http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=124920#axzz1E3vVazN9
A new opposition is born
Hariri maps out way forward for March 14, rules out participation in Mikati's
Cabinet
By Hussein Dakroub
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
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BEIRUT: Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri unleashed Monday the March 14
coalition's opposition against the government to be formed by Prime
Minister-designate Najib Mikati, while strongly upholding a U.N.-backed court
investigating his father's assassination.
Addressing a rally marking the sixth anniversary of the assassination of his
father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Saad Hariri lashed out at Hezbollah
for using its weapons to influence internal political disputes and rejected the
group's accusation that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was an American or
Israeli tool.
"Dear friends, today we are in the opposition, which is based on the three
following principles - First: We are committed to the Constitution. Second: We
are committed to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Third: We are committed to
protect the public and private life in Lebanon from the predominance of
weapons," Hariri told the rally held at the Beirut International Exhibition and
Leisure complex in Beirut.
The rally drew about 8,000 supporters, including ministers in Hariri's
caretaker Cabinet, lawmakers from Hariri's Future bloc and the March 14
coalition, as well as Kataeb (Phalange) Party leader Amin Gemayel and Lebanese
Forces chief Samir Geagea.
Hariri's declaration was widely expected because he has said he will not join a
government headed by a March 8-backed candidate. Also, March 14 groups' talks
with Mikati, who is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, on their
participation in the new government had collapsed.
In his speech, Hariri thanked the lawmakers who collaborated to oust him from
office last month, saying this allowed him to return to his supporters.
"I announce today what I implicitly say everyday: Thank God, thank God . We are
returning to the path of basic sound peaceful national constants drawn by the
Lebanese people from all sects, regions and groups on March 14, 2005, that they
never retracted from, even when they felt that our good intentions are pushing
us to stances and settlements that are for Lebanon's sake but outside this
path," he said.
"We are not attached to power and we only adhere to our democratic system and
Constitution. So we congratulate them on a majority that was hijacked by the
intimidation of weapons and we congratulate them on a power that was stolen
from the will of the voters," Hariri said.
Hariri said the hundreds of thousands of Christians and Muslims who protested
his father's killing on March 14, 2005, wanted to know the truth. "All we
wanted since Feb. 14, 2005, and March 14, 2005, is the truth, not power.
Justice, not power. Freedom, not power. All we want is the law, the
Constitution and coexistence, not power. We want sovereignty, not power. And
independence, not power," he said.
Hariri reiterated support for the STL, rejecting charges that the tribunal was
set up to serve U.S. and Israeli interests. "This tribunal is not American nor
French nor Israeli, and doesn't target any group or sect. This tribunal
represents, in our point of view, the highest degree of human justice. This
tribunal will surely punish, with the help of God, only, and I reiterate only
the terrorist murderers who targeted many of our personalities, starting with
[former] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri," Hariri said.
He added that in accordance with its statute, the tribunal will accuse members,
not a party or a sect. "It has to be based on evidence and proof," he said.
"And then, if any one wants to put himself on the accused list, it will be his
choice, and this way he chooses by himself. As for us, we will support the
tribunal, its decision and its verdict. We will not say one day that the
accusation was directed against a particular sect, party or group," he added.
Hariri said his remarks were not aimed at seeking a confrontation with the
Shiite sect. "The Shiite community is a fundamental part of the Lebanese
structure, and all the Lebanese are its partners in building the state, and
confronting the Israeli enemy."
The STL has been at the root of tension between March 8 and March 14 groups for
months, threatening to plunge the country into sectarian violence, especially
if the tribunal's indictment implicates some Hezbollah members in Hariri's
assassination as it is widely expected.
Hariri said following his victory in the 2005 and 2009 elections, he extended
his hand to Hezbollah and its allies because this country cannot be governed by
a single party or a single sect. "But we were met every time with deceit, and
our genuine intention was taken as a point of weakness and a sign of fear," he
said.
