LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 09/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16,9-15. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. And he said to them, "You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.

Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth"
Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church/On Abraham, I, 5, 32-35
Abraham «sat in the entrance of his tent while the day was growing hot» (Gen 18,1), Scripture tells us. The others were resting but he kept watch for the possible arrival of guests. He was indeed worthy of God's coming to him by the oak of Mambre, he who sought so eagerly to practise hospitality...Yes, hospitality is a good thing which has its own special reward: first of all, it attracts men's gratitude; more importantly, it also receives repayment on God's part. All of us in this land of exile are passing guests. For a little while we have a roof to shelter under but we must move out in no time. Take care! If we have been hard or negligent in welcoming strangers then, when the course of this life has passed away, the saints might well refuse to welcome us in their turn. "Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth," says the Lord in the Gospel, "so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."Besides, how do you know whether it is not God you are receiving while you are thinking that you are only dealing with men? Abraham welcomed some strangers but, in reality, he received into his home God and his angels. So you, too, who welcome a stranger are receiving God. The Lord Jesus bears witness in the Gospel: «I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me» (Mt 25,35.40).

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
My view on Obama. By: Uri Orbach/Israel Opinion 08/11/08
How Obama might be all that he can be for the Middle East- The Daily Star 08/11/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 08/08
Mubarak Tells Suleiman Cairo would Back the State of Lebanon-Naharnet
Saniora Criticizes Syria's Television Handling of Terror Attacks-Naharnet
Harb: Aoun's Defense Strategy Hurls Lebanon into Civil War-Naharnet
Syrians Preparing Popular Welcome By Christians for Aoun-Naharnet
Ain al-Hilweh Split Over Fatah al-Islam Leader-Naharnet
Barak: All options open regarding Iran-Jerusalem Post
Obama: Nuclear Iran unacceptable-Israel News
March 14 Hits Syrian Regime, AounNaharnet
Fatfat: If Syria has Any Facts Then Let it Present them to an Arab or International Commission-Naharnet
Marada and Maronite League in Bkirki-Naharnet
Hariri Meets Putin, Responds to Syrian Accusations-Naharnet
Spanish Crown Prince Visits Spanish Troops in South Lebanon-Naharnet
Syrian Charges Alarm Parliamentary Majority-Naharnet
Despite lack of progress, Rice insists peace deal within reach-(AFP)
Obama plots strategy amid dismal economic news-(AFP)
More rockets hit Israel following deadly incursion into Gaza Strip-(AFP)
Syria's Assad congratulates Obama, urges dialogue-Reuters
'UN, not Riyadh, invited Israel to interfaith talks-(AFP)
March 14 denies charge of funding Fatah al-Islam-Daily Star
Crown prince visits Spanish UNIFIL troops-(AFP)
More threats of wider Israeli offensive in any future war-Daily Star
Putin: Moscow pleased with improved situation in Lebanon-Daily Star
NLP denies 'terrorist' presence in Lebanon-Daily Star
Lebanese in France laud Obama win, but doubt impact at home-Daily Star
Parties field competing defense strategies-Daily Star
AUB to host discussion focusing on Arab state-Daily Star
Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian teachers attend workshops hosted by ACS-Daily Star
Both FPM and LF claim victory in USJ student polls-Daily Star
Publisher releases new Rihani book-Daily Star
AUB officially opens new facility paid for by wealthy alumnus-Daily Star

UN, not Riyadh, invited Israel to interfaith talks'
By Agence France Presse (AFP) Saturday, November 08, 2008
RIYADH: A Saudi diplomat denied in remarks published on Friday that Riyadh had invited Israel to a UN interfaith meeting in New York next week, saying the invitation had come from the United Nations. "The president of the UN General Assembly addressed invitations to all UN member states," Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Lebanon, Abdel-Aziz Khoja, was quoted as saying in Saudi and Lebanese newspapers. The November 13 conference is being held at the initiative of Saudi Arabia, which has no relations with Israel. Both Saudi King Abdullah and Israeli President Shimon Peres are due to attend. The meeting, which aims to promote dialogue among the world's monotheistic religions, will be a follow-up to a similar conference in Madrid in July. This was an initiative by King Abdullah, whose country hosts Islam's holiest shrines and does not permit the public practice of religions other than Islam. Peres' office said on Wednesday that he would be accompanied by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and that they intended to use the conference to meet leaders from the Arab world. Khoja said Lebanese politicians who "accused" Saudi Arabia of inviting Israel should "check their facts," according to the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat and other newspapers. Saudi Arabia is the author of an Arab blueprint offering Israel peace in return for withdrawal from occupied Arab lands but refuses to have ties or contacts with Israel in the absence of a Middle East peace settlement and its treatment of Palestinians. - AFP

Latest in Iran Sanctions: No U-Turn
By Matthew Levitt/Counterterrorism web site
In the first letter of its kind from an Iranian leader to an American president elect since the Iranian revolution, Iranian President Mahmoud Admedinejad congratulated President Elect Obama on his victory and called for an end to America's "war-oriented policies, occupation, bullying, deception and intimidation of nations and imposing discriminatory policies on them and international affairs, which have evoked hatred toward American leaders." Other Iranian officials have been more specific, calling for Obama to show goodwill by ending U.S. sanctions on Iran. That, however, is unlikely to happen.
Yesterday the Treasury department made clear there would be no change in direction (no U-turn, if you will) from the current policy of exposing -- and taking countermeasures against -- the involvement of Iranian banks in the regime's support for terrorist groups and nuclear and missile proliferation. Following the recommendation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to strengthen measures to protect the financial sector from the risks posed to the international financial system by Iran, the Treasury revoked the "U-Turn" license under which Iran had previously been able to indirectly access the U.S. financial system to dollarize transactions.Treasury also provided an updated fact sheet detailing Iran's misuse of the international financial system to support illicit activities.
As I argued in a recent lecture on the subject at the Emirati Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) in Abu Dhabi, by exposing Iran's deceptive financial conduct in support of its illicit activity, the international community has made it clear that doing business with Iran is increasingly risky business.
The Obama administration, focused as it is on fully deploying an "all elements of national power" national security strategy, is likely to further develop the use of financial tools in the national security toolkit, not reduce them. One area to watch in the near future is the extrapolation of these tools beyond the financial sector to other sectors -- such as the insurance sector -- that provide other forms of "financial instruments" to Iran that may already fall under the existing language of UN Security Council Resolution 1737.November 7, 2008

