The fate and role of Arab Christians lies in their own hands, prominent Lebanese historian Kamal Salibi said on Saturday.

“If an Arab Christian decides to emigrate that’s their own business and we can only wish them luck,” Salibi said during the opening session of a conference to discuss the weakening presence and role of Christians in the Arab Levant.

“However,” he added, “if they decide to stay they shouldn’t create a problem to themselves and their society out of this stay, they shouldn’t turn into an obstacle to a solution, otherwise history will hold them accountable.”

The two-day conference titled “Reviving the Christian Role in the Arab Levant” is organized by the Issam Fares Center for Lebanon and held a few weeks ahead of the much-awaited 2010 Synod dedicated to the Middle East, from October 10-24 at the Vatican.

Saturday’s conference was held at the Issam Fares Auditorium of the American University of Beirut and was attended by an array of political and religious figures.

On Monday, the conference resumed, with lectures centering on the policies to be adopted in the Levant in order to boost the role of Christians.

The Christian communities of the Arab Levant have considerably shrunk in size over the past century, with members leaving their homeland to flee the region’s relentless violence or for economic reasons.

Salibi slammed Arab Christians’ boasting that they emigrated in large numbers. “Such claims encourage Christians to leave their homeland and emigration is one of the main reasons why numbers of Christians have significantly decreased in the Levant,” he said.

Salibi reminded the Christians of the Levant that they were first and foremost Arabs, adding that it was Christians who helped shape what is today known as the Arab identity.

“Christianity has preceded Islam in this region by six centuries; which makes Christianity a basis rather than a branch,” he said. The historian explained how Christian poets and scholars have contributed to shaping the Arabic language.

“Arabs will no longer remain Arabs and [will lose the characteristics of their Arab identity] if Christians disappear from this part of the world,” he warned.

Salibi called on Christians to reconcile with their Arab identity and realize that they could be “the guardians of this land, if they really wanted too.”

There are approximately 14 million Christians in the Arab world, with the Levant, occupied Palestine in particular, considered the cradle of Christianity. The Old and New Testaments include passages on Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Syria.

Shiite scholar Sayyed Hani Fahs considered that while the Levant was late in addressing the issue of its Christians, reviving their role was a “Muslim necessity.” “Protecting the Christians and reviving their role is a Muslim responsibility,’ he said during Saturday’s conference.

Fahs said Muslim-Christian dialogue in the Levant ought to be “institutionalized,” adding that a civil state was “the solution” to preserve religious freedoms in the Levant.

The conference was also attended by Bishop Samir Mazloum, representing Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir. The patriarch’s lengthy address to the conference listed several requirements to revive the role of Christians in the region.

The patriarch stressed that Christians wanted to remain in the Levant and seek “freedom, justice, and equality like any human being.”

Daily Star