Ain-Al-Yaqeen - November 24, 2006

		November 24, 2006

THE MASSACRE OF THE LEBANESE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY PIERRE GEMAYEL IN BROAD DAY LIGHT.
THE CUSTODIAN OF THE TWO HOLY MOSQUES EXPRESSES HIS HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO FORMER PRESIDENT GEMAYEL AND PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL CALLS ON THE LEBANESE FACTIONS TO UNITE RANKS TO AVOID THE DANGERS OF SEDITION AND DIFFERENCE.
REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATIONS AND CALLS TO PRESERVE STABILITY IN LEBANON.
WASHINGTON REGARDS THE KILLING AS AN OBSTRUCTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL AND PARIS CONSIDERS IT A MEAN TO BREAK LEBANON'S STABILITY.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese paid tribute to assassinated Christian politician Pierre Gemayel, turning his funeral in central Beirut into a display of defiance against Syria and Hezbollah.

Raucous crowds carrying Lebanese flags and those of Christian factions, including Gemayel's Phalange Party, swarmed around St. George Cathedral, where Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir conducted the rites.

Sunni Muslim, Druze and Christian leaders, standing together behind bullet-proof glass, called for solidarity in the struggle against Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Sultan Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector General sent cables of condolences to former President Amin Gemayel, the Pierre's father and telephoned former President Gemayel to convey their condolences. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed to the Gemayel family his heartfelt condolences and wished security and stability for Lebanon.

In Beirut, Saad Hariri, son of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri who was assassinated in 2005, told the mourners: "National unity is stronger than their weapons, their crimes and their terrorism." The leaders had accused Syria of killing the industry minister.

"We will not rest until all the criminals are brought to justice," Amin Gemayel told mourners.

Gemayel was shot dead last Tuesday in the sixth killing of an anti-Syrian figure in less than two years in Lebanon.

The mood was one of anger at Syria and resolve in support of Lebanon's anti-Syrian majority coalition. Inside the cathedral, family members wept and prayed over Gemayel's coffin.

Mourners turned out in force but not in the vast numbers of March 14 last year after the killing of Rafiq Hariri. The government says its Syrian-backed opponents want to weaken it and to scupper an international tribunal under UN auspices that is being set up to try suspects in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri.

"They will not suppress our demands for the truth, justice and the international court," Druze leader Walid Jumblatt told the crowd. After the funeral, Gemayel's coffin was driven back to the family's mountain home town of Bekfaya where he was buried.

UN investigators have begun assisting the Lebanese inquiry into the murder of Gemayel after the Security Council agreed to a request for help. "We confirm that the commission is complying with the request of the Security Council," Ashraf Kamal, spokesman of the UN commission of inquiry into the Hariri murder said. He declined to confirm media reports that UN investigators had already inspected the crime scene.

Syria strongly condemned Gemayel's murder and accused unnamed people of "exploiting the crime for personal ends." "(Syria) strongly denounces the odious crime which cost the life of Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel and believes this attacks is aimed at Lebanon's stability," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement coinciding with the funeral.

Hundreds of thousands of mourners bid slain Christian politician Pierre Gemayel farewell as his father, former president Amine Gemayel, announced that the "countdown for the election of a new president has started." "Independence can only be achieved through the election of new president," said Gemayel, father of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel who was gunned down along with a bodyguard. The young politician was the sixth outspoken opponent of Syria to be assassinated in the past two years.

Anti-Syrian leaders have been calling for the resignation of President Emile Lahoud whose mandate was extended for three years through a controversial Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment in 2004.

Prominent Lebanese leaders and ambassadors packed the St. George Cathedral as the casket was placed on the altar along with the coffin of his bodyguard, Samir al-Shartouni.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and Arab League chief Amr Mussa were among the dignitaries attending the 1:00 p.m. funeral service in downtown Beirut.

Speaker Nabih Berri, surprised the mourners by showing up unexpectedly at the funeral.

Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the Maronite church to which Gemayel belonged, led the service in a rare move.

"I hope that all Lebanese remain united in these circumstances and that they renew their determination to rebuild an autonomous Lebanon... where all communities are ensured active participation," he said.

