Phalange Party: We Won't Legitimize Resistance and We Won't Lose Anything if Govt. Falls

The Phalange Party on Monday announced that it will not provide a political cover for Hizbullah's military intervention in Syria or for its weapons even if that threatened the collapse of Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet that was formed after an 11-month deadlock.

“This resistance has lost its legitimacy and half the Lebanese have major questions over it and therefore there is no consensus over the resistance. Nothing can be imposed on half the Lebanese in the cabinet,” MP Sami Gemayel, the party's central committee coordinator, said at a press conference.

“We won't give any legitimacy to the entity of this resistance through the tripartite (army-people-resistance) equation which allows all the Lebanese to take up arms in all circumstances,” Gemayel stressed.

He said his party was hoping the cabinet would endorse the “common points” and put the controversial ones aside. “We joined the cabinet in this spirit,” Gemayel noted.

“We want to delegitimize Hizbullah's fighting in Syria and its possession or arms during this period or else our participation in cabinet would be at the expense of the constant principles as we would be subjecting the entire Lebanese people to bombings,” he added.

He called on the cabinet to endorse “the content of the Baabda Declaration because that would protect the Lebanese from bombings.”

“It is impossible to cover up for the principle of no state; let the government collapse and we would go to a caretaker cabinet,” Gemayel threatened.

“We are avoiding overbidding but the principles do not change and will not change and from now on we won't accept that the state give legitimacy to these arms or to the fighting of Hizbullah or any other group in Syria,” he underlined.

Gemayel added: “From now on, no ministerial policy statement will legitimize the use of arms in Lebanon if we are present in cabinet.”

He pointed out that the “project” of the resistance against Israel that is led by Hizbullah is “opposed by half the Lebanese who consider it to be a problem after it brought killing, bombing, terrorists and destruction to Lebanon.”

Commenting on the recent war of words between Hizbullah and President Michel Suleiman, Gemayel said: “The attack on the president is unacceptable and we put ourselves as a party at the disposal of the president to support what's left of legitimacy in state institutions."

“Through their attack on the president, they're trying to topple the presidency so that vacuum would reign over all legitimate institutions. We know where we're heading and we know that it is difficult to reach a common policy statement, but we won't lose anything if this cabinet collapses. The previous government was in Hizbullah's hand and we won't lose anything,” Gemayel noted.

In response to a reporter's question, the MP said his party is aware that any obstruction in the issue of cabinet “would create an obstruction in parliament and in the presidential vote.”

“If the price is to cover up for Hizbullah's project, we won't pay this price,” he added.

On Saturday, Hizbullah and President Michel Suleiman were at loggerheads over the president's recent statement concerning the cabinet's policy statement. Suleiman said Friday that the land, people and common values formed the country's “permanent equation,” describing the people-army-resistance equation as “wooden” or outdated.

Hizbullah was quick to hit back at Suleiman, accusing him on Saturday of not being able to differentiate between “what's golden and what's wooden.”

On Friday, the committee drafting the ministerial policy statement failed anew to reach an agreement on the clause related to resisting Israel as the March 14 forces insisted on “the state's authority over everything.”

The committee's meeting was the seventh since Salam's cabinet was formed around two weeks ago.

The cabinet will convene again on Monday evening.

Salam has announced that his government's mission is combating terrorism and preparing for the upcoming presidential election.