LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
January 06/08
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to
Saint John 1,43-51. The next day he decided to go to Galilee, and he found
Philip. And Jesus said to him, "Follow me."Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the
town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found
the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of
Joseph, from Nazareth." But Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come from
Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward
him and said of him, "Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in
him."Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to
him, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."Nathanael answered
him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."Jesus answered
and said to him, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig
tree? You will see greater things than this."And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I
say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and
descending on the Son of Man."
Free Opinions and Releases
Whose Lebanon is it?By:
Ayman El-Amir.Al-Ahram
Weekly. January 05/08
America and Iran have a chance to
help themselves - and the region-
The Daily Star. January 05/08
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 05/08
Bush: 'All of Us'
Should Isolate Syria so Lebanon Can Have a President-Naharnet
Arabs Called to 'Deter'
the Assad Regime and Salvage Lebanon-Naharnet
Arabs to Call for Suleiman's Elections before New Government-Naharnet
Spanish Prime Minister
in Beirut on Surprise Visit-Naharnet
Hizbullah Member Found Killed in South-Naharnet
Muallem, Larijani Discuss Lebanon-Naharnet
Qabalan Wants Arabs to Meet at Baabda
Palace-Naharnet
Abu Faour Urges Hizbullah to Cooperate
with Judiciary-Naharnet
Hizbullah Member Found Killed in South-Naharnet
Bush blames Lebanon stalemate on Syrian interference-AFP
Bush May Add Lebanon, Iraq To Stops on Trip-Wall
Street Journal
Syrian FM and Iran's Larijani discuss Lebanon: report-AFP
Lebanon's majority urges Arab pressure on Syria-Reuters
Palestinian Red Crescent to get new
ambulances-Daily Star
Iranian official to meet Assad to
discuss Lebanon-Daily Star
US call for cultural preservation
proposals-Daily Star
Ghanaian UNIFIL unit reaches out to
community-Daily Star
Siniora Cabinet hopes for Arab
League help-Daily Star
Fadlallah laments Lebanon' status
as 'open arena,' urges rational dialogue-Daily
Star
AUB department marks partnership
with WHO-Daily Star
Sign of the times: Jezzine
residents go back to nature to heat their homes-Daily
Star
Anti-Zionist author kicks off
speaking tour of Lebanon-Daily
Star
Australian firm to start cleanup of
Beirut beach - for free-Daily
Star
Olive-press owners allege lack of
government support-Daily Star
Bakeries drop threats after promise
to maintain subsidies-Daily
Star
Eavesdropping on history with
Lebanon's Hoover-Daily Star
Bush: 'All of Us' Should Isolate Syria so
Lebanon Can Have a President
U.S. President George Bush held Syria responsible for the impasse that has
prevented Lebanon from electing a new president, saying there should be a "clear
message to the Syrians from all of us that you will continue to be isolated." He
also accused Damascus of "thwarting the will of the Lebanese people."
In an interview with international media, Bush said that on his trip next week
to the Middle East he would seek to remind other leaders "how important it is
for Lebanon to succeed and how important it is for all of us to work to free
that government from foreign interference."
"I am disappointed that the presidency has not been selected, and believe very
much that Syrian influence is preventing the selection," Bush said.
"My position has been that the March 14th Coalition, if it had mustered a
majority plus one, 50 percent plus one, should be allowed to go forward with the
selection of the president," he said. "And so there needs to be a clear
message to the Syrians from all of us that you will continue to be isolated, you
will continue to be viewed as a nation that is thwarting the will of the
Lebanese people. "There needs to be a focused voice, and so our efforts
diplomatically are to convince others that they must continue to pressure Syria
so that the Lebanese process can go forward."Bush added that he has been "very
impressed" by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora "as a man who's committed to
the well-being of all the Lebanese people." Bush is scheduled to depart Tuesday
for a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories in an attempt to boost
Middle East peace talks re-launched at an international conference in Annapolis
in November. He is not scheduled to visit Lebanon on the trip.(AFP-Naharnet)
Beirut, 05 Jan 08, 08:40
Arabs Called to 'Deter' the Assad Regime and Salvage
Lebanon
The March 14 forces on Friday urged Arab foreign ministers to take "deterrent
measures" against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime to protect Lebanon.
