Gemayel, Moussawi Trade Barbs over Hizbullah’s Telecom Network in Tarshish
Phalange lawmaker Sami Gemayel and Hizbullah MP Nawwaf Moussawi clashed in parliament on Wednesday when the issue of the Shiite group’s attempt to expand its telecommunications network was discussed.
During a Question and Answer session, the second since the formation of the cabinet, Gemayel criticized Hizbullah over its “illegal excavation and installation works in the town of Tarshish.”
But Moussawi snapped back saying the cabinet had given the resistance legitimacy through its ministerial statement.
“We reached the stage of seeking protection against the resistance,” Gemayel said.
They later traded accusations of being agents. “My shoe is more honorable than you,” the Hizbullah lawmaker told Gemayel when he asked him to “respect” himself.
But Speaker Nabih Berri interfered, telling Moussawi that he “shouldn’t defend the resistance that way.”
He later called for deleting the verbal attacks from the minutes of the session.
After the session, Sami’s father, Phalange leader Amin Gemayel, held talks with Berri who sought to reconcile the bickering MPs.
In remarks to An Nahar newspaper, Gemayel, a Metn MP, said: “They (Hizbullah) have admitted to infiltrating our cities, towns and neighborhoods.”
“Who are they and who gave them the right to monitor, accuse, investigate and request to hand over (people) whom they call agents?” the lawmaker asked. “Where is the role of the state,” he wondered.
Moussawi said Monday that CIA officers were meeting Lebanese agents in restaurants and nightclubs in the Metn towns of Dbayeh and Jounieh.
Gemayel’s comments came after An Nahar asked him what he expected from the Q&A session aimed at inquiring the government about several issues.
Among the questions filed by the MPs, was Gemayel’s inquiry about Hizbullah’s work in Tarshish.
In October, Tarshish residents thwarted attempts to construct the network after forcing the telecommunications ministry to interfere and put an end to the violation.
Other questions in the Q&A session include illegal construction on private and public property in Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, the legality of awarding contracts to service providers in the electricity sector and pollution caused by the Deir Ammar power plant.
But An Nahar said that March 14 opposition MPs are expected to stir the issue of Berri’s alleged disrespect for the parliament bureau committee’s demands on putting certain issues on the agenda of discussions and the timing of the Q&A sessions.
The security situation in southern Lebanon is also expected to be discussed by the lawmakers when the issue of Hizbullah’s telecom network in Tarshish is raised, An Nahar added.
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