Date: Feb 4, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Premiership won’t be anyone’s scapegoat: Hariri Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: The new government got off to a troubling start Sunday when former MP Walid Joumblatt lambasted Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil over what he called the “semi-absence” of the premiership’s role in the Cabinet formation. Joumblatt accused Hariri of abandoning the 1989 Taif Accord and Bassil of interfering in the Cabinet formation and drafting the broad lines of the policy statement in a violation of the Taif Accord’s stipulations. The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party also urged Hariri to take a stance on breaches of the accord, saying any rift amounted to “playing with fire.” Joumblatt’s remarks drew a quick rebuke from Hariri, who struck back at the PSP leader, appearing to accuse him of seeking to compensate for his internal problems. “In light of the stances on the government formation process, the premiership considers that the comments that try to undermine its role and performance in dealing with the government crisis are a noninnocent attempt to fish in troubled waters and compensate for the problems suffered by those who are making the comments and for the concessions that they were the first to volunteer to make,” a statement released by Hariri’s media office said. “It is useful for all those concerned to understand that the premiership, entrusted with preserving the Taif [Accord] and the powers vested in it by the Constitution, will not be a scapegoat for anyone, and does not need lessons on constitutional rights and obligations from anyone,” the statement said, adding: “It will not be useful for anyone to falsify the facts, especially with regard to the preparation of the policy statement, or resort to insinuations that try to disturb the government track on the pretext of working to rectify the situation.” The remarks by Joumblatt, who spoke after chairing an extraordinary meeting of the PSP’s parliamentary Democratic Gathering bloc at his residence in Beirut’s Clemenceau area, threatened to deal a blow to Cabinet solidarity, barely three days after the formation of Lebanon’s 30-member national unity government.Shortly after the Cabinet lineup was announced last Thursday, ending an eight-month political deadlock, Hariri had underlined the “importance of solidarity in order to move forward quickly and implement all [infrastructure] projects.” The Hariri-Joumblatt tension is also bound to reflect itself on the first meeting of a newly formed 10-member ministerial committee headed by the prime minister to draft the government’s policy statement. The committee is slated to meet under Hariri at the Grand Serail Monday. Speaking at a televised news conference at his residence, flanked by members of the Democratic Gathering bloc, Joumblatt said: “We discussed the way the government was formed, where we, unfortunately, noticed a unilateral decision on the formation and the semi-absence of an essential position in the Taif Accord, that is, the premiership. “Later, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, at the news conference he held [Saturday], appeared as if he was drawing up the broad lines of the policy statement and how to move forward later without consulting with anyone. This amounts to a violation of the Taif [Accord].” Joumblatt, who has two ministers in the new Cabinet, warned that a disregard of the pact, which ended the 1975-90 Civil War and stipulated equal power sharing between Muslims and Christians, amounted to “playing with fire” and would lead to “a big imbalance” in the country. Addressing Hariri, a staunch supporter of the Taif Accord, Joumblatt said: “We ask Saad Hariri, where is the Taif [Accord] that had been built by your father and for which he fell as a martyr? I want to know, where is the Taif [Accord] and where is the country heading for?” He added that he would send a delegation from the Democratic Gathering bloc to President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Hariri to ask them: “Where to for the Taif?” Referring to Bassil, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, who had been accused by many politicians of interfering in the Cabinet formation, Joumblatt said he hoped Hariri would come forward with “a clear answer” on whether he wanted to abandon the Taif Accord. Joumblatt warned that abandoning the pact would cause “a major crisis in the country.” The PSP leader said he would not withdraw his two ministers, Education Minister Akram Chehayeb and Industry Minister Wael Abu Faour, from the government. Joumblatt, an outspoken critic of Syrian President Bashar Assad, also lashed out at the new Minister of State for Refugee Affairs Saleh Gharib, describing him as supportive of the regime. Gharib is loyal to the PSP leader’s Druze rival, MP Talal Arslan. Joumblatt pledged to protect the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, saying he would not join the “Syrian team” in the Lebanese government to send them to “inferno, prisons and torture in Syria.” Speaking at a news conference Saturday, Bassil praised Gharib. “We have a minister for refugees who can speak with the international community and with Syria. On this basis, we want the refugees to return to their country,” he said. Bassil also said that for the first time since the Taif Accord, “actual equal power sharing inside the government” had been achieved. The new Cabinet held its first meeting Saturday chaired by Aoun at Baabda Palace during which the committee to draft the policy statement was formed. “There are many challenges ahead of us that we have to face,” Aoun was quoted as telling ministers. “There is no time to waste.” Hariri urged cooperation among the ministers, warning that “if each party wants to work in a contradictory manner, it will negatively affect the work [of Cabinet].” Speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail Saturday, Hariri said the government policy statement would be ready within days, adding that it would be similar to that of the previous government he had headed regarding Hezbollah’s weapons. He said the policy statement would also contain essential reforms demanded at the CEDRE conference. Asked about the Health Ministry after Washington expressed concern about Hezbollah naming a health minister and two other posts, Hariri said that the American statements were similar to “what they always say about Hezbollah.” He added that none of the ministers, including those of Hezbollah, would make their ministries purely for their group. In his first comment on the Cabinet formation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was controlling Lebanon through Hezbollah. “Hezbollah essentially controls the government of Lebanon, which means that Iran controls the Lebanese government,” Netanyahu said during the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting.