LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 02/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8,23-27. He got into a boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by waves; but he was asleep. They came and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. The men were amazed and said, "What sort of man is this, whom even the winds and the sea obey?"

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Lebanon's eco-tourism dream lives on despite violence, political paralysis-AFP 01/07/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for July 01/08
New Offers Made to Aoun In Bid to End Cabinet Crisis-Naharnet
Arslan Urges Partisans to Welcome Kantar -Naharnet
Saniora: Israel Failed, Hizbullah Succeeded -Naharnet
Muslim Brotherhood Urges Qatar to Protect Lebanon's Sunnis -Naharnet
Jumblat: A Cabinet is Needed to Tackle Defense Strategy-Naharnet
Suspected Quake Forecast Causes Panic in Lebanon-Naharnet
2 Killed, 7 Wounded in Baalbek Shootout-Naharnet
Ban Hopes to See Further Steps to Implement Other Parts of 1701-Naharnet
Assad for Speedy Lebanese Cabinet Formation-Naharnet
Prisoner Swap Deal with Hizbullah Could Complicate Israel's Efforts to Bring Shalit Home-Naharnet
Hizbullah won again-Ynetnew
Lebanon: Hezbollah prisoner swap marks 'big failure' for Israel-Ha'aretz
Lebanese official plays down fears of major quake-AFP
Iranian court hands death sentence to Mossad spy-AFP
Sleiman heads discussion of how to get handle on precarious security situation-AFP
Lebanese parties find new ways to argue old disputes-Daily Star
Beirut must be weaned off local banks - Bassil-Daily Star
Ahmadinejad target of 'X-ray radiation plot' in Italy?.AFP
Meeting tries to trace source of cell disruptions in South -Daily Star
Knesset passes law barring candidacies of those who visit Arab countries.AFP
Turkey's top court nears moment of truth over prosecutor's bid to ban ruling party-AFP
Relatives of captured resistance fighters get ready for big day-Daily Star
Rare unity as leaders await return of Kontar, others -Daily Star
Hizbullah-Israel prisoner swap could take place 'in two weeks'-AFP
Beirut must be weaned off local banks - Bassil-Daily Star

2 Killed, 7 Wounded in Baalbek Shootout
Naharnet/Two people were killed and seven others, including two Lebanese army soldiers, were wounded in an overnight shootout in east Lebanon's city of Baalbek, security sources said. They said the shooting was triggered by a "personal quarrel" in al-Ain near Baalbek in which Raifeh Saleh, 52, was killed and three other people were wounded, including the town's mayor, Youssef Jaafar, 47. The sources said a military vehicle which was transporting the wounded to hospital came under fire near the town of Nabi Othman on the road leading to Baalbek, prompting Lebanese troops to return fire. A man was killed and four people, including two soldiers, were wounded in the exchange of fire, according to the sources. Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 09:32

Suspected Quake Forecast Causes Panic in Lebanon
Naharnet/Reports of a suspected strong earthquake to hit Lebanon soon caused panic, sending hundreds of southern villagers and others living on the coast to sleep in the open. Reports from Israel expected a strong earthquake to rock Lebanon and parts of the Jewish state soon. Secretary-General of the National Scientific Research Center Moeen Hamzeh denied Monday such a report. "We have no new information about imminent earthquakes," said Hamzeh in a statement published by the state-run National News Agency. "Chances of having an earthquake are impossible," he said. Israeli authorities on Monday urged health officials in the north to make preparations for such an event. "The probability of an earthquake of a magnitude of up to six on the Richter scale, originating in Lebanon and being felt in Israel has increased," the health ministry said in a letter sent to medical officials in northern Israel. Since February, abnormal seismic activity has been noted in southern Lebanon, which had suffered some 500 minor earthquakes in a three-month period, Israeli health ministry director-general Avi Yisraeli said in the letter.
"In May, the tremors have become more intense and were felt in northern Israel," he said adding that "should an earthquake of such magnitude hit northern Israel, it may cause substantial infrastructural damage in the area. Hamzeh said that 800 tremors ranging from 2.3-5.1 degrees on the Richter scale had shaken the south Lebanon regions of Tyre and Nabatiyeh since February 12. "The tremors increased significantly in May and June," he said, urging the Lebanese authorities to take "serious prevention measures." Some seismologists in Israel say that quakes have historically rocked the region every eight decades, and the last one was nearly 81 years ago. About 300 people were killed in Jerusalem and nearby Jericho by the July 11, 1927 temblor. A similar quake measuring seven on the Richter scale and with an epicenter in the Hula Valley, today in northern Israel, devastated the town of Safed and killed some 4,000 people in 1837. Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 10:06

