Gemayel Rejects Dialogue 'Divorce'

Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel said Monday that he supports dialogue with his foes in the March 8 coalition majority and rejects divorce.”

In an interview with the Kuwaiti AnNahar newspaper, Gemayel said: “We are with dialogue and against divorce.”

“Any politician in Lebanon or anyone else would make the biggest mistake if he adopts a path that goes contrary to dialogue,” he said when asked about the March 14 opposition’s announcement that it would boycott the national dialogue if the government doesn't resign.

“But the type of dialogue and its timing is something else,” the Phalange leader told his interviewer, denying an official March 14 statement about the boycott of the all-party talks.

“We hold onto the last statement (issued by opposition leaders) which we shared in drafting,” he stressed.

A political crisis erupted in the country after the March 14 alliance called for the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's government in the aftermath of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan's assassination in car bomb blast on Oct. 19.

Several opposition leaders have also announced that they would not sit at the dialogue table with Hizbullah and before the resignation of the cabinet.

Al-Hasan's killing proved that “there is neither a satisfactory government nor (security) agencies that provide protection,” Gemayel said.

“It is difficult to think about alternatives before the resignation of the cabinet,” he said. Yet he expressed belief that the best solution would be a salvation government.

A national unity or technocrat cabinet would be a bad choice, he added.