13 November 2012

BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said Monday the time has come in light of recent violence to consider establishing a Cabinet that can protect Lebanon from strife.

“The successive events in Tripoli, the [October] assassination of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan and the incidents in Sidon highlight the need for a new approach, which could be considering a formula for a new Cabinet that can protect the country from tension and strife,” Jumblatt wrote in his weekly editorial for PSP’s Al-Anbaa newspaper.

“This formula can satisfy all groups and [this Cabinet can] function in the period of waiting for the inevitable fall of the regime of Bashar Assad.”

Three people were killed in Sidon Sunday in armed clashes between supporters of Hezbollah and Sunni preacher Sheikh Ahmad Assir.

The PSP leader said such a Cabinet would diminish the deep divisions among Lebanese parties and absorb the repercussions of the Syrian crisis.

Jumblatt said he opposes calls by the March 14 coalition for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, saying that Lebanon cannot endure the political vacuum that would result from such a move.

Separately, Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel discussed with Fares Soueid, the general coordinator of the March 14 coalition, restructuring and organizing the coalition’s General Secretariat.

The meeting, the first in over a year, comes after a long-simmering dispute between the two figures. The two-hour meeting at Gemayel’s Bikfaya residence was joined by Kataeb leader, former President Amin Gemayel.

Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Soueid described their talks as fruitful. “The meeting was long and extremely fruitful after all these media reports [on our relationship], some that were unjust.”

Soueid, a former MP from Jbeil, opposes Gemayel’s call for greater political decentralization in order to better address concerns of the country’s sects.

The Kataeb party has not participated in the meetings of the General Secretariat, chaired by Soueid, since 2009.

Gemayel accused Soueid last month of turning the General Secretariat into a “Soueid club” and of failing to fulfill his role as coordinator.

“There have been points of contention [between us] for a long time, but these are not major points,” Soueid said. “We agreed to address points of contention in order to overcome them and give the March 14 coalition enough time to confront present dangers.”

Soueid underscored that there is no battle within the March 14 coalition, “neither between independent figures and party members, nor between the Kataeb party and any other party in the March 14 coalition, our battle is clear: It is confronting Hezbollah and dangers that Lebanon is facing.”

For his part, Gemayel said that he passed on to Soueid a plan to organize work within the March 14 coalition.

“The problem with the March 14 General Secretariat is not a problem between the Kataeb party and Dr. Fares Soueid or between party members and independent figures in the coalition ... but the problem with the March 14 coalition is that of structure and method of work, [its] effectiveness, organization and coordination,” he said.

“Hence, the Kataeb party formulated this paper which we handed to Soueid today to pursue the needed contacts to reach results.”

Gemayel said the March 14 coalition is not a party, but a group of parties and independent figures that agree on major principles. “These are opposing illegitimate arms in Lebanon, adhering to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, preserving the democratic system and transition of power in Lebanon and building a civilized and developed state.”

Meanwhile, Amin Gemayel said he supports dialogue among Lebanon’s political rivals, adding that the logic of dialogue should never be abandoned.

“We are with dialogue. There are a number of issues that should be addressed and maintaining contact between Lebanon’s rivals is a national necessity,” Gemayel said in remarks published Monday in Kuwait’s An-Nahar newspaper.

Gemayel said the statement issued by March 14 last month did not include any stipulation to boycott dialogue. In practice, the coalition is currently boycotting the talks. “We are committed to March 14’s latest statement and we took part in formulating it.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon will maintain a policy of dissociating itself from events in neighboring Syria regardless of the draft law to be discussed by Arab League foreign ministers in their meeting which convened Monday in Cairo.

Copyright The Daily Star 2012.