Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammad Raad has rejected an initiative that would put the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms under the control of the UN.
In an interview with al-Manar TV, Raad said that Hezbollah would not reach its goal of liberating the occupied territories if it put the Shebaa Farms under the control of the United Nations.
The initiative to place the territory under the control of the United Nations was reportedly put forward by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Sarkozy visited Lebanon earlier this month to become the first Western head of state to meet with newly-elected President Michel Suleiman, who was elected into office May 25.
Suleiman announced during a meeting on Monday with visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband that he would provide the UN with documents ‘that will prove the Shebaa Farms belong to Lebanon’.
Israel occupied Shebaa Farms in the 1967 war. Syria has insisted the territory belongs to Lebanon but Israel has so far declined to return the land under the pretext of continued ambiguity over its status.
According to the plan proposed to the UN, the Shebaa Farms would be demarcated and returned to Lebanon in future stages of the initiative.
In another development, Raad referred to the delay in forming a Lebanese government cabinet, saying that no ‘serious problems’ have occurred in the formation of a new cabinet and that the process simply needed to be managed ‘logically’.
“We have not received any responses about our suggestions” for cabinet ministers, Raad said.
Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese government has requested that the opposition choose a Sunni minister and a Druze minister for cabinet positions, a move that would reduce Hezbollah’s Shia representation in the government.
Hezbollah, however, has also requested that it take control of the Communication Ministry in exchange.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has been in consultations with various parliamentary blocs for more than 10 days in a bid to form a new national unity government but internal disputes between members of the ruling bloc have so far prevented that from happening.
MSH/MR/BGH
Abufazl 