Mubarak Tells Suleiman Cairo would Back the State of Lebanon
Naharnet/Egyptian President Husni Mubarak on Saturday stressed to his visiting Lebanese counterpart Michel Suleiman that Cairo would back "the state of Lebanon and its constitutional institutions and would bolster the capabilities of its army throughout Lebanon."Mubarak made the remark in a joint press conference with Suleiman. Mubarak said inter-Lebanese dialogue does not require efforts by secretary generals of the United Nations or the Arab League, stressing it "depends on the Lebanese themselves." Suleiman said he discussed with Mubarak "the need to consolidate security in Lebanon and to achieve peace."
He also agreed with his Egyptian host on the need to "follow up" implementation of decision that had been reached by the joint Arab committee on Lebanon.
Egypt, Suleiman recalled, "had always sided with Lebanon." Beirut, 08 Nov 08, 15:15

Aoun Worried About Mothers' Wombs, Not Maradona
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on Saturday launched a vehement attack on political heirs and warned that bribes by politicians could "reach mothers' wombs."Aoun made his remarks in addressing students who visited him at his residence in suburban Rabiyeh, north of Beirut. "I am worried that bribes by politicians could reach universities, and even mothers' wombs," Aoun told the students. "It is not fair that a non-eligible person inherits political legacy," Aoun said without further elaboration on the remark. He said most politicians in Lebanon try to obstruct who is strong, it is like football they obstruct the best players."
"but nothing to worry about Maradona," Aoun said in apparent reference to ex Argentine football star Diego Maradona. Beirut, 08 Nov 08, 15:50

Syrians Preparing Popular Welcome By Christians for Aoun
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is to visit Syria in the last week of November where preparations are underway to welcome him by popular festivities in Christian areas.The daily as-Safir also said the political agenda for setting up ties between Beirut and Damascus was "not affected" by alleged testimonies of Fatah al-Islam terrorists screened by the state-run Syrian television. It said interior Minister Ziad Baroud would visit Damascus on Monday while Defense Minister Elias Murr would make a similar visit "later." Information Minister Tareq Mitri has informed his Syrian counterpart that he would take part in a conference by Arab Information ministers scheduled for mid November in Syria, the report added. Beirut, 08 Nov 08, 14:29

Harb: Aoun's Defense Strategy Hurls Lebanon into Civil War
Naharnet/MP Butros Harb on Saturday warned that a defense strategy blueprint proposed by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun would hurl Lebanon into civil war. Harb said Aoun's proposal "would certainly lead to the creation of several armed groups in each and every village. These conflicting armed groups would lead Lebanon to civil wars." Harb, talking to reporters after meeting Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, said the March 14 forces would present a "unified" defense strategy blueprint … focusing on the Lebanese People's role in backing the state in defending the homeland without spreading chaos." He called for "quiet" tackling of the charges made by alleged fatah al-Islam members through Syria's official television. "Mustaqbal Movement is our ally and we believe in the same national principles," Harb stressed. He recalled that Mustaqbal Movement had strongly backed the Lebanese Army in its crack down at Fatah al-Islam terrorists in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared "contrary to other political forces … that had declared a red line against the issue." Beirut, 08 Nov 08, 16:45

Saniora Criticizes Syria's Television Handling of Terror Attacks
Naharnet/Premier Fouad Saniora on Saturday criticized Syria for addressing the issue of terrorism through its official television instead of tackling it through proper channels with Lebanon. Saniora, addressing a cabinet meeting, said he would tackle the issue with President Michel Suleiman and Interior Minister Ziad Baroud.
Suleiman is visiting Egypt and Baroud is to visit Damascus next week. Saniora reiterated Lebanon's declared "denunciation of all acts of terror and recalled Lebanon's ordeal caused by Fatah al-Islam crimes," Information Minister Tareq Mitri told reporters after the cabinet session. He was referring to alleged charged by detained Fatah al-Islam members who appeared earlier on the week on Syria's official Television claiming that Mustaqbal Movement had financed their network.
Beirut, 08 Nov 08, 16:21

Barak: All options open regarding Iran
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND TOVAH LAZAROFF
Israel is not ruling out any option when it comes to dealing with Iran's nuclear program, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday.
Slideshow: Pictures of the week Following a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jerusalem, Barak said he told her that Israel is "not taking any option off the table, and we don't recommend that others take any option off the table," stressing, "We mean what we say."
Barak insisted that Iran was continuing to "trick the world" in negotiations over the monitoring of its nuclear activities.
Barak went on to congratulate US President-elect Barack Obama on his election victory and he also praised Rice for her efforts in pushing for a Middle East peace deal. Also meeting Rice Friday, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu said that he would take a "new path to peace" if elected prime minister.
Netanyahu said he would combine negotiations with economic development for the Palestinians.
Rice arrived in Israel Thursday, ahead of a Quartet meeting in Sharm e-Sheikh.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit are set to join Rice for the meeting at the Red Sea resort.
Livni is expected to urge the Quartet on Sunday not to bind Israel to an artificial deadline by which to reach a final status agreement with the Palestinians. In fact, the White House acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that such a deal would not be concluded by the end of US President George Bush's term in January.
During a joint press conference on Thursday evening with the secretary of state in Herzliya, Livni said, "We need to find a way to continue [peace talks] regardless of the question of time lines, titles or change of administration in the United States of America."
EU envoy Marc Otte told The Jerusalem Post that the Quartet wanted to hear from Livni and Abbas about their progress to date in peace negotiations, and to record the progress in a document that would aid future negotiations.

