Naharnet

Gemayel Says Hizbullah 'Gambling with Lebanon's Fate,' Urges Suleiman, Cabinet to Assume Responsibilities

Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel accused Hizbullah on Monday of “gambling with the Lebanese people's fate,” urging President Michel Suleiman and the cabinet to “assume their responsibilities.”

“(Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hasan) Nasrallah has transformed Lebanon into a battlefield instead of a democratic country,” Gemayel said after the political bureau's weekly meeting.

“Hizbullah is bringing the war in Syria to Lebanon.”

Gemayel explained: “The party is imposing a fait accompli on the state because of its possession of arms and no one can hold it accountable except in a civil war. And we do not want this option.”

"How can he (Nasrallah) control the fate of all the Lebanese?”

The Phalange MP said that “Hizbullah's cabinet” controls the country.

“As a Lebanese, I have no authority to hold the party accountable. And we are not held responsible because we are part of the opposition.”

Gemayel slammed the current situation as “unacceptable”: “The Lebanese people are no longer able to bear this.”

“Daily essential matters have become secondary amid the current security fears,” he noted.

Gemayel urged President Suleiman “to stop the collapse of the state,” demanding more powers to be given to the president.

"We also urge the executive authority to assume its responsibilities because it is the power in charge of controlling the border, preserving the Baabda Declaration and taking control of the security situation.”

Gemayel stated that the executive authority must admit “its failure and to announce Lebanon a failed state.”

“During the war we did not lose hope but today Lebanon has become a hopeless state,” he expressed.

He called on Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to form the cabinet “as soon as possible because vacuum does not serve the country.”

Gemayel remarked, however, that “some factions do not want a state,” explaining that their goal is for all the country's institutions to collapse.”

Regarding Foreign Minister Adnan Mansours's stances towards Syria's conflict and Hizbullah's ivolvement in it, Gemayel lamented that he (Mansour) is acting based on "his affiliation with a party and with his sect."

Source: Naharnet


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