The Lebanese experience in resolving inter-religious conflict may provide clues for resolving the situation in Syria, said Secretary General of the Lebanese National Dialogue Party Fouad Makhzoumi at the Valdai Club Middle East Dialogue in Morocco. About 100 political and public figures and experts on the Middle East from Russia, the Middle East and North Africa and the West are discussing the future of political Islam in the Arab world.
The Lebanese experience in resolving inter-religious conflict may provide clues for resolving the situation in Syria, said Secretary General of the Lebanese National Dialogue Party Fouad Makhzoumi at the Valdai Club Middle East Dialogue in Morocco. About 100 political and public figures and experts on the Middle East from Russia, the Middle East and North Africa and the West are discussing the future of political Islam in the Arab world. The conference is taking place in Marrakech, Morocco on May 14-15.
“If the international community fails to realize that it’s time to develop a new approach to resolving the situation in Syria,” he said, “this essentially religious conflict will escalate and will involve the neighbouring countries. I believe that the Lebanese experience – the formula that was developed in the Taif Agreement – may help to reach a peaceful settlement.”
In 1975, the second Lebanon civil war broke out between the Muslim and the Christian communities. The conflict lasted 15 years and destroyed the once prosperous economy of the country and killed more than 150,000 people. The Taif Agreement stopped the war by offering a religious compromise, thus ensuring the right of Muslims to play a greater role in the political process. It has also fixed division of positions in the government according to ethnic and religious background.
The Valdai International Discussion Club was established by RIA Novosti and the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy in 2004 and has become a platform of interaction between the Russian and international intellectual and political elite. The tenth meeting of the Club will be held this year. The experts will focus on Russia’s regional, religious, ethnic and political diversity. The tenth anniversary meeting will be held in a special format on Lake Valdai in September and will bring together participants of previous meetings, as well as special guests. It is expected to be the most representative meeting of the Club for during all the years of its existence.
RIA Novosti
