Source: Daily Star, 05-7-2006
BEIRUT: The Lebanese National Gathering (LNG) on Tuesday warned against allowing the national dialogue to turn into a permanent institution that would one day eclipse both the Parliament and Cabinet. "If the national dialogue becomes a permanent institution it will weaken the constitutional institutions and prove that Parliament does not properly represent the Lebanese people and that Cabinet is an interim institution," the gathering said in a statement issued after a weekly meeting.
Participants in Lebanon`s ongoing national dialogue decided last week to hold periodic sessions even after the topics on the agenda have been settled, to "monitor and assist" the Cabinet in implementing decisions reached at the roundtable.
"We support the national dialogue but we want it to be conducted in Parliament, not replace the constitutional institutions," said former Minister Albert Mansour.
The National Gathering, headed by former Premier Omar Karami also urged the government to issue an electoral draft law to "ensure proper and fair parliamentary representation."
The gathering said a defense policy was needed that would protect Lebanon`s territories, borders and unity as much as its sovereignty and independence.
"The imminent danger threatening Lebanon pressures us to establish a defense strategy that allows all Lebanese, regardless of their religion or sect, to enroll in it," it said.
A national defense policy is the remaining item on the national dialogue agenda.
The gathering also vowed to support member and former Minister Suleiman Franjieh against "media and political attacks against him."
Parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri promised Monday to file a libel and slander lawsuit against Franjieh for saying the former minister had been asked to swear that an underground bomb killed former Premier Rafik Hariri so the family could collect a life insurance policy.
Franjieh was interior minister at the time of Hariri`s assassination on February 14, 2005.
Franjieh said during a televised interview on Sunday that the late Hariri`s policy did not cover death by suicide bomber.
Franjieh also accused the secretary general of the Maronite Bishops` Council Youssef Beshara of "belonging to Qoreitem" last week in reference to the Hariri family residence in Beirut.
While Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir represents "Jesus Christ on Earth" to the Maronite community, Beshara personifies "Judas" in his attempts to mislead the patriarch, Franjieh said on Friday.
The comments made by the Marada Party leader triggered a wave of anger from the influential Maronite Church and March 14 Forces.
"We support Franjieh against the attacks targeting him," Mansour said. "He was expressing his personal opinions and as a politician he has the right to respond to any religious leader involved in politics."