LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 17/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 21,28-32. What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'He said in reply, 'I will not,' but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir,' but did not go. Which of the two did his father's will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

Isaac of Stella (? – c.1171), Cistercian monk
1st sermon for the Second Sunday of Lent/Repent and believe in the word of God
My brothers, this is the time for each one of us individually to leave the place of our sinfulness. Let us set out from our own Babylon to meet God our Saviour, as the prophet warns us: «Prepare to meet your God, O Israel, for he is coming» (Am 4,12 Vg). Let us leave the abyss of our sins and willingly set out towards the Lord who has assumed «the likeness of sinful flesh» (Rom 8,3). Let us leave our will to sin and set out to offer repentance for our sins. Then we will find Christ: in himself he atoned for the sin he had by no means committed. So he who saves the penitent will grant us salvation...: «He shows mercy to those who repent» (Sir 12,3 Vg). You will say to me:... «But who can leave their sins on their own?» Ah yes, but truly the greatest of sins is the love of sin, the desire to sin. So leave this desire..., hate the sin and, behold!, you have left sin. If you hate sin then you have met Christ where he is to be found. Christ forgives the faults of those of us who hate sin while waiting to pull out by the roots our evil habits.
But you will say that even this is too much for you and that, without God's grace, it is impossible for a man to hate his sin, desire justice and want to repent. «Let them give thanks to the Lord for his kindness and his wondrous deeds to the children of men» (Ps 107[106],8)... Lord, save me from cowardliness and from the storm... O Lord, with mighty hand, Jesus all-powerful, you have freed my mind from the demon of ignorance and snatched my sick will from the plague of its covetousness. Now set free my capacity for action so that with your holy angels... I, too, may «do your bidding, obeying your spoken word» (Ps 103[102],20).

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Boutros Khawand Vanished in Syria-By Sreeram Chaulia. By Ana-Maria Luca. The Media Line 16/12/08
Helping the camps would help Lebanon.By Marc J. Sirois 16/12/08
A peek into Iran's nuclear Pandora's box-By Sreeram Chaulia. Asia Times Online 16/12/08
Bush's record and the shoes heard around the Arab and Islamic worlds- The Daily Star 16/12/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for December 16/08
Gemayel: Solidarity with Patriarch, President Shields Lebanon-Naharnet
Lebanese Forces: Democratic Lebanese Party Strongly Linked to Syria-Naharnet
Zaki: Palestinians are Cooperating with Army to Prevent Another Nahr el-Bared-Naharnet
Israel Promises Quick Victory in Next War with Hizbullah-Naharnet
Bellemare Briefs Security Council on Hariri Murder Probe-Naharnet
Russia to Deliver 10 MiG Fighter Jets to Lebanon-Naharnet
UN soldiers boost south Lebanon's economy at Christmas (News Feature)-Monsters and Critics.com
Prominent members of Hezbollah speak at conference in Belgian ...European Jewish Press
Russia to provide Lebanon with fighter jets- The Associated Press
Lebanon postpones mobile phone privatisation-guardian.co.uk
Beirut, Damascus Embassies Right After Christmas-Naharnet
Rice Says Lebanon's Problems Are Not Over But She is Proud of Backing it-Naharnet
Nasrallah Calls for Open-Ended Protest until Gaza Siege is Lifted-Naharnet
Suleiman: A Strong Nation can Protect and Support Everybody-Naharnet
Ackerman Reaffirmed to March 14 U.S. Commitment to Lebanon as Berri Refused to Meet Him-Naharnet
Saniora Stresses Parliament Responsibility in Approving Wage Increases-Naharnet
Baroud: What Happened at Cabinet is Unacceptable-Naharnet
Yakan: Call for Amendment of Taef Agreement is Like Playing with Fire-Naharnet
Lebanese Women Married to Foreigners Want Equality-Naharnet
AUB architecture student picks up $10,000 Fawzi Azar Award-Star Staff  
Lebanese poet Jawdat Haydar honored at AUB ceremony-Star Staff  
Exhibitions show off potential of young offenders-Star Staff
MPs pass wage hike for public sector, including teachers, security forces-Daily Star
March 8, March 14 'will settle internal rivalries before 2009 elections-Star Staff  
Partisanship guts 'independent' poll monitoring panel - analysts-Star Staff  
Jimmy who? Camp David revisited-Star Staff  


Prominent members of Hezbollah speak at conference in Belgian parliament
by: Maud Swinnen Updated: 15/Dec/2008 18:28
BRUSSELS (EJP)---Jewish groups in Belgium protested against the authorization given by the Belgian parliament to a conference in presence of two prominent members of Hezbollah. Hussein Al Haj Hassan, a Lebanese MP, and Abdullah Kassir, head of the Al Manar TV station, which belongs to Hezbollah, spoke Monday afternoon at a conference in Brussels titled “Sufferings and Resistance of the Palestinian prisoners” organised by the International Union of Parlementarians for Palestine.
The conference room in the parliament was booked by Belgian MP Fouad Lahssaini, from the Green party Ecolo. Al Manar was banned in several European countries including France and Germany for inciting to murder, racism and hate propaganda. In a statement, the Antwerp-based Forum of Jewish organisations said it was “deeply shocked” that Al Manar, which broadcasts anti-Semitic programs, be given a podium in the parliament, which represents the heart of democracy. All Belgian political parties apparently agreed to this conference as the decision was taken within the parliament’s “conference of presidents.”