Obama: Nuclear Iran unacceptable
In first news conference since election, US president-elect urges international effort to keep Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapon. 'Iran's support of terrorist organizations must cease,' he says
News agencies Published: 11.07.08, 22:50 / Israel News
An international effort must be made to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, US president-elect Barack Obama said on Friday.
"Iran's development of a nuclear weapon, I believe is unacceptable," he said at a news conference in Chicago, his first since being elected Tuesday. "Iran's support of terrorist organizations, I think is something that has to cease."
Obama said he would be reviewing a letter from Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, congratulating him on his election, and would "respond appropriately."
But he said the US approach to Iran could not be done in a "knee-jerk" fashion. "I think we've got to think it through," he said.
Obama stressed that he had not yet begun his term as president. "We only have one president at a time," he said, adding that he wants to be careful to send the signal to the world that "I'm not the president and I won't be until Jan. 20." The future president said the United States was facing one of its greatest economic challenges and vowed to confront the crisis head-on as soon as he takes office in January. He noted the latest economic data showing significant job losses and an increase in unemployment. "We are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime and we're going to have to act swiftly to resolve it," he said.

March 14 Hits Syrian Regime, Aoun
Naharnet/The March 14 majority alliance on Friday said Syrian charges made against the Lebanese people reflect attempts by the Damascus regime to "avert responsibility for assassination crimes."The alliance also said the Syrian regime is trying to preempt the final report by the international commission probing the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes. "This (Syrian) regime is trying to imply that responsibility for the killings should be shared by all based on the 'terrorist campaign' targeting Syria," the March 14 statement said. This, it added, "aims at setting the stage for rejecting charges against this regime by the International Commission's report." The regime is "strictly specialized in killing and terror to achieve political aims," it noted.
The statement, released after a meeting by the March 14 Secretariat General, also accused the Syrian regime of setting the stage for launching a "terror campaign" against the Lebanese people "under the pretext of self-defense." The statement also said a defense strategy blueprint proposed by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun "breaches the cabinet's policy statement." The statement said Aoun's blueprint classifies UNSCR 1701 as biased in favor of Israel while the cabinet's policy statement calls for full implementation of the resolution.
"This is a very serious matter because UNSCR 1701 provides Lebanon with international protection and breaching it could block the mission of UNIFIL troops and provide Israel with a pretext to launch more aggressions on Lebanon." The majority alliance urged Premier Fouad Saniora's cabinet to list Aoun's blueprint on the agenda of its first meeting to consider the "serious breach" it poses to its policy statement, based on which it was granted Parliament's confidence to rule.
Aoun's defense strategy blueprint also is tantamount to a "coup against the constitution and the Taef accord and sets the stage for permanent wars," the statement stressed. Beirut, 07 Nov 08, 16:11

Marada and Maronite League in Bkirki
Naharnet/A Maronite League and Marada Movement delegation visited Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in Bkirki on Friday. The delegation included Maronite League head Joseph Tarabey, his Deputy Ambassador Abdullah Abu Habib; Marada Political Affairs Coordinator Youssef Saade and member of the Political Committee Shadi Saad.Those at the meeting stated that "the atmosphere was positive" and the talks went on for an hour.  Beirut, 07 Nov 08, 20:25

Hariri Meets Putin, Responds to Syrian Accusations
Naharnet/Head of al-Mustaqbal movement MP Saad Hariri on Friday lauded continued Russian support to Lebanon.
Hariri, during a visit to Moscow, also thanked Russia for all that it "has done regarding the international tribunal" and its support to regain the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms. Hariri, who met the Russian prime minister, said Vladimir Putin "expressed Russian interest in helping the Lebanese army."
"We have to put a plan in place when Defense Minister Elias Murr visits Russia. (The Russians) are willing to offer arms to the Lebanese army," the MP said.
Regarding allegations on Syrian TV that Mustaqbal Movement had funded Fatah al-Islam, Hariri said: "I do not wish to comment on this while in Russia. But I will when I return back to Lebanon. My response will be clear and direct against these false accusations."
Putin stressed to Hariri that the situation in the Middle East remains worrisome and expressed willingness to "exert every effort to normalize the situation in the region."
"In light of the current state of affairs in the world, in particular the world financial crisis, I am certain that the participation of Arab states in solving these problems is possible and should be effective. We are looking forward for Lebanon to regain its traditional role, to be the financial center of not just the Middle East but the whole world," Putin said. Hariri told Putin that he looked forward for Russia to "play a major role in the Middle East and in Lebanon in general." "Lebanon has gone through a very difficult period. However, thanks to its friends we have managed to overcome these difficulties. We are now implementing the Doha agreement; the dialogue is underway in Lebanon under Arab and international auspices," Hariri said. Beirut, 07 Nov 08, 20:08

