Wikileaks: "I told him that he would be met at Qoraytem by 20,000 refugees begging for food,"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 002490

SUBJECT: TFLE01: MARWAN HAMADEH DISCUSSES CEASE-FIRE
POSSIBILITIES
2. (C/NF) On the night of July 28, the Ambassador and
econoff met with Minister of Telecommunications Marwan
Hamadeh at his apartment. "An Nahar" General Manager Ghassan
Tueni was also there for much of the meeting, his main
contribution filling us in with breaking press reports
(almost all of which later proved to be erroneous). Hamadeh
began by briefing the Ambassador on the July 27 cabinet
meeting. "It was epic," smiled Hamadeh. He said he fought
with President Emile Lahoud, the Shia ministers, and some of
the "weak technocrats" of Saad Hariri's Mustaqbal (Future)
movement. When the Amal ministers chastised Prime Minister
Siniora's speech in Rome, Hamadeh replied that Speaker of
Parliament Nabih Berri had approved the speech beforehand,
which "shut them up." Hamadeh also pointed out that Berri
had defended Siniora in an interview with "Al Jazeera"
television.
3. (C/NF) In the cabinet meeting, Hamadeh proposed that the
cabinet approve the PM's statement. Lahoud and the Hizballah
ministers were furious about the idea of a new mandate and
scope for a peacekeeping force. Hamadeh told Lahoud that
there is "no more UNIFIL," so he should forget about it. "I
told him the cabinet decides, not you...and that shut him
up," Hamadeh boasted. Then Lahoud raised the issue of the
seven villages. Siniora snapped that the borders with
Palestine were drawn up in the 1920s before the boundaries of
Greater Lebanon were created. "Do you want to call into
question the borders of Greater Lebanon?," Siniora asked
Lahoud. Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, normally a
Amal-Hizballah mouthpiece, did not say a word.....
5. (C/NF) Hamadeh also talked to Saad Hariri. Hariri
reported that the Saudis had told him that the king salutes
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. Hamadeh advised Hariri not to
return to Lebanon at this time. "I told him that he would be
met at Qoraytem by 20,000 refugees begging for food," said
Hamadeh.....
6. (C/NF) The Ambassador briefed Hamadeh on the proposals
for a cease-fire. Hamadeh was concerned about the Israeli
attitude. He noted that Israel had called up tens of
thousands of reservists. Hamadeh's EU sources told him that
a cease-fire was two to five weeks away. Going through some
of the points, Hamadeh commented that a 20 km buffer zone in
southern Lebanon would mean that a Shia militia would be in
Mount Lebanon and then there would be civil war. The buffer
zone must be for all of Lebanon, Hamadeh asserted. Hamadeh
agreed that the GOL must request a multi-national
stabilization force...."