LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
August 11/09
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint John 12:24-26. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of
wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it
dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates
his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must
follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor
whoever serves me.
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
President plans reform and eyes
amending constitution. By: Matt Nash, Now Lebanon , August 10, 2009
Its up
to Hariri to rebuild politically what his father rebuilt physically-
The Daily Star 10/08/09
Michel Aoun/Now Lebanon/August 10,
2009
Latest
News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August
10/09
Israel deploys armored vehicles near Shebaa Farms gate-Future
News
Tension on Israel-Lebanese border
rises as Iran sends Hizballah upgraded missiles-Future
News
Ayalon calls for inner security
cabinet to approve immediate military attack against Lebanon. Now Lebanon
'Ghajar postponed because of
Hizbullah'-Future
News
Israel
PM Warns Against Including Hizbullah in Lebanon Government-Naharnet
Lebanese
Army on High Alert as
Israeli Force Advances to Shebaa Environs-Naharnet
Israeli
Deputy FM Warns Hizbullah against Targeting Diplomats Abroad-Naharnet
Hariri Returns to Beirut amid
Renewed Political Bickering over Cabinet Formation-Naharnet
Jumblat:
I Alone Am 'Entitled' to Set a Date for Syria Visit-Naharnet
Revolutionary Guard wants Mousavi tried over unrest-Daily
Star
Iranian
actors seek UK asylum-(AFP)
Netanyahu vows to never evict settlers from occupied land-(AFP)
Cabinet
formation process slows down-Daily
Star
Israel
will blame Lebanon for any attacks-Daily
Star
Sleiman
invited to Saudi Arabia by King Abdullah-Daily
Star
ISF,
Lebanese Army members receive training in US-Daily
Star
LBC's
Jeddah office closed over sex interview-Daily
Star
Lebanese, Syrian farmers killed in gunbattle over land-(AFP)
Hizbullah chief Nasrallah becomes Facebook celebrity-(AFP)
Nabatieh
streets drown in garbage after waste collection company goes on strike-Daily
Star
Arab
women attend Beirut leadership workshop-Daily
Star
Qomati: Jumblatt’s
repositioning is positive, benefits resistance in Lebanon.Now Lebanon
Roumieh
Prison Riot after Inmate Snatches Keys, Opens 21 Cells-Naharnet
First
Direct Contact between Hariri, Jumblat-Naharnet
Raad: It is Very Difficult
to Find a Formula that Replaces 15-10-5-Naharnet
March 14 Forces Plan Broad
Meeting-Naharnet
Berri Rules Out Israeli
Aggression in 2009-Naharnet
Politics Ruled out in Ghandour's
Disappearance Case-Naharnet
Safieddine Vows Tougher
Response than 2006 if Israel Attacks-Naharnet
Ayalon calls for inner security cabinet to approve immediate military attack
against Lebanon
August 10, 2009 /NOW Lebanon Staff
NOW correspondent Amal Shehadeh reported on Monday that Israeli Deputy Foreign
Minister Daniel Ayalon called for the Israeli inner security cabinet to approve
an immediate military attack against Lebanon to put an end to Hezbollah’s
threats. The Israeli security services increased the level of military alert as
it expects Hezbollah to launch an operation soon against Israeli targets abroad.
“The next round of confrontations with Hezbollah has become inevitable and will
occur soon,” Ayalon told an Israeli television station, adding that the Lebanese
cabinet and Hezbollah know that the calm on the Lebanese-Israeli border is due
to what Tel Aviv achieved during the 2006 July War. Shehadeh added that the
Israeli Defense Forces have been carrying out intense patrols on Israel’s
northern border after Egypt uncovered a plot to assassinate the Israeli
ambassador to Egypt and destroy the embassy’s building in Cairo.
President plans reform and eyes amending constitution
Matt Nash, NOW Lebanon /Staff , August 10, 2009
caption: President Michel Sleiman said during a speech to celebrate Army Day on
August 1 that he would like to amend the constitution. (AFP/Joseph Barrak)
President Michel Sleiman is poised to take a more aggressive legislative role in
the next government and is particularly interested in amending the constitution.