Syrian Charges Alarm Parliamentary Majority
Naharnet/March 14 Forces believe the alleged testimonies of Fatah al-Islam suspects broadcast by Syria's state television pose a "serious development that aims at charging Mustaqbal movement with mere allegations." The daily An-Nahar said charges regarding Mustaqbal movement's alleged financing of Fatah al-Islam prompted urgent overnight contacts between March 14 leaders amidst calls to hold a meeting Friday to consider the situation.
March 14 leaders, the report said, might "set specific conditions regarding security coordination between Lebanon and Syria."
A Mustaqbal movement source, meanwhile, denied the "allegations and lies," broadcast by the Syrian television, saying it "confirms the established relation between Syrian intelligence and Fatah al-Islam." A Future movement ranking official said the international commission probing the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri would be asked to look into what the Syrian TV has screened. Al-Akhbar daily, meanwhile, quoted a Lebanese security official as saying that Syria, by screening the testimonies, might aim at urging Lebanon to set up a rule of security cooperation with Damascus in combating terror.
The security official, who was not further identified, said Lebanese authorities might launch further investigations with a number of suspects arrested in Lebanon, including Samir Ayyoubi, in light of what was screened by the Syrian television. One of the suspects who appeared on TV identified herself as Wafaa Abssi, daughter of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker Abssi, who claimed that Mustaqbal movement used to finance the group. Syrian television said the group was behind the Sept. 27 car bombing in southern Damascus that killed 17 people. Syrian Assistant Justice Minister Najm al-Ahmad and MP Khaled Abboud also blamed Mustaqbal Movement and March 14 Forces for the Damascus blast. Beirut, 07 Nov 08, 09:47

Cell Arrested for Monitoring Grand Serail, Military Outposts and Embassies
Naharnet/Security forces have arrested an Iranian clergyman, his foreign wife and two other Lebanese people on charges of monitoring the Grand Serail, several embassies and military outposts. The four were arrested early in the week in a black Rav-4 SUV at the Dahr al-Baidar junction on the main highway leading to Syria across the Bekaa Valley. The daily al-Balad did not identify "the foreign clergyman" and other detained suspects, but security sources said he is the Imam of a Bekaa Valley town. His wife is a Tanzanian national who also holds a Norwegian passport.  The two other apprehended suspects are a Lebanese man and his mother who are from the same Bekaa town where the clergyman operates. The sources said the four had been "tailed for over two weeks during which they were taking pictures and footage of several official, military and diplomatic institutions." Al-Balad said security forces found with the suspects "detailed pictures of the Grand Serail focusing on entrances to the compound and guard outposts." It said members of the "network live in a town near Baalbek," and army units were carrying out house raids in the Bekaa Valley. Beirut, 07 Nov 08, 10:14

Spanish Crown Prince Visits Spanish Troops in South Lebanon
Naharnet/The heir to the Spanish throne, Crown Prince Felipe, made a surprise visit to Lebanon on Friday to meet with Spanish troops serving with United Nations peacekeeping forces in the country, the Royal Palace said. "He is in fact today in Lebanon to meet with Spanish troops," a spokesman for the Royal Palace said, confirming earlier reports in the Spanish media. The 40-year-old prince arrived in Beirut on Friday morning Agence France Presse (AFP) reported, where he was received by Spain's ambassador to Lebanon, Miguel Benz.
He then traveled by helicopter to Marjeyoun in the south of the country where more than 1,000 Spanish troops are serving under the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Spanish media reported. Prince Felipe took part in a homage to Spanish troops who have been killed in Lebanon while at Spain's Miguel de Cervantes military base. Six members of the Spanish contingent serving in Lebanon were killed in 2007 when a booby-trapped car exploded as their patrol vehicle passed by. UNIFIL, which was set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon, was considerably beefed up in the wake of the 2006 war between Israeli forces and Hizbullah. In June Prince Felipe made a surprise visit to Afghanistan to meet with Spanish troops serving with NATO-led forces there.(AFP)
Beirut, 07 Nov 08, 17:55

Aoun Proposes Changing Lebanon into a Resistance Bastion
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has proposed a defense strategy blueprint suggesting changing the whole of Lebanon into a resisting community. A March 14 source termed Aoun's proposal "catastrophic" in an apparent reference to rejecting it by the majority alliance.
The Aoun document, according to the source, is based on the understanding between his movement and Hizbullah and aims at spreading the resistance to all Lebanese provinces. The daily An-Nahar said Aoun's proposal was not thoroughly discussed during the dialogue session presided over by President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday. A ranking source with the Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance said Aoun's concept of the defense strategy "deserves to be considered."
Democratic Gathering leader Walid Jumblat proposed during the dialogue session that each of the two main groups, March 14 and March 8, presents its own defense strategy blueprint for thorough consideration by the 14 leaders involved in national dialogue to work out a joint concept.
President Suleiman asked participants to prepare their defense strategy proposals for consideration in the forthcoming session scheduled for Dec. 22.
Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, on his part, called for "bolstering national unity and understanding on the various issues to facilitate agreement on any defense strategy plan." As-Safir said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, cabinet minister Mohammed Safadi and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea would present their own defense strategy proposals to the national dialogue's third session.
The daily al-Akhbar said Aoun's blueprint focuses on two main headlines: Collective resistance and defining threats that the Lebanese should be ready to confront.
Collective resistance, according to Aoun, means that the defense strategy should be a "bastion" at the economic, political, military and educational levels, noting the defense strategy is "not only related to the topic of resistance, but also includes all issues that should be settled to launch state construction and reform," according to al-Akhbar. The only threat to Lebanon, according to Aoun's blueprint, is the "external threat," the report said, noting that it specifically mentioned Israeli aggressions and the "Palestinian topic manipulated by external sides targeting Lebanon's security." Al-Akhbar quoted a source who had participated in the Conference on National Dialogue as saying Aoun's blueprint "did not mention Hizbullah weapons as such, but it called for resistance-army integration." Beirut, 06 Nov 08, 09:50

