March 14 Officials Discuss Policy Statement Deadlock as Panel Holds 10th Meeting

March 14 officials and ministers representing the coalition in Prime Minister Tammam Salam's government discussed on Monday night the deadlock on the policy statement as the rival parties continued to hold onto their conditions, An Nahar daily reported.

The newspaper said Tuesday that the meeting mainly tackled the impasse on the blueprint as a seven-member ministerial committee tasked with drafting the statement is scheduled to hold its tenth session.

The March 14 alliance's leaders and ministers representing them in the 24-member cabinet agreed that there was not yet any understanding on the resistance clause of the policy statement.

The Hizbullah-led March 8 camp is conditioning the adoption of a statement backed by the council of Arab foreign ministers.

The closing statement of the foreign ministers' meeting held in Cairo on Sunday called for "the right of Lebanon and the Lebanese to liberate and recover the Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshouba Hills and the Lebanese part of the Ghajar village, and to resist any Israeli aggression or occupation through the legitimate means."

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil proposed the clause after coordinating with President Michel Suleiman and Salam.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted informed sources as saying that Suleiman does not reject the adoption of Bassil's version of the resistance clause.

But the March 14 coalition continued on Tuesday to hold onto its condition for the adoption of a clause under which the resistance is put under the authority of the state.

Several alliance officials have stressed “the right of Lebanon as a state and not the right of the Lebanese to resist Israel.”

Speaker Nabih Berri warned last week that Suleiman would be compelled to call for binding parliamentary consultations to name a new prime minister after March 17, when the one-month deadline set by the constitution for drafting the policy statement ends.

He said the cabinet would be considered resigned if it fails to agree on the blueprint by that date.

Salam has also the option to call for a government session to vote on the blueprint.

But al-Liwaa newspaper said that efforts are underway to convince the prime minister to keep the meetings of the ministerial committee open ended until next Monday to avoid a cabinet session.