By Hadi Khatib
Lebanonwire staff

Not even an eclipse of the sun could divert attention from the row that began in Khartoum between President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora who were both involved in explaining their positions to ‘whom it may concern’ and receiving either praise or scorn for their position on the Lebanese resistance party Hezbollah.

An-Nahar daily wrote Thursday that Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called Lahoud and thanked him for this continuous support of the resistance while expressing “surprise” with Siniora’s position which Hezbollah sources said Nasrallah described as “contradictory to what the premier announced in parliament thus ending the disagreement over the resistance.”

The reference incident took place on Tuesday when Siniora objected to the wording of the final 'Khartoum declaration’ with respect to Lebanon which said “The resistance is Lebanon’s inherent right to defend itself and its dignity and liberate its occupied land.”

Siniora believed the statement did not accurately reflect the national dialogue which was still debating the issue of the resistance, and thus sought to modify it to “Lebanon and its people have the right to defend their dignity and resist any attempts at occupying its lands.”

In a statement, Siniora’s press relations office tried to clarify his position with regard to Hezbollah saying “the comments the premier made in Khartoum were misinterpreted for Siniora holds the resistance in high esteem and is proud of its role in liberating Lebanon from Israeli occupation.”

Sources close to Siniora told the daily that “Lahoud made it look like the premier wanted to eliminate the role of the resistance, but in reality (Siniora) just wanted to avoid the pitfalls of the statement in its original form and which was later adopted, since there is no consensus over the resistance issue in Lebanon.”

“Arabs don’t know the difference; they think that ‘resistance’ implies the entire Lebanese people, whereas in Lebanon ‘resistance’ means Hezbollah,” the sources added.

However, Hezbollah seemed dissatisfied with the explanation as sources in the party told daily Ad-Diyar that “this incident was pre-planned and will not go by the wayside just like that.”

“Who gave Siniora the permission to try to modify the statement on Hezbollah at the Arab Summit?” the sources asked.

The same sources told the daily that they did not expect the presidency crisis to be resolved any time soon and predicted the national dialogue would be postponed until the end of April.

Seemingly energized, Lahoud joined Hezbollah in criticizing the premier, telling reporters on the plane back from Khartoum “I was surprised by Siniora’s comments at the Summit…he is creating an internal crisis…I never attended for personal gains, but rather to protect Lebanon and its right to defend itself.”

Siniora had also faced a setback with Syrian officials who denied any meeting ever taking place between the premier and Syrian President Bashar Assad, where the latter agreed to schedule a later meeting in Damascus, as Siniora himself announced to reporters last Monday.

Coming to the defense of Siniora was Saad Hariri who said Siniora was doing his job and his position on the resistance is clear and previously stated.

During a televised interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday Hariri said “Lahoud lost his popular base and he is finished…it was a mistake to refuse a Saudi initiative to end the current crisis and I apologize because Lebanon needs any kind initiative to rescue it.”

Hariri said the presidency issue will be over ‘in one month” and did not deny the option to hitting the street to perform such a feat claiming “Lahoud is working for a foreign country and was responsible for sabotaging Paris II and now trying the same thing with Beirut I.”

Daily Al-Mustaqbal quoted Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea as saying “the presidency issue needs to be over now!”

It also quoted Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat who wrote on the PSP website that Lahoud in Khartoum was not representing Lebanon but rather foreign sides and using the Arab Summit as a forum to promulgate his own ideas about the resistance which has lost its approval base and appeal with Lebanese “especially when Syria refuses to demarcate its borders with Lebanon.”

“The right to repatriate the Shebaa Farms is the right of all Lebanese and not just the resistance,” Jumblat said in reference to the argument that arose between Lahoud and Siniora

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