Gemayel: Solidarity with Patriarch, President Shields Lebanon
Naharnet/Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel considered Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and President Michel Suleiman a basic authority for Christians, adding that solidarity with them is the beginning of the road for saving Lebanon. Following his meeting with Sfeir on Tuesday, Gemayel described both Maronite leaders as a shield to Lebanon, stressing that "the beginning of the road for saving Lebanon under these difficult circumstances lies in standing behind both authorities."
He refused to comment on MP Michel Aoun's position regarding this dual authority, saying:" I don't want to analyze this, public opinion is clear about this, we speak of our convictions and it is up to public opinion to balance things out and make up its mind."The Phalange leader expressed his dismay over the manner in which the issue was approached, adding that the mentality of the past violent events remains dominant. He cautioned that if things were to continue in this trend, constitutional and public institutions would be hindered. "This is something very dangerous and does not bode well for the future of Lebanon," Gemayel said. He pointed that Lebanon is heading towards legislative elections, stressing that the people of Lebanon must understand the gravity of such behavior especially if this is further fostered by future election results at which time Lebanon could move to a position contrary to its sovereignty and constitutional well being. Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 17:33

Lebanese Forces: Democratic Lebanese Party Strongly Linked to Syria
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces (LF) statement on Tuesday responded to the Democratic Lebanese Party (DLP) attack on LF leader Samir Geagea, accusing the party of being too close to the Syrian regime, adding that this contradicts the history of the party's leader Talal Arsalan.
"This party is but a branch that does not honor the memory of Prince Abdel Majid Arsalan, who refrained from using slander at the height of the civil war," LF statement said. It went on to direct attention that DLP leader is a defender of Syrian intelligence practices in Lebanon.
"Let the DLP remember that the killer of Tony Franjieh, (in 1978) was its own ally. We were the first to call for an independent investigative commission that will look into the whole crimes of the Lebanese war."DLP earlier issued a statement responding to Geagea's remarks regarding inter-Druze coordination between Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) Walid Jumblat and DLP leader Talal Arsalan. "It is obvious that Geagea is disturbed from the on-going coordination inside the Druze domicile," DLP statement said. The DLP held Geagea personally responsible for past troubles at the Shouf Mountains during the Lebanese civil war accusing him of sneaking into the Shouf via Israeli help to hit at Christian-Druze co-existence. Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 21:20

Zaki: Palestinians are Cooperating with Army to Prevent Another Nahr el-Bared
Naharnet/Palestinian Authority representative in Lebanon Abass Zaki said Palestinians in Lebanon are cooperating with the Lebanese army to protect Palestinian refugee camps and prevent a repetition of the Nahr el-Bared camp. Following his meeting on Tuesday with President Michel Suleiman, Zaki pointed that work is ongoing to deliver those wanted by the Lebanese state to justice. "This is done by making them surrender without causing any bloodshed," he said.
A statement Tuesday issued by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative bureau in Lebanon said that Zaki had informed European Union Ambassador Patrick Laurent, on the status of the Palestinian situation at refugee camps in Lebanon.
The statement mentioned that Zaki had assured Laurent that Palestinian camps wouldn't be a threat to civil peace in Lebanon, that the Palestinian leadership has taken a number of measures to ensure this. Zaki called on the European Union to support Lebanon's stability and sovereignty, as this would positively reflect well on the Palestinians.  He stressed that the E.U should take a decision supporting United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) work at Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Laurent affirmed E.U's supporting position for rebuilding the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp and to exert every effort with all parties in this regard. Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 20:40

Rice Says Lebanon's Problems Are Not Over But She is Proud of Backing it
Naharnet/U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a farewell U.N. appearance Monday she was "proud" that people were talking about an independent and sovereign Lebanon in a way she hasn't heard before. Rice spoke to reporters after a meeting of the diplomatic Quartet of Mideast peacemakers — the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia. She said many things changed in the region not only in 2001 but also in 2005.
She said Syrian forces withdrew from Lebanon, the country elected a president, got a democratically elected prime minister and Beirut and Damascus seem ready to establish diplomatic ties as two independent states. There are also international efforts to find ways to put all arms under the control of the state, Rice told reporters.
As a result of diplomatic efforts in the aftermath of the Hizbullah-Israel war in 2006, the Lebanese army is now deployed throughout the country, she said.
While acknowledging that problems were by no means resolved, she said she was "very proud and very grateful" that we are now in a situation where people talk about an independent and sovereign Lebanon in a way she hasn't heard before. This is the result of not only the policy of the United States, but also the willingness of the Lebanese people and its insistence to be sovereign and independent, she stressed.
Rice also said that Israel and the Palestinians have moved much further along the path to peace since President George Bush brought their leaders together a year ago — though they won't clinch an agreement by the end of the year. "They won't achieve agreement by the end of the year, but they have achieved a good deal of progress in their negotiations, a good deal of progress in the work that is being done on the ground," Rice said.
"This is the first time in almost a decade that Palestinians and Israelis are addressing all of the core issues in a comprehensive way to try to get to a solution, and if that process takes a little bit longer, so be it," she said. "But we are very much further along, certainly than we were in 2001, and I would argue even than in 2007 when Annapolis was concluded." The Annapolis agreement called for the Israelis and Palestinians to try to end their decades-long conflict and sign a peace agreement by the end of 2008, which would have given Bush a diplomatic victory just before turning the presidency over to Barack Obama. Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 10:13