He wants to strengthen state institutions and expand some of the president’s
powers but is likely to face stiff opposition. Since taking office, Sleiman has
repeatedly talked about reforming things like Lebanon’s crippled power sector,
and sources close to him say he is also interested in finding legal ways to
prevent parliament and the cabinet from being paralyzed every time the country’s
politicians disagree. In a speech at August 1’s Army Day celebration, Sleiman
said he wanted to close constitutional “gaps” that help impede democracy in
Lebanon and suggested amending the constitution to “guarantee a balance of
powers.” Nazem Khoury, a close friend of the president and one of his advisors,
told NOW that Sleiman will use whatever weight he has in the new government to
push through reforms and constitutional amendments in an effort to “strengthen
state institutions.”One example of a constitutional change that would achieve
the president’s aims is imposing a time limit on forming new governments,
according to Rafik Khoury, editor of Al-Anwar newspaper. Lebanon’s politicians
have been wrangling for over seven weeks to form a new cabinet, and the
constitution currently has no mechanism to force them to hurry. “The president
wants to amend the constitution with consensus so that institutions function
properly,” Khoury told NOW.In fact, according to constitutional expert Antoine
Saad, there are several other aspects of the constitution that allow for
political disagreement to derail state work. Saad told NOW that he recently met
with Sleiman to discuss several changes to the constitution that would decrease
the opportunity for political deadlocks to paralyze the state and add to the
president’s constitutionally-granted powers. Saad published his proposals in An-Nahar,
and they include allowing the president to call the Council of Ministers into
session (a power now vested only in the prime minister), allowing the president
to reject administrative decrees issued by individual ministers and giving him
the right to dismiss underperforming ministers in coordination with the prime
minister.
Of course, making any changes to the constitution is no easy task, especially if
an amendment gives the head of state more power. With the 1989 Taif Agreement,
which amended the constitution and ended the civil war, executive power was
transferred from the president to the prime minister and cabinet. The amount of
power held by Lebanon’s Christian community, which is guaranteed the presidency
by the unwritten 1943 National Pact, has long been a contentious national issue,
and the country’s non-Christian politicians are likely to view any attempt to
increase presidential power quite skeptically. Sleiman would have to convince
two-thirds of the 128-member parliament to go along with him on any
constitutional change.
Opening up a debate about the “balance of powers” among the Maronite president,
Sunni prime minister and Shia speaker of parliament would also renew debate
between the Sunni and Shia about which powers those communities have. The Shia
are thought to be the largest community in Lebanon numerically, and the Sunni
may shun debate on amending the constitution for fear the conversation may turn
to a more equal distribution of power between the prime minister and speaker.
Sleiman, according to Nazem Khoury, has the state’s interests at heart, but it
cannot be denied that many Christians feel Taif stripped too much of their
power. The president may be making a more political statement, positioning
himself at the vanguard of defending the rights and power of Lebanon’s
Christians. He certainly cannot be oblivious to the challenges he faces in
trying to amend the constitution, even if he does present any change as an
effort to strengthen the state as a whole. Lebanese politicians, according to
Charles Chartouni, a professor of Sociology and Political Science at Lebanese
University, have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and are not
likely to tackle something as contentious as constitutional change. Sleiman is a
product of the army and is not necessarily used to or adept at playing the game
of politics, Chartouni argued. “These people will never tolerate anything they
cannot control,” he said. “[Sleiman’s] going to try, but I don’t know to what
extent his previous career and his earlier experience will allow him to beat
these people on their own court.”
Qomati: Jumblatt’s repositioning is positive, benefits resistance in Lebanon
August 10, 2009 /NOW Lebanon/Deputy President of Hezbollah’s Political Council
Hajji Mahmoud Qomati said on Monday that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP
Walid Jumblatt’s rhetoric will not affect the cabinet formation, adding that
Jumblatt’s recent shift in position is “positive and benefits the patriotic Arab
resistance in Lebanon.”