My view on Obama
Uri Orbach sorry to announce that he has still not formed an opinion on Obama's victory
Uri Orbach Published: 11.07.08, 14:05 / Israel Opinion
I am very sorry to disappoint you, but only two days have passed since Barack Obama's victory, and I still do not have firm conclusions. I haven't had the time to come up with them yet.
Moreover, even though a whole 48 hours have passed since Obama's victory, I still do not know whether his election triumph is good or bad for Israel. And it gets even worse: Not only have I failed to formulate an opinion in the past 48 hours, I am not even certain that in the past 48 years I have been able to form an opinion in respect to what is good or bad for Israel, which makes the situation even more complex.
However, it seems that around here everyone has a conclusion already. Obama is black, which is bad for Israel, because we are white. However, Obama is also young, which is good for Israel, because he will vigorously work on our behalf.
But on the other hand, his election victory is bad for Israel, because his name is Hussein. Yet at the same time it is good for Israel, because he is a good-looking man who will get along fabulously with Benjamin Netanyahu (who is also good for Israel).
Yet on the other hand, the Arabs are happy that Obama was elected, and that's a bad sign. However, most American Jews supported Obama, and that's an encouraging sign.
Furthermore, keep in mind that all the commentary and speculations regarding Barack Obama only have to do with our diplomatic situation. If we analyze his victory in terms of the relationship between Israel's various ethnicities as well, we can spend the rest of our lives engaged in thorough analysis.
We can analyze how the election of an Afro-American over there affects the likelihood of an Afro-Asian candidate over here. We can also look into what the election of a black man over there says in respect to the status of minorities around here. In addition, we can examine how Senator Obama's election victory will affect Kadima's primaries or the rejuvenated National Religious Party's primaries.
I just don't know. I really don't know. Only two days have passed. But thank God that some people already have it all figured out.

NLP denies 'terrorist' presence in Lebanon
Saturday, November 08, 2008/Daily Star
BEIRUT: The National Liberal Party (NLP) denounced what it called "ongoing attempts of the Syrian government to create the impression that Lebanon was a refuge for terrorist factions" on Friday. "Such attempts aim at restoring Syria's ability to intervene in Lebanese internal issues under the pretense of self-defense," the NLP said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting, headed by Dory Chamoun. The NLP said the international community and Lebanese national dialogue participants called on the Syrian regime to start the process of border demarcation in order to prevent the smuggling of weapons and fighters.The statement added that the NLP remained committed to the Doha Accord and the discussion of Lebanon's national defense strategy. The NLP also rejected the expansion of the dialogue and called for state monopoly on military weapons.

March 14 denies charge of funding Fatah al-Islam
Damascus parades suspects on state television
By Andrew Wander /Daily Star staff
Saturday, November 08, 2008
BEIRUT: Lebanon's pro-Western political leaders were reeling on Friday after captured members of the Fatah al-Islam Islamist group said they had been funded by the Future Movement during televised "confessions" to a suicide car-bombing carried out in Damascus in September. A suspect identified as Wafa al-Abssi, the daughter of Fatah al-Islam leader Shakr al-Abssi, said on Syrian state television that the group had received money from Saad Hariri's Future Movement, which leads Lebanon's anti-Syrian parliamentary majority. Speaking to reporters in Moscow Friday, Hariri said he would comment on the issue "as soon as I return to Lebanon."
"I will not comment on the information, here in Moscow," he said, "but I will have something to say in Beirut."
The suggestion that money from the March 14 coalition, which is heavily backed by the US as well as other Western powers, may have found itself in the hands of an Islamist group
triggered emergency consultations between Future officials late on Thursday night, and a crisis meeting of the March 14 general secretariat Friday.
A statement released by March 14 after the meeting linked the allegations with the forthcoming findings of a UN investigation commission into the death of former Premier Rafik Hariri, due on December 10 this year. Hariri was killed by a massive car-bomb in Beirut in February 2005. Damascus has denied any involvement in his death. Abssi's claims, the statement says, are a ploy of the "Syrian regime" aimed at "setting the stage for rejecting charges against this regime by the International Commission's report."The statement adds that the Syrian government is "strictly specialized in killing and terror to achieve political aims."
Meanwhile, head of the Lebanese Forces executive committee called on Syrian authorities Friday, "to hand over the suspects to the international investigative commission" looking into the assassinations of Hariri and other politicians since 2005.
"The international investigative commission should look into the confessions of those people to check their credibility," he told reporters after a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir. "I think the Syrians are using such strategies in response to accusation made by MP Hariri last week that Syria was exporting terrorism to Lebanon," he added.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Future Movement MP Ahmad Fatfat said: "Syria is staging a political security play. Those confessions affirm the connection between Fatah al-Islam and Syrian intelligence that we have long spoken about."Fatfat said the Syrians had waited before airing the confession tapes on television.
"They are taking advantage of the period of transition between presidents in the US," he said, before warning that the Future Movement was braced for the resumption of political assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon. "We are taking precautions," he said.
Syrian state television broadcast the confessions of 11 people accused of planning the Damascus attack, which killed 17 people and left 14 others wounded.
All the suspects paraded were said to be members of Fatah al-Islam, a militant group that came to prominence when it fought a 15-week battle with the Lebanese Army at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in the summer of 2007. The alleged bomb-plotters said the Damascus blast had been planned to be the first in a wave of attacks in the country, with targets including security posts, British and Italian diplomats and Syria's central bank.
The blast occurred near a security complex and a Shiite shrine on the airport road south of central Damascus. The target of the blast was unclear.
One of the men appearing on television identified himself as Abdel-Baqi al-Hussein, said to be a senior member of Fatah al-Islam. He indicated that the suicide bomber who had died in the bombing had been a Saudi known as Abu Aysha. "Abu Aysha was smuggled into Syria," Hussein said. "It was him who drove the car packed with explosives and blew himself up in a street in southern Damascus."
He said the aim of the attack was to "harm the regime in Syria." The television program showed what it claimed was a photograph of the bomber.
Separately, a Lebanon-based militant mentioned in the televised confessions of those involved in the Syria bombing could be the "missing link" between the blast in Damascus and two deadly car-bomb explosions that took place in Tripoli in recent months. Abed Awad was named by Hussein as an important member of Fatah al-Islam, and a possible successor to Abssi's leadership of the group.
Awad is a shadowy figure living in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp. Known by the nom-de-guerre "Prince of Al-Qaeda," he is wanted by Lebanese investigators responsible for rounding up the "Jawhar cell" - the militant group behind the deadly campaign of attacks on the Lebanese Armed Forces in Tripoli. Security sources told The Daily Star last month that Awad gave orders for the Tripoli bomb attacks, but they have been unable to arrest him because he has not left the camp. - With agencies

