{"id":33099,"date":"2014-05-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/33099\/the-politics-of-maronite-patriarch-rais-planned-visit-to-jerusalem"},"modified":"2023-08-30T07:05:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T07:05:50","slug":"the-politics-of-maronite-patriarch-rais-planned-visit-to-jerusalem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/33099\/the-politics-of-maronite-patriarch-rais-planned-visit-to-jerusalem\/","title":{"rendered":"The Politics of Maronite Patriarch Rai&#8217;s Planned Visit to Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since news of the Maronite Patriarch\u2019s planned visit to Jerusalem <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/News\/Lebanon-News\/2014\/May-03\/255201-rai-to-join-pope-on-historic-visit-to-jerusalem.ashx#axzz31ChcfyTy\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">broke earlier this month<\/a>, the topic has quickly transformed from being completely unimaginable to becoming a backdrop on which to project every political reading imaginable. With so little information and explanation coming from the Patriarchy itself, most of this debate\u2019s been fueled by speculation.<\/p>\n<p>  A major part of the disagreement seems to stem from a fundamental difference of opinion about what comes first: political or religious identity. From the very beginning, Patriarch el-Rai <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/News\/Lebanon-News\/2014\/May-03\/255201-rai-to-join-pope-on-historic-visit-to-jerusalem.ashx#ixzz31JeLtLWa%20\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">has insisted<\/a> that his trip is not \u201ca political visit, but a religious one.\u201d Lebanese blogger Elie Fares <a href=\"https:\/\/stateofmind13.com\/2014\/05\/07\/on-rais-visit-to-jerusalem-get-off-his-back\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">seems to agree<\/a>, questioning whether the Patriarch\u2019s Lebanese identity \u2013 and hence, by implication, the ban on travel to Israel that applies to all Lebanese citizens \u2013 supersedes his religious identity as head of all Maronite churches everywhere. Blogger Gino Raidy takes this line of argument a step further, <a href=\"https:\/\/ginosblog.com\/2014\/05\/07\/comments-on-the-rai-visit-to-jerusalem\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">insisting on his blog<\/a> that the law \u2013 and hence, el-Rai\u2019s civic identity \u2013 can only be prioritized if all religious leaders do the same, including Muslims leaders who have opposed civil reforms that contradict their interpretations of religious doctrine.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/33099.png\"width=\"100%\"><br \/>  (Photo via <a href=\"https:\/\/english.al-akhbar.com\/node\/19656\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Al-Akhbar<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>  While both posts are a bit too narrowly Lebanese in focus, what is most interesting about this line of argument is that even when the religious dimension of the visit is being emphasized, a largely political argument about rights, duties and equal treatment still slips through, making the initial distinction between religion and politics extremely difficult to maintain. Hence, Fares ends his post by arguing that the Patriarch\u2019s visit would \u201cprobably do more to the Palestinian cause than months of Starbucks boycotts,\u201d a position, which, if we are to keep assuming that the Patriarch\u2019s political and religious identities can be neatly separated, would be a total <i>non sequitur<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>  The fact that religion and politics <i>cannot<\/i> be neatly separated is what is highlighted in a statement by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kairospalestine.ps\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Kairos<\/a>, a Christian Palestinian activist group who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maannews.net\/eng\/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=695946\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">urged Rai to reconsider<\/a>, arguing that the visit \u201cmay delight the occupation state [of Israel], not because it believes in the right of religions to express themselves and to practice their rituals, but because it serves its policies and whitewashes its face.\u201d This sentiment is echoed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boycottcampaign.com\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel in Lebanon<\/a> who wrote an <a href=\"https:\/\/english.al-akhbar.com\/node\/19656\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">open letter<\/a> urging Patriarch el-Rai to \u201cbe loyal to the struggle of the Palestinian people who are crucified, like Christ, every day but who rise again every day and resist their enemy and boycott it.\u201d Hence, both statements have attempted to reframe the Patriarch\u2019s duty to his Church within the wider ethico-political context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, bridging the religious with the political.