By Nafez Qawas
Daily Star correspondent
Thursday, February 11, 2010
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri said late Wednesday Lebanon will stand united against ongoing Israeli threats. Addressing delegations of Beiruti families at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center (BIEL), Hariri also urged massive participation in the February 14 rally to mark five years since the assassination, in 2005, of his father former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The Union of Beiruti Families held a dinner in BIEL to mark the election of its new board.
Hariri said Sunday’s rally should renew the Lebanese’s trust in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). “Let’s offer the world a national Lebanese panorama, let’s us tell the world there will be no compromises concerning the STL,” he added.
Hariri stressed that national unity was the “best and most efficient” manner to confront Israeli threats. “There is a flow of Israeli threats facing Lebanon today and those threats should not be handled as mere media messages. Those threats are the equivalent of daily violations to Resolution 1701 and a clear announcement of Israeli intentions toward Lebanon,” he said.
Security Council Resolution 1701 put an end to the 2006 summer war with Israel.
Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that any attack by Lebanon’s Hizbullah will spark a tough response.
Last week, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem warned Israelis that Syria would back Lebanon in any war against Lebanon.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, meanwhile, said Damascus had “crossed a red line” and warned Syria its army would be defeated and its regime would collapse in a future conflict.
The prime minister urged the international community to assume its responsibilities concerning the repeated Israeli threats against Lebanon.
“National unity is the most effective weapon in our hands to face Israeli threats,” Hariri said. “This is a reality that should be known by each and every Lebanese from north to south.”
The premier stressed that Israel was betting on instigating divisions among the Lebanese. He added that “losing national unity would lead to a loss of Lebanon’s peace and stability.
Hariri said Lebanon would not gamble with its stability and national unity, and “refuses to be an easy target.”
“It’s not a secret that Israel has vicious intentions toward Lebanon because Israel is the enemy,” Hariri added.
Tackling the Rafik Hariri commemoration, Hariri said the participation of Lebanese in Sunday’s event would be a message to the world that no compromise concerning the STL would occur.
“What we have already achieved on the path toward justice and truth deserves that we continue to struggle for and to present to the world a national Lebanese scene that enforces trust in the STL,” Hariri added.
The STL, which was established by UN Security Council resolutions 1664 and 1775, investigates Rafik Hariri’s assassination and other crimes targeting politicians as well as journalists between 2005 and 2008.
Hariri told Beiruti families on Wednesday that he shared his father’s fondness of the Lebanese capital. “Rafik Hariri was convinced in the role, the message and the exceptional status Beirut held,” he said.
The prime minister added that the capital was a symbol of “unity, culture, and coexistence.”
He said he refused all attempts to divide Beirut, adding that Christian and Muslim Beirutis sought a “unified capital.”
Hariri said he refused to allow the spell of civil divisions to also cast a shadow over Beirut.
The prime minister was implicitly responding to calls by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun to divide Beirut into three electoral districts during the municipal elections scheduled for June.
“Beirut is the capital of Lebanon, and in the capital there is no place for divisions or segregation,” Hariri said.
Note: Propaganda and threats towards Israel, pouring out of the mouths of IRAN, SYRAI, LEBANON, HAMA/GAZA, "daily", if not "hourly" ... IF threats were pennies, Israel would become the most wealthy of all nations in the entire world!
BeeSting
”Note: Propaganda and threats towards Israel, pouring out of the mouths of IRAN, SYRAI, LEBANON, HAMA/GAZA, "daily", if not "hourly" ... IF threats were pennies, Israel would become the most wealthy of all nations in the entire world!
BeeSting
