Shiites are the key to solving Lebanon's political crisis
Beirut (AsiaNews) There is no encouraging sign that the crisis of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's cabinet will end any time soon after its Shiite members walked out. Mr Siniora is considered Saad Hariri's top man in the government whilst Hariri himself has been out of the country in the last three months after receiving death threats. The role of Shiite parties and Syro-Lebanese relations are at the heart of the current impasse.
In a press release, the head of Hizbollah's parliamentary caucus Muhammad Raad accused PM Siniora of seeking a Camp David-like accord with Israel at the expense of the Shiite resistance in southern Lebanon, announcing at the same time he would meet National Assembly Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads Amal, the other major Shiite party founded by Imam Musa al-Sadr.
For his part, charismatic Shiite leader Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said in an interview that he was hopeful for the future of Lebanon, but suggested that "Lebanon's confessional system should be reviewed."
He stressed the need to "make intra-Lebanese dialogue more humane away from extremism and fundamentalism" and emphasised Lebanon's regional role.
Fadlallah said everybody wants to see a free and sovereign Lebanon and insisted that Israel was the "enemy of Lebanon" and the Middle East. Proof of Israel's negative role can be seen in its treatment of the Palestinians and the Greek-Orthodox Church as evinced in its failure to recognise the new Patriarch after his predecessor was removed.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who has also received threats, told AsiaNews that the Syrian regime is solely responsible for the deteriorating situation in southern Lebanon, criticising its failure to collaborate with the United Nations Commission of Inquiry headed by German Judge Detlev Mehlis.
Jumblatt slammed Damascus for exerting pressures on Mehlis and warned the Syrians not to do the same with the new head of the inquiry, Belgian Judge Serge Bramerts.
He also lashed out at Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa's comments about his Lebanese counterpart, Siniora, and assassinated former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "Minister al-Sharaa," Jumblatt said, "is guilty of the crime of the century. He assassinated Rafik Hariri."
Speaking to our agency, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that "it is necessary to fully respect the Taif Agreement signed in Saudi Arabia in 1989 which brought to an end Lebanon's civil war."
He also said there is a difference between Palestinian armed groups and Hizbollah's armed militias: the former are foreigners, the latter are Lebanese.
Geagea expressed his "esteem for former UN Commission of Inquiry Chief Detlev Mehlis, who was able to find the truth about the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, identifying Syria as the culprit for this and the following political murders such as those of Samir Kassir and Gibran Tueni.
He finally reiterated a few essential principles to guarantee Lebanon's stability:
· the return of Hizbollah and Amal ministers to the cabinet;
· absolute refusal to any new "Cairo Agreement";
· full respect for the Taif Agreement.
In the meantime, Judge Mehlis, who is back in Lebanon to conclude his mission before his Belgian successor Serge Bramerts arrives, said that Syria's cooperation with the UN commission remains important. He also voiced hope that terrorist acts in Lebanon would stop.
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