Hariri said Hezbollah's weapons have become a divisive issue among the Lebanese
after these weapons were used against fellow Lebanese in May 2008. Pro- and
anti-government groups fought each other in May 2008 after Hezbollah gunmen
briefly took over West Beirut to protest a government decision to dismantle the
group's private telecommunications network.
"Yes, we don't accept the weapons and to be subjugated to them when they are
directed against the Lebanese and when they become a means of blackmail of
their stability and security, so that they choose the wrong over the right, or
when they become a means of pressure on members of Parliament to do the
opposite of what the voters entrusted them to do and to breach the vows they
made when they ran for elections," he said. "Weapons directed against the
Lebanese people are weapons of strife, and strife in Lebanon serves only
Israel, which is our only enemy."
Hariri disclosed for the first time details of the Saudi-Syrian settlement to
resolve the Lebanese crisis over the STL and what led the deal to unravel. He
implicitly blamed Hezbollah and its March 8 allies for the failure of the
Saudi-Syrian bid.
He said the Saudi-Syrian initiative was based on one essential idea: that all
Lebanese parties participate in a Lebanese national reconciliation conference
to be held in Riyadh under the auspices of Saudi King Abdullah and in the
presence of the Lebanese and Syrian presidents, a number of Arab leaders and
the Arab League.
"A reconciliation of everyone without exception, and forgiving all the past, in
a way that the repercussions of the indictment would be a national and Arab
responsibility," he said,
"Yes, this is the agreement that we negotiated for. . We negotiated in all
honesty for the sake of Lebanon's interest, but we were met once again with a
request to surrender, and not to reconcile, by those who don't want a dialogue
because they consider themselves bigger than Lebanon," he added.
Hariri said there will be no return to the Saudi-Syrian efforts. He denied
reports that he had signed an agreement to end Lebanon's cooperation with the
STL.
Taking a direct swipe at Mikati who is known for his middle-of-the road
attitudes, Hariri said, "There is no centrism between crime and justice,
between sovereignty and tutelage, and between Lebanon's Arabism and putting it
in a regional axis that has nothing to do with Arabism or Lebanon. But most
importantly there is no centrism between truth and deception, between pledges
and treason."
Addressing the rally, Gemayel said the March 14 movement will achieve its
objectives "because it is the movement of right and historic constants." He
accused the Hezbollah-led alliance of seeking to bring Lebanon down.
"In theory, we are in front of a government's collapse. But in reality, we are
seeing an attempt to bring Lebanon down. Will you allow Lebanon's downfall?"
Gemayel asked.
Geagea blamed Syria for the Lebanese crisis. "The March 14 coalition has made
mistakes several times, especially when it believed that Syria had made a
comprehensive review of its attitudes toward Lebanon," he said. He promised
"endless Cedars' revolutions" to confront Syria's and Hezbollah's tutelage over
Lebanon.
Former Minister Mohammad Abdel Hamid Beydoun, a former Amal official who has
fallen out with Speaker Nabih Berri, spoke at the rally criticizing Hezbollah
for keeping its weapons in defiance of the state.
"The resistance [Hezbollah] cannot continue as an independent army beyond
accountability. Lebanon cannot remain with two armies and two kinds of
weapons," he said.
Now with the March 14 participation ruled out following Hariri's declaration,
Mikati is expected to intensify his efforts to form the government which is to
be dominated by Hezbollah and its allies.
A senior March 8 source said that Mikati met Monday with and caretaker Energy
Minister Jubran Bassil in the latest attempt to resolve the problem of the
interior portfolio which both Sleiman and MP Michel Aoun are demanding.
A source close to Mikati said if the March 14 bloc decided to stay out, the
premier-designate would form a government of politicians and technocrats.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama urged the new Lebanese government to
cooperate with the STL. "Ending the era of impunity for political
assassinations is essential to realizing the justice and stability that the
Lebanese people deserve, and any attempt to interfere with the Tribunal's work
or fuel tensions within Lebanon must not be tolerated," Obama said in a
statement Sunday. "The cause for which Prime Minister Hariri and so many
Lebanese patriots gave their lives must remain our guide."
Read more:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=124920#ixzz1E3w8a7ev
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
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