Israel Promises Quick Victory in Next War with Hizbullah
Naharnet/Israel has reiterated its threats against Lebanon amid talk about practical scenarios where the Israeli army would occupy the area south of the Litani and end its war with Hizbullah in a "quick and decisive victory." The Jerusalem Post, quoting Israeli military sources, said the elite Golani Brigade has only recently concluded a one-week maneuver on the Golan Heights amid talk about the possibility that Israel could wage war both on Syria and Hizbullah. A senior Israeli officer told the daily that since Israel considers Hizbullah as a "partner" in the Lebanese government with veto powers, there is no reason to separate targets belonging to the Shiite group from others belonging to Lebanese areas in the next war.
Consequently, any assault to be launched by Hizbullah on Israel is "basically" a Lebanese attack on the Jewish state. The sources said the Israeli army has put in place "practical plans" that should lead to "quick and decisive victory" within four or five days in its next war on Lebanon. They said Israel's chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi has urged the Cabinet to give its "green-light" to the army to heavily bombard the Lebanese infrastructure "so long as Hizbullah is a partner in the government." The sources said the Israeli plan called for two phases: The first to destroy Hizbullah infrastructure by means of aerial attacks hoping this would end the war, while in the second the Israeli army would resort to launching a large-scale ground assault into the Litani River where the majority of Hizbullah-owned short-range missiles are believed hidden. The Jerusalem Post quoted the same sources as saying that no date has been set for launch war. Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 09:18

Russia to Deliver 10 MiG Fighter Jets to Lebanon
Naharnet/Russia has agreed to deliver 10 Russian MiG-29 fighter jets to Lebanon, Defense Minister Elias Murr said on Tuesday. "Russia has agreed to deliver to Lebanon 10 MiG-29 fighter jets," Murr said following talks with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov. He did not disclose any financial details or say whether Lebanon would be purchasing or leasing the fighter jets.Serdyukov said that Russia "had received a list of the requirements of the Lebanese armed forces and is ready to examine them in the near future." Murr on Monday discussed with Russia's military cooperation chief, Mikhail Dimitriev, details of a list that Lebanon's army command had delivered to the Russian side. A statement by his office said Moscow expressed "full readiness to upgrade the army's defense capabilities."(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 14:46

Bellemare Briefs Security Council on Hariri Murder Probe
Naharnet/Chief U.N. investigator Daniel Bellemare on Tuesday will brief the Security Council on his last report on progress made in the probe into the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. Diplomatic sources told al-Mustaqbal daily that the Council will also vote in favor of a two-month extension of the mandate of the commission investigating Hariri's Feb. 2005 assassination. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has said the international tribunal that will try Hariri's suspected assassins is on track to start operations in March. Bellemare will become the tribunal's prosecutor once the probe into the Hariri and related cases is completed. Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 11:29

Beirut, Damascus Embassies Right After Christmas
Naharnet/Press reports on Tuesday said opening of the Beirut and Damascus embassies would take place right after Christmas. The daily Al Liwa said the opening of the Syrian embassy in Beirut would take place first in the presence of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem to be followed the next day by the opening of the Lebanese mission in Damascus in the presence of Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh. Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 10:01

Nasrallah Calls for Open-Ended Protest until Gaza Siege is Lifted
Naharnet/Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday called for an open-ended protest until the Gaza siege is lifted. "Our actions that will start on Friday will not end on that day, but until the Gaza siege is lifted," Nasrallah said in a televised speech broadcast on Al-Manar TV, mouthpiece of Hizbullah. He called for a demonstration to be held next Friday in Beirut's southern suburbs. "The Gaza siege is aimed at defeating the will of the Palestinian people so that the Zionists can impose their conditions," Nasrallah said.He slammed Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for saying Israeli Arabs who had national aspirations should move to a Palestinian state when it is established. "What Livni said was not a slip of the tongue," Nasrallah said.
On Thursday, Livni drew criticism for saying "my solution for maintaining a Jewish and democratic state of Israel is to have two distinct national entities."
"And among other things I will also be able to approach the Palestinian residents of Israel, those whom we call Arab Israelis, and tell them: 'your national aspirations lie elsewhere,'" Livni said. Nasrallah said there are two scenes in Gaza today -- hunger, cold and shelling facing steadfastness. He called on Egypt to open the Rafah border crossing permanently. Addressing Arab and world countries, Nasrallah said: "From a humanitarian position I tell them that there are one and half million people in Gaza who face sickness and death." "Where is the Arab courage today?" he asked. Beirut, 15 Dec 08, 21:28

Suleiman: A Strong Nation can Protect and Support Everybody
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman said Lebanon was making "slow but steady steps toward salvation." Suleiman told the Lebanese community in Jordan on Monday before heading back to Beirut that only a unified state would help Lebanon and its neighbors "where everybody would deal with the country on a state-by-state basis." Suleiman toured religious and archeological sites along the Jordan River, in addition to watching anti-terrorism training exercises. Beirut, 16 Dec 08, 12:02

Saniora Stresses Parliament Responsibility in Approving Wage Increases
Naharnet/Prime Minister Fouad Saniora attended a parliamentary legislative session on Monday, which passed a law for increasing public sector minimum wage.
"The legislature is master of its own domain, I bow in respect at parliament's will, and I say those who take a decision bear the responsibility," Saniora said prior to the law's passage. At the session's debut Saniora expressed his hope that members of parliament would not adopt many increases, saying Lebanon's financial situation cannot bear any further monetary burdens. He called for maintaining the minimum level of financial astuteness in light of the international financial crisis that is sparing no one. Beirut, 15 Dec 08, 15:23

