July 22, 2010 - Ya Libnan - Gemayel: Hezbollah will not have its way

Commenting on the recent speech by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah , former Lebanese president and phalange party leader Amin Gemayel told Future TV on Wednesday evening: “We have all survived the same challenges, and we have all been through the same crises, so Hezbollah will not have its way.”

In his speech last Friday, Nasrallah called the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) an “Israeli project” designed to target Hezbollah by stirring up sectarian strife in the country.

Gemayel branded Nasrallah’s speech as” dangerous” because he said the Hezbollah leader spoke as if he is anticipating a new May 7 event . Gemayel warned the party cannot call the shots just because it is armed.

“Nasrallah’s statements do not frighten us, but they make us concerned about the country,” he added.

By taking on the STL, Gemayel said Nasrallah is essentially going up against the international community. If the Hezbollah leader’s claim that the STL is trying to frame the party is true, then Nasrallah should come up with an alternative solution to investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Gemayel added.

Gemayel wondered if Lebanese courts would represent an alternative to the STL “in light of what Sayyed Nasrallah’s allies say about those courts.”

There are only two options from here, according to the Phalange Party leader, “We either confront Nasrallah, which will widen the gap between us , or we hold onto state institutions and the STL. The latter is our best response to Nasrallah.”
“There’s no choice but steadfastness and the Lebanese people will not yield to what Hezbollah wants,” he stressed

He stressed his desire for good relations with Damascus, but said, “Coordinating our foreign policy with Syria is critical, because there are regional issues that we do not see eye-to-eye with Syria.”

Gemayel said that he would not “hesitate” to visit Damascus when such a trip “becomes beneficial for Lebanon.”