A statement issued after a meeting by the majority alliance's follow-up
committee was basically addressed to Arab foreign ministers who are scheduled to
meet in Cairo Sunday to consider Lebanon's ongoing presidential crisis. "The
March 14 forces … hope that the Arab meeting would be decisive with the Syrian
Regime to put an end to its interference in Lebanon and halt the policy of
favoritism regarding this regime and the adoption, ultimately, of deterrent
measures against it," the statement said. "The March 14 forces need not remind
that while defending Lebanon's entity, the state (structure) and the democratic
regime of the independent state of Lebanon, they also defend Lebanon's true Arab
belonging as well as the Arabs and their central Palestine Cause in addition to
Arab solidarity as a whole," the statement added. Lebanon, the statement noted,
"has been subjected to a continuous Syrian assault since withdrawal of Syrian
troops in April 2005, following the assassination of martyr Rafik Hariri." It
accused the Assad Regime of trying to topple Premier Fouad Saniora's majority
government "through non-democratic, violent and irresponsible efforts that
almost toppled civil order."The Syrian "assault reached a peak by blocking the
election of a president for the republic of Lebanon and bringing to failure all
efforts aimed at facilitating the election, the latest of which was the French
initiative," the statement added.
"The March 14 Forces plead with the Arab League congress to exert pressure to
lift the Syrian Regime's hands off and help Lebanon elect a consensus president
as soon as possible, especially after the Lebanese agreed on a candidate
accepted by all the factions, he is Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman," the
statement said. It stressed: "March 14 forces are committed to his (Suleiman's)
nomination and consider his assumption of power a normal introduction to
national dialogue on all issues." Beirut, 04 Jan 08, 18:23
Arabs to Call for Suleiman's Elections before New
Government
Arab foreign ministers will call at their meeting on Sunday for electing Gen.
Michel Suleiman as president so he, as a neutral leader, can discuss the various
issues, including the opposition's demand of a national unity government. The
pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, citing Arab sources in Cairo, said on Saturday that the
Arab foreign ministers are likely to ask Syria to "cooperate over Lebanon." The
sources also said that the Arab foreign ministers will possibly "consider"
remarks by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem that a Lebanon settlement can
only be reached through consensus as a fact that could be "achieved" if a
president is elected. Al Hayat quoted the sources as saying that the Arab
foreign ministers' meeting will be a "turning point."The sources hoped that the
meeting would provide "a minimum Arab understanding over Lebanon." The daily
said that the Arab foreign ministers cannot adopt either Lebanese demands,
adding that thorny issues cannot be discussed before a consensus President is
elected. Beirut, 05 Jan 08, 11:19
Spanish Prime Minister in Beirut on Surprise Visit
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero arrived on Saturday on a
surprise visit to meet Lebanese officials, officials said. They said Zapatero
will also visit Spain's troops serving in the U.N. peacekeeping force in
Lebanon. Zapatero held a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Fouad Saniora on
arrival at the airport in Beirut, the officials said. He then flew by helicopter
to the south of the country to visit the Spanish contingent of the U.N. Interim
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Lebanese and UNIFIL sources told AFP. Spain has
nearly 1,100 troops in southeastern Lebanon near the border with Israel as part
of UNIFIL, which was boosted to more than 13,000 soldiers after last year's war
between Israel and Hizbullah. Six members of the Spanish contingent were killed
on June 24 last year when a booby-trapped car exploded as their patrol vehicle
passed by. Spain has been one of the leading countries trying to end Lebanon's
long-standing political crisis. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos
has made several trips to Beirut and to powerful neighbour Syria in a bid to
help break the deadlock over the past few months. Lebanon has also been without
a president since the mandate of pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud expired on November 23
amid sharp divisions between the ruling majority and the opposition, which is
backed by Syria and Iran.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 05 Jan 08, 13:08
Hizbullah Member Found Killed in South
Hizbullah member Ahmed Mhanna was found killed in his hometown village in
southern Lebanon on Saturday, the state-run National News Agency reported.
It said Mhanna's body was found at dawn outside his home in Jebal el-Butum. NNA
said the body was soaked in blood with a bullet in the head and another in the
waist. It said Mhanna escaped an assassination attempt two months ago when an
explosive device planted underneath his car was discovered before it was
detonated. Security forces cordoned off the area and opened an investigation
into the incident, NNA said. It said Mhanna's body was taken to Jabal Amel
Hospital. Hizbullah, in a statement, denied any of its members had been killed.