Yakan: Call for Amendment of Taef Agreement is Like Playing with Fire
Naharnet/Islamic Scholar Fathi Yakan said Monday a call for amendment of the Taef Accord is tantamount to "playing with fire." He wondered why one group of Lebanese and some political leaders should suggest amendment of the Taef agreement "at a time when the country has moved into the preparatory phase of the election, let alone the impact of the previous phase.""True that the Taef agreement is not a holy book … but what is also true is that the sectarian climate tolerates no adventures," Yakan believed. Beirut, 15 Dec 08, 12:09

Lebanese Women Married to Foreigners Want Equality
Naharnet/Every year, Salha Solh spends half her small income of $3,600 just to keep her three sons and three daughters from being deported from their homeland.
Solh is Lebanese but her husband is Pakistani, and under Lebanese law she cannot pass her citizenship on to her children. They are Pakistanis in the law's eyes and need expensive annual residency visas, even though they were born and raised here and have never been to their father's country.
A few months ago, Solh's eldest son was picked up by police for not renewing his residence permit on time and imprisoned for three months until he got a new one.
Nearly every Arab country has similar laws. Women's groups have succeeded in changing such laws in Egypt, Morocco and Algeria and are leading campaigns elsewhere, usually against religious conservatives.
In Lebanon, reformers are finally gaining attention for the issue — through a series of small public protests like one that Solh recently attended, of 100 people, on Beirut Martyrs' Square.
"It is my children's right to have Lebanese citizenship," said Solh, who works as a cook and whose husband is unemployed after falling sick recently.
Many Lebanese fear that allowing women to pass their citizenship to their children will upset the country's delicate sectarian balance, or open a backdoor for the large Palestinian refugee population to gain citizenship.
"Definitely there is sexism" in such worries, said Information Minister Tarek Mitri, who supports changing the law. "I fear that this might take a bit of time (to change)."
He pointed out that many more Lebanese men are married to Palestinians or other foreigners than the reverse, and no one sees their children as anything but Lebanese.
But in the eyes of many — not just the law — a Lebanese woman with children by a foreign father is seen as bringing foreigners into the country.
"The Lebanese constitution prevents all forms of settling Palestinians in Lebanon," said Christian lawmaker Naamatallah Abi-Nasr, who opposes changing the current law. He said he would only support a change if Lebanese are given the same treatment by other Arab countries — a condition not likely to be met. "If a Saudi woman gets married to a Lebanese, he should be given Saudi citizenship," Abi-Nasr said.
Reformers face a similar situation in Jordan, home to nearly 2 million Palestinian refugees. Queen Rania has pressed for new laws to allow women to pass on their nationality, but lawmakers have resisted, fearing the move could open the way for Palestinian refugees to gain citizenship. In Lebanon, activists and women married to foreigners have in recent months held conferences and sit-ins, including protests outside the prime minister's office and near parliament in October.
A draft bill to allow women to pass on their citizenship has been submitted to parliament, though it is not known when lawmakers will take it up.
"Lebanon is the least-advanced country in the region when it comes to this matter," says Lina Abou-Habib, executive director of the Collective for Research and Training on Development Action, a campaign leader. It is not known how many Lebanese women are married to foreigners, but they are believed to number in the thousands. Many live abroad and are not registered. Syrians and Palestinians married to Lebanese also don't register with authorities since Palestinian refugees don't need residency permits in Lebanon, while Syrians can stay up to six months without applying for a residency permit. Without citizenship, husbands and children of Lebanese women are barred from government jobs and cannot own property or businesses. They must also renew their residency every year, each time costing around $300. "We, Arab women, want our rights," Ikbal Doughan, a women's rights activists and the lawyer of the citizenship campaign, told a conference recently. "We are not asking for more."(AP) Beirut, 15 Dec 08, 09:45

Baroud: What Happened at Cabinet is Unacceptable
Naharnet/Interior Minister Ziad Baroud has criticized the way the supervisory election campaign commission was formed during the recent cabinet meeting.
"What happened came as a second shock to the reformist trend ... This comes following the first shock of the election law," Baroud told As Safir daily in remarks published Monday. He expressed his fear that this could constitute a pattern for dealing with the 2009 parliamentary elections.
However, he said the formation of the commission was positive in terms of reform. He warned that if matters continue as before, he would adopt a specific position.
In an other interview with the daily al-Akhbar, Baroud said: "What happened at last Saturday's (cabinet) session is unacceptable, particularly when none of the ministers registered their objection to the names composing the commission." The opposition used its veto power for the first time at Saturday's cabinet meeting.
The veto threat over the issue of setting up the commission prompted the majority of ministers to succumb to the opposition demand for adopting a name from the team who is politically aligned with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and not a candidate chosen by Baroud. Regarding the election law, Baroud said he was disappointed with the law, which he said it represents only 30% of what he had proposed. He added that the law lacked the necessary reforms. Asked if this would force him to resign, Baroud said that he considered doing so. However, he changed his mind for several reasons
In terms of obstacles that could face the 2009 elections, Baroud said: "Difficulties do not only stem from political and security concerns, there is the issue of the ministry itself, where we have important vacancies that need to be filled such as a director-general and the issue of the four governorates that are currently being run by-proxy."
He said that not appointing state security officers before the elections could have negative implications. Beirut, 15 Dec 08, 13:27

