Nadim Gemayel: Suleiman, Al-Rahi’s Stance on Weapons Encourages Others to Turn to Arms
Phalange Party MP Nadim Gemayel condemned on Wednesday the possession of illegitimate arms in Lebanon, saying that President Michel Suleiman and Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s positions on Hizbullah’s weapons won’t change the fact that they are illegitimate.
He said after a mass commemorating the 29th anniversary of the assassination of his father, former President Bashir Gemayel: “They believe that the army cannot protect Lebanon and therefore allowing one faction to carry arms encourages others to turn to arms as well.”
“These weapons have been used on the internal scene and at every major political moment in order to terrorize the people and impose their ideology and state on them,” he added.
“We have learned from Bashir and all martyrs not to hesitate in defending the nation,” he continued.
Gemayel said: “We refuse to be ruled by the power of the arms and those who claim to be defending the country.”
“I am issuing a final call to them to retract their stances so that they don’t drag us back to the time of Syrian hegemony and into wars that have destroyed the country,” he stressed.
On the developments in Syria, he said: “The Syrian people are striving for freedom and the Lebanese state does not have the right to defend the Syrian regime at the U.N. Security Council and Arab League as massacres are being committed against the people.”
“We cannot forget that it is this same regime that committed the ugliest massacres against our people and economy …. This system cannot defend anyone and it must step down,” he declared.
“I would like to remind some spiritual and secular Christians that Christianity was built on martyrdom and sacrifice and had the early Christians succumbed to dictators, there would be no Christians in Syria today,” the MP added.
“We cannot trivialize the martyrdom of saints by calling for submission to the rule of tyrants such as Syrian President Bashar Assad,” Gemayel said.
“We have a major and historic opportunity to achieve real reconciliation between the Syrian and Lebanese people,” he remarked.
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