MP Hajj Hassan: Tripoli Memorandum is a positive step that must be completed

Source: Nowlebanon.com, 10-9-2008
Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan said that a national reconciliation is needed, "amid these serious and dangerous challenges," to save the country from the conflicts, which, he said, some planned and others participated in. He added that the Tripoli Memorandum was a positive step that must be completed and strengthened so that nobody takes Lebanon back to the "black period."
At an Iftar organized by the Islamic Charity Organization of Jbeil and Kesrouan on Tuesday, Hassan said that Prime Minister Fouad Saniora formed a committee for Jbeil, Baalbek, Hermel, Akkar and Tripoli when the Lebanese state "finally remembered that these regions were purposefully marginalized by the previous governments."
"Was it essential that those incidents occur in Tripoli for the cabinet to remember poverty and social deprivation?" he asked, referring to the bouts of violence plaguing the northern city since May. "Is it mandatory to plan a conflict in Jbeil and Hermel so that our turn in development comes?"
Hassan said that he wanted to head to the 2009 parliamentary elections amid an ambiance of democracy and fair competition rather than tense political discourse. "A country is built through dialogue, understanding, partnership and openness rather than driving people to fight," he said.
Hassan also said that the parliamentary elections would result in there being a majority and minority in power, but, he stressed, Lebanon is only ruled by partnership. "We have repeated our request in the past years, and they took a lot of time to accept [forming] a national unity cabinet," he said.
Hassan also called for avoiding sectarian rhetoric to evade conflict and allow people to remain calm.