Fadlallah says Arab initiative was doomed from the start

Source: Daily Star, 01-03-2008
BEIRUT: Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said on Friday that the Arab initiative failed to broker an agreement among feuding Lebanese groups "because it was born dead." "The initiative did not offer a clear-cut and well-defined plan of action to solve the political deadlock in Lebanon and thus it is as if it was born dead," Fadlallah said during the Friday sermon at the Imam Hassanayn Mosque in Haret Hreik.
The Arab League's three-point initiative to end the deadlock calls for the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as the new head of state, the formation of a national unity government and the drafting of a new electoral law.
The sayyed added that all Arab efforts to solve tension in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon "have all failed so far and this has alarming connotations."
Fadlallah slammed Arab states for their stance against "Israel" and described it as "all talk and no action."
"Their stand concerning the resistance in Lebanon clearly reflects their overall policy concerning "Israel"," he added.
Fadlallah said a solution to Lebanon's 15-month-old political deadlock was not an "imminent" one, adding that regional as well as international "tensions and struggles reflect on the situation in Lebanon."
"Even if some Lebanese groups have the will and determination to put an end to the continuing crisis, regional as well as international powers are likely to impede all such efforts," he added.