Lebanon's national dialogue will resume in its fourth day Monday, with the issue of Palestinian weapons as the first item on the agenda and an agreement expected. Syrian President Bashar Assad welcomed the talks as a "positive" step. On Saturday, Assad, speaking during a speech to the fourth session of the general conference of Arab parties in Damascus, had said: "The national dialogue, which is happening in Lebanon today, is a positive and reasonable step.""Syria and Lebanon are two sisterly countries that are impossible to separate," Assad said, adding: "The problem is not between Lebanon and Syria but between a movement in Lebanon that has a problem with Syria," referring to the March 14 Forces.
Assad also said that the majority in Lebanon "supports the establishment of good relations with Syria." But he added that the parliamentary majority is not representative of the public majority. Assad had once referred to Lebanon's parliamentary majority as the "false majority."
In Lebanon, Saturday witnessed intense discussions on a number of issues without a decision being made on any of them. Talking to The Daily Star, Arafat Hijjazi, political adviser to Speaker Nabih Berri, said Monday's first session will tackle the issue of disarming Palestinian factions outside refugee camps in Lebanon. "An agreement is expected on forming a committee with the participation of Hizbullah in order to help the government engage in dialogue with these factions over their disarmament," said Hijjazi. "Hizbullah enjoys good relations with these factions, and their presence in the committee will facilitate the process of convincing Palestinians to lay down their arms," he said.
Hijjazi added that since Saturday witnessed intensive discussion into all the issues without decisions, issues will be discussed separately and consecutively starting Monday.