July 21, 2010 - Now Lebanon - Gemayel challenges Nasrallah: “Hezbollah will not have its way”

Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel on Wednesday night repeatedly challenged Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah over comments he made almost a week ago, but that continue to spur response from Lebanon’s political circles, saying, “We have all survived the same challenges, and we have all been through the same crises, so Hezbollah will not have its way.”

In a speech last Friday, Nasrallah called the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) an “Israeli project” designed to target Hezbollah by stirring up sectarian strife in the country.

Gemayel said Nasrallah’s speech was dangerous because the Hezbollah leader spoke as if he is anticipating a new May 7 events. Gemayel warned the party cannot call the shots just because it is armed.

“Nasrallah’s statements do not frighten us, but they make us concerned about the country,” he added.

By taking on the STL, Gemayel said Nasrallah is essentially going up against the international community. If the Hezbollah leader’s claim that the STL is trying to frame the party is true, then Nasrallah should come up with an alternative solution to investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Gemayel added.

There are only two options from here, according to the Kataeb Party leader, “We either confront Nasrallah, which will widen the gap [between us], or we hold onto state institutions and the STL. The latter is [our] best response to Nasrallah.”

He affirmed a desire for good relations with Damascus, but said, “Coordinating [our] foreign policy with Syria is critical, because there are regional issues that we do not see eye-to-eye.”