Opposition Determined: False Witnesses Issue Must See End!

05/11/2010

 Nowadays, Lebanon’s national opposition seems to be more determined than ever…

Without previous coordination, the opposition took one and only one stance towards the national dialogue session, which took place on Thursday at the Baabda Presidential Palace…

Its poles simply chose to “boycott” the session, delivering a “strong” message to all those who may be concerned.

The head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun said it loudly. Sitting at the same table alongside those who’re seeking to “protect” the false witnesses is prohibited, he said. Dialogue is therefore useless, according to the General, who rejected the “logic” of delaying and postponing solutions and decisions until reaching “impossible consensus.”

That’s it. For the first time since the dialogue’s launching, the opposition was absent. However, it made it clear. The boycott was a message in itself. The opposition didn’t reject the principle of dialogue, a principle it has always backed and will continue to support until the end.

The opposition only wanted to say that “sensitive issues” such as the false witnesses file must see an end as soon as possible. Just escaping the debate over it was not anymore an “option.”

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the only opposition representative in the session, made it clear. Those who chose to boycott the session were not against the principle of dialogue, he told Lebanese daily As-Safir. They were, however, shocked by the latest developments related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, he added.

Berri didn’t say everything. The General did. He told Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar that simply, he won’t sit at the same table with the protectors of the false witnesses. He won’t accept to talk with them. According to him, there’s one and only one exit: resolving the issue of the false witnesses as soon as possible, either through consensus or through resorting to the voting process within the cabinet.

The General spoke about an “intention” to hold the next cabinet session in the Grand Serail to “postpone” once again the finalization of the issue, a scenario also rejected by the national opposition. “The file must be resolved in the first cabinet session, whether it was held at Baabda or the Serail, under President Michel Sleiman or Prime Minister Saad Hariri,” Hezbollah Minister Mohamad Fneish told Al-Manar.

That’s it. The opposition, believing some people in the government are seeking to “protect” the false witnesses, took its decision and the file must be resolved as soon as possible.

Norman Finkelstein – Hezbollah, the Honour of Lebanon

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian