عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Lebanon: Opponents Accuse Aoun of Empowering Bassil

Lebanon's then-caretaker Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri meets with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon November 7, 2019. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon's then-caretaker Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri meets with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon November 7, 2019. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
TT
TT

Lebanon: Opponents Accuse Aoun of Empowering Bassil

Lebanon's then-caretaker Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri meets with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon November 7, 2019. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon's then-caretaker Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri meets with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon November 7, 2019. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS

Lebanese political parties were surprised at President Michel Aoun’s decision to postpone the binding parliamentary consultations, which were scheduled to be held on Thursday, especially as a quasi-agreement had been reached to designate former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to lead the new government.

The office of the Presidency said that Aoun’s decision was based on the request of some parliamentary blocs to delay the consultations to resolve some new obstacles. Both the Free Patriotic Movement, headed by Aoun’s son-in-law Gebran Bassil, and the Lebanese Forces party have rejected the nomination of Hariri.

In response, Speaker Nabih Berri and Hariri expressed resentment at the president’s move. Berri explicitly told Aoun that he was against the postponement, “even for a day.”

The former premier, for his part, stressed that there was no explanation for this decision.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, a former prime minister said that the president has met Bassil’s request in this regard, stressing that Samir Geagea’s LF party had not called for the delay of the consultations.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Aoun contacted French President Emmanuel Macron, justifying the postponement as an attempt to gain wider Christian support for Hariri’s designation.

But the president failed to dispel the French resentment, especially as Macron wanted to see a proof of the political parties’ willingness to abide by the French initiative.

The political sources said that France was extremely disturbed by the irresponsible step that will plunge the country into a new round of political bickering, instead of creating the favorable conditions for the birth of the new government.

In this context, the former prime minister told Asharq Al-Awsat that by postponing the binding consultations, Aoun was now facing a problem with Berri, along with the other political components.

He stressed that the president has reinforced the prevailing belief that he was giving Bassil the last say in the political consultations, which has become evident even to the French side.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
TT
TT

Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.