Vanished in Syria
Written by Ana-Maria Luca
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=23611
Published Tuesday, December 16, 2008
[Beirut] Rana Khawand does not remember her father. She was four years old when he disappeared. Boutros Khawand, a well-known Lebanese Christian politician, is said to have been kidnapped in December 1992 in East Beirut, in an area controlled by the Syrian Army.
“Witnesses saw his car intercepted by a squad of 11 gunmen who forced him into a red van and drove away,” his daughter says. “We haven’t seen him since. They say Boutros Khawand is not in Syria. But we know. Other prisoners have said they saw him in prison there,” the girl whispers.
Khawand is one of the many Lebanese who vanished into Syria during the 1980s and early 1990s.
“We are speaking of hundreds of Lebanese prisoners in Syria. We had a list containing the names of 250–270 Lebanese prisoners before the Syrian withdrawal. From April 2005 until now, the number has risen to 600,” journalist and human rights activist Pierre Atallah says.
According to the Damascus government, there are no Lebanese political prisoners in Syrian prisons. The issue has been haunting the nascent diplomatic relations between Damascus and Beirut.
“It’s been going on for a while. We say ‘give us our prisoners’ – they say they don’t have any. Then after a while, people show up at home and say they had been detained in Syria,” Atallah says.
Ali Abu Dehn is one of the people who came back from the Syrian prisons. He was released in 2000 after former Syrian President Hafez al Assad died and his son and successor, Bashar, pardoned 54 Lebanese political prisoners in honor of his father.
Dehn’s nightmare began on December 7, 1987, when the Syrian Intelligence took him from the Australian embassy in Damascus. He was trying to leave Lebanon for Sydney to escape the civil war.
“Instead I was sent to hell for 13 years,” he says, with a bitter smile.
He was imprisoned in Saydnaya and Tadmur (Palmyra), together with dozens of Lebanese detainees. Dehn was charged at first with fighting against the Syrian presence in Lebanon, as well as with spying for Israel, a charge common to most of the detained Lebanese.
He says they were tortured, beaten and humiliated.
“What they did to us was inhuman. I was hanged by my wrist until the joint separated. The person interrogating me told me he would show my elbow to me. I didn’t believe he could. But he twisted my hand, so I saw my elbow,” he remembers.
He also remembers how he got the dozens of scars on his body – the ones on his legs from the beatings – the broken hand, the cigarette burn on the back of his neck, the dislocated shoulder.
He says he is not afraid to speak out, although he has been threatened with death several times.
“I’m trying my best for the other prisoners who are still being tortured. There were many Lebanese with me. Bashar al Assad denies the existence of Lebanese in their prisons… but I left six of my friends in there. I know! We were sharing the little food, the small potato we had to split between five persons. They are still there! I don’t know if they are alive or dead – but I left them in Syria!”
The situation of Lebanese detainees was an official taboo in Lebanese-Syrian relations for decades. Damascus had a military presence and control over Lebanon from 1976 until April 2005, when it withdrew its troops after the Cedar Revolution, the Lebanese reaction to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri on February 14, 2005.
Several human rights organizations and the families of the detainees missing in Syria started to pressure the government in Beirut to take action and ask for information on the missing Lebanese in Syrian jails. But there has been little progress.
“The problem is important for both political alliances in Lebanon, March 14 and March 8. They cannot deny it and can’t run away from responsibility in this case,” Atallah stresses.
At the request of hundreds of families, the Lebanese Ministry of Justice has recently started to update the files of the alleged political prisoners. But Atallah, who is a member of the Foundation for Human and Humanitarian Rights, says he is not very optimistic.
“The Lebanese government is not well organized, it’s not serious,” he says.
One by one, the Lebanese politicians who visited Syria after the establishment of diplomatic relations threw the ball into somebody else’s court.
The minister of justice, Ibrahim Najjar, has acknowledged the existence of 745 Lebanese citizens missing in Syria. In a television interview, he said these citizens were divided into two main categories – convicts and kidnap victims – and that the Justice Ministry should take responsibility for the convicts.
However, Najjar did not say how the Lebanese government would deal with the situation of the kidnap victims.
At the end of September 2008, the justice minister announced he had received an updated list of 120 Lebanese prisoners from Damascus. But no political prisoner was on it, Atallah says.
“They are criminals imprisoned for drug trafficking or smuggling weapons or working in prostitution. There was no information about the soldiers detained during the 1990 Syrian attack on the Christian areas.”
After his visit to Damascus in November, Lebanese Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said his talks with Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majid did not cover the dossier of missing persons and detainees in Syrian prisons.
“The issue of missing Lebanese in Syrian jails was not excluded from discussions with the Syrians, but I did not want to exceed my authority, so we only discussed the role of the interior minister in this matter,” Baroud said in a statement on his return to Beirut.
When Lebanese President Michel Suleiman asked his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al Assad, about the fate of the political prisoners, the leader in Damascus is said to have replied that it was not a presidential matter.
“They diverted this case to the joint committee, the Syrian-Lebanese Committee. It’s not promising. The work of this committee is based on a routine.
“At every meeting the Lebanese present a list of people who are allegedly detained in Syria, and the Syrians ask for information about their people lost in Lebanon in the civil war. In fact, this is not the same thing,” Atallah says. “They were in Lebanon for 30 years. Why didn’t they look for their people then? Now they remember?”
Gen. Michel Aoun, the Free Patriotic Movement leader, also visited Syria recently. The human rights organizations, as well as the families of the people who vanished in Syria, asked him to bring up the issue in front of the Syrian president. Aoun refused to deal with the case because he said it was the responsibility of the president of the republic.
The families of the people who vanished in Syria still hope they might hear from their relatives.
“We hope that now, with the diplomatic relations with Syria, maybe we might know what happened to my father,” Rana Khawand sighs. “The last time they heard of him was in 2004. A Lebanese prisoner was released and he said that he saw my father in prison.”
Her father would now be 79. She hopes he is still alive, but she knows that the chances of seeing him lessen every day.
“If Syria doesn’t admit it has Lebanese prisoners, nothing can be done. I can’t see a good relationship with Syria if there are still Lebanese prisoners there,” she says.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has confirmed that an embassy will be established in Lebanon by year's end.
Atallah says he can hardly wait for a Syrian embassy to open in Beirut.
“The day they open it, the families of the prisoners will set up tents in front of it,” he promises.
*Copyright © 2008 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.
editor@themedialine.org.


