Hariri re-designated to form Lebanese govt., seeks effective, all-inclusive, united lineup

Suleiman, Mitchell discuss region’s developments

Lebanon condemns Israeli shelling, Seniora warns of “message-sending” via south

Jumblatt warns of Israeli-U.S. policy to disintegrate region, calls for unity based on Taif deal

Bellemare says Hariri assassination probe not politicized, going on seriously

President Michel Sleiman designated on Wednesday Future Movement leader Saad Hariri as Prime Minister for the second consecutive time following two days of binding parliamentary consultations. Following his re-designation, Hariri vowed to communicate with all parties, “so no one would say we refrained from deliberating with them.”

“Also I will be more patient, much more patient than the previous time,” he said.

A statement by the presidency’s press office said Sleiman appointed Hariri as premier “in accordance with the Constitution and as a result of the parliamentary consultations’ outcome and after deliberating with Speaker Nabih Berri.”

At the end of two days of consultations on Wednesday, 73 MPs had nominated Hariri to head the cabinet, including 71 lawmakers of the parliamentary majority along with two from the opposition’s Armenian Tashnag party.

Hariri, who stepped down last Thursday accusing the opposition of hampering his efforts to form a cabinet upon his first-time designation, said on Wednesday he would kick off major deliberations with all political parties following Eid al-Fitr, a three-day celebration that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

“I would work toward establishing the right basis for a logical and responsible dialogue that would push the formation process forward,” Hariri said in a statement issued following his re-designation.

He also expressed his openness to all suggestions “to form a cabinet that reflects Lebanon’s image of unity.”

“The formation process should stem from the Constitution’s essence based on democratic principles and the outcome of the June 7 elections as well as convey the Lebanese will for coexistence,” Hariri said.

Tackling the cabinet’s structure, Hariri hinted that he was examining several possibilities. Opposition groups endorsed the already agreed upon 15-10-5 cabinet formula.

The 15-10-5 structure grants the majority 15 ministers, the opposition 10 and Sleiman five seats, guaranteeing the president the tipping vote. Both the majority and the opposition are respectively denied absolute majority or veto power.

Hariri stressed that whether it was a unity cabinet, a technocrat government or one formed of political leaderships, eventually it should be capable of solving the Lebanese people’s everyday issues and face Israeli threats.

Speaking at an iftar banquet in Qoreitem later Wednesday, Hariri saluted his allies in the March 14 Forces for nominating.

He said this proved they were” a united entity with one outlook over the future of Lebanon.”

Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that his party would not partake in the next cabinet if its demands were not met.

Aoun stressed that his party’s participation in the next government was tied to a set of conditions and demands.

“Our participation in the government has a price, thus if the majority deemed our participation necessary, let them pay, if not let them form a majority cabinet,” Aoun said.

But he stressed that he agreed with Hariri on several important issues but differed on approaches to solving them.

Aoun insists that his son-in-law caretaker Telecommunication Minister Jebran Bassil be re-appointed for a second term while Hariri refused to grant candidates who lost the race to Parliament a seat in the cabinet.

Bassil lost the elections in his hometown of Batroun to March 14 MPs.

“The Telecommunications Ministry is now within our hands and we have so far uncovered four major scandals,” Aoun said following a meeting of his Reform and Change parliamentary bloc. “I don’t know what will happen when those scandals are made available to the public,” he added.

Aoun said he “reluctantly” agreed to the 15-10-5 cabinet formula, adding that he won’t endorse any other formula.

Future Movement MP Nuhad Mashnouq told The Daily Star on Wednesday that the 15-10-5 cabinet make-up was still applicable, adding that talks about a technocrat government were not founded on solid basis. “The 15-10-5 make-up turned from an imperative structure into a bargaining card but was not withdrawn from the negotiations table,” Mashnouq said.

Opposition forces as well Democratic Gathering bloc leader MP Walid Jumblatt have expressed their commitment to the agreed-upon 15-10-5 formula following Hariri’s resignation.

March 14 officials have said it was up to the new premier-designate to decide upon the continued validity of the 15-10-5 formula, stressing the need to resume deliberations on the cabinet issue from scratch.

Future Movement MP Amar Houri said on Wednesday that opposition groups “killed” the 15-10-5 formula since they imposed unconstitutional conditions on the premier-designate with regard to the cabinet’s formation.

