Source: Nowlebanon. 22-6-2009

"We will not veto Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri as the leader of the next cabinet," Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem told New TV on Sunday.

"Local movement is highlighting the Egyptian and Saudi role in the cabinet formation," he charged.
Qassem denied that a proposal exists to form a cabinet comprised of technocrats. He also reiterated that any Syrian-Saudi agreement would reflect positively on Lebanon.

"As an opposition, we have not agreed on any decision regarding the cabinet formation and the speaker," he said, adding that the opposition would form a united position on these issues.

Qassem said that Lebanon's sectarian system means that, unlike other countries, there can be no majority and opposition. He also stressed that the opposition has a popular majority.

Qassem said the meeting between Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah could have happened before the 2009 parliamentary elections. He also said there are no political or practical reasons preventing a Hariri-Nasrallah meeting, as they have held previous dialogues.

"There is no need for a meeting with Kataeb party leader Amin Gemayel or Lebanese Forces Executive Committee head Samir Geagea, since both maintain a permanent position of tension [toward the opposition] and do not agree to meetings between majority and opposition officials," he stated.

The Hizbullah official said that Nasrallah responded only to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir's political stances. He added the patriarch could have clarified his position to prevent dispute over his comments.

Qassem affirmed that Hizbullah's alliance with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun is strong and said that Aoun represents more than half of the Christians.

"We are meeting the Europeans because they have not categorized us as terrorists, unlike the US," he said, in reference to meetings between Hizbullah officials and some Western countries.
He denied MP Boutros Harb's comments, in his capacity as lawyer for the family of slain Lebanese army pilot Samer Hanna, concerning Hizbullah's religious ruling that he said led Mostapha Mokaddem to admit to opening fire on the helicopter.

"We are not concerned with the structure of Iran and its politics," he said, adding that the current crisis in Iran was a "domestic issue."