Amin Gemayel: Respecting National Pact Must Include Sovereignty, Arms, Foreign Policy

Former president Amin Gemayel noted Tuesday that commitment to the National Pact must involve the issues of “sovereignty,” Hizbullah's “arms,” “the state's authority” and Lebanon's “foreign policy.”

“Nowadays, we are hearing a lot about the issue of respecting the National Pact, as if this term is being used for stirring sentiments and overbidding, and unfortunately it is being used in a selective manner,” Gemayel said after talks with ex-president Michel Suleiman in Yarze.

“None of us is against respecting the National Pact, which is part of the constitution and our national traditions and practices, and commitment to the National Pact founded and preserved Lebanon. But respecting the National Pact cannot be arbitrary or a la carte,” Gemayel added, in an apparent jab at the Free Patriotic Movement and its ally Hizbullah.

FPM chief Jebran Bassil has threatened that the FPM would “topple the government” through street protests if the other parties do not heed the movement's demand regarding “partnership” and the National Pact.

“We cannot live together through nice words but rather through sharing responsibility and burdens in the presidency, the government, the parliament and appointments, or else we would be living a lie,” Bassil said.

“We must be partners... We are not your employees, workers or second-class citizens. If you reject our president we will reject your president,” the FPM chief warned.

He also cautioned that if the government “does not abide by the people's interest,” the FPM would “topple it in the street” for “violating the National Pact.”

The FPM, which has the biggest Christian bloc in parliament, has suspended its participation in cabinet sessions and national dialogue meetings over accusations that other parties in the country are not respecting the National Pact.

The 1943 National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on Christian-Muslim partnership.

Addressing Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Bassil had recently said that “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).”

Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh hit back at Bassil last Monday, saying Marada and the other Christian parties in the cabinet “represent a lot more than six percent.”