By NNN-KUNA,
Beirut : Muslim scholars in Lebanon held here Saturday an emergency conference at Dar Al-Fatwa building at the invitation of the Mufti of Lebanon Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Qabbani to discuss the situation in Gaza including the atrocities committed against the Palestinians there.
The conference was attended by the representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon Abbas Zaki and the representative of Hamas in Lebanon Osama Hamdan.
In a speech to the conference, Mufti Qabbani said “Palestine remains an integral part of the Arab nation and the Islamic nation and the liberation of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the liberation of all Palestine are the responsiblity of each and every one of you, Muslim scholars and clerics, and it is incumbent on you to pass this responsibility to future generations.”
Qabbani considered that “the issue of Palestine is dear to our hearts in Lebanon where the Lebanese government has taken it upon itself to regard the question of Palestine as a national Lebanese concern and the Palestinian people, whether they are in Lebanon or in Palestine or anywhere in the world, remain always in our minds and hearts.”
Zaki, in turn, hoped that the current crisis would lead to a qualitative shift in dealing with the Palestinian issue, not only in Lebanon but also in the rest of the Arab and Islamic world, demanding meanwhile restoration of the common Arab defense agreement.
As for the Hamas representative, Osama Hamdan, he told the conference “We face three tasks, one to mend the rift among Palestinian factions, second to restore the dept of Palestinian ties with the Arab and Islamic world and third to re-evaluate the realities of the Palestinian cause, all of which I consider to be a joint Arab-Palestinian task.”