New Offers Made to Aoun In Bid to End Cabinet Crisis
Naharnet/New offers were reportedly made to Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun in yet another attempt to end the five-week-old government crisis.
The daily An Nahar, citing well-informed sources, said Saniora offered Aoun a "compromise formula" such as the Free Patriotic Movement leader picks one of two service-related cabinet portfolios – telecommunications or public works – while the other goes to a person accepted and not chosen by him.
An Nahar quoted local observers as saying they expect Aoun to come out with a "flexible stance" regarding that offer.
It said President Michel Suleiman also seemed "neither frustrated nor pessimistic" over a speedy formation of the cabinet.
The daily said there is a chance that the cabinet will be announced soon, particularly in light of Suleiman's July 12 visit to Paris – or else the president will have to cancel his trip. Meanwhile, the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat spoke of a separate offer. It said Suleiman has demanded the intervention of Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in an effort to break the deadlock over the cabinet make-up in view of Aoun's requests.
It said an offer was made by Franjieh followed by another one made by Berri's aide Ali Hasan Khalil suggesting that Aoun gets three and not four portfolios – telecommunications, public works and industry – plus a state minister. The offer suggests that the ministries of economy and public works would be given to non-Aounists, while an Armenian minister affiliated with Aoun's parliamentary bloc would be given a state minister post and Issam Abu Jamra would make a grab for deputy premier. Al Hayat said the offer was conveyed to Aoun through Suleiman's circles and not via Prime Minister-designate Fouad Saniora who was said to have "frozen" contacts with the Christian opposition chief leaving the President to pursue the issue. For its part, the daily As Safir said contacts among opposition leaders and a meeting that grouped Aoun and Franjieh Sunday evening as well as talks between the opposition and the President have backed a call for fair participation in the future cabinet. Al Akhbar newspaper, meanwhile, said there seems to be a tendency to meet Aoun's demands despite objection by some pro-government Christian leaders, particularly Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces. It said the deal, if accepted, would give Aoun's bloc the deputy premier post plus the ministries of telecommunications and public works, while stripping him of the social affairs portfolio which will likely go to a Christian from the ruling March 14 coalition. Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 08:24

Saniora: Israel Failed, Hizbullah Succeeded
Naharnet/Prime Minister-designate Fouad Saniora said the forthcoming prisoner swap reflects a "major failure" for Israel and a "national success" for Hizbullah.
Saniora made the remark in a statement released by his press office. "Releasing the prisoners through the German mediator and according to terms published by the media reflects a major failure of Israel's policy," the statement said. Hizbullah's success in the negotiations is "a national success scored by the party as well as a success of the Lebanese People's struggle because it achieves national goals that Israel had refused to meet." Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 15:10

Arslan Urges Partisans to Welcome Kantar
Naharnet/Leader of the Lebanese Democratic Party Talal Arslan on Tuesday urged partisans to join a Hizbullah-sponsored welcome rally for prisoners to be released from Israeli jails. Arslan, in a statement to "partisans in particular and citizens of Mount Lebanon in general" said the region "would only be a protector of the resistance." "We congratulate the Lebanese for the most important accomplishment achieved by the resistance which is the forthcoming liberation of the prisoners, topped by highlander Samir Kantar," Arslan added. He called for speeding up efforts to form the cabinet of national unity and warned against "listening to generals of the west disguised in civilian uniforms." Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 14:51

