Ministers put final touches on Cabinet statement
A ministerial committee trying to draft a policy statement for the new cabinet convenes Tuesday amidst reported efforts by President Michel Suleiman to reconcile contradicting viewpoints regarding Hizbullah weapons and its resistance.
Suleiman on Monday held separate talks at the Baabda Palace with three of the committee”s nine members, Nassib Lahoud, Gebran Bassil and Mohammed Fneish in addition to MP Ali Hassan Khalil, political aide to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, in an effort to facilitate a settlement to controversial topics, met committee members Lahoud, Mohammed Shatah and Wael Abou Faour.
Suleiman”s visitors said differences persist among the committee members over a clause related to the resistance and its role.
The Hizbullah-led minority insists on adopting a clause included in the previous policy statement of 2005 added to it commitment to a cease-fire called by UNSCR 1701.
The majority, however, insists on adopting a clause on the resistance included in President Suleiman”s oath address.
The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and the Prime Minister of Qatar Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani held a series of separate contacts with the various factions in an effort to work out a compromise text that would reconcile the colliding views on the thorny issues of Hizbullah weapons, its resistance and the role of the state in defending the nation.
Ministerial sources told al-Hayat Hizbullah rejected a proposal to link any reference to its resistance to UNSCR 1701 with all its clauses as well as the 1949 armistice agreement with Israel and the seven points adopted during national dialogue in the summer of 2006.
Hizbullah, the sources said, wants clear reference to its resistance "right" in proceeding with liberating Israeli-occupied Lebanese territories and rejects any reference to UNSCR except for the clause linked to a cease-fire.
The daily an-Nahar said the ministerial committee”s 11th session on Tuesday would tackle five main topics: The political preface to the policy statement; Hizbullah weapons and its resistance; Weapons of Palestinian factions and the issue of naturalization; Paris-3; and privatization of the communications sector.
Cabinet Minister Joe Taqla, a member of the committee who is close to Suleiman, said he expects the policy statement to be drafted Tuesday, or by Wednesday.