BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Nawaf Musawi said Sunday his party rejects the imposition of conditions on the stalled National Dialogue, and insisted that disarming Hezbollah will not happen because it is an Israeli demand.

“There is only one way to deal with the resistance and its political coalition and that is dialogue. [The dialogue] should not be conditional but based on one thing, and that is to preserve Lebanon in the face of Israeli aggression,” Musawi said at a political gathering in Tyre, south Lebanon.

“A dialogue that aims to disarm the resistance is one that is needed by the Israelis and will not happen in Lebanon,” he added.

The March 14 coalition politicians, primarily head of the Future Movement and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, have argued that the resumption of national dialogue sessions frozen since 2010 should focus exclusively on Hezbollah's arms.

In a televised speech Tuesday, Hariri called on Hezbollah to surrender its arms to the Lebanese authorities in order to prevent internal violence and the collapse of the state. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has argued that its arms are the only means to defend Lebanon against repeated Israeli aggression.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has maintained that his party is open to unconditional dialogue, but criticized March 14’s insistence on discussing arms.

During his speech Sunday, Musawi said that the Lebanese should discuss means to protect themselves rather than “how to rid themselves of the defense capabilities that protect them.”

President Michel Sleiman has renewed his calls for national dialogue this year, saying that rival politicians should discuss a national defense strategy that would benefit from Hezbollah’s arsenal.

On the current Cabinet crisis, Musawi said that parties in the Cabinet should narrow their differences and reach agreement, but admitted that discord is often part of politics.

“In any political process, it is common to come across relationships that vacillate between consensus and disagreement,” he said.

Musawi went on to say that much was expected from the March 8 alliance. “This political party [March 8 alliance] that rid Lebanon of sedition and managed to form a coalition government is required today to make its experience [in government] a success, and establish a permanent coalition.”

The Hezbollah MP also said that the broad coalition between the March 8 alliance and independents from Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s bloc has spared Lebanon division and instability.

Nevertheless, there has been disagreement between Mikati and ministers from one faction of March 8, namely the Free Patriotic Movement led by MP Michel Aoun. On Feb.1, Mikati suspended Cabinet sessions over disputes with the ministers from Aoun’s bloc.

In his speech, Musawi addressed the ongoing Cabinet crisis. “[Eliminating obstacles] occurs through attaining mutual recognition of the rights of each component of the government and mutual interests in any issue that the government is addressing,” Musawi said.

He also claimed that Hezbollah prevented Lebanon from plunging into civil war when it forced the collapse of Hariri's government early last year.

"If the resistance party had not taken various political initiatives, Lebanon would have been in a different position today. One of the most important initiatives was forcing the exit of March 14 coalition lawmakers from government,” he added.

In January of 2010, ministers from the March 8 coalition resigned from Hariri’s Cabinet, forcing its collapse.