BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 8 (UPI) -- Lebanese political factions divided over support of Syria agreed on a pact of honor to safeguard democratic life and consolidate national unity.
Speaker Nabih Berri, who leads the national dialogue in parliament, said after the four-hour meeting Thursday that representatives of a majority of parliament, including Christian and Muslim groups, proposed general guidelines for a defense strategy against Israel to be debated at the next session on June 29.
Hezbollah's chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had presented his party's vision on a defense strategy at the previous session May 16, amid intensifying debate over the fate of its armed resistance against Israel.
A parliamentary majority, including the Progressive Socialist Party of Druze overlord Walid Jumblatt, the Christian Lebanese Forces led by Samir Geagea, and the Future Movement of Saad Hariri, son of slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, demand Hezbollah's disarmament after most of south Lebanon has been liberated from Israeli occupation. The Shabaa Farms territory, contested by Lebanon and Israel, remains in dispute.
Sources said the majority stressed that defending Lebanon is the mission of the Lebanese authorities. They asserted that resistance is part of the state and its arms must be legalized and placed under state control on grounds that only one armed power should exist -- the Lebanese army.
Berri said the parties to the dialogue also debated the reaction to a satirical television program which criticized Nasrallah last week, sending hundreds of his Shiite followers in the streets, cutting off roads, burning tires and destroying properties.
Under the new pact, groups would refrain from provocative speech, slander or libel and stick to mutual respect in political exchanges within a democratic framework free of riots or violence.
