Kataeb leader Amine Gemayel said Monday that President Michel
Sleiman wants dialogue first and foremost to serve the interests of Lebanon and
the Lebanese. “I feel that the president fears the interruption of dialogue and
is disgruntled by the failure to heed his call for political discussions which have proven vital in sparing the country needless obstacles during dangerous times,” he
said.
Gemayel told
Al Joumhouria Daily that the president is not
responsible for all that is happening on the domestic scene, adding “Sleiman is keen on the country’s
integrity and on its residents’ security; this is why we cannot but share his
responsibilities through dialogue.” Gemayel stressed the importance of
communication among the Lebanese, calling on them to be honest and convinced. “No
pending issue can be solved with the push of a button,” he said.
Gemayel revealed that he put all his capabilities at the
disposal of Sleiman and let him know that he was standing by his side in his
quest to find a formula for dialogue among the Lebanese. I honestly told all my
allies “I cannot boycott or reject the president’s call for national dialogue
or any other event.”
High-ranking political
sources in March 14 confirmed on Monday that representatives of opposition
poles held a “secret” meeting at the residence of former PM Saad Hariri in
downtown Beirut a few days ago. Participants reportedly agreed to inform House
Speaker Nabih Berri that they agreed on his offer to hold a closed meeting for
the smaller parliamentary committee in charge of discussing the electoral law
in a hotel near the Parliament amid tight security measures taken by both the
Lebanese army and the internal security forces.
The sources told
Al
Akhbar Daily that talks revolved around the usefulness of the boycott policy,
adding that the opinion all the participants unanimously agreed upon in the end
was given by representatives of the Future bloc, mainly MP Nuhad al-Machnouq
and Ahmad Fatfat. It is noteworthy that the meeting was held in the presence of
Future bloc leader Fouad Siniora.
The two statesmen
reportedly considered that the boycott yielded positive results both regionally
and internationally “mainly since it helped maintain stability.” At the same
time, they stressed the necessity to heed the call of House Speaker Berri for a
meeting of the sub-parliamentary committee, “especially that Berri called for replacing
the current government with a government of national unity.”
According to
participants, while the above-mentioned point of view was endorsed by
representatives of the Kataeb party (Sejaan Azzi and Serge Dagher) and independent
figures (Marwan Hamadeh and Boutros Harb), representatives of the Lebanese
Forces (Georges Adwan, Antoine Zahra, Joseph Maalouf and Toni Abou Khater)
showed some hesitation before finally agreeing with them after a short debate. In
the end, participants agreed to inform Berri of this stance, and serious talks
over the new electoral law will be resumed at the beginning of the new year.
Well-informed sources told
Al Joumhouria Daily on Monday that
the relatives of the Lebanese abductees in Aazaz have called for a
rally this morning on the road leading to the presidential palace in Baabda to
remind the concerned officials of their case on the eve of the Christmas holidays.
In this regard, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel refused to
link the protest movements held by the abductees’ relatives to today’s meeting
of the ministerial committee “which was scheduled 10 days ago.”
Charbel told
Al Joumhouria that today’s meeting aims at discussing the contacts which have
been ongoing on many levels, especially that “someone vowed to carry out this
mission and is sparing no effort to end the case.”
On the
statement he made on the night Tripoli’s Christmas tree was lit, saying that
Tripoli was not “a capital for Muslims”, Charbel explained: “I said this on
purpose and Tripoli’s residents know that too. Imagine if every sect had a city
and a capital; we would be dividing the country without even knowing it!”
Turkish ambassador
to Lebanon Inan
Ozyildiz said Monday that while Turkey is not responsible for the abduction of the
Lebanese men detained in Syria’s Aazaz, it is helping to find a solution.
Commenting on the threats
launched by the abductees’ relatives during their sit-in outside the Turkish
embassy in Rabieh yesterday, Ozyildiz told
An-Nahar Daily: “We do not
understand what our Lebanese friends want through these protests. We advised
them earlier to be more patient and cautious.”
House
Speaker Nabih Berri said Monday that the approval of the decrees and mechanism
of tenders pertaining to oil exploration in Lebanese territorial waters at
Thursday’s cabinet session would be “the best Christmas gift for the Lebanese
at the end of this year.”
Berri told
As-Safir Daily that this step would be highly important as it would take
Lebanon to a different economic environment, “making it more attractive for
investments and improving the circumstances of its handling of public debt and
its consequences.”