A peek into Iran's nuclear Pandora's box
By Sreeram Chaulia
The contention of a senior Russian diplomat, Vladimir Voronkov, that Iran is presently incapable of developing nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them has reopened an international Pandora's box.
The comments by Voronkov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of European Cooperation, cast doubts on, if not contradict, Israel's assessment that Iran is rapidly gaining nuclear-weapons capability in the guise of "peaceful" electricity generation.
Russia's word has a notable significance on the matter because it enjoys unparalleled access to Iran's nuclear facilities. Russian
engineers working for a Russian company are building Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor and are in daily touch with Iranian ground realities. Voronkov buttressed his claim by adding, "This information is confirmed by all the services responsible for the collection and analysis of information."
If Moscow's combined intelligence agencies are in agreement that Iran does not have nuclear-weapons capability, it calls for serious rethinking about whether the "crisis" built up over Tehran going nuclear was nothing but a bogey to roll back its rise as the impresario of a Shi'ite resurgence in the Middle East.
Long before the George W Bush administration began trumpeting the Iranian nuclear threat theory to the level of an international headache, Israel was gravely worried that a nuclear-armed Tehran could neutralize Tel Aviv's regional lead in unconventional weaponry. As an undeclared nuclear weapons power since the 1960s, Israel has been watching its volatile neighborhood like a jealous hawk for any signs of other states acquiring the ultimate deterrent.
In 1981, former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin ordered Operation Opera, a surreptitious air strike to bomb and damage Iraq's Osirak reactor before it could be loaded with nuclear fuel and possibly used for weapons production. At that time, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein pleaded the exact line that Iran's political leadership is purveying today - that Osirak was part and parcel of Baghdad's legal and "entirely peaceful" civilian nuclear program.
In September 2007, Israel did a redux of Osirak by aerially bombarding Syria's partially built nuclear reactor near the Turkish border which was allegedly a joint venture with the government of North Korea. Planning for this strike happened in early 2007, when the head of Israeli intelligence, Meir Dagan, presented Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with "evidence" that Syria was seeking to buy a nuclear weapon from North Korea to give Tel Aviv a "devastating surprise".
Compared to the Osirak incident, Israel's Syria attack is shrouded in greater mist and speculation. One theory is that the Syrian reactor was only partially constructed and that it was years away from churning out anything threatening to Israel. The New York Times cited an American official that the action was a warning from Israel to Iran rather than a pre-emptive strike to decapitate Syria's barely existent plutonium infrastructure. The fact that Syria and Iran are close allies holding out against Israeli and American designs in the Middle East makes this interpretation plausible.
Israel started sounding alarm bells about Iran's nuclear program in 1991, but these fell on deaf years in Washington for a long time. From the mid-1990s, Israeli strategists were issuing dire predictions that Iran is just "a few years away" from acquiring a nuclear weapon. While the Bill Clinton administration did not buy this threat perception, Israel found empathy in the succeeding George W Bush White House and Pentagon. With many of the neo-conservatives hailing from Jewish backgrounds, or attached to the special US-Israel relationship, it became relatively easy for the US to push Iranian nuclear weapons to the top of the stockpile of pressing global issues.
Before the US military campaign in Iraq got bogged down in fierce anti-colonial resistance and sectarian violence, it was common to hear neo-cons in the US and Israel reach shrill pitch about the impending disaster of Iran going nuclear. Sensing a window of opportunity to fulfill their dream of forcible "regime change" in Tehran, the neo-cons used Iranian nukes as the casus belli. The US intelligence community was cowed by its political bosses to concur that Iran posed a serious world threat.
But as the war in Iraq dragged on and drained American troop morale and public enthusiasm, internal rifts cropped up within the US over plunging into a second war before the first was won. The 2005 National Intelligence Estimate, a comprehensive report based on consensus among various American spy agencies, projected that Iran is "about a decade away from manufacturing the key ingredient for a nuclear weapon". This revised figure was double the previous conjecture of a five-year distance between Tehran and the atom bomb. It poured cold water on war-mongering rhetoric by downplaying the urgency of the "Iranian nuke crisis", which had been highlighted by Israel as a ticking time bomb that must be defused by all means.
Adding another twist to the empirical debate about whether or not Iran has nuclear weapons is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' nuclear watchdog organization. In June 2008, IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei cast a new stone into already rippled waters by opining, "It would need at least six months to one year to reach the point where we would wake up one morning to an Iran with a nuclear weapon." In November this year, a routine IAEA update based on inspections recorded that Iran had already produced enough low-enriched uranium to build a single atomic bomb.
Israel and the neo-cons, whose influence in US policymaking has gradually declined, jumped at this neutral view and again sharpened their knives. Talk that Bush would bow out of power by waging war on Iran mounted in step with the IAEA's revelations. The seesaw drama about Iran's possession or lack of nuclear weapons was always integrally linked to Israeli and US war-making intentions.
Unfortunately for ElBaradei, who is on record that he will resign if Iran is physically attacked, his public candor about Tehran's imprecise and opaque disclosures has played into the hands of those itching for a military solution.
The latest Russian pronouncements are antidotes to the Israeli scare tactics. But like all previous assessments, Moscow's words can also be questioned for their veracity. Among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia is strategically the closest to Iran and a staunch opponent of using force on Tehran. With rumors abounding that Israel could "do Osirak 3" on Iran at any moment, the Russian release could be timed to protect a friend.
Russian and US representatives are also meeting in Moscow to sort out a spat over Washington's proposed stationing of anti-missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. Voronkov specifically mentioned Iranian delivery systems (read missiles) in his announcement, a likely message for Washington which is portraying the Iranian missile threat as the raison d'etre for militarizing eastern Europe.
However, it bears reminder that even Russia and China acquiesced in three rounds of UN economic sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend its nuclear activities. As Tehran plays hide-and-seek with the IAEA and European Union interlocutors, the "Iranian nukes" cover story is set to dominate international headlines. US president-elect Barack Obama's remark that a nuclear Iran is "unacceptable" keeps the door open for speculation about the technical status quo of Tehran's weapons program.
The military decapitation option might not be taken off the table by Israel, despite Obama's inauguration next month in Washington. With the smog around Iranian nukes showing little sign of clearing, a dangerous informational confusion persists in which war could still break out.
Sreeram Chaulia is a researcher on international affairs at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in New York.
(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

