Bassil from Baabda: We are beginning a round of meetings with officials and presenting a proposal to protect Lebanon from this grave danger through dialogue

The president of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, led a delegation that included MPs Nada al-Bustani, Cesar Abi Khalil, and Nicolas al-Sahnawi, as well as the Movement’s deputy president for administrative affairs, Ghassan Khoury, to meet with President Joseph Aoun as part of a tour of several key figures, presenting the Movement’s proposal titled “Protecting Lebanon.”
After meeting with President Aoun, Bassil said, “We are undertaking this tour of key figures because we sense a grave danger from within and without, and we are presenting a proposal titled ‘Protecting Lebanon.’” He explained that “the paper includes a call for an internal code of conduct among us, rejecting violence, rejecting incitement in the media and politics, rejecting self-security, and committing to the state’s authority—particularly regarding the issue of displacement—so that the state can serve as the incubator and guardian, and committing to a single Lebanon of 10,452 square kilometers.”
Bassil noted that the second idea in the proposal concerns the situations we must all reject as Lebanese, emphasizing the rejection of sectarian strife, Israeli occupation, and Syrian interference. He added: “As for the third idea, it is the solution. In our view, this solution, which we must agree upon as Lebanese, is the exclusive control of arms and decision-making by the army and the state, coupled with Israel’s complete withdrawal from Lebanon; second, the protection of Lebanon through its neutrality and a national defense strategy to which the government has committed; and third, a just peace achieved through the parties in conflict and their enemies, with conditions ensuring the full realization of Lebanon’s rights.”
Bassil concluded by saying: “This is an effort on our part to put everyone on the path of dialogue among ourselves rather than internal strife, and this is a great responsibility that the President of the Republic is overseeing. We have said from day one that we stand with the Presidency of the Republic and the President of the Republic; even if we were in the opposition, we would stand with the state and its legitimacy, and we will not accept that what happened to us should happen to the President of the Republic. That is why he holds this position and serves as the guarantor.”