In his sermon, Sfeir said that the "series of crimes continue in an attempt to prevent Lebanon from achieving stability."

Gemayel's casket, wrapped in flags of the Phalange party and Lebanon, was taken back to Bikfaya where he was buried in the family graveyard.

From the family home in Bikfaya, through the village's main street to the entrance of the town, Gemayel's coffin was carried on shoulders by relatives and supporters before being placed in a cortege and driven to the Phalange party headquarters in Saifi from where it made the final trek to the cathedral.

Amid a sea of red and white flags in a show of patriotism for the funeral, hundreds of thousands assembled at nearby Martyrs Square.

Schools, shops and other businesses across Lebanon have been asked to remain closed Thursday as a mark of respect.

On the eve of the funeral, convoys of cars covered with portraits of Gemayel and Hariri criss-crossed the streets of Beirut playing patriotic music.

Security around the capital has been stepped up since the minister's murder, with extra roadblocks around the presidential palace and on the main highway to Damascus. On Thursday Lebanese troops, backed by armored vehicles, were out in force across Beirut for the funeral.

The leader of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, Saad Hariri, who himself lost his father to an assassin's bomb last year, called on people from across the nation to attend the Beirut funeral in a "show of support for freedom and independence".

The assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel on the eve of Lebanon's 63rd Independence Day heightened tensions between Hizbullah and pro-government leaders as angry voices quickly blamed Damascus.

Traffic was light as Gemayel's coffin, draped in the flag of his Phalange Party, was driven to the family's home in Bikfaya for mourning ceremonies before the funeral on Thursday.

Tears and cries of anger emanated from an estimated 3,000 crowd and church bells tolled as his body arrived in Bikfaya.

Shots were fired in the air as the crowd marched behind the pallbearers along village streets daubed with photographs of the slaughtered minister.

White ribbons flew in Bikfaya where shops and businesses have remained closed as a mark of respect.

The cortege slowly made its way towards the home of the slain minister's father, former president Amine Gemayel, who has called for restraint.

Gemayel, 34, was gunned down in broad daylight last Tuesday, in an attack the U.N. Security Council "unequivocally" denounced and drew condemnation from world leaders.

The anti-Syrian March 14 Forces, in a bid to revive the scene that followed the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in downtown Beirut's Martyrs Square, called for a massive turnout at the funeral.

They vowed in a statement to "go after the criminals and all those who cover this crime the blood of Pierre Gemayel will not go in vain."

The Security Council later Tuesday approved the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects not just in Hariri's assassination but also in 14 other attacks on Lebanese foes to Syria.

Gemayel, scion of one of the country's most prominent Christian families, was assassinated along with his bodyguard in the Jdeideh suburb north of Beirut Tuesday afternoon.

The death of Gemayel pushed the already critical political crisis one step closer to an explosion with the opposition, manoeuvring to bring down the anti-Damascus government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora so as to have a bigger say in a new cabinet.

Gemayel, also a member of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, was killed by gunshots on his convoy near the Mar Antonios church. Security sources said his car was rammed from the front, and that gunmen stepped out and shot him point-blank in the head.

He was rushed to the nearby Mar Youssef hospital, but died soon afterwards.

People from across the spectrum called for calm among a populace while angry young men burned tires in Beirut's Christian neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh.

"We believe that the hands of Syria are all over the place," parliament majority Saad Hariri said Tuesday.

Wael Abou Faour, a member of Druze leader Walid Jumblat's bloc in parliament, has said "we directly accuse the Syrian regime of assassinating Gemayel and hold Syrian President Bashar Assad responsible for this murderaimed at sending Lebanon into a civil war."

Social Affairs Minister Nayla Moawad also laid blame on Damascus for seeking to kill ministers to force the collapse of Siniora's government.

After news of the murder, panic spread across the capital. Car horns honked amid giant traffic jams, as many people rushed to go home.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the slaying, Siniora said that "assassinations will not terrorize us. We will not let the criminal killers control our fate."

"It is time for all Lebanese to unite," he added.

Hezbollah said the assassination was aimed at pushing Lebanon back to civil war, which ripped it apart between 1975 and 1990.

"There is no doubt at all that those who committed this crime want to push Lebanon into chaos ... and civil war," a Hezbollah statement said.

