BEIRUT: Participation in National Dialogue is futile as Hezbollah does not abide by the decisions of the all-party-talks, Future MP Atef Majdalani said Wednesday.
“Participation in Dialogue leads nowhere because its resolutions remain unbinding to the other party,” said Majdalani, who spoke to Free Lebanon radio station.
The lawmaker voiced respect and appreciation for the efforts by President Michel Sleiman to bring all parties together and resume Dialogue. However, he said there is a “trust crisis” with Hezbollah that prevents his group from taking part in the all-party talks.
“We want Dialogue, but there is a trust crisis with Hezbollah,” said Majdalani.
He also said Hezbollah can help restore his group’s trust in the party by handing over suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a car blast on Feb. 2005.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing Hariri’s death, issued indictments against four members of Hezbollah suspected to have played a role in the assassination. The party, however, has refused to hand over the suspects.
President Sleiman has been extending efforts to resume Dialogue and has repeatedly urged relevant parties to attend talks scheduled to be held on Jan.7. However, the March 14-led opposition said they cannot attend the talks, which they decided to boycott until the resignation of the Cabinet.
Their decision came following the Oct. 19 assassination of a top security official who headed the police Information branch, Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan.
Majdalani slammed Hezbollah and said the party acts as part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards instead of acting like a Lebanese group.
He added that the only item on the Dialogue agenda is integrating Hezbollah’s arms within a national defense strategy, arguing that the party refuses to address its weapons.
“While the only item remaining on the table of Dialogue is [Hezbollah] arms within a national defense strategy, we can see Hezbollah establishing its own defense strategy with Iran disregarding the Lebanese state,” said the lawmaker.