Rifi Slams 'Package Deal' as 'Coup against Constitution'

Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi has voiced rejection of any political settlement that takes the form of a so-called “package deal” or seeks to alter the 1989 Taef Accord.

“We will carry on with the confrontation against the approach that is destroying the State and the values of the republic,” Rifi said.

“We reject the coup against the constitution and we will face it, whether it disguises itself as a so-called package deal or reveals its true face through seeking to torpedo the Taef Accord,” the minister added.

“When the need arises, we won't hesitate to use all peaceful means to thwart the coup and our people are ready to heed the call, the same as they did on February 14 and March 14, 2005,” Rifi went on to say.

Referring to Hizbullah without naming it, the minister said he will not allow the “mini-state” to “give itself the right to appoint a president, name a premier, usurp the parliament, and turn institutions into paralyzed puppets.”

“We have expressed our stance and we call on everyone not to be dragged into the trap of deceitful settlements. The Lebanese have tried those settlements, which were only a cover for pouncing on the State and usurping it and for changing equations through the force of arms,” Rifi added.

“We will not be intimidated by weapons and threats as long as we defend the right of the Lebanese to preserve their State and its institutions, and the Lebanese are capable of confronting this threat,” he went on to say.

Speaker Nabih Berri has recently proposed a so-called package deal that involves holding parliamentary elections under a new electoral law before electing a new president and forming a new government.

Should the parties fail to agree on a new law, the parliament's current extended term would be curtailed and the elections would be held under the 1960 law which is currently in effect, Berri says.