Gemayel, the industry minister, was the fifth anti-Syrian figure to be killed in the past two years and the first member of the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to be slain.

The assassination, in an afternoon shooting in Gemayel's mainly Christian constituency of Jadeideh, threatens further instability in Lebanon at a time when Hezbollah and other parties allied with Syria were planning a massive wave of street protests unless Siniora reforms his government to give them more power.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz telephoned Gemayel's father and former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel to convey his condolences. Amin Gemayel thanked the king for his gesture.

In Washington, the US State Department denounced the assassination as terrorism and an attempt to intimidate Siniora's government. The United States has accused Syria and Iran of plotting to overthrow the government, which is dominated by anti-Syrian politicians.

"We are shocked by this assassination," Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters. "We will give full support to the Siniora government in the days and weeks ahead," Burns said.

Syria also condemned the assassination. "This despicable crime aims to destroy stability and peace in Lebanon," the state news agency said, affirming Syria's keenness on Lebanon's stability, security and unity.

Gemayel was the scion of one of Lebanon's most prominent political families and had been expected to carry it into the next generation. The slain Pierre Gemayel was a prominent figure in Lebanon's anti-Syrian bloc, which dominates Siniora's Cabinet and the Parliament and which is now locked in a power struggle with Hezbollah and its allies.

Last Sunday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened a wave of street protests aimed at bringing down the government if it ignores the group's demand to form a national unity Cabinet, in which Hezbollah and its allies would have considerable influence and would be able to block major decisions.

Gemayel's assassination was the first since Gibran Tueni, prominent anti-Syrian newspaper editor and lawmaker, was killed in a car bomb in December. In June 2005, the journalist and activist Samir Kassir and former Communist Party leader George Hawi were killed in separate car bombings.

Under fire from all sides, Syria has gone on the offensive to protest its innocence in the high-profile murder of Lebanese minister Pierre Gemayel that it blames on its foes and accusers in Beirut.

Damascus stressed that the timing, on the day the United Nations endorsed a blueprint for a tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, was designed to cause maximum damage to Syria.

Syria has denied persistent accusations of involvement in the Hariri murder.

An international chorus of outrage over the assassination of a prominent anti-Syrian minister in Lebanon gathered force, with world leaders expressing concern the killing could spark renewed violence across the region.

The broad-daylight murder of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel the fifth senior Lebanese politician slain over the last two years was widely condemned as an effort to topple the already weakened government of Fouad Siniora.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the cold-blooded murder of Lebanese cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel and offered his sympathies to the industry minister's family and the people of Lebanon, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Gemayel believed strongly in an independent, democratic, and united Lebanon, Dujarric told reporters. "The secretary-general reiterates that such acts of terrorism undermine Lebanon's stability, are unacceptable, and have no place in a democratic and open society."

The secretary-general calls upon all parties to maintain national unity at this critical moment, said Dujarric.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the killing in a telephone conversation with Siniora as "an attempt to prevent Lebanon from pursuing its path toward national unity and an independent state," a view echoed in a statement yesterday by French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.

"What is urgent...is for those who carried out and masterminded these murders to be made to answer for their crimes," the French minister said. "What is happening is a destabilization of Lebanon, and we must respond with the greatest firmness." While saying he would "obviously avoid designating the guilty party," Douste-Blazy criticized Syria and Iran the day before the killing for "pushing for the destabilization" of the Siniora government.

Speaking from London, Lebanese Minister for Social Affairs Nayla Moawad whose husband was assassinated in 1989 after serving just 17 days as president told BBC radio that it was "very obvious" Syria was behind the killing.

The attack near a church at Jadaideh, north of Beirut, came on the day the UN Security Council endorsed plans to set up an international court to try suspects in the February 2005 murder of former Lebanese billionaire prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Japan said it felt "extreme shock" and "strongly condemned this act," according to a statement released by the foreign ministry.

Within the region, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa called the killing of Gemayel a "terrorist assassination," adding that he feared "it could lead to turmoil in the country."

The Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned the assassination of Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel and described it as "a terror act which aims at the destabilization of Lebanon."

