Miqati from Tripoli: Our Arab League Stand Stems from Historic Considerations

Prime Minister Najib Miqati urged on Sunday all political leaderships to cooperate with the repeated calls to resume the contacts, whether through national dialogue or answering the people’s inquiries over the country’s future.

He said: “This government places Lebanon’s interest above all else and it does not seek to take uncalculated risks or exploit the Syrian refugees’ plight.”

He made his statements during a luncheon banquet he threw in President Michel Suleiman’s honor in Tripoli.

Addressing regional developments, he stated: “Lebanon’s position at the Arab League stemmed from historical and geographic considerations that we know our Arab brothers are aware of.”

“We have ignored pressures and set stability and averting strife as our goals,” Miqati continued.

“We have worked on bolstering trust among the Lebanese and we strived to increase governmental work,” the premier stressed.

“We have sought to steer away from political debates and we renew our commitment to the government’s policy statement, which a roadmap for our work,” he added.

“Our hand is still extended to all sides … This government, which has not been judged objectively, has succeeded,” he stressed.

On Saturday, the Arab League suspended Syria until Assad implements an Arab deal to end violence against protesters, and called for sanctions and transition talks with the opposition.

Lebanon however voted against the decision.

18 countries agreed to the decision, while Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted against it and Iraq abstained.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told al-Manar television, hours after the decision was announced, that the “the resolution taken by the Arab League is dangerous, because it was taken against a member state.”

Syrian refugees have flocked into Lebanon to escape the Syrian regime’s bloody crackdown against anti-regime protests.

The March 14-led opposition has accused the government and security authorities of preventing injured refugees from receiving medical treatment.

It has also accused them of arresting the refugees and handing them over to Syrian authorities.