National Bloc: We refuse unilateral war declaration and decision-making in Lebanon

Is Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, preparing to drag Lebanon into a confrontation with the Israeli enemy, and seize once again control of the war and peace decision-making against the will of the Lebanese?

Does Hezbollah really believe that it is the appointed agent of the Palestinians with the mission of "fulfilling its duties" towards the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, to quote Sheikh Qassem?

No sane person argues for the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves. However, the hypothesis that Hezbollah would enter into this conflict will: First, unify the Israeli society and mobilize a huge international support for Israel; second, weaken the Palestinian cause; and third, usurp the sovereignty of the Lebanese state by dragging Lebanon, once again, to a confrontation it cannot handle while it is fighting in the midst of an unprecedented political, financial, and economic crisis.

Hezbollah must give the priority to its Lebanese identity first, enter to the Lebanese state, remove all doubts about its affiliations, and adopt Lebanon as its first and only cause.

The Lebanese people are tired of futile and absurd wars, and are tired of eclipsing the state’s decision-making process. Hezbollah, or any other party, has no right to pull the strings and be the internal occupier deciding when to open the war front and when to close it!

As for the usual treason accusations on the basis that “those who do not support the resistance in Lebanon are not supporting the Palestinian cause,” according to Qassem, this issue became a ridiculous cliché aiming to mobilize sectarian extremism, in particular after the decline in Hezbollah's popularity since the party supporters are facing successive crises, just like all other Lebanese. So, stop accusing fellow Lebanese of treason. This is an obsolete method that is no longer in use.

Whoever really wants to resist the Israeli enemy should strive to unify the state’s decision-making, not to seize control of it; to extend the state’s authority over its entire territory, not to divide it into sectarian cantons; and not to transform the state’s borders into a missile platform that contributes to attracting the conflict.

The parties in power, including Hezbollah, have demolished all strong foundations in our country. They provided a free service to the enemy that is threatening us, ignoring the sacrifices of thousands of martyrs who lost their lives to liberate South Lebanon.

Speaking of which, the National Bloc had proposed a decision to the Parliament in 1944, through its MP George Akl, literally to "reject and denounce every attempt aiming to establish a Zionist nationalist state in Palestine, because the danger does not only threaten our dear neighbor Palestine, it also threatens Lebanon, the entity of Lebanon, its territorial integrity, and its independence.”

To this day, the Lebanese National Bloc Party remains a supporter of the rightful Palestinian cause, while preserving Lebanon's sovereignty and its interest, above all considerations.