Qomati also called for “real partnership” in the national-unity government,
adding that the new cabinet’s political framework, which, he said, was agreed
upon between the majority, the opposition and Prime Minister-designate Saad
Hariri, is “acceptable because it ensures effective participation in the
political process.”
Michel Aoun
August 10, 2009
Now Lebanon
On August 9, the Lebanese National News Agency carried the following report:
Deputy General Michel Aoun responded to the invitation of the Free Patriotic
Movement branch in Kfar Debian, and participated alongside the town’s population
in the celebration of Saint Efram’s Day with his wife and the deputies of the
Change and Reform bloc in Kesrouan... General Aoun then delivered a speech
addressing the Kfar Debian population in particular and the Kesrouan population
in general, saying:
“I wanted to be here today on this holy occasion to share with you the joy of
the celebration. I want to celebrate with you and pray with you because it is
necessary to go back to God on all occasions. In times of victory, we should
turn to him to thank him for his help, in times of weakness we should turn to
him for inspiration and strength and when in doubt, we should turn to him to ask
that he restores our senses. Therefore, we should always go back to our creator
to reconcile with him and with ourselves…
“I am addressing you today from the church’s stairway, as my speech was inspired
by the Bible and our Christian upbringing. Today, we are living in a conflicted
community in which many are shifting away from the teachings of Christianity.
Christ said, ‘love each other as I have loved you’ and even asked us to love our
enemy. In difficult times, we might have defended ourselves with power and maybe
violence, but our Christian upbringing was never based on hatred and spite. We
are Lebanese living our Christianity in this area as we are living it in every
area in Lebanon, whether within a purely Christian community or in a mixed one.
"This is what we preach and this is what everyone is adopting. As for the
backward and those with marginal thinking, they are heading toward extinction.
Hatred cannot be under any circumstances the basis of the relation with the
other. This basis should be one of love, solidarity, openness, the respect of
the differences and coexistence. Nowadays however, we are seeing teachings and
instructions which might not be made in public, raising our next generations on
hatred and spite. I therefore address the young and their parents to tell them
that spite cannot be the basis upon which we define our relation with the other,
because spite kills the one promoting it and not the enemy. Love is the only
feeling that subjects the others and force should be used to defend oneself and
not to attack and assault the other.
“Christianity is a force in itself. It is tolerant and never crushed by defeat.
It resists when in a position of weakness and shows tolerance when in a position
of strength. This is how I have known you and this is how you and all of us
should remain. Do not belittle the value of your victories. You have won in the
face of the world, even though all means were used against you, especially
money. This money turned into an aerial bridge to transport the emigrant [and] a
means to purchase votes and [buy] a corrupt media network... Christianity knows
no frustration, for we lay under the ground in the hope of seeing our
insurrection. How can we be frustrated while alive?
Our march will continue despite all the difficulties which we will always
overcome. The events today can corroborate the rightfulness of our choices and
policies, as everyone is trying to target us. This is especially true since
Israel is planning to naturalize the Palestinians by refusing to see them return
to Palestine and is asking that they be naturalized in their current places of
residence. Lebanon cannot handle naturalization and cannot but support the
Palestinian people in their efforts to regain their rights. These goals are ours
because they are comprehensive and constitute one aim. Therefore, it is
necessary for us to show solidarity with all the components of our community and
with our surrounding, since none of us can do without the other. This is the
basis on which we founded wider stability in Lebanon, through domestic
understandings and then foreign understandings and this is being achieved every
day. All that I have promised you throughout the past years is becoming a
reality and we will not make any concessions. Long Live the People, Long Live
Lebanon.”
Cabinet formation process slows down
March 14 camp says 15-5-10 makeup no longer feasible
By Elias Sakr /Daily Star staff
Monday, August 10, 2009
BEIRUT: The process of the formation of a national-unity government seems to
have considerably slowed down over the weekend given Prime Minister-designate
Saad Hariri’s ongoing vacation in France and the emerging debate on the
continued validity of 15-10-5 cabinet formula, in light of Progressive Socialist
Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s departure from the parliamentary majority.
