March 14 Political Document Calls for Ending 'Hegemony of Arms'

On the eve of an expected mass rally at the Martyrs Square to commemorate the March 14 anniversary, the March 14 forces endorsed Thursday a political document after a broad meeting at the Bristol Hotel in Beirut, which was attended by the coalition's leaders, MPs, politicians and activists.

"The pro-independence movement had extended its hand to the other camp in a bid to bring everyone under the State's wings, but the other parties, mainly Hizbullah, staged their coup after refusing to acknowledge the end of Syria's tutelage," March 14 forces said in the document, whose clauses were recited by MP Marwan Hamade after the meeting.

The coalition calls in the document for "limiting the mission of defending Lebanon's threatened sovereignty to the State exclusively, across the entire country including the Palestinian refugee camps."

"Therefore ending the hegemony of weapons over the political and social life in Lebanon and ending that fad which has made defending Lebanon a factional 'specialty' and which divides the Lebanese into two categories."

March 14's document accuses the Hizbullah-led camp of trying to "impose a theory suggesting that Lebanon is an open battleground and that Hizbullah's arms are superior to freedom, independence, prosperity, law and justice."

It also accuses the rival camp of attempting to cripple justice by "obstructing the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon."

Among the March 14 camp's objectives mentioned by the document is "defending Lebanon's freedom by preventing the exploitation of religion for political ends and the justification of the use of violence under the pretext of religion."

The March 14 "anniversary comes this year amid the uprisings in the Arab nations which carry the ethical values of freedom, justice and dignity, and reject hegemony, domination and autocracy," the document notes.

"The Arab uprisings bear a resemblance to the Independence Uprising, during which the Lebanese took to the streets striving for independence, freedom, justice, dignity and the building of a free, just state."

According to the political document, the March 14 forces had achieved a "safety net" that yielded U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 "which aims to protect Lebanon from Israel's hostility."

"We hold onto the Lebanon of diversity, freedom and democracy; the state of law and legitimate institutions. We hold onto supporting the Palestinian cause, especially the rise of an independent state and the right of return. We hold onto the State's sovereignty over its entire territories and the duty to liberate the territories still under (Israeli) occupation.

"We hold onto the resolutions of the international legitimacy which support Lebanon's sovereignty, independence and justice. We hold onto the diversity of our religious, ideological and political beliefs … We reject the rise of statelets within the State and we reject any coup," the March 14 forces stress in their political document.