La FDHDH interpelle l’UE au sujet de la signature de l’accord de partenariat avec Damas
La décision de l’Union européenne de débloquer la signature de l’accord de partenariat euro-méditerranéen avec la Syrie, suspendue en raison de la politique syrienne à l’égard du Liban, a provoqué une réaction hostile dans certains milieux sur la scène libanaise.
La Fondation des droits de l’homme et du droit humanitaire (FDHDH) et le « comité des familles des détenus dans les prisons syriennes » ont ainsi adressé au chef de la délégation de la Commission européenne au Liban, l’ambassadeur Patrick Laurent, une lettre dans laquelle ils réclament une « explication » au sujet de la décision de l’UE de passer outre à une recommandation adoptée sur ce plan par le Parlement européen le 4 mars 1998. Cette recommandation plaçait le dossier des détenus en Syrie au centre de tout accord de partenariat appelé à être conclu entre l’UE et la Syrie.
Dans le document transmis à l’ambassadeur Laurent, la FDHDH et le « comité des familles des détenus dans les prisons syriennes » soulignent qu’en faisant l’impasse sur la recommandation du Parlement européen, « l’Union européenne fait fi de l’engagement qu’elle avait pris de stimuler le respect des droits de l’homme au Proche-Orient ». La lettre en question rapporte la teneur de la recommandation du Parlement européen qui invitait explicitement les gouvernements de l’UE à « inscrire l’affaire des détenus libanais dans les prisons syriennes à l’ordre du jour des négociations avec le gouvernement syrien pour la conclusion de l’accord de partenariat euro-méditerranéen ». La FDHDH et le « comité » se sont interrogés sur les raisons de cette volte-face européenne.

