Nabih Berri made the first visit by a speaker of Parliament to Akkar since 1946 on Sunday, using the event as a platform to warn of a return to hostilities with Israel if the internationally recognized border between the two countries was not respected.
Addressing more than 30,000 tobacco farmers in a ceremony in Tal Abbas al-Gharbi, the speaker said that the so-called “Blue Line,” the United Nations-set line behind which Israeli forces must deploy, could become a “red line” of hostilities.
“I speak for myself and on behalf of President (Emile) Lahoud  and everyone else,” Berri said. “The ‘new’ Blue Line, just like the ‘old’ Blue Line is rejected.”
The speaker said he was against “all the talk of a new line which would differ from the 1923 internationally recognized border.”
“There are internationally recognized borders which are those of 1923,” he said. “We must return to these borders or else this line will turn into a red line.”
Berri warned that the resistance, “which was capable of liberating 1,230 square kilometers,” was capable of liberating the areas still under dispute. “This is our land,” he said, “and we won’t give it up for a blue or yellow line.”
He also said that the border-demarcation dispute would not lead to a conflict between Lebanon the United Nations “no matter how much Israel and the United States try to cause us to have a confrontation with them.”
He noted that while Israel had been forced to implement Security Council Resolution 425, it continued to ignore the implementation of Resolutions 242 and 338.
The speaker added that Lebanon maintained the right to be compensated for Israeli aggression during its occupation of the South.
Turning to domestic issues, Berri called on the government to help tobacco farmers in the region and said that the country’s history of internal conflict resulted from the central government’s failure to address development needs.
“It’s time for the government to assume its responsibilities. This is the main step that needs to be taken to prevent Israel from disrupting public order,” Berri said. “All the conflicts our country has experienced have been because of the laziness of former governments, their social oppression, deprivation and disregard for the poorer regions of the country.”
However, he argued that Lebanon had entered a new era of “national reconciliation” under Lahoud. “We confirm that the government won’t neglect its duties and will assume all its needed roles, especially in terms of the economy and development,” he said.
Turning to specific demands for the sector he has long championed, Berri demanded that the government refrain from raising taxes on tobacco farmers. He also recommended that it adopt several of Parliament’s
recommendations, issued on May 31, which would increase the annual tobacco crop purchased by the state by some 2 million kilograms.
“Ten percent of the Lebanese population work in this sector,” he claimed. “They must not be treated like this. If the government wants to privatize this sector, it must first strengthen the Tobacco and Tambac Regie.”
Berri praised the regie for rendering the process of acquiring a farming license simple and easy, but warned that “certain attempts to liquidate this honorable sector without offering an alternative” were misguided.
“These policies are useless and they come at a time when we’re occupied with other problems like striving to find alternatives for drug cultivation in the Bekaa and the North,” he said.
He complained that the government was not allocating enough money to the agriculture sector, which he claimed provides employment for 40 percent of the populace. He also urged the government to develop the infrastructure of rural areas.
After the ceremony, Berri inaugurated  a new 30-kilometer road connecting Dahr Nassar to Beino, a project funded by the Issam Fares Foundation and the Green Project. The road is expected to help farmers market produce more effectively.
In the evening, the speaker left for Cairo for the second session of parliamentarians in the Islamic Conference Organization. The two-day session starts on Monday, and Berri is expected to present the conference with Lebanon’s plans for the post-liberation future.
He is also scheduled to hold talks with several senior Egyptian officials.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s inaugural trip to Akkar was marred by a fatal road accident that saw three people killed and more than 40 injured after a bus overturned on the Nabatieh-Sidon highway. Early on Sunday morning, the bus ­ carrying 60 people, mostly farmers and their families from Yohmor and Arnoun, to the ceremony ­ hit an electricity pole on the median of the highway and flipped twice, witnesses said.
The driver, Najib Jaafar, apparently lost control of the vehicle, owned by the Tyre-based Mehdi Travel Agency, when the brakes failed. Bahija Jaraf, the 70-year old wife of Yohmor Mayor Hussein Jaraf; nine-year old Ali Abu Dalleh; and Qassem Mohammed Jaber, 25, were killed. Forty-six passengers were hurt, many of them sustaining concussions and fractures, and were rushed to hospitals in Nabatieh and Sidon. Civil Defense workers, policemen and security officers at Berri’s nearby mansion also rushed to the scene, using a crane and two forklifts to extricate the injured.
“I saw blood oozing from my daughter Zeinab … and all I could remember is seeing one of her limbs severed,” said Abu Dalleh’s mother.
Mahmoud Assaf, one of the injured, recalled that the driver instructed the passengers to brace themselves before the crash. “I remember hearing the shrieks and cries of children … but I couldn’t move to help them,” he Assaf.
“The bus suddenly picked up speed and the driver got confused after he wrestled to keep control of the bus,” said Hassan Qattabi, who was also hurt in the crash.