March 14 Politicians: The Hague is for the Court and Beirut is for the Government
The Hague - Naharnet Exclusive
Lebanese politicians who are in the Netherlands to attend the start of the trial in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Feb. 2005 assassination have rejected to discuss about the new cabinet formation process and stressed that “The Hague is for the court and Beirut is for the government.”
But former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, deputy Speaker Farid Makari, MP Sami Gemayel and other March 14 alliance politicians say they want a government in Lebanon as strong as the court is in The Hague.
They said the pressure exerted on March 14 in the past 10 years to give up its support to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has failed and will also fail in giving up the true meaning of an “all-embracing” cabinet and the rotation of power in the legislative and executive authorities.
“The acceptance to discuss about an all-embracing government does not mean we are giving up our political plan that this cabinet should adopt,” they said.
The officials rejected to link the tribunal's mission with the political life in Lebanon, stressing that the March 14 camp has never tied the functioning of Lebanon's constitutional institutions with the work of the STL.
But they accused the Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance of using the constitutional life to obstruct the formation of the tribunal.
The officials stressed that they hold onto their stance since 2005 not to turn the court into a legal tool to make political gains at the expense of their rivals. Yet they would not allow the March 8 camp to turn Lebanon’s constitutional institutions into a political tool to force March 14 into giving up its support for the STL.
The March 14 officials considered that the start of the trial on Thursday morning makes the “government-tribunal” equation void.
March 8 should be realistic and give up its strong efforts to bury the truth in the killings and assassination attempts that Lebanon witnessed in the past 10 years, they said.
The March 14 officials stressed that the start of the trial would not have negative repercussions on Lebanon's stability.
But they said that the results of the trial and the verdicts would leave their mark on Lebanon's political life.
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