Geagea Ready for 'Serious Dialogue' with Hizbullah, Says Polls 'Mother of All Battles'
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has expressed readiness to engage in a “serious dialogue” with its arch foe Hizbullah and described the upcoming presidential elections as the “mother of all battles.”
“There is no tension with Hizbullah. Our differences with it are not personal or sectarian,” Geagea told al-Akhbar newspaper in an interview published on Monday.
“Our differences lie on viewpoints because I consider that what it (the party) is doing would lead to destruction,” he said about Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war.
“Such differences are present among all parties,” he added.
Geagea refused to “waste time,” telling his interviewer that he was “ready to talk to Hizbullah if the dialogue was serious.”
Geagea, whose party has not taken part in Prime Minister Tammam Salam's 24-member government for refusing to share power with Hizbullah, criticized the cabinet's policy statement.
He said the document's resistance clause, which was adopted on Friday after almost a month of political wrangling between the March 8 and 14 alliances, “paved way for every group to arm itself under the excuse of the resistance.”
“What would the government do if a group of citizens in Jbeil, Tripoli or Hasbaya decided to get arms to resist the occupation?” Geagea asked.
He also criticized the policy statement for not clearly stating the Baabda Declaration that on June 2012 received the backing of the rival parties during a national dialogue session chaired by President Michel Suleiman at the presidential palace.
The March 8 and 14 alliances pledged to distance Lebanon from the region's turmoil although Hizbullah has openly fought alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's troops against the rebels seeking to topple him.
The policy statement's resistance clause states: "By the virtue of the state's responsibility to preserve Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the government stresses the state's duty and efforts to liberate the Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshouba Hills and the occupied part of Ghajar (village) through all legitimate means, while stressing the right of Lebanese citizens to resist Israeli occupation, repel its aggression and regain the occupied land.”
Geagea said the LF lawmakers will not give their confidence to the government although they would participate in the session called for by Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday and Thursday.
Asked about the presidential elections as Suleiman's six-year term ends in May, the LF chief said the March 14 alliance should strongly get engaged in the electoral battle to achieve its objective.
Describing the polls as the “mother of all battles,” Geagea told al-Akhbar that “unlike what some say, the president has authorities.”
“He is the symbol of the state,” he said.
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