Hizbullah Bloc Urges Efforts to Return FPM to Cabinet, Resume Dialogue

Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc on Thursday called for “serious efforts” to secure the return of the Free Patriotic Movement to the cabinet's sessions and to resume the suspended national dialogue.

“All political forces must exert more serious efforts in an atmosphere of positive keenness in order to resolve all the obstacles that are preventing the participation of all Lebanese components in the government's meetings,” the Loyalty to Resistance bloc said.

The bloc also noted that the resumption of national dialogue is a “national necessity” amid “the critical phase that the country is going through.”

Dialogue had been suspended following a decision by the Free Patriotic Movement to boycott the meetings.

The FPM, which has the biggest Christian bloc in parliament, has also suspended participation in cabinet sessions over claims that the 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 and stipulated balance among the sects.

On Tuesday, the FPM emphasized that it “will not back down” from its promised escalation, warning that “the abolition of the National Pact is equivalent to the abolition of Lebanon.”

FPM chief Jebran Bassil has 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.”

The FPM has also announced that it will resort to street protests to press for its demands.