Fate of National Dialogue Hangs in Balance
The fate of a new round of national dialogue was unclear on Tuesday, two days ahead of the all-party talks set to be held at Baabda palace, over the insistence of the March 14 opposition officials to boycott the meeting.
An Nahar newspaper quoted presidential sources as saying that President Michel Suleiman hasn't yet taken the decision to postpone the dialogue but could announce the postponement on Wednesday when the March 14 alliance members make a clear announcement on their decision.
An Nahar said some of those members will hold bilateral talks with Suleiman if he insisted on not postponing the session to stress their previous stance from Hizbullah's arms.
The opposition announced in October its decision not to sit at the dialogue table with Hizbullah and boycotted all parliamentary activity after it blamed Prime Minister Najib Miqati's government on the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Wissam al-Hasan in a car bomb blast in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district.
March 14 also called for the resignation of the cabinet and the formation of a neutral salvation government.
But Suleiman insisted on calling for the all-party talks and bringing rival factions together as a starting point for the discussion of the government crisis.
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, a centrist, echoed similar views on Monday, saying at a press conference that dialogue is the only means to resolve the crisis sparked by al-Hasan's killing.
March 14 leadership sources told An Nahar, however, that if held, the new round of dialogue would be similar to its predecessors.
“The decisions taken during previous sessions in the past six years haven't been implemented,” they said.
The sources added that the government crisis can’t be solved at the dialogue table. Instead the officials should hold bilateral talks and make behind-the-scenes negotiations.
Suleiman indirectly slammed both the Hizbullah-led March 8 majority and the March 14 opposition on Monday for “setting preconditions” for attending the new round of talks and engaging in “counter-accusations.”
“Democracy is not founded on boycott. It’s true that boycott is a democratic right but it is not the basis of democratic work. On the contrary, democracy requires sitting together and voicing one’s opinion,” he said at a joint news conference with his Armenian counterpart.
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