NGOs protest against Cabinet position on resistance arms
Civil society groups gathered outside Parliament on Tuesday to call on lawmakers to refrain from legitimizing weapons not subject to the state’s authority, saying it threatened civil peace and national unity.
“Moultazimoun,” Arabic for “Committed,” and other groups rallied near the Parliament in downtown Beirut’s Riad al-Solh square while lawmakers were discussing the government’s policy statement.
Moultazimoun were protesting against article six of the Cabinet’s policy statement, which grants the resistance the right to liberate Lebanese territories occupied by Israel.
Addressing MPs in a statement issued on Tuesday, “Moultazimoun” stressed the state’s right to monopolize the possession of arms, as well as power over war and peace decisions rather than “a state within the state with personal and regional interests.”
“Do not legitimize weapons outside the state’s authority since this threatens civil peace and national unity, and opens the domestic scene to foreign conflicts at the expense of Lebanese security, safety and future,” a Moultazimoun statement said.
The statement also urged MPs not to surrender their constitutional right since such a step would harm Lebanon and the principles which the parliamentary democratic regime was founded upon.