Region | Lebanon
Lebanon government wins parliamentary vote of confidence
Lebanon's new government won a vote of confidence yesterday, securing approval for a policy statement that recognises Hezbollah's right to use all means possible to regain Israeli-occupied land claimed by Lebanon.
- Agencies
- Published: 16:10 August 12, 2008
- Lawmakers line up to congratulate prime minister Fouad Siniora at the parliament house in Beirut.
- Image Credit: AP
Beirut: Lebanon's new government won a vote of confidence yesterday, securing approval for a policy statement that recognises Hezbollah's right to use all means possible to regain Israeli-occupied land claimed by Lebanon.
One hundred members of the 128-seat parliament voted in support of the cabinet, formed as part of a deal that defused a deep conflict between the US-backed majority coalition and an opposition alliance led by Hezbollah. Hezbollah and its allies hold effective veto power in the new unity government headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The policy statement recognises the right of Lebanon, its government, people and resistance to use all means possible to regain land claimed by Lebanon — the Sheba'a Farms and nearby Israeli-held parts of Gajjar village.
Israel and the United Nations say Sheba'a, occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, is Syrian. Damascus and Beirut, which never demarcated borders, say it is Lebanese.
The cabinet is due to govern until parliamentary elections next year. Organising the vote is one of its main tasks. “We want the elections to happen and we will work on them happening in a calm atmosphere,'' Siniora told the chamber.
Arms dispute
The policy statement was discussed in five days of parliamentary debate which underlined a wide divide over Hezbollah's weaponry — one of the issues at the heart of a political conflict which had pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war.
“We accept this government because of necessity even though it is nothing more than a government of adversaries,'' Boutros Harb, a member of the majority bloc, told the chamber.
Five of 107 members of parliament who attended the session voted no confidence. They included majority coalition MP Solange Gemayel who had objected to language in the policy statement on Hezbollah's arms. There were two abstentions.
Hezbollah's weapons became an even more divisive issue in May when the group used some of its military might to rout its opponents, effectively imposing its terms for an end to the political conflict.
Hezbollah's weapons will be discussed as part of a “national defence strategy'' during a national dialogue to be chaired by President Michel Sulaiman. The dialogue was also agreed as part of a Qatari-mediated deal that ended the political conflict.
The statement emphasised the government's commitment to a UN Security Council resolution that ended a 33-day war in 2006. It also adopted economic reforms agreed at an international aid conference held in Paris in 2007.
MP Hussain Al Hussaini, a former speaker, announced his resignation from parliament during a lengthy address to the chamber in which he criticised Lebanon's politicians and said the policy statement lacked any substance.
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