March 14 Mulling Not to Respond to Suleiman’s Invitation for Dialogue
The March 14-backed opposition is mulling to reject President Michel Suleiman’s invitation for national dialogue over claims that Hizbullah’s arms are no longer acceptable.
An Nahar daily quoted March 14 decision-makers as saying that the opposition might not respond to Suleiman’s request given that it has already launched a campaign against Hizbullah’s weapons and the discussion of the issue during all-party talks is useless.
The army-people-resistance formula adopted by the government in its policy statement is baseless and totally rejected by March 14, they said.
Suleiman and the cabinet headed by PM Najib Miqati should engage in dialogue and not negotiate with the party on a mechanism that should disarm Hizbullah similar to the disarmament of other militias at the end of the Civil War in 1990, the officials told An Nahar.
The national dialogue should be based on the Taef Accord and Security Council resolution 1701 that call for ending the presence of illegitimate arms on Lebanese territories, the March 14 decision-makers said.
The opposition will suggest to Suleiman the participation of U.N. and Arab League officials in the dialogue and put only Hizbullah’s arms as a single item on the agenda of the talks, An Nahar said.
According to the March 14 proposal, the Shiite party should also announce its readiness to give up its arms.
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