Siniora: March 14 memo to be submitted ahead dialogue session

Fatfat: Hezbollah sees dialogues as opportunity to gain time, destabilize security
 
June 9, 2012   share

Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat said in remarks published on Saturday that Hezbollah called for dialogue in order to gain time and plan actions that would tamper with Lebanon’s security.
 
“Previous experiences have shown that Hezbollah does not take national dialogue seriously… but that it calls for dialogue when it needs to gain time to [plan actions that would tamper with Lebanon’s security],” Fatfat told  Kuwaiti daily Al-Anbaa.
 
“National dialogue will not yield any positive results and [I doubt] that the first session will be followed by another one,” he added.
 
Last week, President Michel Sleiman sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee calling on them to convene on June 11 at the Baabda Presidential Palace to discuss various issues, including Hezbollah’s arms.
 
However, some members of the Western-backed March 14 coalition said they reject taking part in the national dialogue session unless Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet resigns.
 
-NOW Lebanon

To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=407286#ixzz1xKNtA725

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An-Nahar: Sleiman will head dialogue session on June 11

June 9, 2012

An-Nahar newspaper reported on Saturday that the national dialogue called for by President Michel Sleiman would still take place as scheduled.
 
“The [national dialogue] session will take place at 11 a.m. [on June 11] according to the schedule already in place,” the daily reported.
 
An-Nahar also said that Sleiman will meet on Saturday with a March 14 delegation, which will present him with a memorandum stating its stance on national dialogue.
 
Last week, Sleiman sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee calling on them to convene on June 11 at the Baabda Presidential Palace to discuss various issues, including Hezbollah’s arms.
 
However, some members of the Western-backed March 14 coalition said they reject taking part in the national dialogue session unless Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet resigns.
 
On Tuesday, Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora said that the Western-backed March 14 alliance will hand a memorandum to Sleiman on the issue of national dialogue before June 11.

-NOW Lebanon

To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=407252#ixzz1xKNhrqAK

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Geagea: LF ready to help find minimum requirements for dialogue

June 9, 2012   share

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said in remarks published on Saturday that, despite his refusal to attend the national dialogue sessions on June 11, his party would make the necessary efforts to provide the minimum requirements for such a dialogue.
 
“We are ready to take part in dialogue when the minimum requirements are met, which is not the case this time around. However, we will try our best, with President Michel Sleiman, to find the minimum requirements that guarantee the success of [the] dialogue [session],” Geagea told Saudi daily Okaz.
 
“But, on the other hand, if we fail [to find these requirements] then [we would have reached a dead end], because the other party does not abide by serious dialogue,” he added.
 
Last week, Sleiman sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee calling on them to convene on June 11 at the Baabda Presidential Palace to discuss various issues, including Hezbollah’s arms.
 
However, some members of the Western-backed March 14 coalition said they reject taking part in the national dialogue session unless Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet resigns.
 
Geagea has also repeatedly voiced his refusal to attend national dialogue stating that the endeavor was not being taken “seriously” by March 14 political opponents.

-NOW Lebanon

To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=407267#ixzz1xKO9GjpN

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Siniora: March 14 to participate in dialogue as per memorandum
 
June 9, 2012   share

Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora said on Saturday that the March 14 coalition will take part in the June 11 national dialogue session according to the memorandum presented to President Michel Sleiman.
 
“We are entering this round of dialogue wholeheartedly and on the basis of what has been stated in the memorandum,” Siniora said in a press conference.
 
“[We are also participating in the dialogue session] on the basis of the principles that were agreed upon in the previous sessions and, therefore, on the basis that the issue of [Hezbollah’s illegitimate weapons will be discussed],” he added.
 
The MP also said that the coalition sympathized with the Lebanese Forces decision to abstain from taking part in the upcoming dialogue sessions.
 
“The Lebanese Forces agree on every word of this memorandum, but we understand their point of view… March 14’s stance is, however, unified as shown in this memorandum.”
 
Earlier on Saturday, a March 14 delegation met with Sleiman and handed over a memorandum stating the coalition’s stance on national dialogue.

The memorandum, which proposed a national “salvation plan,” was later issued to the press.
 
“The March 14 coalition has sought in the recent period to continue exerting its efforts in order to achieve national consensus able to establish an independent, sovereign and free state,” the text of the memorandum said.
 
“We see it as our national duty to work seriously and honestly in order to protect the country and implement a national salvation plan, and in this view we address this initiative to all of our national partners, including Hezbollah and the March 8 group,” the memorandum it added.
 
“March 14 calls for: respecting the principles [of civil peace, coexistence, state unity] and including them in a national statement sponsored by the president of the republic; underscoring the decisions made in the previous dialogue sessions; drawing an executive plan to address all non-state weapons in the country; presenting the aforementioned national statement to the Arab and international communities to express this national will and to request everyone in the region and the world to respect it.”

Last week, the president sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee calling on them to convene on June 11 at the Baabda Presidential Palace to discuss various issues, including Hezbollah’s arms.
 
However, some members of the Western-backed March 14 coalition said they reject taking part in the national dialogue session unless Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet resigns.
 
On Tuesday, Siniora said that the Western-backed March 14 alliance will hand a memorandum to Sleiman on the issue of national dialogue before June 11.

-NOW Lebanon

To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=407280#ixzz1xKOQsSMN

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Siniora: March 14 memo to be submitted ahead dialogue session

June 5, 2012

Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora said in remarks published Tuesday that the Western-backed March 14 alliance will hand a memorandum to President Michel Sleiman on the issue of national dialogue before June 11.

Siniora told An-Nahar newspaper that, among other matters, the memo will include a call for the government’s resignation.

“What has the government achieved?” Siniora inquired.

In turn, March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soueid denied that his group will convene on Tuesday to finish drafting the memorandum to be submitted to Sleiman.
 
“March 14 [groups] are always holding talks [on the document],” Soueid told Al-Liwaa newspaper on Tuesday. 

He added that a meeting with Sleiman will be set before the June 11 national dialogue session.

Last week, Sleiman sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee calling on them to convene on June 11 at 11 a.m. at the Baabda Presidential Palace to discuss various issues, including Hezbollah’s arms.
 
However, some members of the Western-backed March 14 coalition said they reject taking part in the national dialogue session unless Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet resigns.
 
-NOW Lebanon

To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=405437#ixzz1xKOUCdTf

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