Bkirki-Hezbollah dialogue not feasible

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said on Thursday the dialogue between Bkirki and Hezbollah is not an alternative to the national dialogue. As Rai points out, the Bkirki-Hezbollah dialogue only focuses on Lebanon's neutrality in the Middle East and on its overall frame.  “Bkirki, which represents the Church, says the truth objectively. We are discussing three points: the entity of Lebanon as a state, the National Covenant, and Lebanon's neutrality,” Rai told reporters during a meeting with a delegation of local media editors. Rai added that the dialogue between the two parties, which began earlier this month, is not an alternative to the moribund national dialogue between rival politicians, which Rai and several lawmakers wish to resuscitate in order to bridge the gap between the countries' main political factions. To clarify an earlier statement where he warned about Christians being threatened in the region, the Patriarch said: “I did not say that I only fear for the future of Christians in the east. I fear for the future of Christians, Muslims and the east as a whole, because migrations affect all religious communities .”