The following are summaries of today's major stories published in the
Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press digest articles for content,
giving English-language readers insight into the various views expressed
in newspapers across the Arab world.
Sources have told
al-Liwaa
daily that President Michel Sleiman will inaugurate the dialogue with a speech
in which he will expose the situation since the last session when the head of
Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun was absent because the false witnesses issue was not inserted
in the agenda. Sleiman will also speak about the last developments in the
country and stress the importance of the dialogue between the Lebanese people
to keep Lebanon away from the repercussions of the Syrian crisis. Afterwards,
PM Najib Mikati is expected to hold a speech where he will confirm his cabinet’s
commitment to the implantation of all the decisions agree upon by the
interlocutors.
Sources close
to the dialogue told
An-Nahar daily that President Michel Sleiman is now aware
of March 14’s memo, noting that its content will be discussed during the
intervention of head of “Future” bloc Fouad Siniora but will not be inserted in
the agenda, because every item requires a consensus among the dialogue committee
in order to be added to the agenda.
The same sources
said that, during his speech, Sleiman will call for a risky decision to address
the issue of the weapons spread in the cities and will stress the necessity of
securing the plans of the Lebanese Army and the Security Forces. The sources
noted that Sleiman will also speak about all the issues included in the letter
of invitation that he sent to the committee’s members, pointing that he will
tackle the resistance arms issue as well as the Palestinian arms.
The Head of Marada Movement Sleiman Frangieh expressed his
concern towards the North’s incidents, saying that a state no longer exists; instead
there are militias inside a state. Frangieh held the political leaderships
responsible for what is happening; because they are dragged to the street while
they must exert pressure to control the situation, noting that the current
events could expose the Lebanese Army’s unity to danger.
In an interview with
As-Safir daily, Frangieh accused the
Security Forces of organizing military groups to fight in the alleyways, adding
that these forces are not politically neutral.
Frangieh stressed that PM Najib Mikati is currently the best
Prime Minister, adding that if another Prime Minister was in charge, whether he
was from March 14 or March 8, the situation would be even worse.
He said that he does not expect the dialogue to have
positive results, pointing that this dialogue is prepared by foreign powers,
and the participation is only an encouragement. He noted that, except the “Lebanese
Forces”, all the parties will take part, in order not be held responsible for
not participating.
Frangieh added that the Lebanese Christian citizen is now “politicized”,
thanks to General Michel Aoun, noting that the Christian is no longer
politically superficial; instead he deeply thinks in problem’s core.
Commenting on the Syrian issue, Frangieh confirmed the
preponderance of the regime, noting that its status has been better in the past
two months, despite the escalation of foreign pressure. He stressed that, even
if reform took place, the conspiracy would have continued.
Frangieh pointed that there is an attempt to turn the
Arab-Israeli conflict into a Sunni-Shiite conflict, adding that if the Sunni
and Shiite leaderships were aware of the situation, the crisis would be over.
MP Ahmad Fatfat said that the dialogue requires honest
intentions and a will to implement the decision made during previous sessions. He
added that the dialogue will be meaningless if the previous decisions were not
implemented.
Fatfat told
al-Mustaqbal newspaper that it is normal that March
14 powers do not have the same opinion and analysis because they are not one
party, stressing that the coordination among March 14 powers this time is very
critical and integrated compared to another times.
Fatfat said that the dialogue will not succeed since it is
not founded on successful basics, noting that it has been agreed with the
President that there must be commitment to the dialogue’s agenda.
Western and Arab sources
confirmed that the United States played an important role in convincing the
European Union’s states into guaranteeing a political cover to support the
dialogue in Lebanon, noting that Saudi Arabia positively dealt with President
Michel Sleiman’s invitation, because it already has historical principles in
dealing with Lebanon.
The sources told
al-Hayat
daily that the Western states are now busy with the Syrian crisis, which
started to accelerate in the past few weeks, noting that the European states
and the United States are keeping up with the developments in Syria, so that
Lebanon would be kept away from the political and security repercussions of the
Syrian crisis.