While the Phalange Party and the Lebanese Forces called on Hariri over the
weekend to reconsider the accord previously reached on the cabinet’s form given
Jumblatt’s withdrawal from the March 14 coalition, Hizbullah figures Sunday held
on to the 15-10-5 agreement saying the delay in the formation process was
“unjustified.”
The 15-10-5 structure grants the parliamentary majority 15 ministers, the
opposition 10 and President Michel Sleiman five seats, which guarantees him the
tipping vote while both March 14 and the opposition would respectively be denied
absolute majority or veto power. Future Movement figures, however, refrained
from tackling the governmental issue.
On Saturday, Phalange Party leader and former President Amin Gemayel said the
15-10-5 formula was “behind us” and called on Hariri to return to Lebanon to
resume deliberations “as soon as possible.”Commenting on Jumblatt’s announcement
that he was aligned with Sleiman, Gemayel said the nature of the alliance
remained “unclear.” Phalange Party political bureau member, Sejaan Azzi told The
Daily Star on Sunday that the 15-10-5 structure was no longer valid since
Jumblatt’s ministerial share “now counted as part of the president’s or the
opposition’s shares rather than the majority.”“The power balance is to be
reconsidered given Jumblatt’s recent positions,” Azzi said. Tackling an
alternate cabinet structure, Azzi said that the regional developments and the
current threats made by Israel called for a government that would gather major
political leaders so as to be capable of taking key decisions. “Such a
government would assume the role of the national dialogue table and would be a
real test to Lebanon’s national-unity,” Azzi said.
Meanwhile, Hizbullah’s MP Hussein Fadlallah on Sunday called on all parties to
facilitate the cabinet formation process, adding that the delay was unjustified
given a political agreement on a formula that guaranteed real partnership among
the Lebanese. “Given the agreement on the general framework of the next
government, the delay in the formation process is unjustified unless obstruction
was to benefit foreign interests,” said the Hizbullah MP. Speaking at a
Hizbullah political rally in the south of Lebanon, Fadlallah denied the presence
of major domestic obstacles hampering the formation process, and added that the
remaining minor obstacles regarding the distribution of ministerial portfolios
could be easily overcame.
Echoing Fadlallah, Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Nawaf Moussawi said the changes
in the current political developments do not justify the delay in the cabinet’s
formation given an accord on its political platform. In reference to Jumblatt’s
recent position, Moussawi said “political transformations” should not influence
the cabinet’s formation given an agreement among political leaders noting that
key ministerial decisions should be based on consensus.
Tackling the cabinet’s formation, Ad-Diyyar newspaper reported on Sunday that
opposition parties would adopt steps if the process is further delayed. The
report added that opposition leaders considered Hariri’s stance to be
unjustified since deliberations on the distribution of portfolios were the last
step in the formation process. However, opposition sources told The Daily Star
on Sunday that they were unaware of such measures.
In other developments, Free Patriotic Movement head MP Michel Aoun stressed on
Sunday on the need for coexistence and openness toward others. Following a
church Mass in Kfardebian region, Aoun called on the Lebanese to integrate with
their surrounding, adding that domestic accords would lead to foreign agreement.
On Saturday, Aoun said that conditions to meet with Jumblatt were ripe following
the PSP leader recent stances.
Separately, “Tawhid” Movement head, Wi’am Wahhab urged the prime
minister-designate to resume discussions on the formation of the government so
as to resolve the country’s economic and social issues. Speaking during a
graduation ceremony in south Lebanon, Wahhab said all parties were willing to
facilitate Hariri’s task, adding that the allotment of shares in a
national-unity cabinet was no longer an issue. “We are all willing to cooperate
with you [Hariri] to form a national-unity cabinet and the numbers no longer
count since we may be holding the parliamentary majority currently,” said the
Tawhid Movement chief.
