Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel stressed that the Kataeb party's goal is not to please everyone, saying that its goal is to provide the Lebanese with a reliable alternative that has a project and is different from what other parties present.

 

“The Kataeb party has demonstrated in the past years that it was loyal and has not compromised or submitted to the authority’s temptations, but rather it has put Lebanon and the Lebanese in its priority list,” Gemayel said in an interview with L’Orient Today.

 

“Today we are facing a great challenge and we must be strong in the face of several challenges such as Hezbollah, corruption and other difficulties that destroyed our country,” he added.

 

Gemayel reiterated the 2016 settlement that has led to the election of Michel Aoun as a President and the voting on the electoral law and budgets.

 

“These parties that have concluded the 2016 settlement fell when the people took to the streets on October 17th while the Kataeb party was next to the Lebanese. Therefore, we haven’t forged alliances with those parties,” he noted.

 

The Kataeb leader distinguished between the so-called opposition forces and civil society, noting that the latter do not carry out political action.

 

"If we were an old party, would we be traditional? Is the National Bloc a traditional party?” He asked concerning the term “traditional forces”.

 

"Traditional parties are those that practice their political work in a traditional way, and in this respect we are not a traditional party, but on the contrary, we are a party that tries to break barriers and practice stereotyped political life. We have taken the decision to disengage from all the political mafia and go towards a radical change in performance and practice,” he pointed out.

 

Gemayel stressed that the Kataeb’s approach is completely different from the approach of the Lebanese Forces from 2015-2016 until now, saying that the Lebanese Forces has participated in the presidential settlement, unlike the Kataeb party.

 

“It has also participated in successive governments while the Kataeb party was stationed in the midst of a fierce opposition. Moreover, the LF has voted on the budgets and the electoral law while the Kataeb has voted against them," he affirmed.

 

“The reason of the convergent approach today is that the Lebanese Forces have transformed their political discourse in an attempt to bring it closer to the Kataeb approach that we have been adopting since 2015,” he emphasized.

 

“Our political position on Hezbollah does not fluctuate according to circumstances or periodically, but is based on solid principles, and therefore we do not trust this fluctuation that has occurred,” he noted.

 

"Our goal today is to get out of this way to practice political work and to present a new alternative to the Lebanese, and this is something we have taken upon ourselves, and we are working with those who have a similar approach, while the Lebanese Forces are allying today with the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt in Baabda district. This is a proof that it is acting in the same logic, as for the Kataeb, it has completely cut its ties with those who destroyed the country, and unfortunately the Lebanese are the ones who are paying the price,” he added.

 

The Kataeb leader called for a radical change in the country, saying that that one of the things that must be changed lies in that the people's representatives who should be honest, real and not opportunistic.

 

Gemayel pointed out that Hezbollah was hijacking the institutions since 2016 through the presidential settlement and in 2018 it took control over the parliament through the parliamentary majority.

 

“The goal today is to restore the parliamentary majority and to suspend the control of Hezbollah over state’s institutions, so that we can differentiate between the legitimate State and Hezbollah, as was the case from 2005 to 2015, if Hezbollah makes any statement, the state will pay the price,” he added.

 

“In the past, if Hezbollah made any statement, the international and Arab community could have differentiated between the Lebanese state and Hezbollah, and our goal is to restore the possibility of separation by restoring the parliamentary majority,” he affirmed.

 

Gemayel stressed that Lebanon is held hostage by Hezbollah, saying that the Lebanese are being offered two choices: resistance or surrender.

 

"We, as the kataeb party, our goal is resistance, but this matter cannot be achieved without a price. We have been subjected to assassinations and lost our most valuable people only because we were defending Lebanon's sovereignty," he emphasized.

 

“The only time we won against Hezbollah was on October 17th, when we toppled a government that defended this armed militia and did everything to protect it and prevent its fall, but Hezbollah fell in the street in a peaceful way. Therefore, on the day following the overthrow of Hariri’s government, Hezbollah did everything to divide the Lebanese and re-create barriers between the Lebanese components, and did everything to stir up strife among the Lebanese and divide them,” he said.

 

“Lebanon’s sovereignty was subjected to a severe blow as an armed Lebanese party took the citizens as hostages in their own country through weapons, violence and assassinations,” he added.

 

The kataeb leader blamed the current ruling system for its failure in addressing the country’s stability, calling for a new system that can provide real lebanese citizenship and pluralism protection.

 

“I also call for the holding of a dialogue, in a bid to reconcile the Lebanese, which has not been achieved since the end of the civil war,” he added.

 

Gemayel announced that the Kataeb party’s political program was about the establishment of a Senate that preserves pluralism, the implementation of the law of administrative decentralization, and the distribution of capabilities to districts run by elected councils so that they have a kind of financial and administrative independence to control each judiciary independently.

 

He also said that three basic things must be provided to change the current reality.

 

“First, we need a strong presence in Parliament, second, people who are willing to take to the streets, and thirdly, an international community that stands by the lebanese people. By providing these three things, we can create an opportunity let Hezbollah know that it is time for it to suspend its practices and to reach the disarmament of all Lebanese components and the unification of the legitimate force in the hands of the Lebanese army and the security forces,” he added.

 

“As long as this armed militia is present, it is impossible to secure the independence of the judiciary, build a strong economy, control the borders, and even implement the required reforms,” he noted.

 

“We, as the Kataeb party, are calling for a transitional period, during which a technocratic government takes over. As for the possibility of achieving this, it is due to the citizens' confidence in the elections and its results,” he affirmed.

 

“Lebanon needs a new, free and productive economic system in which the banking system, the market, agriculture, industry and tourism sectors and all components of the economy are in balance in order to form a strong economy,” he added.

 

"I am against raising taxes as long as our economic system is divided. There is a parallel economy and as long as we cannot control the economy, imposing additional taxes will increase the citizen's curse against his state,” he concluded.