The head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil. (Credit: AFP Archives)
The head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Gebran Bassil, said Friday evening that he supports the disarmament of armed militias in Lebanon, but criticized the way the authorities are handling it, particularly following the launch of the disarmament of Palestinian camps on Thursday.
“We are with you to ensure that the weapons are handed over, not to put on a show. We are with you to entrust the army with a mission it is truly capable of accomplishing … but not to send it into the abyss to fail,” Bassil said during a dinner organized by his party in Zahrani (southern Lebanon), according to statements reported by the state-run National News Agency (NNA). He warned that “the disaster would be for you to make a decision and implement it in a way that leads to war, or not implement it at all and once again lose the authority of the state.”
Commenting on the start of the disarmament of Palestinian camps, which began Thursday evening in Burj al-Barajneh, in the suburbs of Beirut, Bassil quipped: “Who are you kidding? Is this how you want to recover the Palestinian weapons?”
The disarmament of Palestinian camps by the Lebanese Army began in accordance with an agreement reached last May during a visit to Beirut by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, aimed at ensuring the Lebanese state’s monopoly on weapons.
At the beginning of August, the Lebanese authorities tasked the army with developing a plan, within one month, to disarm Hezbollah. The party-militia, long allied with the FPM, has refused this decision after the recent war, as long as the Israeli army maintains a presence in southern Lebanon and continues its strikes in several parts of the country.
On Thursday, U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, who has advocated during his visits to Beirut for a complete state monopoly on weapons, welcomed the start of the disarmament of the Palestinian camps. He had presented a roadmap, approved by the government on Aug. 7, to ensure full compliance with the terms of the truce between the party and Israel. The “Barrack plan” sets clear deadlines for the disarmament and the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanese territories it continues to occupy.
‘The danger of war’
Addressing the authorities, Gebran Bassil added: “You make concessions without gaining anything in return and provide an excuse not to hand over the weapons, which leads to further mistakes and exposes us to the danger of war and destruction. Where is the government, and why does it speak about handing over weapons but not about reconstruction?”
The Maronite leader stated that he wants “a single army and a single weapon; we want the primacy of the state’s monopoly on arms, and for Hezbollah, as well as all those who possess weapons, to understand that circumstances have changed and that Lebanon’s defense has different requirements.”
He also argued that “the mistake comes from those who established a flawed policy linking Lebanon to foreign policies and interests, for which we have paid the price both here and abroad, and which we have opposed since 2006.” According to him, “since then, President Michel Aoun has spoken of a strategy to defend Lebanon and has never proposed an offensive strategy against Israel or to liberate Palestine.”
“Our mission is to defend Lebanon, and the Palestinians’ mission is to defend Palestine, which is why we do not support Palestinian armament, either inside or outside the camps,” Gebran Bassil concluded.