Its up to Hariri to rebuild politically what his father rebuilt physically
By The Daily Star Monday, August 10, 2009
Editorial/The fallout continues from Walid Jumblatt’s political bombshell and his
subsequent media offensive to explain what he meant by taking a break from March
14. It prompted some to say the government-formation process is back to the
drawing board. One sound bite – “I don’t want to be in March 14” – is enough to
realize something is wrong. How long should Hariri have to form a cabinet? The
latest set-back demonstrates that our political system is in shambles, in legal,
constitutional and procedural terms, more devastated than the Downtown Beirut
faced by Rafik Hariri in the early 1990s. There’s little agreement on what the
prime minister can do amid such lethargic conditions; the texts say one thing,
the country’s interests might say something else. President Michel Sleiman wants
his prerogatives reviewed, to get the system moving again, but many don’t want
serious change: they might be in “revolutionary garb,” or register as hard-line
“conservatives.” But Lebanon needs a new political rulebook to solve the kinds
of crises we’ve recently experienced. Without it, we’ll go nowhere. We can’t
continue with Jumblatt, and the rest of the orchestra, playing such a cacophony
and allowing Lebanon to stagnate. Disastrous consequences for society can only
result.
Hariri’s mission must be to rebuild the country’s political infrastructure. It
seems impossible, but anyone who saw Downtown Beirut nearly two decades ago
would’ve been hard-pressed to imagine what we see today. A reform agenda by
Hariri, in alliance with Sleiman, requires persistence and attention to detail.
He must believe in himself, and realize that the other players, as well as the
Lebanese people, are monitoring the situation. But it’s Hariri’s destiny; he
inherited it and he should receive inspiration from his father’s example. Nobody
else on the horizon has the presence and clout to undertake such a mission,
which for Hariri means rebuilding politically what his father rebuilt
physically.
Police continue investigation into fate of Abdullah
Ghandour
Daily Star staff/Monday, August 10, 2009
BEIRUT: The fate of Lebanon’s North Commerce and Industry Chamber head Abdullah
Ghandour remained unknown Sunday after his disappearance on Friday when he left
his office to head home in Tripoli. A well-informed security source told The
Daily Star Sunday Ghandour’s disappearance might be related to financial rather
than political issues.
The source said security forces were investigating calls made by and to
Ghandour’s cell phone during the week prior to his disappearance Friday.
Security forces found Ghandour’s car parked in Haikalia neighborhood in Tripoli
3 kilometers away from his office with his wallet, cell phone and identification
papers left inside the vehicle.
Ghandour’s family contacted security forces when he didn’t arrive home late
Friday after he left his work at 4 p.m.
Ghandour’s wallet, his identification papers and his cell phone were seized by
security forces for an in-depth investigation while General Prosecutor Deputy
Judge Wael Hassan approved the retrieval of Ghandour’s mobile phone records.
Following approval from Hassan, Colonel Fawaz Mitri asked the Telecommunication
Ministry for the names of phone holders who had contacted Ghandour or who had
been contacted by the missing official. In a similar incident, Middle East
Airlines Information Technology Operations manager, Joseph Sader, 56, was
abducted on February 12 by three masked men, as he walked from the Highway
outside the airport to his work office. Sader had driven his car from his
hometown in Maghdouche to Sidon city where he parked and took a van to work. No
official security reports on the incident were issued since last March when
Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud told reporters that investigations were ongoing
with regards to Sader’s case. – The Daily Star
Lebanese, Syrian farmers killed in gunbattle over land
By Agence France Presse (AFP) Monday, August 10, 2009
BEIRUT: A Lebanese and a Syrian farmer have been killed in a gun battle over
ownership of land at the poorly-marked border between the neighboring states, a
security official said on Sunday. Another Syrian farmer was shot and wounded
during Saturday’s firefight in the Aarsal region in Baalbek, the Lebanese
official told AFP. Lebanon and Syria agreed in August 2008 to take formal steps
to demarcate their borders as part of a series of decisions to normalize
relations between them. There has been confusion over land ownership in several
areas of the Bekaa and northern Lebanon since the creation in 1920 of Greater
Lebanon, an administrative district within the French mandate for Syria. The
borders between the two countries are poorly delineated in other places,
particularly the occupied Shebaa Farms, a mountainous sliver of water-rich land
at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel. Syria
and Lebanon established diplomatic ties in October 2008 for the first time since
their independence 60 years ago. – AFP
Arab women attend Beirut leadership workshop
Participants from across region look to better equip themselves to improve equal
rights at home
By Josie Ensor/Daily Star staff
Monday, August 10, 2009
BEIRUT: Young women leaders from across the Gulf have been learning ways to
empower themselves this week as part of an initiative headed by the Lebanese
American University. The 17 women, visiting from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman and
Bahrain, are taking part in the intensive two-week workshop in Lebanon to better
equip themselves to improve women’s rights in their respective countries.
