Report: Hizbullah’s Rejection to Fund STL Not Subject to Bargaining
Hizbullah has reiterated that it would not bargain on its decision to reject the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, An Nahar newspaper reported on Sunday.
Hizbullah “rejects any bargaining between the funding and other issues such as false witnesses or security appointments,” sources close to the Shiite party told the daily.
The group will confirm its point of view when the funding issue is put up for discussion during cabinet sessions, they said.
They told An Nahar that the stance of Hizbullah ministers in the government will be based on an announcement made by Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in July 2010 and other statements and remarks that have set the party’s viewpoint from the court ahead of the indictment that charged four of its members.
In July last year, Nasrallah said that all information that Hizbullah has show that the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination was written in 2008 but it had been postponed for political reasons.
A political source close to the parliamentary majority warned that the funding of the tribunal would lead to a clash between Premier Najib Miqati and Hizbullah in the next few days.
Miqati “rejects a confrontation with the international community through a government that he heads,” the source told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.
“Both sides will lose if such a confrontation takes place inside the ruling party,” he said, adding that Miqati would either quit or go along with Hizbullah in rejecting the funding, putting himself on the international blacklist.
The premier reiterated during his visit to New York last month that Lebanon would pay its share of funds to the STL. On Thursday, he said paying Lebanon’s share to the court will serve the country and the resistance.
If Lebanon paid its dues, it will spare itself harm because there are many who harbor ill-will against Lebanon and the resistance, he added.
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