BEIRUT: It may take Lebanese parties more time to form a coalition government, prime minister designate Saad Al-Hariri said on Tuesday more than three months after the general election.
“Perhaps we need more time to arrive at a final formula,” he said to reporters before a meeting of members of parliament from his party in Beirut.
Lebanese politicians have repeatedly warned that the country — which has one of the world’s highest rates of public debt — urgently needs to put a government in place, but they have jostled over cabinet positions.
“There is no doubt that some sides still stick to their terms, but, as we see, all of them retreat and concede a little,” he said, adding that the new government needed to include all sides.
The May 6 elections delivered a majority for the Shiite Hezbollah and its parliamentary allies, a reversal of the previous vote in 2009, when groups with Western and Saudi support won most seats.
The result has further complicated Lebanon’s tangled sectarian politics, as Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians and Druze compete among themselves for ministries.
The delay in forming the government has prompted recriminations between rival parties.
Last week, Hezbollah members of parliament warned that the delay risked Lebanon “sliding toward tensions.”
“We are a state that has problems, and we must form a national unity government in which there is cooperation between all the parties. Otherwise we will create a problem in the cabinet,” Hariri said.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that Lebanon needs “an immediate and substantial fiscal adjustment” to make its public debt — which measures about 150 percent of gross domestic product — sustainable.
Lebanon’s Hariri says government formation may take more time
Lebanon’s Hariri says government formation may take more time
- Lebanese politicians have repeatedly warned that the country urgently needs to put a government in place, but they have jostled over cabinet positions
- Lebanon’s tangled sectarian politics, has Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians and Druze competing among themselves for ministries
Controversial Israeli minister enters area around Al-Aqsa Mosque on first Friday of Ramadan
- Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is seen making provocative remarks directed at Palestinians in presence of Israeli police
- It comes amid heightened Israeli security and restrictions on Palestinians entering the mosque, despite which an estimated 80,000 people attend first Friday prayers of the holy month
JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, entered the area around Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, coinciding with the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.
Footage shared on social media showed him arriving through the Moroccan Gate, accompanied by the Israeli police commissioner, Daniel Levy, and the Jerusalem District police commander, Avshalom Peled.
Ben-Gvir was seen making provocative remarks directed at Palestinians in the presence of Israeli police officers, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
The Moroccan Gate, located near Al-Buraq Wall, is one of the main entrances to Al-Aqsa and has been under Israeli control since 1967. It is regularly used by Israeli forces and settlers to access the mosque compound.
Jerusalem Governorate said the minister’s actions came amid heightened Israeli security measures and tighter restrictions on Palestinian in occupied Jerusalem during Ramadan.
Despite this, an estimated 80,000 worshippers attended the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to figures provided by the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem.
From early in the morning, Israeli forces imposed strict controls on Palestinians traveling from the West Bank to Jerusalem. Dozens of elderly worshippers were reportedly turned back at the Qalandia and Bethlehem checkpoints after being told they lacked the necessary permits.
Security forces also briefly detained four paramedics and disrupted the work of journalists and medical teams at Qalandia, witnesses said.
Additional security measures were also enforced at entrances to Jerusalem’s Old City and the gates of Al-Aqsa, with young men subjected to identity checks and a number of worshippers denied access.
