Turning to the Lebanese crisis, Al-Kharafi expressed optimism with regards to the current French-brokered dialogue among the various factions and cited the French-Iranian dialogue and French-Syrian one and said he was hopeful they would bring good tidings to Lebanon.
With regard to the Palestinian issue, he described as "shameful" the clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters. But he lauded the peace efforts made by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdallah Bin Abdel-Aziz as well as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdallah II to stop the fratricidal violence. "I hope we see the positive outcome of these efforts," he said.
Al-Kharafi also lauded the appointment of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as Middle East peace envoy representing the International Quartet. At a domestic level in Kuwait, Al-Kharafi called on all journalists to "act responsibly" for the sake of political stability here. He admitted that political debate inside the NA was sometimes abrupt, but he expressed hope that such a debate did not become abusive and exceed the boundaries of civility. He also expressed appreciation to the reporters covering
NA proceedings and urged them to do their best to prevent anything from upsetting the current political stability here.
In answer to a question on alleged absence of solidarity within the Cabinet, Al-Kharafi said ministers often supported one another. but he noted that sometimes such solidarity was found lacking in such issues as "agreeing on the national committee for hajj (pilgrimage in Islam)." He said he was not worried about the fate of democracy in Kuwait "because the constitution specified relations among the various political powers. But I am concerned over the possibility of misusing democracy and because of those
who do not know how to use democracy both inside the NA or outside it and be they cabinet ministers or MPs.
Al-Kharafi described democracy as a two-edged sword; if used properly, it will serve the interests of the country, otherwise it turns into chaos. He said everyone here did not want to see political chaos prevail. "In case of any political dispute, I am sure His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah can handle it with their traditional wisdom." He also called for not blowing the importance of such cases out of proportion.
On the recent promotions within the NA itself and whether they were done from a vote-winning standpoint, Al-Kharafi said he did not want to delve in such gossip. He called on reporters to avoid asking questions without saying who they had in mind, "so I can answer them." He said he was doing his job to the best of his ability and if there was any mistake made along the way, "only God is infallible."
