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Geagea to Nasrallah: You Have Never Seriously Approached National Dialogue

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea slammed on Friday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s accusations that the March 14 camp is placing conditions on resuming the national dialogue.

He said during the launch of the LF charter: “We do not set conditions on the talks and you have never even seriously approached the national dialogue.”

He noted that during the first two sessions of the dialogue, all the gatherers reached an agreement on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the need to limit the Palestinians’ possession of arms in Lebanon.

Geagea asked: “What is Hizbullah’s position on these two issues right now?”

“What measures have been taken regarding the Palestinian arms? Wasn’t Hizbullah the first side to set ‘red lines’ regarding the Nahr al-Bared camp?” he wondered.

“Who is he accusing of possessing weapons?” continued the LF leader.

“We are not setting preconditions and at the same time, we are not in a position to have others impose conditions on us,” he stressed.

“How are we the one placing preconditions when Nasrallah has refused to discuss the party’s possession of arms?” he asked.

The March 14 camp insists that dialogue should be limited to the issue of Hizbullah’s arms.

Clashes erupted in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared between Fatah Islam militants and the Lebanese army between May and September 2007.

Nasrallah had stated during the conflict that the security of the camp was a “red line” that should not be crossed.

Geagea added: “If all that he has accused us is true, especially during the Lebanese civil war, then these issues would not amount to a fraction of what Hizbullah had committed during times of war and peace.”

“I don’t like to launch such debates, but if Nasrallah wants to, then we are ready for it,” he declared.

Addressing the developments in Syria, he remarked: “Is it possible that everyone is wrong in their assessment of the crisis, even after 137 countries voted for a resolution that condemns the Syrian regime’s crackdown against the protests?”

“If Nasrallah believes that everyone is opposed to the Syrian regime because it supports the resistance, then we don’t want such a resistance,” he stated.

Nasrallah questioned on Thursday the Arab countries’ insistence on toppling the Syrian regime, deeming such actions as suspicious.

He also questioned their refusal to arm a Palestinian resistance and their readiness to arm the Syria opposition.

“I call for a little contemplation on why the entire world is insisting on toppling the Syrian regime. According to the approach we believe in, the regime is defiant and it did not betray the resistance in Lebanon, Palestine or Iraq,” said the Hizbullah chief.


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