Helping the camps would help Lebanon
By Marc J. Sirois /Daily Star staff
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
As though Lebanon did not have enough purely domestic problems to preoccupy those tasked with maintaining security and stability, many observers are now worried about new threats brewing in some of the country's 12 Palestinian refugee camps. Several different phenomena, most of them interrelated, have the potential to raise havoc in the camps and therefore to destabilize Lebanon. All stem at least partly from the general dissatisfaction that rightly characterizes the long-suffering refugee population, making individuals, families and even entire neighborhoods susceptible to seduction by radical ideas.
The overriding fear at the moment is that "another Nahr al-Bared" will take place. That camp, just outside Tripoli, was pretty much destroyed in 2007 when the Fatah al-Islam militant group used it as a base and then took on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). More than 30,000 Palestinians were displaced, and thousands of them remain homeless.
For some observers, the outbreak of another confrontation between the LAF and an armed group operating out of a refugee camp - be it an international outfit like Fatah al-Islam or a homegrown Palestinian one - is just a matter of time.
The most widely predicted venue for such a new disaster is Ain al-Hilweh in Sidon, for years the scene of regular intra-Palestinian violence and long known as a safe haven for fugitives ranging from ideological and religious revolutionaries to common criminals. With anywhere between 50,000 and 80,000 residents, the camp is Lebanon's most populous - and its immediate proximity to Sidon proper would figure to make any conflagration even more devastating for surrounding Lebanese neighborhoods than Nahr al-Bared was for its sparser environs.
Apart from being a worst-case scenario, Ain al-Hilweh is also made a more likely one by a coincidence of circumstances, none of them helpful. Some number of Fatah al-Islam members who escaped Nahr al-Bared are believed to have taken refuge at Ain al-Hilweh, adding yet another faction to an already splintered politico-military environment. The potential for volatility is also added to by the fact that the camp's internal security relies largely on cooperation between the two largest Palestinian groups, Hamas and Fatah - whose continuing power struggle in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza is building toward a new crisis in January over when President Mahmoud Abbas' term is scheduled to end. Both sides insist that no spillover will take place here, but they may not have to start slaughtering one another for Ain al-Hilweh to descend into chaos: The mere advent of reduced cooperation might be enough to allow conflicts between other factions to get out of hand.
One school of thought has it that the LAF could not possibly undertake a Nahr al-Bared-style offensive at Ain al-Hilweh because of a virtual certitude that the destruction and mayhem would rapidly spread to densely populated areas of Sidon. There is also the possibility, though, that a militant group might be emboldened by this very concern, eventually leaving the LAF with no choice but to act.
Fortunately, not everything is moving in the direction of conflict.
On the general level, there is a Palestinian-Lebanese Dialogue Committee that has made not insignificant strides designed to reduce the misery of daily life for the refugees by, for instance, increasing education and employment opportunities. With regard to Nahr al-Bared in particular, the Lebanese government has vowed to rebuild the camp in its entirety, theoretically reducing the credibility of those who paint the 2007 conflict as the first of many aimed at repressing the country's Palestinian community. And in the camps themselves, some groups seem to have recognized the urgency of the situation and the necessity of preserving stability: Even Osbat al-Ansar, a hard-line Islamist organization with a considerable presence at Ain al-Hilweh, recently issued an edict banning its members from coming into conflict with the LAF. On all of these scores, though, there is the danger that the best of intentions will be defeated by a paucity of resources.
The principals - both Lebanese and Palestinian - may be making a good-faith effort, but the pace of reconstruction at Nahr al-Bared has been too slow, due at least in part to inadequate attention and funding from the international community, including donors who have yet to honor their pledges. The Dialogue Committee has pushed through some key reforms, but its ability to help Palestinians here achieve greater self-sufficiency is hamstrung by the small size and uneven topography of Lebanon's economy, not to mention the need to avoid anything that anyone might regard as a step toward "resettling" the refugees. And on the security front, even if Hamas and Fatah successfully firewall Lebanon against the acrimony in Palestine, even if Osbat al-Ansar maintains its pragmatic position, a well-armed and well-financed group would not be easily contained.
There is no magical formula that will make these problems disappear, but nor is it a mystery how their consequences can be mitigated: money. Better funding can accelerate and enhance the process of housing the Nahr al-Bared displaced, lessen the sense of hopelessness that pervades places like Ain al-Hilweh, and reduce the perceived need for (and therefore the appeal of) radical organizations.
Between them, the countries of the affluent West have forked out hundreds of billions of dollars - and guaranteed trillions more in questionable debt - in recent weeks to help bankers escape the repercussions of their own actions. Surely they can spare some change in order to help Lebanon and its Palestinian population avoid what would just be the latest side-effects of a historical injustice that has been abetted by some Western countries and ignored by others. A little bit now will save a whole lot more later.
**Marc J. Sirois is managing editor of THE DAILY STAR. His email address is marc.sirois@dailystar.com.lb.

Bush's record and the shoes heard around the Arab and Islamic worlds
By The Daily Star
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Editorial
It goes without saying that journalists, during the course of carrying out their duties, will inevitably be asked to interview or interact with individuals or groups with whom they themselves might disagree, or even regard with complete contempt. For the most part, Arab reporters carry out these responsibilities with the highest sense of professionalism, but on Sunday, Muntazer al-Zaidi, a hitherto little-known Iraqi journalist, broke the rules by throwing two shoes at visiting US President George W. Bush. The gesture was by all means an inappropriate and unacceptable breach of duty and decorum, but it was nonetheless warmly welcomed across the Arab and Muslim worlds.
So why is it that so many Arabs and Muslims, whose culture dictates that guests be treated with the highest levels of respect and hospitality, were cheered by the images of Bush being forced to duck to avoid being pelted with shoes? The obvious answer is that even though most of us wholeheartedly support Bush's professed principles - including freedom, human rights, democracy, the rule of law and the sanctity of human life - we strongly object to his policies in the region. More precisely, we detest his policies because they have so badly undermined the very principles that he claims to support.
Bush's silence over his Arab allies' barbaric oppression of peaceful dissent belies his professed support for freedom. His purported support for human rights and democracy was exposed as a lie when he blindly backed Israel's collective punishment of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip because most - but not all - adults there had voted in democratic elections for Hamas. His talk of commitment to the rule of law was negated by his administration's approval of the use of torture and detention of prisoners without trial at facilities such as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, as well as its unlawful invasion of Iraq on the basis of fabricated intelligence. And his claims to value the sanctity of human life have exploded with every American-made cluster bomb that has killed or maimed a child or adult civilian in South Lebanon.
This list of Bush's crimes is by no means exhaustive, but it serves to illustrate how the paradox of his contradictory principles and policies prompted a paradoxical response from Zaidi, who disregarded his duties and societal norms to make a point. And it explains why many Arabs and Muslims now regard Zaidi as a hero who helped restore their shattered dignity.