BEIRUT: With inter-Lebanese divisions sharpened by the outbreak of a diplomatic rift with Saudi Arabia, this week’s Parliament session to elect a president is doomed to fail like the previous 35 attempts over a lack of quorum, further prolonging the 21-month-long presidential vacuum.

The unprecedented crisis with Riyadh, which has soured Lebanon’s ties with the kingdom and other Gulf states over perceived “hostile” stances linked to Hezbollah and Iran at Arab League and Islamic meetings, has also further complicated attempts to end the presidential vacuum.

Although the March 2 Parliament session is doomed to fail, Speaker Nabih Berri said he is still optimistic eventually about the election of a president. “After what is happening, there should be an agreement on the election of a president,” Berri was quoted as saying by visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence, referring to the crisis with Saudi Arabia.

Berri, who returned to Beirut Saturday from a visit to Brussels, said the dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah should go on because the alternative is violence in the streets. He called on security forces to arrest those responsible for street riots.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s efforts to make a breakthrough in the presidential stalemate have been overshadowed by the strain in Saudi-Lebanese relations.

Instead of focusing on bridging the wide gap between the March 14 and March 8 parties over the presidential election, Hariri’s flurry of activity in the past week has been geared toward containing the economic and political damage resulting from the Saudi decision to freeze a major military aid package for Lebanon.

Hariri met with the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri Saturday in the latest of his attempts to defuse tension with the kingdom. A brief statement issued by Hariri’s media gave no details of the meeting held at Hariri’s Downtown Beirut residence. Hariri, a close ally of Riyadh, has launched a petition to show gratitude for Saudi Arabia, calling on all Lebanese to sign it, and underline Lebanon’s commitment to Arab unanimity.

In a sign of the continuing crisis with the kingdom, Asiri said Friday that Riyadh was still waiting for a “proportionate response” by the Lebanese government to the “mistake committed” in order to settle the diplomatic rift between the countries.

This was an allusion to Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil who refused to endorse joint statements at Arab and Islamic meetings in Cairo and Jeddah last month condemning attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran by protesters angered by Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shiite preacher. Bassil also refused to endorse joint statements classifying Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and accusing Iran of supporting terrorism.

Bassil said he is ready to contact his Saudi counterpart Adel Jubeir to solve the crisis. “I have no objection to contacting the Saudi foreign minister provided that the other side is ready,” Bassil said in an interview with Al-Jadeed TV Sunday night. “The government has decided to form a ministerial committee headed by the prime minister to visit Riyadh.”

Asked to comment on Riyadh’s demand that the Lebanese government apologize for the “mistake” in Cairo and Jeddah, he said: “I am ready to do anything to serve my country but only after I know what is required and that the others will understand Lebanon’s position.”

Bassil rejected Salam’s statement that Lebanon had made a “mistake” in its foreign policy. “The prime minister’s remarks that we made a mistake in foreign policy do not represent Lebanon or the government’s policy,” he said.

MP Walid Jumblatt said the government’s statement, which underlined Lebanon’s commitment to Arab unanimity and causes, should be sufficient to make Saudi Arabia revoke its measures against Lebanon.

“I consider that this [government] statement is enough and that Prime Minister Tammam Salam has done what he should do,” Jumblatt said in an interview with Orient News TV channel.

He said the statement, issued after an emergency Cabinet session last Monday, amounted to “a sort of condemnation of disgraceful statements against Saudi Arabia and the Gulf and a sort of apology.”

“I hope the kingdom [of Saudi Arabia], the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states will accept the official Lebanese apology for the benefit of Lebanon and the historic relations between Lebanon and the Gulf,” he said.

In addition to halting $4 billion in grants to purchase arms for the Lebanese military and police, Saudi Arabia also warned its citizens against travel to Lebanon. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar followed suit in a show of solidarity with Riyadh, warning their citizens against travel to Lebanon. In another escalatory measure against Lebanon, Saudi Arabia Friday blacklisted four companies and three Lebanese men it accused of having links to Hezbollah.

Hariri has nominated MP Sleiman Frangieh for the presidency in the face of MP Michel Aoun, whose candidacy has been endorsed by his war-time foe, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea. Aoun, Hezbollah’s sole candidate for the presidency, is also backed by some of its March 8 allies.

Since his return to Beirut on Feb. 14 to attend the 11th anniversary of the assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Hariri has repeatedly declared he is committed to ending the presidential vacuum and to supporting Frangieh’s candidacy.

He also pledged to step up efforts to ensure a quorum for the Parliament session set on March 2 to elect a president, urging Hezbollah and its March 8 allies to end their boycott of Parliament sessions. Political sources said the crisis with Saudi Arabia has put the presidential initiatives launched by Hariri and Geagea to nominate rival candidates on hold for now.