Lebanon's new cabinet has agreed on a policy statement that acknowledges Hezbollah's right to use its weapons against Israel, despite disagreement by some members of the ruling majority.Information Minister Tarek Mitri said late on Wednesday after a cabinet committee set up to draft the statement met for the ninth time. He said the new statement will retain the same clause approved by the previous cabinet concerning the arsenal of Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 and is considered a terrorist organisation by Washington.
The clause states the right of "Lebanon, its government, its people, its army and its resistance" to liberate all Lebanese territory. Hezbollah is commonly referred to as the resistance in Lebanon. Mitri said that reservations concerning the clause by members of the Western-backed majority would be noted in the government programme. Christian members of the majority, including the Phalange Party and Lebanese Forces, argue that Hezbollah's arsenal undermines state authority and runs counter to UN resolutions.
However the Shia party, which has two ministers in the 30-member unity cabinet, has made it clear that its weapons are not open to discussion. The party argues its arms are necessary to protect the country against any future aggression by Israel, which withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.
Lebanon's new cabinet is headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, whose US- and Western-backed alliance defeated a Hezbollah-led opposition supported by Syria and Iran in a June vote. Lebanon's government has a history of paralysis: in late 2006, all Shia ministers resigned from cabinet, setting in motion what would become an 18-month stalemate. The crisis climaxed in May 2008 when Hezbollah and its allies staged a spectacular takeover of mainly Sunni Muslim west Beirut in protest against a government crackdown on the party. The clashes left more than 100 people dead and brought the country to the brink of renewed civil war. Hezbollah, the only faction that did not disarm after the 1975-1990 civil war, has participated in government since 2005.