Gov’t Discusses Law, Calm session in Parliament, AUB Goes to Majority
A statement issued after the meeting said ministers put forward questions about the details of the election's proportional representation that is being considered to replace the winner-takes-all system that has governed every previous election round.
Neither the blood in Gaza nor the remains of children in Lebanon and the occupation in Iraq or the continuous bleeding in Bahrain moved them to meet.
But now, they met deciding to disperse the last node in the resistance rosary and Syria is the target.
As the Syrian crisis continues to hang over airspace, American Arabs decided to keep pressure in different directions.
After the suspension of its membership, Syria's supposed brothers in blood decided to send observers to Damascus, waving with their last paper the sanctions ahead of internationalization. For whose benefit the Arab League
works?
AL: Observers to Syria
Tensions seemed to run low Wednesday during the Arab ministerial meeting held in Rabat to discuss the Syrian issue.
The meeting ended by calling on it to sign a protocol to send a delegation of Arab observers to Syria under the threat of economic sanctions in the event of Damascus's refusal.
During their emergency meeting, Arab foreign ministers gave Damascus a 3-day deadline to sign a protocol to send a delegation of Arab observers to Syria.
"As-Safir" Lebanese newspaper quoted AL diplomatic sources as saying that "the Arab League made a study which found that the vote on resolutions needs two thirds of votes."
"The American and French diplomats took part of Arab Ministers meeting yesterday, even in the shade," "al-Binaa" daily said.
For its part, "al-Akhbar" quoted Syrian sources that asserted that Damascus will agree on signing the Arab protocol and is set to issue a statement in this respect in the next few hours.
The daily also reported that the so-called "Syria's Free Army" has elements of it who fled to Akkar Northern Districts where they hide, plan, and return to perform military operations against Syrian Army.
"Al-Akhbar" also mentioned that the Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called the Saudi King Abullah asking him to interfere in the Syrian crisis warning of the repercussions of Syria's bledding on the region.
"Suleiman hoped to give al-Assad more time to solve the internal crisis by implementing reform and returning stability," the paper added.
Meanwhile, Tehran criticized the AL's decision to suspend Syria's membership in the pan-Arab organization saying that "it will be detrimental to regional security."
Parliament, Gov't Sessions:
In Lebanon, President Suleiman urged politicians to tone down their rhetoric and avoid fiery or extremist statements that increase tension.
Addressing ministers at the governmental session at Presidential Palace at Babda, Suleiman said that "we are in utmost need of wisdom and dealing with various matters with a high level of patriotic responsibility."
"Lebanon was a pioneering model for pluralism and "true participation by all elements of society in decision-making, which was especially important in light of popular uprisings in the region," he added.
They discussed the quota for women candidates and the mechanism of the preferential vote, which allows voters to rank their candidates in terms of preference, and how this would play in practice.
The Council of Ministers also discussed the issue of laying the high-voltage network in the Mansourieh area.
"Based on Energy Minister Gebran Bassil's request, the Council of Ministers made a firm decision to continue working on the issue," "an-Nahar" reported.
In parallel, a question and answer session at Parliament ran unexpectedly smoothly Wednesday, as Speaker Nabih Berri prevented minority MPs from raising controversial issues.
In its first question and answer session since it was formed in June, Prime Minister Najib Mikati's government answered seven questions forwarded by opposition MPs, four of which will be taken up later during an official inquiry.
In the official inquiry session, that Berri promised to hold, all MPs will be allowed to take part in the discussions.
Commenting on the information presented during the parliamentary concerning the delete of all "Data information" belonging to the third cellular network in the "second floor" of the Ministry of Communications, parliamentary sources stressed that "this issue is very dangerous, and opens a series of questions."
"What information did they contain, and for what purpose they used the third cellular network, and how many lines were there and in what areas and for whose benefit?" sources wondered in an interview with "as-Safir" Lebanese newspapers
At another level, a bone-grinding showdown took place in American University of Beirut students' elections between "March 8" and "March 14" students.
However, official results revealed that Hizbullah, Amal, and Free Patriotic movement's students won the largest proportion of seats for the second year.
Source: Lebanese newspapers, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org
