Beirut - Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman has set
September 16 as the date for launching a national dialogue among the
country's political rivals, a government source said Tuesday.
The talks will take place in the Baabda Presidential Palace and
are aimed at generating a consensus between the country's major
parliamentary factions - namely the Hezbollah-led opposition and the
Western-backed ruling majority - on several controversial issues.
A major sticking point is the proposed disarmament of Hezbollah by
the ruling majority.
Hezbollah argues that its arms are still necessary to fight
Israeli forces and to liberate areas such as the Israeli-occupied
Shebaa Farms, which straddles the border.
Last week Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said his group
will never lay down its weapons, even if the disputed Shebaa Farms in
southern Lebanon are liberated from Israeli occupation.
'Even if Shebaa is liberated the weapons of the resistance are
staying. The resistance is a defence project for Lebanon,' Nasrallah
said during a Ramadan dinner in the southern Lebanese town of
Nabatiyeh on September 5.
Shebaa was captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day
War. Israel says Shebaa is Syrian territory and its fate should be
determined in future peace talks with Damascus.
Israel officially ended its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon
in May 2000.
Political observers say the upcoming dialogue will try to tackle
the arms issue but will not yield any specific results because
'Hezbollah arms is a regional rather than an internal Lebanese
issue.'
Hezbollah, which has always described itself as a resistance
movement against Israel, was involved last May in street fighting
with Sunni followers of the ruling majority. The group managed to
take over mainly Sunni areas of West Beirut in response to steps the
government took that angered the group.
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