In a statement issued on Tuesday, GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman Al-Atiyyah, said such a criminal and irresponsible act will never have an adverse impact on the stability and security of Lebanon.

He urged the Lebanese political forces to work for the preservation of the unity and sovereignty of their country and to resort to the option of dialogue.

He condoled the family of the deceased and the Lebanese government and people.

On the other hand, Al-Atiyyah deplored the brutal acts of Israel in Gaza and said such dangerous escalation will never be tolerated. He urged for the formation of the Palestinian national unity government.

Prince Saud Al-Faisal expressed concern on the situation in Lebanon, calling on the Lebanese factions to unite ranks to avoid the dangers of sedition and difference.

Egypt denounced the assassination of Lebanese Minister of Industry Pierre Gemayel. Gemayel, was gunned down as he drove through a Christian suburb of Beirut.

President Hosni Mubarak sent condolence cables to former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel and Premier Fouad Siniora.

Mubarak said he was hoping for the continued unity and solidarity of the Lebanese people against any attempt to destabilise their country.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit expressed his sorrow and condemned the assassination of the Lebanese official.

Abul Gheit said the assassination has targeted not only Gemayel but also Lebanon's stability. He stressed the importance of uncovering the facts behind this assassination and other killings and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

US President George W. Bush called for an investigation and immediate UN action, while the Security Council also condemned the attack.

"Today we saw again the vicious face of those who hate freedom," Bush said.

He accused Iran and Syria of promoting "instability" in Lebanon, but stopped short of tying them outright to the killing.

Several prominent anti-Syrian leaders said his death was the work of Damascus and they expected the murders of more politicians who had spearheaded protests that led to Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005.

"It seems the Syrian regime will continue with the assassinations. I expect more assassinations but no matter what they do, we are here and we will be victorious," Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said. Gemayel's assassination turned Lebanon's Independence Day into a somber occasion. All festivities, including a military parade, were cancelled.

The murder also heightened tensions between the government and the opposition led by Hezbollah.

US President George W. Bush called Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to offer his support and pledged "to support Lebanese independence from the encroachments of Iran and Syria," a White House spokesman said.

Bush also called Gemayel's father, former President Amin Gemayel, to offer condolences.

The 34-year-old's body was driven from a hospital near Beirut to his hometown of Bekfaya, northeast of the capital, where hundreds of weeping mourners walked behind the coffin, waving white-and-green flags of his Phalange Party.

As the procession made its way to Gemayel's family home, women on balconies threw rice and flower petals. Hundreds scrambled to touch the coffin as it passed and some mourners were so hysterical they could barely walk.

Gemayel was among Cabinet members who voted last week to tentatively approve the UN plans submitted to Siniora's government.

Six mostly Hezbollah opposition ministers had resigned before the vote. Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud called the Cabinet action illegitimate.

Hariri's son Saad and his allies quickly accused Damascus of killing Gemayel in an attempt to derail the UN tribunal. The death or resignation of two more ministers would now bring down Siniora's government.

Leaders of the anti-Syrian March 14 camp lashed out at Syria Thursday in fiery addresses to huge crowds gathered for the funeral of slain anti-Damascus minister Pierre Gemayel.

After paying their respects to the latest victim of an assassin's bullet in Lebanon, Druze leader Walid Jumblat and then Sunni leader Saad Hariri, speaking from behind a bullet-proof glass screen, railed against Syrian meddling in Lebanese affairs.

"They will not nail down our determination for life. They will not nail down our determination to refuse the culture of sorrow and death," Jumblat told the hundreds of thousands massed in Martyrs Square near St. George Cathedral where the industry minister's funeral service was held.

"They will not nail down our determination to keep the arms in the hands of the state, and our demands for the truth, justice and the international court," he said.

He was alluding to the ruling majority's insistence on an international tribunal to try the February 2005 assassins of five-time premier Rafiq Hariri, and to the refusal of Hezbollah to lay down its arms in accordance with U.N. resolutions after its summer war with Israel.

Jumblat said the slain minister joined "the previous martyrs... who had refused ... the regime of tutelage, killings and assassinations."

Hariri told the crowd waving red-and-white Lebanese flags: "You are here for a new revolution to show the entire world that the sons of Rafiq Hariri and the brothers of Pierre Gemayel are the majority in Lebanon."