According to the Constitution, the president and the premier-designate sign the cabinet’s formation decree.

“It is the constitutional right of the Development and Liberation bloc to refrain from nominating a candidate for the post of premier and it is Hariri’s right to make use of his constitutional prerogatives to form a cabinet,” Houri said.

On Tuesday, Berri’s Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc did not name Hariri for the post of prime minister during consultations with Sleiman.

Liberation and Development bloc MP Ali Hassan Khalil said on Wednesday his bloc’s decision not to nominate any candidate to head the cabinet was “not a personal stance but rather a political conviction that the safeguarding of Lebanon necessitated a national-unity government.”

On Tuesday, following consultations with Sleiman, the Amal Movement MP said his bloc did not name Hariri because the latter “did not commit to form a cabinet based on the 15-10-5 formula” prior to his re-designation.

Berri’s bloc had named Hariri in the first round of consultations in June.

Houri, however, said that Hariri would pursue his efforts to form a government capable of facing regional threats and domestic challenges.

Houri’s ally Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra said on Wednesday that the decision of the Liberation and Development bloc not to nominate Hariri “liberated the premier-designate from the burden of those who did not facilitate the process.”

Zahra added that if Hariri’s efforts to form a national-unity cabinet hit a dead end, other cabinet formulas are negotiable such as a technocrat government. He also slammed Syria for attempting to hinder Hariri’s efforts and tie the government to conditions and complications prior to its formation.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc, headed by MP Mohammad Raad, issued a statement on Wednesday saying that only a national-unity cabinet would guarantee real partnership and preserve the country’s stability and face foreign threats.

“The formation of a national-unity cabinet necessitates that parties give up their desire to unilaterally govern or take monopoly over power no matter the circumstances,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the March 14 Forces General Secretariat slammed on Wednesday conditions imposed by the opposition on Hariri, adding that they constituted a violation to constitutional norms and would lead to “a regime crisis.”

“The obstructing team is attempting to make up for its loss in the parliamentary elections by imposing conditions on the cabinet line-up,” the statement said.

The secretariat also urged all political parties to resort to the state’s institutions and implement the Taif Accord.

On the other hand, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell sought to reassure President Michel Sleiman on Wednesday that his country’s efforts toward peace would not come at the expense of Lebanon. The envoy said that the US adheres to the idea that any solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees should not be at Lebanon’s expense.

Mitchell met Sleiman on Wednesday to discuss the stalled Arab-Israeli peace process and the thorny issue of Palestinian refugees, according to a statement released by the Lebanese presidency.

There are concerns among many in Lebanon that a peace deal could prompt many Palestinian refugees to stay permanently, altering the country’s delicate sectarian balance. The majority of the refugees are Sunni Muslims.

Mitchell, who traveled to Beirut from occupied Jerusalem, made no comment after his 20-minute meeting with Sleiman.

The Lebanese presidency said the two men discussed US efforts to reach a comprehensive Mideast peace, and the fate of the 400,000 Palestinian refugees who live in Lebanon.

Mitchell’s stop in Beirut on Wednesday evening took place shortly after the Lebanese head of state reappointed Saad Hariri as prime minister, giving him a second chance on forming a new government.

As The Daily Star went to press, it was unclear whether Mitchell planned to meet with any other officials Wednesday evening or whether he planned to stay in Beirut overnight.

Mitchell’s stop in Beirut took place after a round of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mitchell’s meeting with Netanyahu on Wednesday morning revealed no sign yet of a deal on an occupied West Bank settlement freeze, but the two plan to meet again on Friday.

The decision to extend discussions kept open the possibility of a meeting next week involving Netanyahu, US President Barack Obama and Abbas, who all plan to attend a UN General Assembly meeting.

Failure to arrange at least an informal encounter between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders would be a setback for Obama, who has been trying to wring a settlement housing construction freeze from Netanyahu and restart peace talks.

Diplomats and officials in the Israeli and Palestinian camps said some form of trilateral meeting in New York seemed likely.

This might signal a resumption of some form of “peace process” but not necessarily resolve any key disputes.

“There’ll probably be some kind of handshake because this is what Obama wants,” one Israeli official said.

“But it’s not going anywhere longer term,” he added, citing Abbas’ internal opposition from Islamists and Netanyahu’s pro-settler allies.

