Harb: Lebanon is in great danger today, its unity is at stake
MP Boutros Harb declared “that the situation in Lebanon has overcome the dilemma of the person of President or constitutional amendment but has become the issue of ending the unity of Lebanon.
and dividing it in order to resettle the Palestinians in the future.
“Lebanon is in great danger today, its unity is at stake “ he added.
“A political decision has been made to change the power composition in Lebanon , starting with the presidency of the republic and the government , unless there is a change in the constitutional power of the presidency “ Harb said
Harb stressed that “the settlement of the Palestinians in Lebanon could only take place after the division of Lebanon”, and said : I am trying to draw your attention to the risks we are going through and the great danger Lebanon is facing . If the unity of Lebanon and its institutions are disrupted this will lead to the division of Lebanon and the eventual settling of all refugees, which I am totally against
Harb added “The parliament meeting will not be held Monday because the political developments today does not indicate that there will be a meeting… on the contrary, we face more complexities today than we did last Friday.”
He stressed that he is “still a member of the March 14 alliance , in spite of fact that he has asked the alliance to establish the rules for joint action to improve our performance.”
Harb said the most important key function of the president is the formation of a new government , but the opposition wants to take away this power from him and distribute amongst themselves .
He cautioned that taking away power from the presidency and reducing his term to one year and seven months as the opposition is proposing will only lead to the downgrading of the role of Christians in the country and ending the sectarian balance in Lebanon, which has been adopted by the Taif accord which calls for dividing power equally between Christians and Muslims, and thus no longer the President Republic will be able to play the role of the father of the Lebanese . I do not know what is the interest of the opposition in promoting such a change .
Harb said “ I am surprised that the opposition alliance has delegated Michel Aoun to negotiate on their behalf, knowing that we never were able to negotiate any agreement with him even though we tried on several occasions . Perhaps the opposition is telling us “ you failed in negotiating with a polished politician like speaker Nabih Berri and now we want you to try the undiplomatic and inflexible general Aoun”.
Harb was surprised of the position of “Hezbollah” with regards to the nomination of Gen. Suleiman, “because I know that the Hezbollah was considered one of the biggest supporters of General Suleiman, given the history of their relationship . Perhaps General Aoun”s position has embarrassed Hezbollah and forced them to take a U turn and oppose the nomination of Suleiman.
I can understand the Sympathy and passion Hezbollah has for Aoun, but his role as the negotiator on behalf of the opposition will lead not only to the blocking of the presidency but will lead to the collapse of the republic as we know it.
Harb appealed to the opposition “to reconsider their positions and re-evaluate the next step, because all they are doing is forcing the majority ( that has bended backward to solve the crises ) to take decisions that could set the country back , knowing that one of the decisions being discussed is the election of the president based on half plus one majority.
Harb warned that : “The government at the end of this month could issue a decree proposing to amend the Constitution and send it to the parliament, which could hold a session outside the parliament as stipulated in the Constitution to elect the President.”
Harb criticized the diplomatic effort of France saying even though France had good intentions throughout its efforts , it has in fact inserted Syria officially into the decision making process in Lebanon.
Harb also criticized the Lebanese people for blindly following some of the leaders “ my greatest concern is that the Lebanese did not learn from the mistakes that led to the destruction of Lebanon, and are acting as if nothing has really happened. This concern is the source of great pain to me “. Harb urged the Lebanese people to rise and hold their leaders accountable for the crises we are in now , instead of clapping their hands for them.