Muslim Brotherhood Urges Qatar to Protect Lebanon's Sunnis
Naharnet/Syria's banned Muslim Brotherhood warned against the possible spread of factional violence from Lebanon to neighboring states and urged the Emir of Qatar to "protect" Lebanon's Sunni community. The group's spokesman Zuhair Salem said "factional events currently underway in Lebanon are the spark that wise (people) should realize that it can spread to neighboring states." "We do not favor vengeance policies and we do not like to speak of civil war in Syria and we strongly hope to be able to avert them," Salem added in an interview with a wire service that was published by the daily al-Mustaqbal on Tuesday.
However, he warned that "no one would be able to extinguish such fire once started." The Emir of Qatar Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, according to Salem, is urged to "shoulder his responsibilities by following up implementation of the Doha Accord so that his allies in Syria and within Hizbullah abide by the Doha decisions and protect the Sunni community in Lebanon." Sheik Hamad, Salem added, had "initiated the reconciliation between the majority and opposition through the Doha Accord. He should restore the balance after blocking the gap that existed in the presidency's fence and opened a gap in the fence of the Sunni existence in Lebanon."The Muslim Brotherhood believes that the Doha Accord allowed Hizbullah to "emerge victorious and to practice this victory by blocking formation of the new cabinet of national unity. Lebanon had suffered from the absence of a president and now suffers from the absence of a cabinet."
Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 13:19

Jumblat: A Cabinet is Needed to Tackle Defense Strategy
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblat said a prisoner swap between Hizbullah and Israel is not linked to the issue of the Shiite group's weapons. Jumblat, in remarks published by the daily As-Safir, said "we don't want to provoke Hizbullah sensitivities. When they find that regional and domestic circumstances are ripe to discuss the defense strategy we would be ready to tackle this issue."However, Jumblat added: "Such a strategy cannot be discussed without a government."Jumblat left Beirut for Athens Monday evening to take part in a conference for Socialist International. Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 12:28

Ban Hopes to See Further Steps to Implement Other Parts of 1701
Naharnet/U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the Israeli cabinet's approval of a prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah under which the remains of two soldiers are to be handed over in exchange for five Lebanese "fighters" and an undetermined number of Palestinians. Ban welcomed "recent progress on resolving the humanitarian aspects of the Security Council resolution that ended the 2006" war between Israel and Hizbullah, his spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
"He looks forward to the signing and the full implementation of the negotiated agreement in the near future," the statement said.
"He hopes that the envisaged humanitarian moves will encourage further steps on implementing other parts of the resolution (1701) and contribute to further humanitarian moves," the statement added. Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 05:38

Assad for Speedy Lebanese Cabinet Formation
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad has called for the speedy formation of a national unity cabinet in Lebanon and the implementation of the Doha accord.
Lebanon's "national unity government should be quickly formed," Syria's state-run news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying during talks with visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere. Assad also called for "the implementation of the Doha agreement," which ended Lebanon's political crisis, SANA said.
He described the situation in the Middle East as "positive" and said there is a need to give a "push for ongoing (peace) talks."
He urged inter-Palestinian accord because he said "it would be difficult to make any positive step forward in the Palestinian issue without national unity."
In his turn, Stoere "lauded Syria's positive role and efforts in finding solutions to all Middle East issues," SANA said. He praised the Turkish-brokered indirect talks between Israel and Syria as a "courageous" step that requires the contribution of all parties. Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 05:11

