Aoun Is Scared Of Losing Seats to Neutral Bloc
MP Boutros Harb questioned why there had been so much fuss over a proposed neutral bloc in parliament, and said that exploiting the issue undermined the rights of Lebanese citizens. Harb also criticized MP Michel Aoun for calling the proposed bloc a “nickname” for the March 14 coalition, maintaining that the Free Patriotic Movement leader feared that such a bloc would reduce his party’s seats in parliament.
Harb said that the neutral bloc would consist of politically independent people and others who had previously been affiliated with March 8 or March 14. Neither Aoun, nor anyone else had the right to impose their political views on others, Harb said.
In other matters, Harb said that his recent proposal for a national defense strategy merged the need to protect the state from any attack, and at the same time preserve its institutions. Harb rejected Hezbollah’s contention that war in Gaza proved the correctness of the Resistance, making a distinction between the Palestinian territory, “where the state is absent” and Lebanon “where the state exists, which the national defense strategy should preserve, and which should derive from the cabinet.”
Harb said that the national dialogue, which is scheduled to resume Monday, could reach a unified position defense strategy, if all were honest and refrained from imposing their theories on others, or considering such theories beyond debate.