Participants at the national dialogue deserve a pat on the back following Monday’s session, which contrary to popular belief turned out fruitful with opposing parties agreeing on the need to establish diplomatic relations with Syria and with the announcement that more significant news will follow.

Speaker Nabih Berri left reporters foaming from the mouth when he announced Monday that more “beefy” news will come out from today’s session, refusing to get into details about the forthcoming surprise announcement.

Averting a deep discussion on the issues of the Shebaa Farms and the presidency paved the way for the first breakthrough registered since the talks were suspended last Tuesday.

On Monday, participants agreed for the need to normalize relations with Syria by establishing diplomatic ties with all that this would entail in terms of exchanging ambassadors, respecting each other’s sovereign rights and working on bilateral agreements in an atmosphere of friendship and cooperation, in keeping with the historical relations between the two countries.

On that subject, Daily An-Nahar said Tuesday that participants also agreed on the need to redraw the borders between Syria and Lebanon but excluding for now the issue of the highly controversial Shebaa Farms and to refuse any form of interference in and hegemony over domestic affairs.

“The agreement is based on the principles that Lebanon cannot be ruled by Syria or be ruled against Syria,” the daily said.

Daily Ad-Diyar said Tuesday that the agreement also included the need to release Lebanese prisoners detained in Syria and solve the mystery of Lebanese missing in that country.

According to daily Al-Hayat, Progressive Socialist Party leader presented documents and maps showing Syrian mobile companies’ ability to cover 80% of Lebanese territories indicating that Syria’s bypassing of Lebanon’s telecommunication system is costing the treasury substantial revenues in addition to the possibility of potentially using these lines for security purposes since they fall outside the control of Lebanese electronic observation and monitoring centers.

The daily said Telecommunication Minister Marwan Hamade asked “is this what we call exemplary relations with Syria?”

Nevertheless, Future Movement leader Saad Hariri, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea all came out from the meeting optimistic about the progress and indicting that more substantial agreements and breakthroughs will follow.

The said breakthroughs could be related to the issues of Palestinian arms, the presidency and the Shebaa Farms.

Daily Ad-Diyar said that the issue of Palestinian weapons was discussed and is on path to be finalized “fairly soon.”

Daily Al-Hayat said Jumblat breached the subject of the Farms without ruffling the feathers of the Shiite coalition on the roundtable, who had a day earlier lambasted the Druze leader for his comments made in the US on both the “militia” designation of Hezbollah and his belief that the Farms were not Lebanese and did not fall under Lebanon’s sovereignty.

The daily said Aoun came out of the meeting announcing that “Shebaa Farms are Lebanese” while Geagea for his part said “the Farms cannot be resolved using maps.”

The daily also quoted sources close to the talks as telling it “the presidency issue was never discussed during that session, but we are confident that the subjects of the Shebaa Farms and the need for a Syrian role in confirming its identity will be agreed upon soon.”

Al-Balad daily said that Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah discussed the Shebaa Farms issue saying “we cannot leave Lebanon unprotected against Israeli aggression, but we are flexible; if we can agree on a strategic plan to protect this country then we would relinquish our arms, but if we can’t then we cannot surrender those weapons.”

As-Safir daily reported Tuesday that President Emile Lahoud told his visitors that he would not hamper any progress made on the talks adding “I believe Syria, if asked, would sign a written document testifying to the fact that the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese and then present it to the UN as an official record.”

“The Farms are Lebanese and we will regain sovereignty over them even if this takes a little while longer,” Lahoud told his visitors according to the daily.

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