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| US-based anti-Syrian group makes case to Washington Daily Star staff Saturday, March 31, 2007 WASHINGTON: The American Lebanese Coalition (ALC) has presented a comprehensive policy paper to various US officials that delineate the group's position on fundamental issues of concern to the Lebanese-American community. A delegation led by ALC president Joseph Gebeily held a series of meetings in the past week with senior White House officials, leading members of Congress and high-ranking officials at the National Security Council, the State Department and the Department of Defense. The ALC is an umbrella organization that groups the largest four associations of Lebanese-American organizations that represent the vast majority of Americans of Lebanese descent. The ALC is known to hold regular meetings with White House Officials and leading members of the Congress to discuss Lebanese issues. The ALC called for "compliance with the wording and the spirit of the Lebanese Constitution vis-a-vis the election of a new president for the Republic of Lebanon and the democratic and uneventful transfer of presidential powers and of the official seat of the presidency to the next constitutionally elected president. "The enactment of a new, reformed and equitable legislative election law following the next presidential elections is necessary to achieve true representation of the various components of the Lebanon's pluralistic society," the proposal added. The ALC's paper also urged the United Nations to create an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and "of other martyrs of the Cedar Revolution." Referring to Hizbullah, the ALC also demanded the disarming of "illegal weapons held by Lebanese as well as by non-Lebanese militiamen on Lebanese land." "Conversely," the paper said, "a rapid and final resolution of the issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon ought to be reached." The ALC expressed opposition to settling Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, "for this will lead to dangerous ramifications, especially since naturalizing the Palestinians in Lebanon will shake Lebanon's already precarious demographic make-up." The ALC also stressed the safeguarding of Lebanon's sovereignty and support for the Lebanese armed forces. The ALC also called for a "full and urgent implementation" of all UN Security Council resolutions relevant to Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, including but not limited to resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701. "The demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian border, starting with the Shebaa Farms without further delays; expanding UNIFIL's mandate to include the monitoring of the Syrian-Lebanese borders, proves to be a must," the paper said. On next week's visits to Beirut and Damascus by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, the statement said that while the ALC welcomes the visit of any US official to Beirut, "the visit by the delegation ... to Damascus ... would send the wrong message to the Syrian regime and to its supporters in Lebanon." The statement also cited US officials as stating that while "the administration does not condone such congressional visits, those visits are strictly exploratory in nature and in no way do they reflect any change in policy on Syria." - The Daily Star |
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