Who have violated the terms of the Lebanese settlement?

Written by Nasser Kandil,

The phrase “The resignation was the result of Hezbollah’s violation of the terms of the settlement which the government was formed as an interpretation of it” has dominated and has become a repetitive phrase that follows any speech that accompanies the decision of resigning the Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri, which later it will be his resignation and he will defend it, claiming that he was under his full consciousness, conviction, and free will. What could he do after he saw what has happened on Saturday’s black night in the suburbs of the luxurious palaces in Riyadh and around it to the men who were never imagined but as men of veneration for whom he used to show loyalty, now he saw them humiliated begging from the master of the new palace to keep them alive, to see their sons, and to farewell them before going to detention.

What concerns us is not what Al-Hariri will say later, since he knows as those who emerge as the High Commissioner, the guardian of the northern country named Lebanon Thamer Al-Sabhan know that there is no need to talk about the free will of the Prime Minister Al-Hariri in his decision of the resignation, and how he was handed among the rulers of the Saudi axis humiliated inside various rooms in the same prison. So as long as they spend time and effort to respond to the accusation of their confining his freedom, they try to drive this accusation away from them, but their responses and the dubious rounds of photographing Al-Hariri have increased the doubts not dispelled them , for the simple reason known by the simple people, who wonder why not to save your effort and time through a simple way that Al-Hariri emerges to public from Beirut Airport in the Hall of Honor in front of the Lebanese, the Arab and the world TV at a press conference on air to explain his positions,  to defend them, and to justify the change of his positions during hours from happy towards what is being accomplished in Lebanon to a frustrated towards a settlement which the partners violated and thus prevented him from the continuation, so he decided to resign.

The Lebanese settlement through which the General Michael Aoun became the President of the Republic depends on a bilateral, its first basis is the abolishing of Al-Hariri of the veto imposed by the Saudis on the arrival of the General Aoun to the presidency in exchange of abolishing the veto put by Hezbollah on the return of Al-Hariri to the premiership. The second basis has been described by the Prime Minister Al-Hariri with linking the dispute, he explained it to his supporters and those who criticize him repeatedly, it depends on the acceptance of each of Al Mustaqbal Movement and Hezbollah to adopt choices that are contrary to their choices regarding the regional issues especially towards what is happening in Syria, the Saudi-Iranian engagement, the US-Saudi position from the weapons of Hezbollah, and the acceptance to live under a unified government that concerns with maintaining stability and running the affairs of the country without employing the governmental situation in order to impose the vision of one of them on the other and on the government.

Within the past ten months it seemed that the settlement is solid and coherent despite the accompanied developments, which each of Hezbollah and Al-Hariri has overcome them successfully. Washington announced a violent war against the nuclear understanding with Iran, Hezbollah did not make use of its position in Lebanon by sending message to Iran to improve and to fortify its situation against the US campaign. In return Washington announced a campaign against Hezbollah that affects its presence in Syria, and sometimes its weapons, just for that it imposed sanctions to extrapolate Hezbollah, but the settlement withstood as well as Hezbollah and Al-Hariri, no one has done what may violate the settlement, on the contrary each of them kept his speech, his alliances, and the protection of the governmental act from stumbling, so this led to the birth of a new law of the parliamentary elections, the law of budget, and the law series of ranks and salaries, moreover the barrens of the mountains of eastern Lebanon have been liberated from ISIS and Al- Nusra

Within the past three months a number of Saudi positions have been raised, they were expressed by the High Commissioner, the guardian of the northern country named Lebanon Thamer Al- Sabhan to the extent of describing the allies of Saudi Arabia in Lebanon at their forefront Al-Hariri with cowards; they threatened them unless they confront Hezbollah, The High Commissioner said literally  either to be with us or with Hezbollah, the essence of the campaign of the High Commissioner who challenged the silence of the neutrals is that his positions do not reflect the official Saudi position  by saying that those who said that, do not understand anything and they are stupid, the essence of his words is to call to get out of the settlement and to breach it for one reason that Hezbollah did not infringe of its commitments to this settlement which becomes a burden on Saudi Arabia, so its overthrowing has become a part of the Saudi tools in order to make Lebanon an arena to its war against Iran, as long as Hezbollah maintains the settlement and does not use Lebanon as an arena for the war of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Al-Hariri went to solve the problem of the statements of Al-Sabhan, but he did not return, he kept silent, Al-Sabhan has answered his phone calls, and then the discharge which became a resignation by voice and figure of Al-Hariri has taken place. The question remains who has violated the settlement?

The settlement has withstood until the date of Al-Hariri’s visit on the black Saudi Saturday night and the halt of his news, so the settlement fell by the voice of Al-Sabhan and the absence of Al-Hariri, As the Jerusalem Post says in its editorial that the resignation was “a result of the awareness of the Saudis of their failure in affecting the path of the Lebanese politics through the Prime Minister, In fact, the damage was more than the benefit of the current political stability, but affecting the Lebanese politics has more advantages according to the Saudis”.

It is important for the group of the resignation to read the conclusion of the Israeli article in order not to get puzzled about Israel’s involvement  in a war in favor of Saudi Arabia, “ whatever the reasons of the timing of the resignation were, Israel has to be keen not to get involved into a military confrontation that does not serve its interests. The resignation of Al-Hariri indicates to a new era of the instability in the north”.

Translated by Lina Shehadeh,