The Maronite League plans to launch a new nationwide program based on national dialogue and opposition to the settlement of Palestinian refugees here.
The program, which was announced Thursday by league president Hareth Chehab, deals with basic issues “at a time when people remain tired of narrow back-alley politics,” the league said.
In a statement, the group called on the public to “take real interest in the new program” and to discuss it rationally in the interest of the country as a whole.
“For the past 50 years, Lebanon has been torn by political currents that have been chipping away at the country’s fabric, which was based on an agreement between two wings (one Muslim and the other Christian),” Chehab said.
He added that  the league did not get involved in sectarianism.
Chehab said that the overriding problem in the country was the lack of balance among the various confessions.
“This robs the charter of peaceful coexistence from its meaning,” he added.
Chehab said one side “is conducting itself like a winner while the other side is behaving like a loser,” and it was “unfair” to allow such an imbalance continue.
He said that national dialogue would be launched within the Maronite community and then to the entire country.
The league also called for the introduction of a new electoral law aimed at correcting existing imbalances in political representation. ­ E.H.

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