Zahra: FPM far cry from the protection of the Christian community
MP Antoine Zahra of the Lebanese Forces commented on the statements General Michel Aoun, head of the opposition Change and Reform bloc, issued on placing the Shebaa Farms under United Nations custody.
In an interview with a Kuwaiti daily, Zahra quoted Aoun as saying, “I will agree to what Hezbollah agrees to and refuse what it refuses.” Zahra said Aoun, who also heads the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a major Hezbollah ally, revealed a dangerous position that “confirmed what the Lebanese Forces warned against since the day the Memorandum of Understanding between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah was signed.” The Memorandum, he added, meant that Aoun agreed to Hezbollah’s absolute right to possess arms.
The LF deputy said the memorandum, and Aoun’s subsequent positions, indicated his belief in Hezbollah’s right to arms outside state authority irrespective of geographic and temporal limits.
Aoun’s positions also provided Hezbollah with the required Christian cover for “a sectarian project under title of national partnership,” Zahra continued.
MP Zahra warned that Hezbollah may eventually use the issue of Palestinian resettlement as an excuse for its armament, a risk General Aoun paved the way for in his recent interviews with Arab Weekly and Le Magazine.
Zahra said he feared portfolio distribution in the new national unity government would deny Christians the Ministry of Finance.
Attacks on Christians’ rights began with the assault on the powers of the presidency, he noted.
“With the election of General Michel Suleiman [as president], Christians began to believe that their rights were going to grant them immunization,” Zahra said, adding that some factions claimed to preserve the rights of Christians “in order to turn them into a cover for their projects, which constitute the only threat to Christian presence in Lebanon.”
Zahra said the FPM’s plan for a Christian forum was a continuation of their “comic drama,” emphasizing that the FPM had made a false allegation by speaking on behalf of Christians.
“History bears witness that their presence… is a far cry from the protection of the Christian community,” he said.