A photo opportunity at the start of Netanyahu and Mitchell’s Wednesday meeting appeared to speak volumes. After a stiff handshake for the media, Netanyahu turned his back on Mitchell with scarcely a word and strode into his office, leaving Obama’s envoy to follow behind.

Mitchell has been trying to work out a deal with a defiant Netanyahu, who has resisted Obama’s call to halt settlement construction in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, in the most serious rift in US-Israeli relations in a decade.

Netanyahu has said he would be prepared to limit temporarily the scope of building but projects under way would continue.

Obama also wants Arab nations to take steps toward recognizing Israel. They have so far expressed reluctance.

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office after Wednesday’s meeting with Mitchell gave no indication any substantive progress was made: “The prime minister and Senator Mitchell had a good meeting this morning,” the statement said.

“They decided to continue their discussions in a meeting that will take place this coming Friday, after Senator Mitchell returns to Israel from visits to countries in the region.”

Mitchell was expected to hold talks in Cairo on Thursday and plans to visit Jordan.

Abbas has made a resumption of peace negotiations with Israel, suspended since December, conditional on halting settlement activity as stipulated by a US-backed 2003 peace “road map” charting a course toward Palestinian statehood.

But an aide to Abbas said he would find it hard to refuse a request from Obama to meet with Netanyahu, despite pressure from Fatah party allies who felt a gesture toward Israel without a halt to settlement would hand a tactical victory to Hamas Islamists who run the Gaza Strip.

On the other hand, a group linked to Al-Qaeda has claimed last week's rocket salvo from Lebanon into Israel, a US-based group that monitors jihadist websites said on Monday.

The attack from south Lebanon into northern Israel was claimed by the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam, Battalions of Ziad Jarrah, in a statement Sunday by the al-Fajr Media Centre on jihadist forums, SITE Intelligence Group said.

The rocket fire came in response to "flagrant hostility" displayed by Israel towards Palestinians and Muslims, SITE quoted the statement as saying.

At least two rockets fired from the village of Al-Qlaileh in southern Lebanon slammed into Israel on Friday, triggering retaliatory artillery fire.

No casualties were reported on either side in the attack, the third this year.

A UN official in Lebanon said at the weekend that extremists tied to Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon may have been behind the attack.

"My understanding is that they (the investigations) are focusing on the extremist groups that might be linked to the refugee camps," Milos Strugar, political advisor for the UN force stationed in Lebanon (UNIFIL), told AFP.

Israel has lodged a complaint with the United Nations over the attack and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel held the Lebanese government responsible for rocket fire from its territory.

Abdullah Azzam was Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden's mentor. He was killed in a 1989 bomb blast.

Lebanese Ziad Jarrah was one of the plotters of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States which destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and killed nearly 3,000 people.

Jarrah is believed to have been one of the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into Pennsylvania, killing all aboard.

Meanwhile, in his weekly article to Al-Anbaa magazine to be published on Tuesday, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt called for all Lebanese parties to “unify their ranks” and facilitate the formation of the new cabinet because any “possible political or security incidents may lead to negative consequences that no party can handle.”

Jumblatt voiced concern over the delay in launching the reconstruction process of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian Refugee Camp, destroyed during clashes between Lebanese Armed Forces and the Fatah al-Islam militant group in 2007, adding that such a humanitarian issue should be given more attention.

He also called for reaching agreement among the different Islamic communities to prevent “gradual infiltration of certain terrorist cells that might instigate sectarian sentiments and worsen the situation.”

Following a visit with Lebanese Republic’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani on Monday, Jumblatt urged intensifying efforts for reconciliation within both the Islamic community and the rest of the country.

He also said that Lebanon should commit to the truce agreement with Israel and to establishing “extraordinary” relations with Syria.

On the other hand, Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare said he was optimistic about the probe into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri and stressed on the confidentiality of investigations to surprise the criminals.

"I will keep the investigation confidential to maintain the element of surprise in the face of criminals who closely follow up the issues," Bellemare said in interviews given to several media outlets.

Bellemare on Tuesday said the four generals, who were released from Roumieh prison in April, could be called to appear at the court if evidence was found against them in the Hariri murder case.

"We will knock on their doors if we have evidence against them," Bellemare said.

In answering a question as to whether the four generals would be summoned to the court, Bellemare said: "The answer is simple. The generals haven't been prosecuted in order to be found innocent. They were released because we don't have enough evidence against them to keep them in prison."