The Daily Star, Lebanon
June 9 2005
Hizbullah chief urges political ‘reconciliation’ in Lebanon
By Majdoline Hatoum
Daily Star staff
Thursday, June 09, 2005
BEIRUT: Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called for
political “reconciliation” and urged Lebanon’s politicians to put
“the past behind” them. Nasrallah’s remarks came as he urged Shiites
to support Hizbullah’s decision to put up a candidate for Sunday’s
Mount Lebanon polls on the electoral list of Druze leader Walid
Jumblatt and former foes, the right wing Christian Lebanese Forces.
Hizbullah’s leader said: “Our alliance is based on forgetting the
past. I am calling for gathering around a slogan said by late
president and Phalanges leader Bashir Gemayel during the civil war,
the slogan of ‘Lebanon is 10,452 square meters.'”
Lebanon remains under international pressure to disarm Hizbullah
which last month claimed it had 12,000 rockets aimed at northern
Israel.
Washington insists the resistance group a terrorist organization, but
Hizbullah’s believes its clean sweep in last week’s round of voting
is proof of public support for the group’s right to maintain its
arms.
The Mount Lebanon polls are shaping up into a tight battle between
Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and his arch rival
Jumblatt, but with Hizbullah’s support, Jumblatt is looking the
likely victor winning the majority of the 10 seats up for grabs.
Last night Aoun’s battle became more difficult as the opposition
factions agreed to stand on a single list in Mount Lebanon’s
Kesrouan-Jbeil district.
Aoun is standing for a seat in Jbeil. But until last night Aoun was
facing a divided opposition running on separate lists offering him a
good chance of securing most of the seats.
Last night’s announcement make Aoun’s chances of securing a seat for
himself more difficult since the opposition vote will not now be
split.
The new opposition list, which gathers most factions of Lebanon’s
opposition, including the Christian Qornet Shehwan Gathering, the
Phalanges Base, National Bloc and the Lebanese Forces, was announced
by opposition MP Fares Soueid, who will be competing with Aoun on the
Maronite seat for Jbeil.
During the announcement of
the list, which witnessed the presence of the wife of jailed LF
leader Strida Geagea, Carlos Edde, head of the National Bloc, said
the list tried to “maintain the unity of the opposition, national
unity and coexistence.”
But Aoun campaigned against the rest of the opposition, asking people
to vote for his lists around Mount Lebanon.
Addressing supporters in Dbayeh, he said: “Don’t sell out your votes,
your votes will bring on change to the Lebanese political arena.”
Aoun had met during the day with pro-Syrian politician Suleiman
Franjieh, who said following the meeting their alliance in Lebanon’s
North was being “finalized.”
Aoun had also met with the Armenian candidate in Mount Lebanon, Hagob
Pakradonian, after which an alliance between the two was announced.
Pakradonian, who is holding another alliance with pro-Syrian Deputy
Speaker Michel Murr in the area, said he was working to build an
alliance between Aoun and Murr, who was the main official figure to
prosecute Aoun’s FPM during the past 15 years.
Pakradonian said: “I believe we will know the final decision within
24 hours.”
During a rally for the LF, Geagea gave out the names of the LF
candidates in Mount Lebanon and North Lebanon, stressing that their
alliance with the rest of the opposition goes beyond elections.
She said: “Our alliance came to fold the pages of the past for good,
and to work on building a new future for Lebanon, a future of
coexistence and democracy.”
Geagea will stand for a seat in Bsharri on a list with Saad Hariri
and other opposition factions.