Most of the women, unable to take up positions of political leadership in their
conservative societies, have been chosen by the university program for their
emergent influence in business, economic and legal fields.
The workshops aim to build on these leadership skills and provide women with the
support needed to help them enact change in their countries.
After the two weeks the women will go back to put into practice what they have
learned through small advocacy projects and pass on their skills to other young
women leaders.
The women have been split up by country into four groups, and are at the
planning stage of their projects, which involves thinking of practical ways to
get their message out to as many women as possible. The group from Yemen is
targeting schools, having identified a particular problem with female literacy.
With the reading rate as low as 25 percent among women in rural areas of the
country, the group believes their resources are best used educating the next
generation.
Ibrahim Mothana, one of three men taking part in the course, says the biggest
problem is the difference in the number of girls and boys passing through the
education system. “There is no such thing as equal opportunities in Yemen,” adds
Ibrahim, who works for a PR company in Sanaa. “There are very few groups working
to change this,” he says.
Ibrahim believes the key to Yemen’s development is to ensure women enjoy equal
rights, which he says should start at the level of education. Women make up just
20 percent of the workforce, which Ibrahim sees as creating a cyclical problem
with parents asking themselves “Why would I bother to educate her if she won’t
get a job?”
Each group has tailored its project to tackle the different types of
discrimination experienced in their country; while women in Yemen suffer from a
lack of basic education, the Saudi group says most women are highly educated but
are not proportionally represented in the workplace. Although they make up 70
percent of those enrolled in universities, women make up just 5 percent of the
workforce in Saudi Arabia, the lowest figure in the world.
“Men come into my office all the time with nothing on their CVs, where a woman
would have to have three degrees,” says Naima, who manages her own catering firm
in Riyadh. “They expect a big office and their own staff and they don’t like
that they will be directed by me. But I feel pressured to hire them.”
Naima talks about the duty educated Saudi women have to stay in the country and
fight for others’ rights: “I ran away for a while when it got too much, but then
I felt this huge responsibility to go back, knowing things that Saudi women
don’t, I had to improve things there.”
The group from Saudi Arabia have chosen to reach out to computer-literate women
through the Internet. By creating a website they hope to raise awareness about
women’s rights in the workplace and more specifically issues relating to
guardianship, or “how a woman can survive if her husband dies,” as 24-year-old
lawyer Tala puts it.
“We are such a passive nation and we have been suppressed for such a long time
that we have forgotten we have rights as women.” But Tala says this suppression
is a result of the misinterpretation of Sharia law: “Tradition has overshadowed
religion and it has resulted in female disempowerment,” Tala says. “The Qur’an
gives us so many rights it’s incredible but most women think the law is against
them.” The website aims to inform Saudi women about their legal rights by using
examples of Sharia law to show that being empowered and being a good Muslim are
not incompatible. However Tala is concerned that their website may be shut down
by Saudi authorities: “What we are doing is 100 percent legal but even doing it
this way we have to be very careful,” Tala says. “The government can stop us if
they think we are doing something revolutionary.”
The groups have just eight months and up to $12,000 donated from Middle East
Partnership Initiative to make their projects work, but with the continued
support of the university, the staff are confident the program can make a
difference.
Director of the course, professor Imad Salamey, believes the project will begin
the re-education of young people about the equal rights of women across the
Gulf. “It is inspiring that women from such conservative backgrounds have come
here to take this step. These are well-educated women and we have chosen them
because they are the only people that can bring about change in these
countries.”