Tearful PM pleads for Lebanon not to be 'punch bag'

BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora broke down in tears on Monday as he appealed to Arab foreign ministers not to allow his war-torn country to remain a conflict zone and a "punch bag" for Israel.    

Siniora's voice choked and his hands shook as he held a copy of his speech in which he said "we do not want the Lebanese state and the Lebanese people to remain the punch bag of Israel or anyone else."             

"We are determined not to be the arena for conflicts and confrontations from now on, whatever the justification," he said at an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab League.      

After stopping for moments of tearful silence, Siniora said: "We are basing our arguments on the sorrows of the widowed women, the dead children, the wounded and the homeless people."          

"This setback threw our country decades back," said Siniora, who took office barely a year ago after the first elections in Lebanon since former powerbroker Syria pulled its troops out in April 2005.       

He said he condemned "the destruction of the country's infrastructure, the killing of about 1,000 citizens, a third of whom are children under 12 years old, while the refugees and the displaced people is nearly one million people."      

"One hour ago there was a horrible massacre in the village of Hula, a deliberate massacre, in which there were more than 40 martyrs," he said.            

"Massacres did not spare anyone, from Lebanon's south, to its mountains, valleys, north, east, Beirut and its great and steadfast suburbs. The Israeli army did not spare any bridge, institution, road, civil defence centre, populated area, hospital and United Nations position. They even hit humanitarian convoys and the assistance sent to us by our Arab brothers, for no other reason but rancor and revenge," he said.     

In an appeal to the ministers, he said: "Your position with us, your standing with us, is a right and a duty."              

"Arab security is interlinked, Arab future is interlinked," he said, before removing his glasses and wiping tears from his cheeks with a white handkerchief. His impassioned plea ended with a spontaneous standing ovation from the Arab ministers.