Prisoner Swap Deal with Hizbullah Could Naharnet/Complicate Israel's Efforts to Bring Shalit Home
Hamas militants holding an Israeli soldier have said they would stick to their tough demands in negotiations over his release, emboldened by the high price Israel is paying in a planned prisoner swap with Hizbullah. Monday's declaration could complicate Israel's efforts to bring Sgt. Gilad Shalit home after two years in captivity. Israel agreed Sunday to free Samir Qantar, the dean of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails, in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.
Israel has balked at Hamas' demands for a large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners, including many convicted in deadly attacks. But the Islamic militants said there was no reason to soften their demands in light of Israel's swap deal with Hizbullah. In a radio interview, Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar said the militants would work "to release people Israel accused of having blood on their hands like Samir Qantar. We have to take advantage of this to release our prisoners."
Hamas-affiliated militants in the Gaza Strip captured Shalit two years ago in a cross-border raid that killed two other soldiers.
Weeks later, Hizbullah fighters burst across Israel's northern border, seizing two other Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, touching off a monthlong war. After nearly two years of German-brokered negotiations, Israel's cabinet voted 22-3 on Sunday to trade Qantar for Goldwasser and Regev's bodies.
Before the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert confirmed the two soldiers were dead. In contrast, Shalit has made an audiotape and sent a letter from captivity.
Qantar was serving multiple life terms for infiltrating northern Israel and killing three Israelis — a 28-year-old man, his 4-year-old daughter and an Israeli police officer.
Negotiations for the release of Shalit are part of a June 19 cease-fire agreement hammered out by Egyptian mediators between Israel and Hamas.
In exchange for Shalit, Hamas has demanded freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. On Monday, after the Israel-Hizbullah deal was approved, Gaza militants took a hard line. "Shalit will not see the light until the Israelis fulfill our demands," said Abu Mujahid, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, another armed group involved in his capture. "The (Israeli) occupation's decision to release Samir Qantar will pave the way for the release of Palestinian prisoners who are serving lengthy sentences." Critics of the Hizbullah swap have argued that trading Qantar for bodies would offer militant groups a greater incentive to capture Israeli soldiers and less reason to keep captives alive. "I'm afraid Hamas, drawing a lesson from this deal, will harden its position," Housing Minister Zeev Biome, one of three government ministers who voted against the Hizbullah swap, told Israel Army Radio. Defending the deal, Olmert told a meeting of his Kadima party on Monday, "I knew there would be criticism, but I did this because I wanted the boys to return home."(AP-Naharnet) (AFP photo shows a poster of Shalit in Tel Aviv) Beirut, 01 Jul 08, 06:42

Bush could do himself a favor by heeding Iran's warnings
By The Daily Star
Tuesday, July 01, 2008-Editorial
Iran has in recent weeks stepped up its warnings aimed at deterring foreign states against a military attack on the Islamic Republic. The latest saber rattling from Tehran comes as no surprise: Iranian leaders are well aware that despite repeated pledges from the current US administration and its Israeli allies to pursue the path of diplomacy in confronting Iran's controversial nuclear program, the specter of neoconservative-style military intervention has not yet subsided.
In fact, if we are to believe a report written by award-winning American journalist Seymour Hersh and published on Sunday in The New Yorker, the US war against Iran is already well under way. According to Hersh, the US Congress recently approved a dramatic increase in funding for covert operations aimed at destabilizing the Iranian regime. Reports such as these suggest that the Bush administration is still wedded to a deeply flawed logic that sees military might as an appropriate tool for transforming global politics - and that it therefore remains a serious threat to this region and the world.
The problems with this brand of logic should have become abundantly clear in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq invasion, whose architects famously declared that "liberating" the country would be "cakewalk." Five years on, Iraq is still far from stabilized and the United States has racked up billions of dollars of debt and lost thousands of troops, while the most conservative estimates put the death toll among Iraqi civilians at nearly 100,000 (though other sources put it as high as 1,000,000). Moreover, the United States will be forced to spend the next few years or even decades coping with the repercussions that inevitably result from forceful intervention. In the case of the Iraq war, this has meant, among other things, the tarnishing of America's image worldwide and the recruitment of thousands of new jihadists around the globe. Yet despite these facts, many US leaders, including President George W. Bush, still fiercely defend the faulty logic that led to the disastrous invasion.
That same problematic logic has gained considerable traction inside the Beltway and with hard-line leaders in Israel when it comes to the matter of confronting Iran's nuclear program. And if Hersh's report is correct, the US administration has already increased its active support of elements inside Iran with the aim of either toppling or destabilizing the regime. But such efforts, much like the military intervention in Iraq, and much like the covert activities conducted by the Americans in Iran over the past decades, are likely to backfire with unanticipated consequences.
The most dangerous possibility is that the hard-liners in Washington and Israel will grow impatient waiting for these failed strategies to produce results. Some have cautioned that the United States or Israel could raise the ante with a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites this year. But the Bush administration has no moral, strategic or political safety nets with which to contain the inevitable blowback that would result from an unprovoked attack on Iran, regardless of whether that attack originated in the US or in Israel. Perhaps, therefore, the recent Iranian warnings should be viewed as words of reasonable advice

