Gemayel: Majority Emerges from People's Freewill, Not Gun Muzzles
Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Monday noted that the Cedar Revolution has called for freedom, sovereignty, and independence, "but today it is also striving for justice and truth."
"In the name of the martyrs of freedom and dignity, we refuse to make further concessions," Gemayel stressed during a ceremony organized by the March 14 forces to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.
"We are the popular, parliamentary, democratic, legitimate and sovereign majority. A majority emerges from people's freewill … not from the muzzles of guns. Whoever embodies people's sentiments and enjoys people's support would not stage a coup," Gemayel added.
Hariri and 22 others were killed in a massive Beirut bombing on February 14, 2005, an event that sent shockwaves through Lebanon and eventually led to the pullout of Syrian troops after 29 years of domination over the country.
The commemoration of Hariri's murder comes amid a deep political rift between the March 14 camp and the Hizbullah-led coalition as the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon readies to issue its indictments.
"No official or leader, whether he is religious, civil, or military, has the right to make concessions over the Lebanese resistance and its sacrifices, especially the achievements of the Cedar Revolution," he added.
"Those who turn against the (parliamentary) majority should first stand before the people before forging a majority that does not enjoy the blessing of the voters," Gemayel went on to say.
"It's not the end of the world when one side loses power, but we will not accept that Lebanon lose its role and identity," the Kataeb leader vowed.
He described the toppling of Saad Hariri's government last month by Hizbullah and its allies as "an attempt to topple Lebanon."
Addressing Hizbullah, Gemayel said: "No party has the right to impose its will, culture, ideology, identity, arms, and jihad on all the Lebanese; not through numbers, not through force, and especially not through claiming to have the exclusive right to defend the nation."
"Defending the country is a national duty," Gemayel emphasized.
"We are not living in a consensual democracy, but under the rule of force … This is not how you build a state, this is how you divide and end it," he added.
"Do you want the destruction of what we have built in the past 90 years? We should save the State, regime, and independence. The dispute does not lie in the participation in government, but it lies in the attempt to topple all national, constitutional, social, and humanitarian values that we have built over the years," he stated.
Gemayel said the March 14 coalition is seeking "a free and independent state that believes in the culture of openness and peace," Gemayel said.
On January 12, Hizbullah and its allies toppled Saad Hariri's cabinet in a long-running feud over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Hizbullah-backed Najib Miqati was then appointed to form a new government, which Hariri's alliance has refused to join and has labeled "Hizbullah's government".
Hariri has refused to join Miqati's government unless he guarantees his cabinet will see the tribunal through.
Hizbullah meanwhile is demanding Lebanon end all cooperation with the court, which it says is a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy.
While Hariri and his allies won Lebanon's last parliamentary election in 2009, shifting alliances today have positioned the Hizbullah-led camp as the majority after Druze leader Walid Jumblat moved closer to the Shiite party.
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