
By: The Daily Star
Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
BEIRUT: Grand Mufti of Lebanon Sheikh Mohammad Qabbani accused the U.S. Monday of dividing the Middle East with battle lines based on sectarian differences in order to strengthen Israel.
“To achieve this plot [‘The New Middle East’ project] … the United States studied the instincts and ways of thinking of the groups that make up our communities and has succeeded in sowing strife in eight Arab and Muslim countries … and was able to trigger fighting among fellow citizens,” he said in an address.
Qabbani said a second method used by the West for implementing their alleged scheme was through the U.N. failing to recognize Israel’s widely suspected nuclear and chemical weapons arsenal.
The mufti said the West aimed at dividing the region into “weak, feuding, mini-sectarian states under the so-called foreign scheme ‘The new Middle East.’”
The West, according to Qabbani, also aims at putting an end to the Arab’s denunciation of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.
The overall objective of the so-called plot was to ensure that Israel is the “dominant country and the strongest in the Arab region.”
But the mufti said the United States would fail.
“Conflicts taking place in Lebanon and Arab countries are very serious disputes and are very worrisome,” Qabbani warned.
Qabbani warned that the continuation of unrest in the region “threatens more horrible killings, destruction and fragmentation that the foreign [powers] are plotting to weaken the Palestinian, the Lebanese and the Arab resistances against Israel.”
He blamed the growth of extremism in Lebanon on the lengthy detention of Islamist prisoners without trial and the systematic campaign against the moderates in Dar al-Fatwa.
Qabbani also condemned the wave of car bombings in Lebanon and referred to suicide attacks as a sin.