Iranian court hands death sentence to Mossad spy
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
TEHRAN: An Iranian court has sentenced to death a man found guilty of spying for Israel, the Fars news agency reported on Monday, amid spiraling tensions between Tehran and the Jewish state. The sentence against Ali Ashtari, 43, who was arrested about 18 months ago, was handed down by the Revolutionary Court, the agency said. "The Revolutionary Court has found Ali Ashtari - a spy of the Zionist regime - to be mohareb [an enemy of God] and sentenced him to death," Fars quoted an unidentified intelligence official as saying. "This is an initial verdict and should receive final approval. The defendant can appeal," the official added.
The verdict comes amid an intensifying war of words between Iran and Israel, which has never ruled out military action to halt the Iranian nuclear program. Israel and its number one ally, the United States, accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic denies the charge, insisting it wants only to exercise its right to generate electricity as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Israel has never signed the NPT, and is assumed to be the region's only nuclear power, with an arsenal of 200-300 warheads. According to Ashtari's confession, published in full by Fars, he used his position as a salesman of telecommunications equipment to help the Israeli intelligence service Mossad access secret information from Iranian officials.
Mossad gave him $50,000 to buy Internet cables and satellite phones and then sell them on to "special customers" in the hope of enabling Israel to spy on their communications. His handlers "introduced themselves as Jacques, Charles and Tony," Ashtari said. "I had meetings in Thailand, Turkey and Switzerland with them. They gave me some equipment, including a laptop through which I could send encrypted e-mails," he said. - AFP

Lebanese parties find new ways to argue old disputes
Cabinet formation still wrapped up in power struggle
By Hussein Abdallah -Daily Star staff
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
BEIRUT: The saga over distributing portfolios in Lebanon's new cabinet continued on Monday as President Michel Sleiman was reported to have initiated fresh efforts to break the logjam. As the crisis persisted, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was reported to have left the country on a private visit to Rome.
MP Michel Moussa, a member of the speaker's parliamentary bloc, said on Monday that Berri's trip would not pose any obstacle to the formation of the new cabinet as sources close to Berri told An-Nahar on Monday that MP Ali Hassan Khalil will act on the speaker's behalf in his absence.
Khalil visited Sleiman at the Presidential Palace on Monday and told reporters afterward that his visit was aimed at discussing ideas to end the impasse.
Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt has reportedly threatened to reconsider his tentative approval of giving up the telecommunications portfolio in the forthcoming cabinet. MP Marwan Hamadeh, a member of Jumblatt's parliamentary bloc, occupies the post in the current government, which has assumed a caretaker role pending its replacement.
News reports on Monday said that Jumblatt has relayed his stand to parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, who returned form Saudi Arabia on Sunday. Jumblatt's decision also was relayed to other allies in the ruling March 14 alliance and to Berri. The move apparently aims at countering pressure exerted by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to control a sovereign portfolio and key service-related ministries in the next cabinet. Jumblatt accused Aoun on Monday of "creating unattainable conditions" with respect to the formation of the new cabinet. In a statement to his party's Al-Anbaa weekly, Jumblatt criticized some parties' longing to get the Telecommunications Ministry, while other key service-related ministries were being ignored.
Aoun accused the parliamentary majority of blackmailing him by accusing him of blocking the formation of the new cabinet. Aoun said after a meeting of his Reform and Change parliamentary bloc on Monday that his bloc has already made many concessions to facilitate the formation of the new government.
"But the problem is that they want to take all our rights and give us back only half of what we deserve," Aoun said. Aoun was very close to clinching a deal with Prime Minister designate Fouad Siniora late last week after the retired general was offered a package that included the post of deputy premier, the telecoms portfolio, and three others. But Aoun turned down the offer, insisting that the package should include the key service-related Public Works and Transportation Ministry. Aoun told reporters after his bloc's meeting that he never requested to get the Telecommunications Ministry.
"We want to pave the roads ... Let them have the money," he said, referring to widespread expectations that the planned privatization of the cellular sector will be a money-spinner for friends and/or relatives of the next minister. Aoun added that Siniora was the only one to be blamed for the delay in forming the cabinet.
"One day, we will be the parliamentary majority, but we will give them what they deserve ... we will not steal their rights," he said. He added that outsiders were interfering to prevent any deal on a new government: "Some foreign parties, whose influence diminished recently, are trying to revive their role through interfering in the government lineup." Also Monday, Siniora adviser Mohammad Shattah told Voice of Lebanon radio that Christian representation in the new cabinet should be bal-anced among three blocs: Aoun's, March 14, and that of the president. "Aoun cannot request to get all the key service-related ministries ... this is illogical," Shattah said.
Sources close to Siniora quoted him as saying that the package presented to Aoun was the best possible given that it includes the service-related portfolio of social affairs. Siniora was also quoted as saying earlier that giving Aoun two key service-related portfolio would be illogical. Meanwhile, sources close to Aoun said that he was open to all proposals, but stressed that he would accept nothing less than getting a sovereign portfolio, and two service-related ones, with one less important than the other. For his part, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said he hoped that Lebanon would have a new unity cabinet as soon as possible.
Moallem made the comment in an interview with the Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, which quoted him as insisting that Damascus was not interfering in the formation of the new cabinet in Lebanon. "Syria supports the implementation of the Doha Agreement by forming a new cabinet and drafting a new electoral law," the foreign minister was quoted as saying.

