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Former Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the president of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), said in a November 8, 2020 address that was streamed live on YouTube by Newsgate (Lebanon) that while the FPM disagrees with Hizbullah on many core issues, it has not been subjected to sanctions by Iran or oppression by Hizbullah. He reiterated a previous statement of his that the FPM wants Lebanon to be a non-religious state that would have domestic and external peace based on justice, international law, an Arab right to land, the Palestinians' right to a state, and Israel's right to security. Bassil also said that Hizbullah supporters have attacked him on social media for having expressed this view in the past. For more about Gebran Bassil, see MEMRI TV clips No. 8286, 7411, 7303, 6548, 6347, and 3033.
Gebran Bassil: "We disagree with Hizbullah on basic matters, and even ideological matters, such as peace in the region and the existence of Israel. However, we have not seen Iran imposing sanctions against us, nor have we seen Hizbullah oppressing us.
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"In February 2019, at the Mar Mikhaël Church, I said that Hizbullah needs to understand that the [Free Patriotic Movement] does not have the same ideas and the same narrative that Hizbullah has. This is why we made a memorandum of understanding. We want Lebanon to be a civic state – not Muslim, not Christian. We want it to be a state that wants to live with domestic stability that would be based on agreement and on external peace. External peace is based on rights, justice, and international law.
"Lebanon wants peace, not war. It wants a peace based on the Arab initiative, and on the basic principal of mutual rights. The Arabs have a right to land, the Palestinians have the right to a state, and Israel has a right to security. This is, in fact, Resolution 1701, and it has [reflected] the situation on our border [with Israel] since 2006. This is exactly what I said in February 2019, and a big dispute with Hizbullah erupted. Their supporters attacked me on social media."
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