Hoss praises national diversity despite quest for harmony

By Leila Hatoum

Daily Star staff
Saturday, March 05, 2005

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s multiple religions and ethnic groups are both its
strength and its weakness, according to former Prime Minister Salim
Hoss.Hoss was speaking at a press conference held Friday by the
Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops Council on the importance of dialogue
in the country at the Press Club in Beirut’s Al-Azariah area.

Father Antoine Daw also delivered a statement from Maronite Cardinal
Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir during the conference, in which he
stressed the importance of discussing relations between Christianity
and Islam.

Hoss, who formed a national unity party Tuesday called the “Third
Force,” explained that the country’s strength came from the fact that
“Muslims, Christians and Jews – until the Arab-Israeli conflict of
1948 – have dwelled together in harmony. The same thing goes for
ethnic groups such as Armenians, Assyrians and Kurds.”

This fact, according to Hoss, makes Lebanon a country open to all
religions and ideologies.

However, despite all their diversity, the Lebanese “have failed to
find a common coexistence formula since Lebanon’s independence in
1943.”

Hoss cited the 1952 riots that ended President Beshara Khoury’s reign,
the civil war of 1975-1990 and divided opinions regarding United
Nations Resolution 1559 as examples of the country’s failure at
coexistence.

He also stressed that Lebanon is an Arab country.

Lebanon has come together in the wake of the assassination of former
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, with citizens of different religions
uniting in peaceful demonstrations and demanding to know who was
behind the assassination.