Army detainees 'had detailed photos of serail'
Daily Star/BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army arrested a group of people in the Bekaa Valley region for possessing pictures of the Grand Serail's main entrances, bureaus and halls, in addition to photos and footage of military and security headquarters as well as embassies in Lebanon, a security source confirmed on Friday.
Al-Balad newspaper has carried the news in its Friday edition.
Security sources told the paper that those arrested were a non-Lebanese cleric and his wife, and another Lebanese person and his mother. "Arrests were made on Wednesday night in the Bekaa after several weeks of pursuit," the sources added.
The same sources added that what "amazed and intrigued" investigators were pictures of the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut found in the possession of the gang.
"The group had detailed pictures," they said, adding that the four-member gang "had detailed maps of the Grand Serail which showed with great accuracy the location of certain offices and departments."Sources said members of the gang "lived in a town near Baalbek." The security sources told the daily that the Lebanese Army was "closely" following up on the situation in the Bekaa Valley. "Recent crackdowns in the Bekaa region led to uncovering a number of sleeper cells," they added. -
 
Palestinian slain during Beddawi shootout
The Daily Star/BEDDAWI: A member of a Palestinian faction allied to Syria was shot dead at a refugee camp in Northern Lebanon Friday, a Palestinian security official said.Tareq Ziyad Miari, 35, of the Al-Saeqa faction, was hit several times during an exchange of fire between security forces and a group of wanted men inside the Beddawi camp , the official said on condition of anonymity. "He was hit by mistake near the site of the raid when the wanted men opened fire on security forces who had arrived to arrest them," he said. The Lebanese Army does not enter the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in the country, leaving responsibility for security to Palestinian factions. Two of the wanted men were arrested, while a cleric who was also targeted in the raid managed to flee, the official said.
According to United Nations figures more than 16,000 refugees live in Beddawi camp. Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps are considered a fertile breeding ground for extremist groups, with militants believed to have links with Al-Qaeda moving in. In 2007 more than 400 people, including 168 soldiers, were killed in a 15-week battle in the Northern Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp before the Lebanese Army defeated Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamists holed up there. - AFP

Both FPM and LF claim victory in USJ student polls
By Andrew Wander and Fidelius Schmid /Daily Star staff
Saturday, November 08, 2008
BEIRUT: Student elections at the University of Saint Joseph ended Friday with both major camps declaring victory. "It looks like we're winning, but it is not over yet. We're still counting" said Charbel Karam, student leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) at USJ.
Tony Darwish, deputy head of the Lebanese Forces (LF) student wing, said his party had won in the more political faculties. "We have won three out of five presidencies on Huvelin campus. This is why we are the overall winners of the election," Darwish said.
Information collected during the day showed the opposition winning the presidencies of the faculties of law, business and marketing, dental medicine, medicine, and engineering. The LF said it had won the economics faculty, while the FPM said the result was not known yet.
The faculty of pharmacy was won by independent Natalie Neim. Caline Farah, an independent who says she sympathizes with the FPM, took the presidency at the school of human sciences. Nutrition and physiotherapy both went to a second tour. The faculty of political science was won by Hady Dahrouj, the LF candidate, after the FPM candidate withdrew and both sides formed a consensus.
Supporters of the FPM on Friday stressed reform.
"I like the FPM, they are pushing a lot of reforms," student Leah Nehmeh said just after voting. "I think we will win because we always win, and I don't believe those who say we will be less popular this time," she added.
Overall, campaigns had focused more on practical issues of university life than on hot-bed political matters.
"For me this is no not political. What we want to work for is for the students, for all students," said Christian Nadal, who ran for president at the faculty of human sciences. "There is no real difference between the candidates here."
"Work is different here. The aims are not political but linked to university life," said Farah, who won the presidency.
"We are against the politicians. In fact, we have created something that could shock the politicians," Nadal said.
His list, Mesh.com, paid for its campaign itself, he said. "Every student gave about $40 to $50. In other universities, it is the political parties that pay for the campaigns," he said. Tracy Bassil, who ran as a third-year independent, said she just wanted to improve her fellow students' lives: "I'm really only interested in trying to help class with things like finding jobs after university. I'm not here to play politics" The shift toward daily life was appreciated by at least some students.
"I think political parties have nothing to do with these elections - we are choosing people to represent us as students, not to run the country," Paula Abu Fakher said.
"I voted for the LF candidate," she said, "but only because she spoke to me and told me she worked to get the best for the students."
"I focused on things like saying, 'the administration is not always right,' the sport program and the relations between different students" said Yaacoub Halal, who won the presidency in the faculty of dental medicine for the FPM. In separate elections at Notre Dame University, the Lebanese Forces apparently won by a landslide. They took 24 seats, while the FPM only won four, according to the LF.

