Daily Star - Sleiman: Lebanon fully committed to 1701, September 25, 2008

President Michel Sleiman said Tuesday that Lebanon was fully committed to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and added that the international community should urge Israel to stop its threats against Lebanon. "Lebanon reiterates its full commitment to Resolution 1701," Sleiman said in a speech before the 63rd UN General Assembly session in New York.
Sleiman met on Wednesday with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. "Lebanon is facing a series of dangers and challenges which require the international community to compel Israel to implement Resolution 1701 ... and stop its dangerous threats to launch a new war on Lebanon," the president said. UN Security Council Resolution 1701 put an end to Israel's 34-day war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006. He said the international community should help Lebanon recover its occupied land and ask Israel to stop its violations of Lebanese airspace and provide detailed maps of mines and cluster bombs it dropped on Lebanon. Sleiman vowed that the Lebanese government will force Israel to pay compensations for all damage resulting from its "repeated offensives on Lebanon." He told world leaders in his speech at around 11:40 p.m. Beirut time that another challenge for Lebanon was "to confront terror in all its forms and maintain civil peace." Coming up with a national strategy "to protect Lebanon and defend it" is another challenge, according to Sleiman. Sleiman also reminded world leaders of Lebanon's bid for a two-year non-permanent Security Council seat. Lebanon "had presented its candidacy to a non-permanent Security Council seat earmarked for Asia during 2010-11," he said. We hope we get the backing of all "friendly countries" for this candidacy, Sleiman added.
He said Lebanon was committed to the international tribunal that will try former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins and was ready to cooperate with the UN to seek the truth behind the February 2005 bombing and related crimes.
Sleiman expressed Lebanon's rejection to naturalize Palestinians and stressed their right of return to their homeland. The Lebanese president also brought up during his speech the issue of relations between Lebanon and Syria. He said he had visited Damascus on August 13 and agreed with Syrian President Bashar Assad to establish diplomatic ties between the two countries, demarcate their mutual borders and find a solution to the issue of Lebanese that went missing during the Civil War. Lebanese newspapers said Wednesday that Sleiman had met on the sidelines of the General Assembly session with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, who informed him that a joint statement would be issued after the Fitr holiday on the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Sleiman also met on Tuesday with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. The president is accompanied by his wife Wafa, political adviser and former MP Nazem al-Khoury, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, Ambassador and adviser Naji Abi Assi, head of the Presidential Guards Brigadier General Wadih Ghafari, presidential office chief Colonel Wajih Rafeh and media adviser Adib Abi Akl. The Lebanese delegation is staying at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.