<\/p>\n<p>  Other criticisms, however, have been much harsher, with some in Lebanon calling the planned visit a <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/maronite-patriarchs-jerusalem-visit-historic-sin-130324171.html\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201chistoric sin\u201d<\/a> and a <a href=\"https:\/\/english.al-akhbar.com\/content\/rai%E2%80%99s-visit-occupied-palestine-political-coup\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cpolitical coup.\u201d<\/a> These interpretations read the situation from a much more narrowly partisan perspective. Some <a href=\"https:\/\/yalibnan.com\/2014\/05\/08\/dispute-hezbollah-rais-visit-jerusalem-bkirki\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">have wondered<\/a> what this plan means vis-a-vis the Maronite Church\u2019s relationship with Hezbollah, for example. Political commentator Nahed Hatter went as far as <a href=\"https:\/\/english.al-akhbar.com\/content\/rai%E2%80%99s-visit-occupied-palestine-political-coup\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">linking the visit<\/a> to what he called \u201cthe patriarchal inclination towards extending the term of a [Lebanese] president who is hostile towards the Resistance and who courts the killers of Syria\u2019s Christians.\u201d This particular reading misses that the fact that el-Rai himself <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ansamed.info\/ansamed\/en\/news\/sections\/analysis\/2013\/08\/23\/Lebanon-Patriarch-Rai-claims-plan-destroy-Mideast-_9191976.html\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">has repeatedly<\/a> voiced a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/News\/Politics\/2011\/Sep-12\/148523-rai-defends-stance-on-syria-weapons.ashx#ixzz1Xm1eiSZ3\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">strong position<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/02\/10\/patriarch-warns-syrians-o_n_2658046.html\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Syria<\/a>, thereby  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/News\/Politics\/2012\/Mar-14\/166610-rai-questions-geageas-reading-and-comprehension-abilities.ashx#axzz31ChcfyTy\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">alienating the very faction<\/a> that is most openly opposed to the Syrian regime (See <a href=\"https:\/\/crisisproject.org\/how-events-in-syria-are-dividing-lebanese-maronites\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">this report<\/a> for more on how the Syrian crisis has divided the Maronite community).<\/p>\n<p>  The very fact that el-Rai\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oroom.org\/forum\/showthread.php?t=44838&#038;highlight=ouwet\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">political positions<\/a> since being appointed Patriarch have been hard to pin down within the standard map of Maronite and\/or Christian partisanships, makes reading the planned visit from a narrow perspective even more difficult. Bechara el-Rai, as <a href=\"https:\/\/eyeontheeast.org\/2014\/05\/07\/will-he-stay-or-will-he-go\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Marina Chamma<\/a> reminds us, was best known as the hardliner in the Maronite Council of Bishops. In 2009, the council announced that any Maronite who attacked the Patriarchy would be excommunicated (a statement that many <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.catholicherald.co.uk\/article\/6th-march-2009\/4\/bishop-threatens-expulsions\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">read politically<\/a> at the time). It is in this way that Rai has been seen as both pro- and anti- different Christian parties at different times, causing some to <a href=\"https:\/\/now.mmedia.me\/lb\/en\/commentaryanalysis\/the_rai_rumor_tells_us_little\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">scramble to explain<\/a> his apparent fluctuations. Perhaps, then, it is less useful to try to analyze his positions within this map, than to see his maneuvering as an attempt at drawing a new one in which the Maronite Patriarch is autonomous from the mainstream politics of Maronite leaders. Could this be what he meant when he called for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news.va\/en\/news\/lebanon-patriarch-rai-calls-for-christian-spring\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Christian Spring&#8221;<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>  Patriarch el-Rai has since responded to his harshest critics by calling their campaign against his visit to Jerusalem <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asianews.it\/news-en\/For-Patriarch-Rai-slams-shameful-campaign-against-his-visit-to-the-Holy-Land-30992.html\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cshameful,\u201d<\/a> adding that he is \u201csorry to see that some Lebanese want to create problems where none exist.