Statement
October 3, 2002
Saydet El Jabal Gathering held its periodic meeting and issued the following statement:
First: The Lebanese have been following for the past months the updates on the maritime border demarcation deal, be it through media reports or through statements delivered by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah who said that he was “behind the State” on this matter. Nevertheless, since the beginning of the negotiations, Nasrallah never stopped acting as someone who comes before or is above the State, while Lebanese politicians were a mere negotiation facade and message carriers, as the true negotiators were Hassan Nasrallah and Yair Lapid.
Due to the current situation, Saydet El Jabal Gathering considers that the draft agreement between Lebanon and Israel shall be submitted for discussion by the Lebanese Parliament. Such an important agreement cannot be “smuggled in” as the main counterpart is the Lebanese people not Hezbollah backed by Iran, the actual political decision maker in Lebanon.
We send out a call to the deputies of the nation for:
- Either discussing the draft agreement in the Parliament
- Or resigning immediately because a Parliament, formed of “special” deputies entitled to be informed about the content of the agreement and other “regular” deputies from whom this information is withheld, cannot be viable
Second: With a demarcation deal signed with Israel, Lebanon will enter a new phase entitled, according to Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri: Stability and Peace in return for Oil. This means that Lebanon is in the process of organizing the dispute with Israel or even more.
Therefore, Saydet El Jabal Gathering stresses that nothing justifies the Hezbollah weapons anymore. How can a party resist against a State while its allies in power are signing a demarcation deal with this State?
The Gathering initially considered that Hezbollah’s weapons lost their legitimacy with the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon in 2000. It is calling today for the disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese State pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution, the Taef Agreement, and the relevant international resolutions, as today these weapons only serve as a lever of Iranian occupation of Lebanon.
If the demarcation deal will guarantee the military and economic stability of Lebanon, wouldn’t it be better to sign a Ceasefire agreement with Israel pursuant to resolution 1701?
