04/11/2009 The head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun said on Wednesday that Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir is protecting those practicing corruption inside the state.
 
Speaking to reporters following his bloc's weekly meeting, Aoun retorted to Sfeir's latest statements against partnership and Hezbollah. The General asked Patriarch Sfeir if the Resistance's weapons have ever hurt him and pledged to stand at his side in case his answer was positive.
 
Aoun also commented on the reports saying Israel navy intercepted a ship full of arms bound to Hezbollah. While denying having any information about the issue, the General stressed that Lebanese and Palestinian resistancee has the right to bring weapons.
 
"Israel occupied Palestine through violence, so let them get off our back … We will get arms if not from Iran then from China," Aoun added. He said that if he had enough money he would've bought arms to liberate Palestine and not to use in the Lebanese interior.
 
Turning to the internal crisis, the FPM leader confirmed that negotiations with Prime Minister-Designate Saad Hariri didn't tackle names of the ministers until the moment. "Since we still haven't gotten any ministry, we will not offer any name," he said. "I did not nominate Jibran Bassil as Telecoms Minister. He will be a minister for sure, but I am the one who chooses which portfolio he will handle," the General emphasized..

"We will not reveal what has been agreed upon so far," Aoun pointed out, revealing at the same time that "Telecommunications and Energy have gotten afloat but the rest is still being discussed," added the FPM leader.

Aoun tackled the issue of the student elections held at Saint Joseph university. Unlike Lebanese Forces chief who celebrated "victory", Aoun said the opposition and its allies got 2314 votes, while the majority only gained 1839; whereas the independents got 39 votes.

"We have the vote numbers of the students' elections at Universite Saint Joseph (USJ); yet they claim we have lost. If we calculate the faculties we won against the faculties we lost, we will find that we claimed more faculties and more votes," Aoun concluded.