Parties field competing defense strategies
Proposals from rival factions receive chorus of mixed responses
By Nicholas Kimbrell /Daily Star staff
Saturday, November 08, 2008
BEIRUT: Proposals for Lebanon's national defense strategy proffered by rival political parties during national dialogue talks earlier this week have been met with a chorus of responses, as competing factions struggle to hammer out a unified defense plan. The blueprint proposed by Michel Aoun, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and a former armed forces commander, elicited the greatest reaction, with some condemning and others applauding his plan.
Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) chief Walid Jumblatt and Aoun were all reported to have presented defense proposals during the dialogue talks, which were chaired by President Michel Sleiman and suspended Wednesday until late December.
Aoun's plan reportedly called for a greater integration of Hizbullah and the Lebanese Army and for the creation of a national air-defense system to protect the nation from Israel.
The proposal was also said to advocate spreading the national resistance throughout Lebanon, a provision that triggered a number of critical responses.
During a press conference Thursday, Jumblatt said that the PSP and the Phalange had offered plans of their own. He added that the parties would each provide another set of defense blueprints when the dialogue is resumed in December.
Jumblatt added that the most effective defense plan would serve to empower the army and defend the state against Israel.
Rami Rayess, media adviser for the PSP, told The Daily Star that the competing proposals were productive for the "purpose of the discussion, the dialogue table."
However, he said that Aoun's plan would "make the [the resistance] a popular resistance," and added that the PSP could not accept a proposal to spread the resistance across Lebanon to villages north and south. Instead, "the defense strategy should be centralized," he said, adding that the resistance should operate under the patronage of the government. Rayess also outlined the four primary principles that any national defense strategy should be based on: support for the obligations of 1949 Armistice with Israel, the mandatory and pre-eminent role of the state, the state's monopoly over the nation's military force and weapons, and the use of the resistance's capacity under the authority of the government.
The goal of the national defense dialogue, he added, was to "reach unanimously the best possible program for the defense of the nation."
FPM MP Farid Khazen also voiced support for the series of proposals presented during the dialogue. "This is how it should be," he told The Daily Star.
Although he did not mention specific details from any of the plans, he noted that the current dialogue is a continuation of the process that began in 2006, which was presided over by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Khazen also sounded a note of caution, saying of the national dialogue and the formulation of a national defense strategy: "It will take time." In comments Friday, another FPM MP, Ibrahim Kanaan, said that "[Aoun] is the only political figure who gave a practical proposal, and he is committed to what he suggested."
Michel Murr, an independent MP once aligned with the FPM, spoke well of Aoun's plan but said that its had serious problems. A national air-defense system could be prohibitively expensive, he said, costing up to $4 billion. He also criticized the proposal to universalize the resistance, noting that given the current security situation in Lebanon the idea would likely prove counterproductive. Earlier this week, a source within the March 14 - to which the PSP and the Phalange belong - was reported to have labeled Aoun's plan "catastrophic."Another member of the March 14 coalition, Future MP Ahmad Fatfat, said Friday that the coalition's defense strategy would involve reserving weapons and the use of force to the legitimate institutions of the government.
Speaking with The Daily Star, Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, called the multiple proposals "normal and healthy."
"It's good people are making suggestions," he said. But the question is, he added, whether the competing plans overlap, share common ground, and foster the spirit of compromise. "I doubt there is going to be any real or rapid progress on this issue," he said, at least until the parliamentary polls this spring.

