An-Nahar daily reported that the Head of the Kataeb party Amin Gemayel and MP Sami Gemayel headed to Saudi Arabia upon an official invitation that Gemayel received one month ago from the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Assiri.
The sources stressed that Gemayel’s visit to Riyadh is the first of its kind for a high-ranked Lebanese political figure since efforts exerted by Syria and Saudi Arabia faltered.
“It is likely that the Saudi leadership is looking into different options before making any radical step that will affect the region including Lebanon”, the sources said.
The sources noted that the Kataeb party maintains close and positive relations with KSA, since Saudi Arabia has always endorsed Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence without discrimination, adding that the visit aims at renewing the long-standing ties.
The daily quoted sources close to the Kataeb party as saying that former President Amin Gemayel is expected to meet with Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, if his health allows it, Second Deputy PM and Interior Minister Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Head of the General Intelligence Prince Moukren bin Abdul Aziz, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah and many other senior Saudi officials.
Al-Mustaqbal daily quoted wikileaks cable 690 issued by the U.S. Embassy to Lebanon on May 17, 2005 as saying that although the Head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) MP Michel Aoun backed the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), he was keen on crippling the Parliament’s work because his MPs were bound to vote in favor of the STL if the Parliament resumed its work.
On May 16, 2007 during his meeting with Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and then-U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman, Aoun put forth solutions in line with the goals and efforts of the U.S. administration to disarm Hezbollah and to establish peace in the region, the cable said.
“Aoun’s plan starts with the inclusion of Hezbollah in the Lebanese political authority”, the cable added. According to the cable, one of the solutions presented by Aoun is to grant Hezbollah’s senior officials immunity to guarantee that they will not be incarcerated if they are disarmed.
“If Hezbollah does not cooperate it will face isolation”, the cable quoted Aoun. The cable noted that Aoun emphasized the importance of establishing diplomatic ties with Syria so that Lebanon could better control weapons smuggling operations and terrorists crossing the borders.
“Aoun voiced his readiness to compromise on the issue of controlling Hezbollah’s weapons under the condition that the issue of Shebaa farms is settled”, the cable said.
Sources close to Saad Hariri told An-Nahar daily that consultations with his 14 March allies are still ongoing and were never interrupted.
The sources added that former President Amin Gemayel’s visit to KSA is a natural opportunity for the both of them to meet and discuss the regional development.
An-Nahar daily said that President Michel Sleiman’s address to the UN General Assembly will focus on the Lebanese pillars, adding that it will touch on building a comprehensive and just peace based on the Mardrid terms of reference and the Arab peace initiative.
The local newspaper stressed that the Lebanese President’s speech will also address regional developments, Palestinian statehood, Lebanon’s rights to its offshore wealth and the country’s support for dialogue and moderation.
An-Nahar added that Sleiman will give his speech in the framework of a session entitled “preventive diplomacy” which will be dedicated to discuss ways to prevent and avoid conflicts.
Responding to the statements made by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour who said that a draft law allowing Lebanese nationals living abroad to vote will be submitted to Parliament in the upcoming days, MP Marwan Hamadeh said: “This step is underway.”
Hamadeh told An-Nahar daily that regardless of the nature of the electoral law, it will always be burdened by the issues of Hezbollah’s weapons and Lebanese expatriates right to vote.
“If these two issues are not settled, we would have broken the electoral rules applied to any elections in any given country”, Hamadeh added.