Beirut, 05 Jan 08, 10:22
Muallem, Larijani Discuss Lebanon
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Ali Larijani, adviser to Iran's
supreme leader, have discussed developments in Lebanon, the official SANA news
agency reported. It said Larijani expressed after the meeting which took place
in Damascus on Friday "Iran's support for Syrian efforts to reach a compromise"
in Lebanon that would allow the election of a new Lebanese president, the agency
said. "The key to a solution in Lebanon lies in the hands of Lebanese parties,"
added the adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Lebanon has been without a
president since the mandate of pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud expired on November 23
amid sharp divisions between the ruling majority and the opposition, which is
backed by Syria and Iran. On December 28, a parliamentary session called to
elect a president was postponed until January 12 -- the 11th postponement of a
vote since September. Earlier on Friday, the majority March 14 alliance urged
the Arab League to protect Lebanon from what it said were Syrian attempts to
block the long-overdue election. "We call on the Arab League to protect
independent Lebanon from destruction by the Syrian regime, and its terrorism
aimed at shaking Lebanon's stability," the statement said ahead of a meeting of
Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Sunday. Damascus has denied accusations that
it was behind the killing in 2005 of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and also
of other anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon since then.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 05 Jan
08, 08:36
Qabalan Wants Arabs to Meet at Baabda Palace
Lebanon's highest Shiite authority, Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, on Friday urged
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa to convene the forthcoming meeting of
Arab foreign ministers at the Baabda presidential palace. Qabalan made the
proposal in his Friday sermon to believers. "I ask … Moussa to call for
convening the Arab foreign ministers meeting at the presidential palace in
Baabda, so that the palace would be the center for consensus among all Lebanese
politicians," Qabalan said. He urged the Lebanese to "open your hearts to each
other." Prior to the sermon, Qabalan held telephone discussion with Moussa that
focused on the "political crisis in Lebanon," the state-run National News Agency
reported. He "praised Moussa's efforts aimed at narrowing the gap between the
Lebanese and urged the Arabs to exert more efforts to achieve consensus among
the Lebanese," the report said. Qabalan expressed hope that the Arab League
"would hold its meetings in Lebanon to establish contact with all parties to the
conflict and produce an Arab settlement" to the ongoing crisis. "We want the
Arabs to embrace Lebanon anew and not to leave it to the winds of
internationalization," He added. Beirut, 04 Jan 08, 19:40
Abu Faour Urges Hizbullah to Cooperate with Judiciary
MP Wael Abu Faour on Friday urged Hizbullah to help the Lebanese judiciary
implicate Israel in the serial killings that have been targeting Lebanon for
over three years. "If certain parties have information regarding Israel's
responsibility for the recent assassinations, they should help the Lebanese
judiciary by providing information about Israel's responsibility … They should
help the Lebanese judiciary by providing the Lebanese state with such documents
to convict Israel," Abu Faour added. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
has said Israel is behind the serial killings that have targeted anti-Syrian
figures in Lebanon.
The March 14 majority alliance blames the killings on Syria. Damascus denies the
charge. Abu Faour asked: "If they do recognize the judiciary … why don't they
recognize the international tribunal?" that would try suspects in the 2005
assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes. "Why do they reject
the international tribunal? Why do they reject the Lebanese judiciary?" Abu
Faour added. Beirut, 04 Jan 08, 18:54
Whose Lebanon is it?
By: Ayman El-Amir*
Al-Ahram Weekly.
It's high time for the Lebanese to start nurturing a collective possessiveness
and a unified solidarity towards a single Lebanon, argues Ayman El-Amir*
Lebanon has a job vacancy that several months of factional negotiations and
weeks of foreign mediation could not fill -- the presidency. The Lebanese
parliament has, for the tenth time, postponed its meeting to elect a president
due to disagreement between the parliamentary majority and the opposition that
has made the two-third majority necessary to select a president unattainable.
Lebanon, at times a peaceful and friendly dreamland, is now in the grip of a
reign of terror, mastered by political assassinations and car bombs. The most
recent shockwave was the car-bomb murder of the army's chief of operations,
Brigadier François Al-Hajj. It was a strong reminder that none of the red lines
established in Lebanese politics since the end of the Civil War is inviolable.
In the present stalemate, Lebanon has one of two choices: to go the way of
Balkanisation or to restructure the political system away from the rickety
sectarian balance it has tried to live by since the 1926 constitution and the
1943 National Pact.
For centuries, Lebanon has been ruled by feudal warlords that turned into
statesmen as the Ottoman Empire declined and the country gained statehood under
French mandate. Like the Balkans, Lebanon has a blood-stained history of
inter-ethnic rivalry and cleansing. In this historical context, everyone
persecuted and killed everyone else: the Druze massacred the Maronites, the
Maronites killed the Muslims, and the Palestinians, and the Sunni and Shia
Muslims, fought and killed each other as recently as the Lebanese Civil War of
1975-1989.