Open letter to Obama by Ralph Nader‏
November 3, 2008
Dear Obama:
In your nearly two-year presidential campaign, the words "hope and change," "change and hope" have been your trademark declarations. Yet there is an asymmetry between those objectives and your political character that succumbs to contrary centers of power that want not "hope and change" but the continuation of the power-entrenched status quo.
Far more than Senator McCain, you have received enormous, unprecedented contributions from corporate interests, Wall Street interests and, most interestingly, big corporate law firm attorneys. Never before has a Democratic nominee for President achieved this supremacy over his Republican counterpart. Why, apart from your unconditional vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, are these large corporate interests investing so much in Senator Obama? Could it be that in your state Senate record, your U.S. Senate record and your presidential campaign record (favouring nuclear power, coal plants, offshore oil drilling, corporate subsidies including the 1872 Mining Act and avoiding any comprehensive program to crack down on the corporate crime wave and the bloated, wasteful military budget, for example) you have shown that you are their man?
To advance change and hope, the presidential persona requires character, courage, integrity-- not expediency, accommodation and short-range opportunism. Take, for example, your transformation from an articulate defender of Palestinian rights in Chicago before your run for the U.S. Senate to an acolyte, a ditto man for the hard-line AIPAC lobby, which bolsters the militaristic oppression, occupation, blockage, colonization and land-water seizures over the years of the Palestinian peoples and their shrunken territories in the West Bank and Gaza. Eric Alterman summarized numerous polls in a December 2007 issue of The Nation magazine showing that AIPAC policies are opposed by a majority of Jewish-Americans.
You know quite well that only when the U.S. Government supports the Israeli and Palestinian peace movements, that years ago worked out a detailed two-state solution (which is supported by a majority of Israelis and Palestinians), will there be a chance for a peaceful resolution of this 60-year plus conflict. Yet you align yourself with the hard-liners, so much so that in your infamous, demeaning speech to the AIPAC convention right after you gained the nomination of the Democratic Party, you supported an "undivided Jerusalem," and opposed negotiations with Hamas-- the elected government in Gaza. Once again, you ignored the will of the Israeli people who, in a March 1, 2008 poll by the respected newspaper Haaretz, showed that 64% of Israelis favoured "direct negotiations with Hamas." Siding with the AIPAC hard-liners is what one of the many leading Palestinians advocating dialogue and peace with the Israeli people was describing when he wrote "Anti-Semitism today is the persecution of Palestinian society by the Israeli state."
During your visit to Israel this summer, you scheduled a mere 45 minutes of your time for Palestinians with no news conference, and no visit to Palestinian refugee camps that would have focused the media on the brutalization of the Palestinians. Your trip supported the illegal, cruel blockade of Gaza in defiance of international law and the United Nations charter. You focused on southern Israeli casualties which during the past year have totalled one civilian casualty to every 400 Palestinian casualties on the Gaza side. Instead of a statesmanship that decried all violence and its replacement with acceptance of the Arab League's 2002 proposal to permit a viable Palestinian state within the 1967 borders in return for full economic and diplomatic relations between Arab countries and Israel, you played the role of a cheap politician, leaving the area and Palestinians with the feeling of much shock and little awe.
David Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, described your trip succinctly: "There was almost a wilful display of indifference to the fact that there are two narratives here. This could serve him well as a candidate, but not as a President."
Palestinian American commentator, Ali Abunimah, noted that Obama did not utter a single criticism of Israel, "of its relentless settlement and wall construction, of the closures that make life unliveable for millions of Palestinians. ...Even the Bush administration recently criticized Israeli's use of cluster bombs against Lebanese civilians [see www.atfl.org for elaboration]. But Obama defended Israeli's assault on Lebanon as an exercise of its 'legitimate right to defend itself.'"
In numerous columns Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, strongly criticized the Israeli government's assault on civilians in Gaza, including attacks on "the heart of a crowded refugee camp... with horrible bloodshed" in early 2008.
Israeli writer and peace advocate-- Uri Avnery-- described Obama's appearance before AIPAC as one that "broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning, adding that Obama "is prepared to sacrifice the most basic American interests. After all, the US has a vital interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace that will allow it to find ways to the hearts of the Arab masses from Iraq to Morocco. Obama has harmed his image in the Muslim world and mortgaged his future-- if and when he is elected president." he said, adding, "Of one thing I am certain: Obama's declarations at the AIPAC conference are very, very bad for peace. And what is bad for peace is bad for Israel, bad for the world and bad for the Palestinian people."
A further illustration of your deficiency of character is the way you turned your back on the Muslim-Americans in this country. You refused to send surrogates to speak to voters at their events. Having visited numerous churches and synagogues, you refused to visit a single Mosque in America. Even George W. Bush visited the Grand Mosque in Washington D.C. after 9/11 to express proper sentiments of tolerance before a frightened major religious group of innocents.
Although the New York Times published a major article on June 24, 2008 titled "Muslim Voters Detect a Snub from Obama" (by Andrea Elliott), citing examples of your aversion to these Americans who come from all walks of life, who serve in the armed forces and who work to live the American dream. Three days earlier the International Herald Tribune published an article by Roger Cohen titled "Why Obama Should Visit a Mosque." None of these comments and reports change your political bigotry against Muslim-Americans-- even though your father was a Muslim from Kenya.
Perhaps nothing illustrated your utter lack of political courage or even the mildest version of this trait than your surrendering to demands of the hard-liners to prohibit former president Jimmy Carter from speaking at the Democratic National Convention. This is a tradition for former presidents and one accorded in prime time to Bill Clinton this year.
Here was a President who negotiated peace between Israel and Egypt, but his recent book pressing the dominant Israeli superpower to avoid Apartheid of the Palestinians and make peace was all that it took to sideline him. Instead of an important address to the nation by Jimmy Carter on this critical international problem, he was relegated to a stroll across the stage to "tumultuous applause," following a showing of a film about the Carter Center's post-Katrina work. Shame on you, Barack Obama!
But then your shameful behaviour has extended to many other areas of American life. (See the factual analysis by my running mate, Matt Gonzalez, on www.votenader.org). You have turned your back on the 100-million poor Americans composed of poor whites, African-Americans, and Latinos. You always mention helping the «middle class» but you omits, repeatedly, mention of the "poor" in America.
Should you be elected President, it must be more than an unprecedented upward career move following a brilliantly unprincipled campaign that spoke "change" yet demonstrated actual obeisance to the concentration power of the "corporate supremacists." It must be about shifting the power from the few to the many. It must be a White House presided over by a black man who does not turn his back on the downtrodden here and abroad but challenges the forces of greed, dictatorial control of labour, consumers and taxpayers, and the militarization of foreign policy. It must be a White House that is transforming of American politics-- opening it up to the public funding of elections (through voluntary approaches)-- and allowing smaller candidates to have a chance to be heard on debates and in the fullness of their now restricted civil liberties. Call it a competitive democracy.
Your presidential campaign again and again has demonstrated cowardly stands. "Hope" some say springs eternal." But not when "reality" consumes it daily.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader

Press Release ILC-1559: "Bring the suspects from Damascus to the Hague to be questioned" -
Nov. 8, 2008‏
Written by ILC1559
In an urgent message addressed to the office of the UN Secretary General for Legal affairs, the top official of the "Committee 1559" asked the international organization to put its hand on the so-called affair of the Terrorist group Fatah al Islam.
The ILC Committee 1559 asks the UN:
"Bring the suspects from Damascus to the Hague to be questioned"
New York,
In an urgent message addressed to the office of the UN Secretary General for Legal affairs, the top official of the "Committee 1559" asked the international organization to put its hand on the so-called affair of the Terrorist group Fatah al Islam. Mr Tom Harb, Secretary General of the NGO said that:
In view of the fact that the Syrian regime has made allegations that it has arrested a number of members of Terrorist group Fatah al Islam and displayed them on Syrian state TV;
In view of the fact that this group is responsible for the killing of Lebanese military and civilians;
In view of the fact that this group operates in Lebanon and in Syria and that it crosses the borders back and forth, in full violation of UNSCR 1701 and in view of the fact that it is an armed group operating on Lebanese territory against the will of the Lebanese Government and in violation of UNSCR 1559;
Therefore we are asking the office of the Secretary General to instruct the Syrian regime to transfer the custody of the so-called suspects to the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague. Furthermore we ask the United Nations to summon the Syrian officers who claimed arresting the terrorists to make their depositions in front of international investigators.
For the Committee 1559, based on statements made by Lebanese officials and public figures, themselves targeted by the Syrian intelligence, and based on expert reports concluding that the Syrian regime is behind these terrorist conspiracies, urge the United Nations to seize this opportunity and turn the claims of the Assad regime to be investigated by the International Tribunal. For if the Assad regime has been a suspect in the Terror assassination of Rafiq Hariri and many Lebanese politicians over the past four years at least, hence its latest move if anything is an additional suspect maneuver which deserves international scrutiny.