March 14 Will Stress Defense Strategy in Dialogue Session
Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea said the March 14 alliance had agreed to push forward the subject of defense strategy during Wednesday’s session of the national dialogue.
After meeting with the Chaldean Archbishop Michel Qasarji in Maarab on Tuesday, Geagea said that those demanding an increase in the number of participants in the national dialogue “seek to distract us from the real essence and importance of the dialogue.”
Reacting to statements by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who was in Beirut yesterday, Geagea said that the decision to remove the Palestinian arms outside of the refugee camps and regulate those within them, had been agreed upon during the 2006 dialogue sessions.
The decision was coordinated between the Lebanese states and the Palestinian Authority, but still required a mechanism to implement it, Geagea said, adding that “what happens on Lebanese soil is for the Lebanese state to decide.”
Geagea reiterated his position that “national dialogue is not a project but rather a complementary to past dialogue sessions … and the only topic left in its agenda is the defense strategy.”
Geagea said that the March 14 would not give in to demands for expanded participation in the dialogue.
“In six months time new elections would take place, and then the new de-facto government will be taken into consideration and the national dialogue session will be formed again,” he said.
Asked about the collapse of Christian reconciliation, he said “the reconciliation between Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and [Future Movement leader] Saad Hariri has been reached, even though it took a lot of time, statements and preparations. Why it didn’t collapse too?”
Geagea also called on the Iraqi government to take responsibility for preserving the lives of its citizens, especially those of Christian faith.