidate to reach the presidential post and vise versa, then
we should choose a head of state not affiliated to both alliances".
And given that the parliament has met in vain nine
times to try to elect a successor to President Michel Suleiman, but in the last eight sessions did not even reach quorum,
the cardinal strongly criticized MPs
for violating the Constitution, in
failing to elect a new president, accusing the Speaker of the
House Nabih Berri of failing to convene parliamentary sessions.
"The parliament should meet and elect a head of state."
For his part, today, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed
Rashid Qabbani in
his sermon for Eid al-Fitr in the Mohammed al-Amin mosque in Beirut blamed
"Lebanese politicians" of
being "victims of arrogance and sectarianism in all things", calling
for the election of a president and the
holding of parliamentary elections after an agreement on an
electoral law that represent all
groups and not just the majority.
"The Lebanese, Arabs and Muslims
are well aware of what these division have cost us, we have paid
a heavy price." "Palestine
- he added - has been lost because of our weakness and our divisions."
Speaking to Arabs and Muslims, Qabbani asked: "What have you done
to resist the Zionist enemy?"
and he also called for a "Jihad
to liberate the occupied
territories."
Finally, referring to the situation in Mosul, Qabbani argued that the persecution of Christians there is unrelated to Islam.