Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Wednesday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
Al-Akhbar: March 14 declares terms of dialogue
President Michel Sleiman appeared to be determined to re-launch the national dialogue sessions. March 8 forces seemed welcoming to the move also. MP Michel Aoun gave up his quest for linking dialogue with the false witnesses’ issue. March 14 forces, however, set conditions for the return to the dialogue table, most notably a timetable and an Arab umbrella.
The government embarked on its action. Cabinet will hold another session Wednesday to continue to "clean up" the agenda after months of crippling political deadlock. However, none of the items on the agenda is worth mentioning. Cabinet will only conclude a memorandum of understanding between Lebanon and Iran, signed during Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government in a bid to support oil and gas exploration.
Public appointments are not to be discussed during Cabinet’s meeting Wednesday. However, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told Al-Akhbar that a list of appointments at his ministry was in the works and that it would be ready within one month.
Meanwhile, resumption of all-party talks was being seriously considered among political circles. Sources at Baabda Palace said a team close to Sleiman would hold bilateral meetings with the concerned parties on national dialogue in an effort to listen to their comments and suggestions regarding the role of a dialogue committee and its structure in the next phase.
But sources from the March 14 coalition, particularly the Lebanese Forces and the Future Movement, have denied any contact with Sleiman or his advisers in this regard. The source, nevertheless, said March 14 would express its opinion if approached.
The opposition [March 14] has set five conditions for [the resumption of] dialogue: Implement the decision previously agreed on, limit discussions only to “Arms,” Arab League participation, a timetable for the completion of discussions, the implementation of the necessary steps and finally a clear mechanism for launching the dialogue.
These conditions were clearly made in a statement released Tuesday, after a meeting of the Future parliamentary bloc under MP Fouad Siniora.
As-Sharq: “Future” [Movement] waiting for clarification about Estonians’ scandal
Call for dialogue a positive [step] provided it only tackles weapons
The Future Bloc believes President Michel Sleiman’s call for dialogue is a “positive move,” pointing out that it has “always called for dialogue as the only way to address the problems.”
A statement by the Future Bloc after its weekly meeting said participants discussed the release of seven Estonian citizens who were abducted for nearly four months.
The statement said that while the bloc expressed “satisfaction for the end of this human tragedy,” it hoped that their release would restore the country’s image from the “ugly” spate of kidnappings that hit Lebanon over two previous decades. This is proof that the primary issue was and still is the presence of weapons outside the control of the state, according to the statement. This necessitates the hastening of state control over all its territory.
The bloc pointed out that “just like every Lebanese, we were shocked by this scandal,” calling on the government to "answer questions clearly and explicitly in this regard, as long as the government, God forbid, was not involved in a cover up of the kidnapping."
An-Nahar: Nasrallah: “We will emerge stronger from tribunal conspiracy”
Weapons bewilder dialogue, appointments dissipate majority
200 Syrian families flee across [Lebanon’s- northern border
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said his group would emerge stronger from the “conspiracy” of the long-awaited indictment issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on June 30, which accused four members of the party, including a military commander, of involvement in the massive bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others on Feb. 14, 2005. The indictment issued arrest warrants for the four suspects.
Trouble within its ranks emerged soon after the new government embarked on its work, although it came after Hezbollah toppled Saad Hariri’s government to form a one-sided Cabinet.
The first sign of trouble was the appointment of the head of General Security beyond the framework set out in the Taif Accord, and the two sharp conflicting viewpoints on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon between Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Nasrallah.
Regarding efforts to revive national dialogue, initiated by President Michel Sleiman Saturday, the call got lost between March 14 forces, which are demanding that talks be limited to the sole topic of Hezbollah's weapons, and March 8, which rejects any preconditions for the start of dialogue.
Amid all this, Cabinet meets Wednesday in a regular session with 30 items on its agenda which are not worthy of mention as Speaker Nabih Berri gears up for the opening of the extraordinary legislative sessions staring Aug.3.
Meanwhile, MP Boutros Harb, who had been a pillar of national dialogue when it was launched in 2006, told An-Nahar that all Nasrallah did at the time “was offer his opinion.”
Harb recalled that Nasrallah had promised that he, together with Berri, would later on discuss a defense strategy for Lebanon. “But that never happened after Nasrallah got engaged in the July-[August] war."
Al-Mustaqbal: Nasrallah does not care about "a hundred indictments"
“Future” favors dialogue only if limited to arms
The government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati reconvenes Wednesday at Baabda Palace with all the attention focused on "injecting spirit" into the so-called "false witnesses’ [issue],” to fulfill the desire of Hezbollah, which controls the government and imposes its will on the prime minister and his allies, who have a duty to support Hezbollah in its task to “confront the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and its indictment" as declared by Hezbollah secretary general Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Tuesday.
As-Safir: Sleiman warns of risks of rejecting his call [for dialogue] ... "Future" calls for Arab League help!
Nasrallah overcoming STL "landmine": We support dialogue
Cabinet convenes Wednesday, the second time this week, to discuss administrative and procedural issues until the new batch of [public] appointments are ready.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Mikati is expected to leave Lebanon at the end of the week on a private trip with his family.
Commenting on the Future Bloc position, Berri told visitors that the stance indicates that “dialogue is over before it begins.”
“Anyone who seriously and actively wants to take part in dialogue does not set preconditions,” Berri was quoted as telling visitors.
A source close to President Michel Sleiman told As-Safir that anyone who does not respond to the call for dialogue would have to bear full responsibility for his decision.
The source said it would be “dangerous not to respond to dialogue pending outcome of the 2013 parliamentary elections because we cannot afford to wait in light of the real dangers facing in Lebanon."
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