Lebanese MP Nadim Gemayel of the Kataeb party said that his party does not oppose Lebanon making peace with neighboring Israel, which still occupies more than 600 square kilometers of Lebanese territory and has razed dozens of border villages in its war against Hezbollah.
Nadim Gemayel © LNS
Lebanese MP Nadim Gemayel of the Kataeb party said that his party does not oppose Lebanon making peace with neighboring Israel, which still occupies more than 600 square kilometers of Lebanese territory and has razed dozens of border villages in its war against Hezbollah.
"We want our relations with our entire surroundings to be more than excellent, on the condition that no one interferes in our affairs or has designs on our territory. We have no problem making peace with anyone, whether Israel or any other country," Gemayel said, speaking from Sassine Square to mark the 44th anniversary of the assassination of his father, former Lebanese President Bachir Gemayel, killed in a bombing on 14 September 1982 by Habib Chartouni, a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP).
The signing of a framework agreement in June, following several rounds of direct Lebanon-Israel negotiations on Hezbollah's disarmament by the Lebanese army in certain areas, has not stopped Israel from continuing heavy bombardment of Lebanese territory, killing more people, including civilians.
Gemayel criticized the Lebanese state for lacking the "boldness" to disarm Hezbollah and counter Iranian influence in the country.
"The disappointment is enormous, and the prevailing feeling is one of state failure and absence... All we're asking is that the state truly pull itself together, honor its own decisions, and live up to its word," he said.
"If you expect Hezbollah to become Lebanese and hand its weapons to the state, then you don't understand its makeup, its politics, its ideology, the extent of its ties to Iran, or its very reason for being. The Americans support and help us, and the Gulf states love Lebanon and have always stood by it. But we too have duties. All that's being asked of us is a serious state project, built on will and boldness in its implementation."
Gemayel also questioned the credibility of Lebanese authorities: "How can the world take us seriously when you grant a courtesy residence to the ambassador you had expelled, breaking your own decision and your own word, and undermining the authority of the state?
How can the world take us seriously when you still allow the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the militia to keep digging into our mountains while you merely watch? Do you want all of Lebanon to become like Bint Jbeil and Ali Taher?"
Israel occupied and razed the town of Bint Jbeil during the latest war, a former Hezbollah frontline stronghold from the 2006 conflict. It also detonated more than 1,100 tons of explosives last week to destroy a Hezbollah tunnel network beneath the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge in the Nabatieh region, which it had besieged for several weeks.
Iranian ambassador Mohammad Reza Chibani was declared persona non grata in late March over suspicions of interference in Lebanese affairs through Hezbollah, though a compromise was reached in late August allowing his visa to be renewed, without restoring his diplomatic status.
As Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militants swept through the battered country's Red Sea coastline, thousands of panicked people fled to makeshift camps, adding to an already vast population of internally displaced people.
Lebanese politician Dory Chamoun died on Monday at the age of 94. His easygoing manner and plain, straightforward way of speaking might almost have marked him as an outsider on Lebanon's political scene, born and raised as he was in the shadow of a father who dominated the country's contemporary history for decades with his imposing stature.
I am an artist, not a film critic and not a military researcher. But for years I was involved in the world of film and culture at the highest levels.
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