March 14 Rejects Fruitless Dialogue that is Held for Appearances
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
March 14 MPs have rejected to become “false witnesses” in Speaker Nabih Berri’s renewed initiative to launch the national dialogue, saying the all-party talks would end up in the vicious cycle of Hizbullah’s arms.
In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Monday, MP Elie Marouni said that the March 14-led opposition “rejects to become the false witness of a dialogue that is called for by the March 8 forces.”
The lawmaker said the all-party talks would continue to revolve around Hizbullah’s weapons and the national defense strategy without any solution.
Marouni stressed that March 14 doesn’t reject dialogue but said the pro-government forces have bad intentions.
Another March 14 MP, Antoine Zahra, stressed that Hizbullah’s arms is the only remaining item on the agenda.
The Lebanese Forces is ready to participate in the dialogue if it was only going to focus on Hizbullah’s arms and the defense strategy, he said.
Opposition MP Butros Harb told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) on Monday that Berri re-launched efforts to hold the national dialogue because the country is in a crisis.
“But I think the parties involved are not ready to go back to the dialogue table unless previously reached agreements such as the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon are implemented,” he said.
“The dialogue would be useless if it is only held for appearances,” Harb told the radio station.
Last week, Berri held talks with al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora who has placed conditions on the dialogue’s resumption, namely the implementation of agreements reached during previous sessions, including those relating to the STL, the disarmament of bases outside the Palestinian refugee camps and the demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian border.
He also said that Hizbullah’s arms are the only remaining topic to be discussed at the all-party talks.
07 November 2011, 09:38
04
MP Mourani is telling the truth and is strongly commended for his honesty... All of the true Lebanese patriots feel the same way about Ali Baba Nasarallah and his cohorts such as Berri, Aoun, Frangieh, etc... All of the M8 gang have no intention of living in a country ruled democratically and fairly... They want to intimidate and rape the will of the citizenry. We have seen so far in 2011 what became of the "Nazis" look alike in several Arab countries and the next door is facing a much worst scenario.
07 November 2011, 09:57
02
Another local muppet show?? Pass, I'd rather watch the Simpsons.
07 November 2011, 11:01
20
all good politicians are against any form of pressure or dominance , be it intimidation by arms or the worst intimidation or control by money
cause dollar bill is worse than bullets
07 November 2011, 15:18
03
Berri wants talks as the alternative to nothing happening in Lebanon as Hezbollah continues to slide.
M14 wants talks in order to bring a constitutional correction to the abberation of an armed political party in the Lebanese political system. Sure political parties have been armed in the past, but that was during the days of Militia Rule that was supposed to end with Taif. Since then, parties have competed in Parliament and at the polls, except for Hezbollah which uses the ultimate threat of its weapons to force its political will and to bend the Lebanese political melieu in its direction.
There can be no dialogue when the interlocutors to the discussion do not deal with one another on an equal basis. Until Hezbollah becomes like the rest, unarmed, then it is not like the rest of the parties and there can be no comprehensive dialogue.
Berri sees the FPM cover coming off of Hezbollah and wants to put a new cloak of legitimacy on it. M14 is not willing to do that.
07 November 2011, 15:34
02
Implementation of all that was agreed on before the final discussion of Hizb illegal arms.
08 November 2011, 07:56
03
the dialogue is already on in the clear, and hizbullah is losing it already.
every day people are voicing their ideas and they all want an end to their weapons dominance.
so, what they did not want to discuss, is actually being discussed...