\u201d El-Rai <a href=\"https:\/\/www.middle-east-online.com\/?id=176219\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">insisted<\/a> that his visit would in itself be a declaration of the Arab and religious identity of the city of Jerusalem, and hence cannot be seen as a form of \u2018normalisation\u2019 with the Israeli state. And yet, it is not yet clear what he will actually declare while there. Will his non-normalisation be simply implied, or would the visit be used as an opportunity to show real solidarity with the Palestinians from inside the occupied territory, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gEiVK79kmRM\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">some have suggested<\/a>? The Patriarch so far has not made any concrete statements in this regard, and so we are only left to speculate. We are not even sure how he will cross the border, with some claiming that he will fly from Cyprus, and others saying that he will be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asianews.it\/news-en\/For-Patriarch-Rai-slams-shameful-campaign-against-his-visit-to-the-Holy-Land-30992.html\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">bused in from Amman<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>  In fact, it seems as though the Church\u2019s main PR strategy so far has been to end the discussion in any way possible, even if this comes at the cost of clarity. So, for example, some Church leaders have argued that it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asianews.it\/news-en\/For-Patriarch-Rai-slams-shameful-campaign-against-his-visit-to-the-Holy-Land-30992.html\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cunthinkable&#8221;<\/a> for the Patriarch to \u201crefuse a papal invitation,\u201d and yet, el-Rai\u2019s predecessor, the Patriarch Emeritus Nasrallah Boutrous Sfeir, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/News\/Lebanon-News\/2014\/May-03\/255201-rai-to-join-pope-on-historic-visit-to-jerusalem.ashx#axzz31ChcfyTy\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">did just that<\/a> when Pope John Paul II visited. Furthermore, we\u2019ve since learned that the trip itself was the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/News\/Lebanon-News\/2014\/May-09\/255857-vatican-spokesman-says-patriarch-going-to-jerusalem-on-his-own-initiative.ashx#axzz31C58bXcN\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Patriarch\u2019s own initiative<\/a>, and hence, not a papal invitation at all. Bishop Samir Mazloum explained this apparent discrepancy by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/News\/Lebanon-News\/2014\/May-09\/255857-vatican-spokesman-says-patriarch-going-to-jerusalem-on-his-own-initiative.ashx#ixzz31JcZ3eey%20\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">arguing<\/a> matter-of-factly that the Patriarch will visit on his own initiative because he \u201cis the owner of the land, [and] he is in charge of the area.\u201d This extremely narrow and legalistic approach to the subject does little to alleviate the critics\u2019 worries. So, while the Patriarch\u2019s \u201cclerical duty\u201d may be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailystar.com.lb\/News\/Lebanon-News\/2014\/May-03\/255201-rai-to-join-pope-on-historic-visit-to-jerusalem.ashx#axzz31ChcfyTy\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cnormal\u201d<\/a> from the perspective of the Church, it is still quite abnormal given the bare facts of history, as <a href=\"https:\/\/eyeontheeast.org\/2014\/05\/07\/will-he-stay-or-will-he-go\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">Chamma has also argued<\/a>. The Church\u2019s reluctance to discuss more openly and proactively the details and implications of the visit seems tone deaf, to say the least.<\/p>\n<p>  It is this offhanded manner with which the Patriarch has dealt with the whole issue that is most perplexing. Can the very first visit of a Maronite Patriarch to the Holy Lands since the Nakba really be approached so casually, as though nothing at all of consequence has happened since 1948 in Palestine and Lebanon?<\/p>\n<p>  And let us not forget the biggest elephant in the room: the Maronite Church\u2019s relationship with the State of Israel has not been innocent, as <a href=\"https:\/\/bir.brandeis.edu\/bitstream\/handle\/10192\/29\/ThePromiseandFailureoftheZionist-MaroniteRelationship,1920-1948.pdf?sequence=1\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">research<\/a> into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lebanonissues.com\/en\/?p=242\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">secret treaty of 1946<\/a> has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1080\/13531049208576003\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\">shown<\/a>. That relationship was a case of a purely \u2018religious perspective\u2019 having very dark political consequences. If the Patriarch is indeed attempting to redraw the political map in a kind of &#8220;Christian Spring,&#8221; then we should expect him to also have the courage to confront this uncomfortable chapter in our history. Only then would the single-mindedness driving this planned visit make any sense or be worthwhile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since news of the Maronite Patriarch\u2019s planned visit to Jerusalem broke earlier this month, the topic has quickly transformed from being completely unimaginable to becoming a backdrop on which to project every political reading imaginable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":443905,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_preview_accessed":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"media-embed-type":[],"class_list":["post-33099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"authorship":[21],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Politics of Maronite Patriarch Rai&#039;s 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