"They said that you are a virtual majority, but we are the reality and they are virtual."

"National unity is stronger than their arms ... and their terrorism."

The slain minister's father, Amine Gemayel then took the podium to call for a new Lebanon.

He hailed "the start of the second revolution for the independence of Lebanon, which should start at the top."

"This is the start of the countdown for the election of a new president," he said.

Presidential elections are due next autumn.

Gemayel pledged that the anti-Syrian ruling majority "will soon adopt practical measures so that your voice does not wither away ... so that it covers the treacherous bullets and explosions," he told the crowd.

"We will not tire until we bring the killers to court," he said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said in his speech: "This government is our government, and it takes its legitimacy from our parliament, our presence and the blood of our martyrs," he said.

"We will not accept its replacement with a government of tutelage, killings and crimes," he said.

Geagea reiterated the coalition's accusations that the opposition ministers had resigned in a bid to block approval of the proposed international tribunal that was approved by the Security Council just hours after Gemayel's murder.

"They wanted a confrontation over the tribunal, but they did not dare declare it as such ... but the masks have fallen," he said.

"We pledge to continue... until we know the truth."

Syria again strongly condemned Gemayel's murder and some people were "exploiting the crime for personal ends."

"(Syria) strongly denounces the odious crime which cost the life of Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel and believes this attack is aimed at Lebanon's stability," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Those who prejudge the inquiry into this crime and into the other murders, scarcely minutes after their execution and without having any proof, aim to exploit the blood of the martyr for personal ends, far from the true interests of Lebanon," said the statement.

The U.N. Security Council has directed U.N. investigators to provide Beirut with technical help in investigating the murder of anti-Syrian Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.

It made the decision in answer to a letter from U.N. chief Kofi Annan relaying a request from Premier Fouad Siniora for U.N. assistance "to investigate the murder of Mr. Gemayel."

Siniora specifically asked for help from the U.N. commission probing the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri. The commission is headed by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz.

The council, in a letter to Annan sent late Wednesday, said it was "determined to support the government of Lebanon in its efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of the assassination of Pierre Gemayel and other assassinations."

To that end, council members invited the Brammertz-led panel to "extend its technical assistance as appropriate to the Lebanese authorities in this investigation."

Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters that in his view there was no end date on the assistance that the Security Council authorized the U.N. inquiry panel to provide Lebanon in probing not only the Hariri slaying but 14 other attacks on anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians.

Last September, Brammertz said that one of his priorities was establishing "the depth, breadth and nature" of links between the Hariri murder and the 14 other attacks on Lebanese foes of Syria.

The 14 cases, which Lebanese authorities have been probing with U.N. help, include assassinations and murder attempts targeting anti-Syria Lebanese figures, as well as attacks on commercial interests.

The Security Council last Tuesday condemned the murder of Gemayel and endorsed plans for an international tribunal to try suspects in the Hariri murder pending final approval by Lebanese authorities.

The tribunal blueprint now has to be formally approved by the Lebanese parliament and ratified by the president with the agreement of the prime minister.

A State Department official, said: "The first thing you look for in a criminal investigation is the motive, and I think it is pretty clear that the Syrians are the ones with the motive in this instance."

Recalling that other Syria critics have been attacked in Lebanon, the official added: "It does not take a brain surgeon to figure out that all those acts of assassination or political intimidation are being conducted against those who have strong anti-Syrian credentials."

Head of the Future Bloc in Parliament MP Saad Hariri said the international tribunal that is expected to try the suspects of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's assassination is the last resort, and that "there is nothing left to be said to this killer regime," after he learned of Minister Pierre Gemayel's assassination in Beirut. Speaking at a news conference, MP Hariri said, "They want to kill each one of us and pursue the campaign of assassinations as they had promised."

Head of the Future Bloc was speaking at a pre-scheduled news conference in Koreitem when the assassination took place. The killing brought the press conference to an abrupt end. He earlier said he hoped the Lebanese will preserve the Independence Day of 1943 and that of March 14, on the eve of the Day, and urged all parties in Lebanon to resume dialogue. However, MP Hariri said if the March 8 forces chose peaceful confrontation, the March 14 political alliance is ready to do the same. He made clear that the previous Lebanese-Syrian security regime had masterminded destruction in the country and attacked national unity, and they are planning to do the same now. He stressed that threats of massive protests will not bear fruit and will only aggravate tensions and lead to a gap in governance.

