Opposition Rejects Calls for Dialogue if Hizbullah’s Arms Won’t Be Addressed

President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri’s calls to resume the national dialogue have remained unanswered given the division between the government forces and opposition over the purpose of holding the talks, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

It said that the two officials were expected to hold talks after the last week’s al-Adha holiday in order to discuss resuming the dialogue, but the meeting did not transpire.

Berri noted that there are several pressing issues that need to be addressed at the dialogue table, the most important of which is keeping Lebanon away from regional developments.

He stressed that the talks must be re-launched without preconditions, a position that was reiterated by the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad, who told An Nahar that Hizbullah’s stand towards the dialogue is constant.

“The party supports the talks and it has no preconditions and it will not accept others’ preconditions,” he said.

The opposition has meanwhile questioned the purpose of resuming the talks seeing as the decisions of the previous round of talks have not been implemented.

The daily reported that the March 14 leaderships have coordinated their positions in order to present a unified stance over the dialogue.

Sources close to the head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora explained that the opposition has not responded to the call for dialogue because the pro-government forces refuse to discuss the issue of Hizbullah’s possession of arms, which was the main reason why the dialogue was launched in 2006.

“Isn’t the call for dialogue a way to cover up the current flaw in Lebanon?” they asked.

“Agreeing to dialogue for dialogue’s sake without seriously seeking to address the arms would be undermining the Lebanese people’s intelligence,” they noted.

The head of the Phalange Party Amin Gemayel also questioned the purpose of returning to the national dialogue table “if each side has ideological positions that are not up for discussion.”

“The main problem lies in the fact that agreements had been reached in the previous dialogue rounds, but they were not implemented,” he told the daily.

“One side is unwavering over its ideological stands, which it considers sacred, while the other camp believes that these issues in particular are the matters that need to be addressed,” he stressed.

Gemayel, who had held talks with Suleiman earlier this week, hoped that the president would assess the purpose of the dialogue and come up with a document that would pinpoint the problems it faces and propose solutions to them.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea reiterated his position that Berri’s call for dialogue is an attempt to “save certain political factions and it is in fact not really aimed at reaching any results.”

He said that he is not prepared to resume the dialogue because the other camp has no serious intention to tackle the main issue of contention that is still pending, which is Hizbullah’s arms.