REPORT: Patriarch Rai marks 15th anniversary of Mountain Reconciliation

Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai paid on Saturday a visit to Mount Lebanon to mark the 15th anniversary of the mountain reconciliation between the Christians and Druze in the Shouf town of al-Moukhtara.

 

Patriarch Rai also celebrated a mass in the Saydet el-D​or Church.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan, former presidents Amine Gemayel and Michel Sleiman, former Prime Minister Najib Mikati represented by former minister Walid al-Daouk, Papal Ambassador to Lebanon Gabriel Katcha, MP Ali Fayad, Lebanese Armed Forces Commander Major General Jean Kahwagi and a number of bishops and clerics welcomed Patriarch Rai upon his arrival.

 

Following the mass, Jumblatt said that Lebanon can be "a unique example for diversity and plurality," praising dialogue, civil peace, coexistence and reconciliation principles among the Lebanese.

 

He also voiced hopes that a new president would be elected and that the institutions restore their functions.

 

For his part, Patriarch Rai stressed that works are ongoing “to provide its spiritual, economic and social framework for the protection of the mountain.”

 

On another note, Rai hoped that reconciliation would be made between March 8 and March 14 alliances and the independent parties in order to elect a new president.

 

Meanwhile, Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri said via his Twitter account that “the mountain reconciliation turned the page on a painful era that will not happen again God willing.”

 

The 1983 Mountain War took place at the mountainous of Shouf District located south-east of the capital Beirut between the Progressive Socialist Party and the Lebanese Forces.

 

The Lebanese Forces was driven out of the region and Christian civilians in Shouf were displaced.

 

The reconciliation was first initiated by former Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in 2001.