Highlighting Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's initiative to end the political impasse by including independent ministers in the Cabinet to avoid a 'winner and a loser' and to ensure that all parliamentary blocs are represented, Mr. Hariri said this proposal will ensure that decisive matters are tackled without the influence of opposing parties in Cabinet. He made clear that there is no alternative to dialogue, although the opposition has been escalating tensions despite efforts to resolve the crisis.

MP Hariri told reporters that the late Premier had paid the price for his Arab and national stances and for championing sovereignty, and human and economic development. He stressed that since the assassination, Lebanon has been facing successive crises, from a "historic enemy" as well as from a regime that is being blamed for all the criminal attacks that claimed the lives of national figures. He said this regime has exploited the blood of the Lebanese who were killed during Israel's recent military campaign, and its leader forecasted a 'coup' in Lebanon, with the aim of obstructing the creation of the international tribunal.

Head of the Future bloc said the threat to take to the streets if a government is not formed aims at restoring Syria's influence in Cabinet. He made clear that House Speaker Nabih Berri's invitation to dialogue was accepted by the March 14 forces to discuss a national unity government, but bids to resolve the crisis were rejected because the opposition seeks to control the Cabinet, as they control the Presidency and the post of House Speaker. He said Cabinet is today handling decisive issues like UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which aims at protecting Lebanon from outside meddling, whether Israeli, Syrian or Iranian. He said the government will also take decisions linked to the creation of the international tribunal, whose goal is to prevent further political terrorism and assassinations. It will also organize the Paris III international economic conference. Mr. Hariri said if Prime Minister Siniora's proposal is rejected, the Lebanese will understand this as a message that the government and the tribunal must fit Syrian interests.

At the news conference, MP Hariri said he regretted the fact that a Lebanese party did not want the tribunal to find the truth, despite international backing for the court and UN Security Council efforts to form it. He stressed that Syria's top ruling echelon gave instructions to obstruct the court. He added, President Bashar Assad had described the March 14 alliance as a group of traitors created by Israel, and made clear that he did not want to "hear" about the tribunal. Head of the Future Bloc expressed concern that some parties in Lebanon may also be opposed to the court's creation. Mr. Hariri said only the killers should worry about it, and the Syrian regime should be concerned because it is a suspect. He stressed that the Lebanese should not fear the tribunal's formation, and questioned the reasons behind deflecting attention from the destructive consequences of Israel's recent war on Lebanon and the end of calls for the liberation of the Shebaa Farms and occupied Lebanese land.

Asked by reporters about Hizbollah's stance on the formation of a new government, head of the Future Bloc said they had rejected Mr. Siniora's offer, and seek to have enough representation to block government functions. Mr. Hariri made clear that if they act on their threats to take to the streets, the Islamic and Arab world will watch them and ask for the reasons behind the protests. He said they plan to protest, "because they do not want to know who killed Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and they want to obstruct the international tribunal."

MP Hariri also said that Speaker Berri can still play a mediating role to end the crisis. In response to a question, MP Hariri told reporters that no one has accused the March 8 parties of committing assassinations, but they were the ones who launched media diatribes against the March 14 alliance accusing it of treason. He pointed out that the March 14 parties are not the ones who receive huge amounts of money and rockets from abroad.

Head of the Future Bloc appealed for preserving Lebanese interests, and cited the government's decisions that have been based on consensus, except for the two related to the international tribunal. He said a real partnership should exist in government functions, and raised the issue of arms. He also reiterated calls for a comprehensive solution to all of the outstanding problems including the Shebaa Farms, detainees held in Israel, landmines in the South, and bringing an end to Israeli breaches of Lebanese sovereignty. However, MP Hariri pointed out that some friends of Syria have proposed letting go of the international tribunal and in return "get anything you want." He recalled that a similar offer was made to the late Prime Minister to support President Emile Lahoud's extension of mandate, but at the end he was killed and the country was rocked by a series of assassinations and bombings.