Channels

Fouad Siniora
Photo: Reuters

Lebanese PM: War erased 15 years of development

Fouad Siniora tells conference of countries contributing to Lebanon ‘we are in a deep recession as a result of the war; our goal is to rebuild all the infrastructure Israel destroyed. Adds: I’m calling you to join the UN and help Lebanese people gain their freedom

Lebanese Prime Minster Fouad Siniora said in a speech he gave at a conference of countries contributing to the rehabilitation of his country in Stockholm, Sweden that "Lebanon is in a deep recession as a result of the war. It's as if 15 years of development have disappeared."

 

Conference organizers said they hope to raise USD 500 million.  

 

"I am calling you to join the UN secretary general and to do all the necessary things to cause the Lebanese people to gain freedom. Our goal is the rehabilitation of houses and infrastructure before the war; to open the airport and the sea port and to build all the infrastructure Israel destroyed," he said.

 

During his speech Siniora praised UN Resolution 1701, according to which 15,000 UNIFIL troops will be deployed in south Lebanon along with Lebanese army forces. The prime minister said that while his government immediately worked to implement the UN decision and has already sent forces to the south for the first time in 30 years, Israel breached the truce just three days after it went into effect.


Lebanese soldiers travelling southward, across the Litani (Photo: AP) 

 

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora addressed concerns that aid money for the rehabilitation of post-war Lebanon would arrive in the hands of Hizbullah and said that such concerns were unrealistic.

 

“Israel continues to create death and destruction, and the international community looked on and did nothing,” Siniora said. “Israel continued with its provocations and carried out commando operations in Lebanese territory. Israel is also continuing its blockade of Lebanon –despite the international community’s view on the issue. If the siege is not lifted – it will be nearly impossible to carry out the rehabilitation works in Lebanon. 

 

The Lebanese prime minister asked the countries participating in the committee "to invest maximum resources in order to remove the hurdles to returning freedom to Lebanon. Our goal is to rehabilitate life in the state before the coming of winter. The Lebanese are determined to go back to the Lebanon that was – a paradise of mutual giving."

 

Siniora also sent cold messages to Israel in his statements Wednesday, saying that Lebanon would be the last state to sign a peace agreement with Lebanon. "Peace is not possible until Israel understands the need to return the rights to their owners. Peace is not possible until Israel recognizes the right of the Palestinians to a state and the return of refugees and withdrawal from all occupied territory, be they territory in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or the Golan Heights."

 

In the meantime, a senior Lebanese official reported that the German defense delegation is expected to arrive in Beirut on Saturday within the framework of efforts to draw up a prisoner swap deal between Israel and Lebanon.

 

Lebanese newspaper as-Safir reported that according to the source, the delegation will hold a number of meeting in Beirut, the most outstanding of which will be held on Saturday with the Director-general of General Security in Lebanon, Wafiq Jazini.

 

During the meeting, the delegation will present the details of the contacts made prior to their arrival in Beirut, with an emphasis on contacts with Israel, and more specifically, contacts with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who met with previous mediator Ernst Uhrlau during her visit to Berlin Tuesday.

 

The Lebanese source added that the German side has already started to feel out the pulse on the Lebanese side in order to know if there is a chance to influence their position, and that the Lebanese side answered in the positive. The Germans, according to the source, have also stipulated that despite its official statements, Israel gives a green light to the start of negotiations.

 

The same official did not say whether or not the German delegation, most of whose members took part in previous prisoner deals, including the deal which freed Elhanan Tanenbaum and the three IDF soldiers in 2004, has indeed received the aforementioned authorization from Israel.

 

Lebanon prime minister said a prisoner swap with Israel was being considered by his government but "nothing has materialized."

 

"The matter is being looked after," Fouad Siniora told reporters in Stockholm. "There is nothing really that has materialized so this matter is going to be of considerable interest by the Lebanese government."

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.31.06, 13:11
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment