Date: Feb 6, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Lebanon: Policy statement almost finalized as rifts overcome Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: A ministerial committee tasked with drafting the government’s policy statement agreed Tuesday on a final version of the document after quickly overcoming differences over two key divisive issues: Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal and ties with Syria. Following five-hour deliberations chaired by Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail, the 10-member committee agreed to meet again Wednesday for a final reading of the draft statement before it is considered by the new Cabinet later this week, Information Minister Jamal Jarrah said. A political source at the Grand Serail told The Daily Star that Hariri was expected to call a Cabinet session for Thursday to endorse the draft blueprint before sending it to Parliament for a vote of confidence session, widely expected to take place early next week. “The committee has finalized drawing up the draft policy statement with all its provisions and requirements as the prime minister had promised,” Jarrah told reporters after the meeting, the second since the committee was formed over the weekend, two days after Hariri formed a 30-member national unity government representing the main political parties on Jan. 31. He added that the committee would meet again at 2 p.m. Wednesday for “a final reading” of the document after some changes had been made. “The final version will be quickly read tomorrow [Wednesday] and we will have achieved the policy statement after a consensus on it from all the parties participating in the government,” Jarrah said. Among the key issues that will be highlighted in the Cabinet’s policy statement: Hezbollah’s arms, relations with Syria amid demands by Hezbollah and its allies to normalize ties with the Syrian regime, the government’s declared policy of dissociation from regional conflicts, the future of more than 1 million Syrian refugees and reforms demanded by the CEDRE conference to shore up the country’s struggling economy.On the issue of Hezbollah’s arms, Jarrah said the committee adopted the same formula upheld in the outgoing Cabinet’s policy statement. Despite reservations voiced by Lebanese Forces ministers at the time, the previous policy statement emphasized that the government would spare no efforts to liberate remaining occupied land, while stressing “the right of the state with its institutions and people to resist Israeli occupation and repulse its attacks.” On the Syrian refugee crisis, Jarrah said the “Russian initiative is the only one available to us so far to deal with the issue of Syrian displacement.” He added that the policy statement, without mentioning the word “voluntary,” would contain an article on the “safe return” of displaced Syrians to their country. The 10 ministers were reported to have discussed the possibility of reviving an initiative announced by Russia in July to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees and include this in the policy statement. Ahead of the committee’s meeting, Hariri met with Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin. “We ... stressed the need to continue to work in the framework of the Joint Russian-Lebanese Committee, in light of the Russian initiative aimed at securing the return of the displaced Syrians to their country,” Zasypkin said after the meeting with Hariri at the Grand Serail. Reaffirming Lebanon’s commitment to the dissociation policy, Jarrah said any normalization of ties with Syria depended largely on a decision by the Arab League, which has suspended Damascus’ membership since 2011 after the outbreak of the war there. “The issue of dissociation is essential because it protects Lebanon from all the region’s dangers. The relationship with Syria is not decided by us. The Arab League is the one that had suspended Syria’s membership. Therefore, the decision is not for Lebanon, but for the league,” Jarrah said. The information minister, who belongs to the Future Movement, said mention of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is trying suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, remained as it was in the previous policy statement, as well as the issue of dissociation, of the displaced and Palestinian brothers. Jarrah added that there was still a discussion on some “minor and nonessential” reservations over the policy statement. “We hope that it will end tomorrow,” he said. Meanwhile, the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc expressed its satisfaction with the government formation, but underlined the importance of “Cabinet solidarity at this fateful juncture in the history of the country and the region.” While calling for a halt to the war of words that erupted between Hariri and Joumblatt over the weekend, the bloc said the new government must act immediately to implement economic reforms. “The bloc calls on all partners at the Cabinet table to abide by the requirements of this solidarity and stop political and media exchanges that are bound to harm the public interest and the confidence that the state needs internally and externally,” a statement issued after the bloc’s weekly meeting chaired by Sidon MP Bahia Hariri said. “The citizens’ confidence in their government and betting on a new government performance that rises above partisan and private interests is an issue equally important to the confidence which the government will seek from Parliament,” the statement added. The bloc also voiced support for the main topics mentioned in the Cabinet’s policy statement. Separately, Speaker Nabih Berri stepped in to defuse tensions between Hariri and Joumblatt, dispatching MPs Yassine Jaber and Anwar Khalil to meet the Druze leader at his Clemenceau residence Tuesday night. LBCI channel said the Future Movement and PSP leaderships had agreed on media de-escalation as a step toward resolving differences between the two allied parties.