ICC Note: Rising religious extremism is driving out a “religious pluralism” that has allowed for Christians, Muslims, Jews, and a variety of other faiths to live together. At a recent conference highlight the issue, a former minister from Lebanon highlighted how this trend is threatening to tear apart the region. He called on international groups, such as the United States, to back up their words with actions that will help to preserve the minority communities of the Middle East.
03/15/2014 Syria (Arab Daily News) – Amine Gemayel, the former president of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988 and the leader of Lebanon’s Kataeb party, warned this week the Arab world is experiencing a “crisis of religious pluralism” driven by “the rise of religious extremists,” which threatens “any community which does not constitute the majority.”
Gemayel called for President Barack Obama and European leaders to create a Task Force to work towards protecting religious pluralism in the Middle East, especially Christians. In a speech this week, Gemayel warned that minority religious groups like his own Maronite Catholic community, and the Druze, Shiite Muslims, Alawites, Baha’is, and “Sunni Muslims who live in Shiite-dominated areas continue to face hostilities, exclusion and pressures resulting in many fleeing the region, or facing violence.
Speaking Thursday at a Christian Solidarity International (CSI) conference in Zurich, Switzerland, Gemayel paid particular attention to the plight of Middle Eastern Christians, who he said are fleeing the region “in an exodus approaching biblical proportions.” Gemayel cited “church burnings, physical assaults and killings” in Egypt, “an onslaught of murder” in Iraq and “a bloody-minded reign of terror” from “ultra-radical Islamists in regions of Syria where they have imposed their rule.”
Gemayel was often criticized in the past for his alleged support of Israel prior to his election as President, and his strong opposition to the presence of foreign military forces in Lebanon, mainly the Syrian Army and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Despite the political battles, Gemayel has been recognized as a champion of religious minorities in the Arab World which continue to be persecuted. He has been criticized, however, for failing to speak out against the persecution of Christians in Israel and his activism has often been portrayed as shadowing Israeli policies in the region.
Gemayel’s experiences are a cornerstone of persecution of Christian minorities. He was elected President of Lebanon on Sept. 21, 1982 by the National Assembly to succeed his brother, Bachir Gemayal, who had been elected the previous month but was assassinated before taking office. The murder of Bachir Gemayel was a part of a long campaign by the late Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad to control Lebanon and silence criticism of his brutal regime. Oftentimes, Assad has been defended by some on the claim that the Syrian dictatorship has protected religious minorities, like the Maronites. But the Gemayal’s were outspoken against the Syrian regime. Gemayel’s son, Pierre, was also assassinated in November 2006 as a consequence of criticism of the Syrians and regional foreign political involvement.
Regarding Syria, Gemayel said “the most urgent priority” is to reach a “negotiated settlement” to the Syria conflict, and to “create a power-sharing agreement that preserves core state institutions while also dismantling the pervasive machinery of repression.”
Calling for an international response to the crisis, the former president declared that “preserving religious pluralism in the Middle East is a vital imperative.” Gemayel welcomed the U.S. State Department’s recent condemnation of extremist persecution of Syrian Christians, but called for the U.S. to back up its “eloquent words” with action.
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