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This clear boycott re-establishes the authority of the Lebanese government and confirms that it is legitimate and constitutional despite the screams and insults of Michel Aoun and the edicts of Hezbollah's rulers.

This boycott affirms a proper stand which should have been the framework of the government since the resignation of Hezbollah's  and Amal Movement's  Shiite ministers in accordance with Syria's leaders instructions in fear of the Hariri international Tribunal. Our country, Lebanon, would have been in much better shape had the Saniora government shown firmness earlier. We would have had a president by now, and the downtown protest would have been over.

The thousand miles trip always starts with the first step. We hope that the Saniora government, after all the disappointments it caused to itself and to Lebanon, has decided to exit the bondage of hesitation to deal with the Syrian-Iranian agents (Hezbollah, Amal Movement, Fundamentalists and Syrian made Lebanese and Palestinian military armed groups) as such, and not as resistance, otherwise we will remain in the endless circle.

The government must begin immediately to name political matters clearly and frankly, and abandon its calling of Hezbollah as resistance, such falsification of history as the liberation of the south, and that prior to the year 2000 it enjoyed the support of all the Lebanese people.

Fundamentalist Persian Hezbollah is nothing but an Iranian army in Lebanon according to all measures. Everyone knows it has only retarded the liberation of the south for 14 years. It has never been a Lebanese option never received unanimity in any fashion or shape.

During the Syrian despicable occupation, Hezbollah, the Iranian armed militia in Lebanon, was imposed logistically upon the Lebanese, and specifically on the Shiite community, with financing, organization, command, decision making process and political will of the Iranian revolutionary guard, as an instrument to export the Iranian Khomeini Islamic revolution.

Hezbollah was supposed to disarm like all other Lebanese militias after the "Taef accord" in 1990, but the Syrian occupation hindered this procedure and imposed it as a resistance armed organization through force and terror and not through consensus.

In summary, we wish to state that the Lebanese government has taken an important step today on the road of national and independent governance. But it will not be able to continue this trek unless it maintains its honesty and witness to the truth. This Government must move with courage and chivalry from the reaction to the action mode. Will it do so? We hope.

Background
Lebanon Boycotts Damascus Summit, Urges Arabs to 'Shepherd' Relations with Syria
Naharnet/Beirut, 25 Mar 08/ The Lebanese government on Tuesday decided to boycott the forthcoming summit in Damascus and urged Arabs to tackle the deteriorating Lebanese-Syrian relations. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, reading a statement after a meeting by Premier Fouad Saniora's government, said Lebanon would also boycott preparatory meetings that set the stage for the summit that would convene in Damascus on March 29. The government urged "Arab brethren to shepherd Lebanese-Syrian relations to help Lebanon spread its sovereignty over its territories," the statement said. Such an Arab effort should lead to "sound relations between Lebanon and Syria," it added. The decision, according to the statement, is not tantamount to a breach of Lebanon's relations with Syria, but it reflects the need "to respect Lebanon's sovereignty and independence." The decision was adopted in light of blocking presidential elections and Lebanon's determination to be represented at the summit by "the only Christian president among all Arab heads of state," the statement noted. It also reflects the rejection by the Lebanese people to adapt to the existing presidential void, according to the statement. Such a boycott is a "precedent that has been imposed on us," it noted.
The statement concluded that Lebanon would remain committed to inter-Arab relations "especially in confronting Israeli threats."