MP Atef Majdalani , a key member of march 14 alliance told Free Lebanon radio on Saturday that Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea have taken patriotic positions which serve the country’s interests.
Sfeir and Geagea made several statements this week that focused on granting the Lebanese government the right to make its own decisions and have control over the use of arms.
“We are not against Hezbollah, but we want it to abide by the [Lebanese] state’s [decisions],” Majdalani said.
Geagea
Geagea , who is in Spain on an official visit reiterated on Saturday that the Lebanese government should be the sole decision-maker on the use of Hezbollah’s arms
“We could start by making a significant step of keeping the arms where they are but leaving the decision of their use solely to the Lebanese state,” Geagea said during a press conference in Madrid.
One of the proposed solutions is to merge Hezbollah units with the Lebanese army, he told reporters but stressed the importance of US and EU pressure on Israel to accept the Arab peace initiative, “specially since the Obama administration is interested in peace in the region”
Turning to relations with Syria, Geagea said: “Syria does not lack the rationality or the objectivity to understand that that there is no other solution but to treat Lebanon as a sovereign, free and independent country”.
Geagea added that there haven’t been any real improvements in pending issues such as the Lebanese jailed in Syria, Palestinian bases in Lebanon and demarcation of the border.
Turning to the blockade by Israel of Gaza strip he said: “No country has the right to blockade another country and what Israel is doing to the 1.5 million people of Gaza is illegal ”
Sfeir
Sfeir stressed Friday at the Hariri International airport following his return from an official visit to France that the relations between Lebanon and Syria should be “peaceful, friendly, and loyal” like those of any neighboring states.
Sfeir however stressed that the “Lebanese-Syrian relations should be those of one state with another.”
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