Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday lashed out at those who are “undermining Lebanon’s ties with the world, paralyzing the judiciary and impeding the government.”

“Wasting time and not solving the crisis with the Gulf countries plunges us into an exhausting economic and social crisis that would harm the interests of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon.

“Resolving the crisis with the Gulf with national courage does not harm Lebanon’s dignity; subjecting the Lebanese to expulsion, poverty, need and isolation is what harms dignity, pride and sovereignty,” the patriarch added.

He also noted that “the soaring dollar exchange rate is what is harming dignity and humiliating citizens.”

“No party has the right to impose its will on the Lebanese, undermine Lebanon’s ties with the world, paralyze the judiciary and impede the government, and officials do not have the right to stand idly by in the face of all of this while begging for the approval of this or that group. This is the loss of dignity and humiliation itself,” al-Rahi said.

“What logic allows for freezing the government’s work and the international reforms and negotiations?” al-Rahi wondered, pointing out that “everything happening today totally contradicts with our democratic system” and stressing that “the majority of the Lebanese people want to exit the atmosphere of strife and conflict and to enter the world of peace.”

“What do we have to do with the conflict of nations and axes and what do we have to do with deciding the fate of the other peoples while we are unable to decide our own fate?” al-Rahi asked.

He also noted that “if some consider neutrality to be a heavy burden, we see it as the solution for Lebanon’s salvation.”

Source: Naharnet.com