Lebanese politicians have learned to pawn off the country's security to foreign
powers as the best guarantee of protecting conflicting sectarian interests. This
has equally been a colonialist legacy. When, in 1840, the British became wary of
the expansionist policy and influence of Mohamed Ali Pasha, the Viceroy of the
Ottoman Sultan in Egypt, they decided to dislodge his son Ibrahim Pasha from
Syria and Lebanon, which he had conquered earlier. They wooed local chieftains
and rulers with money and privileges to rebel against Egyptian rule in favour of
British protection in the name of the Ottoman sultan. The tradition of foreign
intervention was carried on. A century later, President Camille Chamoun appealed
in 1958 to US President Dwight D Eisenhower to help save his presidency from an
imminent civil conflict. Eisenhower promptly sent the Sixth Fleet to salvage
Chamoun's presidency. In 1982, at the height of the Lebanese Civil War, Bashir
Gemayel, scion of the Maronite community, struck an alliance with the then
Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon, the mind-architect of the invasion and
siege of Beirut who also collaborated in the Phalange militia's massacre of
Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Gemayel was elected president
in 1982 but was assassinated before assuming office. His brother Amin replaced
him and in 1983 signed a peace treaty with Israel that was never implemented due
to the objection of Syria, who has consistently played the big brother role in
Lebanon. It was in the same year that US President Ronald Reagan sent more than
1,500 marines as part of a force to control the Civil War situation in Lebanon,
particularly to contain Syria's influence. In the first suicide bombing mustered
by the newly-born Hizbullah against foreign military presence in Lebanon, a
truckload of explosives was detonated at the US marine barracks, killing 241 --
a major blow to the interventionist policy of the US's Reagan administration.
Lebanon's history of domestic sectarian rivalries, shifting alliances, regional
power struggles, reconciliation and tribal allegiances explain only partly the
present French-led diplomatic grass-hopping by all sorts of envoys all over
Beirut in the past few months. Short of solving the political logjam, it only
served as a reminder that Lebanon is open space to all kinds of interests and
interventions. US President George W Bush has thrown in his hat, suggesting that
the president of Lebanon be elected by a simple majority (50 plus one). Prime
Minister Fouad Al-Siniora immediately obliged by calling for the amendment of
the country's constitution to designate the army chief as president-candidate,
but also to put the opposition on the spot.
Lebanon is trying to survive as a modern, pluralistic, pro-Western democracy
dressed in a mediaeval, sectarian straightjacket. In times of crisis, sectarian
balance ensures immobility. If the balance is tipped one way or the other, a car
bomb sends a clear message to political master-minds. This is the one, unlearned
lesson of the Lebanese Civil War that was recognised by the Taif Accord of 1989.
It called for the eradication of political sectarianism as a matter of national
priority. This is usually overlooked when Western political leaders express
their views on the situation in Lebanon. They see it as a backyard arena for
shadow-boxing Iran and Syria. When they call up UN Security Council Resolution
1559, which endorsed the Taif Accord, they only recall the provision for
disarming "all militias"-- all meaning Hizbullah, which single-handedly beat
back Israeli incursion into Lebanon in the summer months of 2006. In the old
colonial mentality, Western powers support their allies as a way of ensuring
their political interests rather than the security and stability of Lebanon per
se. And the West's Lebanese allies are more interested in safeguarding their
time-honoured heritage of feudal privileges and associated political power
against the dynamics of change.
Among these dynamics is the demographic change that has enhanced the numerical
power of the Shia population. The marginalised Lebanese Shia, who suffered
during the Civil War and were again the main target of Israeli heavy bombing
raids during the 2006 incursion, are no longer satisfied with the role of the
sacrificial lamb. They are posting their claim to power-sharing as a 20th
century populist concept not exclusively derived from feudal privilege. How to
reconcile this concept with an obsolete political system that dons the mantle of
a modern- day democracy is Lebanon's dilemma.
Lebanon's complex domestic situation is exacerbated by regional politics and
international relations. Leaders of Lebanese sectarian factions are travelling
back and forth to countries of influence to seek support against their
opponents. Likewise, senior envoys of allied countries are paying endless
mediation visits to Beirut. Arab leaders are on the phone with each other and
with Lebanese political leaders every other day. And the Arab League is
inactively seized with the situation -- all leading to no breakthrough. However,
it is also a useful reminder that foreign intervention -- for which there is
ample space in Lebanon -- only serves to complicate the situation. An eerie calm
has settled on Beirut after the tragic assassination of Brigadier Al-Hajj. It
might be that calm is what the Lebanese need most, without foreign counselling
or intervention, in order to sort out their painful predicament and build an
all- party consensus. They could serve their collective interest if they go back
to the Taif Accord and agree on a schedule to implement all its provisions,
including national reconciliation, building a non-sectarian political system and
disbanding all the militias, including Walid Jumblatt's, the Phalangists' and
half a dozen other ragtag feudal armies, not just Hizbullah.
The Lebanese truly love their country, their culture, their tradition, their
Lebanon. That is, everyone loves his/her Lebanon and will fight to maintain the
status quo of a sectarian coalition that is propped up on stilts. However,
Lebanon looks different if you are looking up to Jebel Ash-Chouf from the heart
of Beirut, or looking down from Beiteldin on southern Beirut and the Hamra
district. The Lebanese people's only hope is to look at the whole of Lebanon
with only one pair of unsquinted eyes.
* The writer is former Al-Ahram correspondent in Washington, DC. He also served
as director of United Nations Radio and Television in New York.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved