President Michel Suleiman reiterated on Thursday that the Baabda Declaration outweighs in political significance the new government’s policy statement.
He told reporters in Paris where he was taking part in the International Support Group meeting on Lebanon : “A flexible phrasing of the statement will be drafted in order to resolve the dispute over the resistance.”
Commenting on Hezbollah’s position on his stance with regards to the ministerial statement he said.
“I predicted that Hezbollah would criticize me for my position on the resistance.”
They should not undermine words that write agreements because these words write history, Suleiman stressed.
Hezbollah on Saturday slammed President Suleiman over his comments last week during a speech at the University of Kaslik in which he insisted on making the Baabda Declaration the basis of the new cabinet’s policy statement and equated the (Baabda) Declaration to the National Pact.
Suleiman said at the conference titled My Land: A Promising Future , that Lebanon’s land, people, and common values constitute the country’s “permanent equation.”
This was understood to be a response to Hezbollah’s demand that the so called resistance formula should be the basis for the new government policy
( people + army + resistance )
“With all our due respect to the presidency and what it represents, the latest speech delivered Friday makes us believe that the Baabda Palace has recently been in need of special care, since its occupier cannot differentiate anymore between gold and wood,” the Hezbollah statement said.
This was in direct response to Suleiman’s advise against” clinging to wooden formulas that hinder the drafting of the ministerial statement.”
In a quick reaction via Twitter to Hezbollah’s attack, President Suleiman stated on Saturday that what Baabda Palace needs is acknowledging the unanimous consensus over the Baabda Declaration that was reached inside its premises.
The panel charged with drafting the policy statement has so far failed in its mission due to an ongoing dispute over the role of the resistance in Lebanon and the equation of the “army-people-resistance.”
Presidential election
Commenting on the upcoming presidential elections, Suleiman warned: “Thwarting the needed quorum to hold the elections is an obstruction of the constitution.”
“Such an obstruction only takes place during exceptional circumstances,” noted Suleiman.
“The elections will be held on time out of my desire to hold them and because of the international community’s support” to Lebanon.
Future insists on Baabda accord
The Future Movement Parliamentary bloc reiterated its call for including the Baabda Declaration in the ministerial statement, and the rejection to legitimize Hezbollah’s arsenal.
“The Future bloc is surprised by the allegations of some parties in the March 8 coalition that [the March 14 ministers] refuse acknowledging the right to resistance against the Israeli enemy in the ministerial statement,” the Future bloc said in a statement.
“The truth is that the March 8 is insisting on legalizing the use of [non-state] weapons outside the supervision and authority of the Lebanese state, something that can never be accepted or approved,” the statement added.
The Future bloc also condemned the campaign led by Hezbollah and media affiliated with it against President Michel Suleiman over his speech last Saturday at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik.
“The president gave a political and patriotic stance, which is a right guaranteed to him by the constitution. Those who disagree with him were supposed to respond to him within the norms of courtesy and not by attacking him and waging a hateful media campaign against him,” the statement read.
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