Opposition politicians who took part in the Maronite World Congress in Los Angeles last week defended the meet’s controversial resolutions against local criticism on Friday, dismissing accusations that Maronites abroad were banking on Washington to pressure Damascus to break its hold on Lebanon.
Jbeil MP Fares Soueid and Kesrouan MP Mansour Bone, who stopped in Paris on their way back from California for consultations with exiled former Army Commander Michel Aoun, met with the Maronite patriarch in Bkirki on Friday.
Accompanied by their colleagues in the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, Samir Franjieh and Samir Abdel-Malak, Soueid and Bone briefed Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir on the outcome of the congress and local criticism of its final resolutions.
Soueid told reporters after the meeting that he was surprised at the negative reception of the resolutions here, saying the storm of criticism was stirred by those whose “sole concern is to throw accusations at a group of people, especially those living abroad.”
He said that attacks against the congress started before the resolutions were made known, “as if they were waiting for an opportunity to open fire against a group of Lebanese.”
Responding to accusations that Maronites were following the US line in the region, Soueid said: “Those who implement the American policy are very well-known whether as governments or groups.
“The Christians are not betting on the Americans to gain power at the expense of their Muslim compatriots or at the expense of the interests of Syria in the region,” he said.
“They (the Christians) know very well that their only guarantee is national reconciliation and by strengthening it they know that they will be able to achieve sovereignty.”
He blamed the government for viewing Christian expatriates as enemies instead of “taking advantage” of what he called this “vital phenomenon and the high positions of Lebanese abroad.”
Senior officials here criticized the congress this week, saying its confessional tone threatened national unity.
Critics focused mainly on the inclusion of the Syria Accountability Act of 2002 ­ US legislation that urges the US government to pressure Damascus to end its support for “terrorism,” its “occupation” of Lebanon, illegal import of Iraqi oil and development of weapons of mass destruction.
Soueid said that the resolutions gave Bkirki the authority to represent Maronites in Lebanon and abroad and based its principles on the apostolic exhortation issued by the Synod on Lebanon in 1997, which focused on the role of the Christians in the Arab world.
The resolutions, he continued, elevated the Qornet Shehwan Gathering as an international political platform for those concerned about Lebanon.
Commenting on his meeting with Aoun earlier this week, Soueid said discussions focused on the congress and local political developments.
Soueid denied that the talks included the possibility of Aoun’s supporters here, the Free Patriotic Movement, joining the Qornet Shehwan Gathering. He explained that his visit was a personal one and not assigned by the gathering.
Kesrouan MP Neamtallah Abi Nasr, who visited Sfeir separately, also defended the resolutions, saying the government was treating Christians like scapegoats.
Abi Nasr said that if the attack on government officials in Ouzai two days ago occurred in a predominantly Christian area, residents would have been summarily jailed and prosecuted.
“If what happened in Ouzai occurred in Achrafieh or Kesrouan there would have been more than 50 people under arrest,” Abi Nasr said.
Commenting on the congress, Abi Nasr said that it was not the first, recalling that there had been similar meetings in 1976, 1981 and 1994.
Abi Nasr also counter-attacked those who argued the timing of the resolutions did not serve Lebanese national interests. “Let them tell me when is the appropriate time to call for sovereignty and independence,” he said.
“Thirteen years have passed on the Taif Accord and the subsequent governments have done nothing to achieve sovereignty and apply this accord,” which calls for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.
Similarly, the National Liberal Party slammed critics of the timing of the congress and refuted allegations that Maronites were towing the US line.
After a regular meeting of its executive council, headed by Dory Chamoun, who took part in the congress, the party issued a statement, saying: “Every time we want to use our right to call for sovereignty, we are told that the regional situation prevents such calls.”
“The regional circumstances have been difficult for more than half a century and might remain like that for many  years,” he continued.
Also at Bkirki on Friday was Western Bekaa-Rashaya MP Robert Ghanem, who was more critical of the resolutions than Sfeir’s other visitors.
Ghanem blamed the “fuss” over the congress on the inclusion of the US legislative act in the final resolution.
Expressing his rejection to the move by congress participants, Ghanem said that as a Maronite he would not “be a tool in the hands of the US Congress or the US administration at a time when the region is danger.”

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