Military warns troops to ignore political morass
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Armed Forces Command warned on Monday against engaging the military in political disputes. In a statement addressing soldiers, the command asked all soldiers to disregard media reports that are aggravating the situation in some of the already tense areas that witnessed clashes in the past weeks.
"Some politicians are making false statements about the army in an attempt imply that the army is involved in the political and sectarian struggle in the country," the statement said. The Command also called on Lebanese soldiers to be aware of the delicate situation and to act responsibly, reminding them of the need to cooperate with citizens in tense regions. The statement also said that all army units should encourage citizens not to hesitate to report any security violation in their neighborhoods. The statement reiteratedthat the armed forces will spare no effort to safeguard the people's security and the country's stability. - The Daily Star

Knesset passes law barring candidacies of those who visit Arab countries
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The Israeli Parliament passed a law on Monday banning any citizen who has visited an "enemy" country in the previous seven years from standing for election to the legislature, triggering the anger of Palestinian-Israeli MPs. Fifty-two members of the 120-seat Knesset approved the law at a third and last reading while 24 MPs voted against it, parliamentary sources said.
The legislation states that anyone who has visited "an enemy country" over the past seven years cannot stand for Parliament. It is aimed particularly at MPs from Palestinian-led parties, some of whom have traveled to Lebanon and Syria, which are still partly occupied and remain at war with Israel.
"From now on, any Israeli who visits an enemy country without permission will not be elected to the Knesset for seven years," crowed Zvulon Orlev, an MP from the far-right National Religious Party. "From now, on Arab MPs must choose if they want to be elected to Parliament in Damascus or in Jerusalem," added Orlev, one of the architects of the new law. Palestinian-Israeli MP Ahmed Tibi said he would appeal to the Supreme Court against the new law, arguing that it did not receive the absolute majority of 61 votes in Parliament required of legislation affecting fundamental rights. Former Palestinian-Israeli MP Azmi Bishara - who had traveled frequently to Syria and Lebanon - quit Parliament and fled into exile in 2007 amid accusations he had helped Hizbullah during the previous year's war with Lebanon, charges he has consistently denied. - AFP, with The Daily Star

Turkey's top court nears moment of truth over prosecutor's bid to ban ruling party
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Sibel Utku Bila
Agence France Presse
ANKARA: A court case to ban Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling party is moving closer to a verdict, with the prosecutor and party officials set to present their arguments before judges this week. Chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya will be the first to appear before the Constitutional Court in a closed hearing on Tuesday to beef up his case on why the Justice and Development Party (AKP) should be outlawed for undermining Turkey's secular system. An AKP team will then address the 11-judge tribunal on Thursday, again behind closed doors, to deliver the party's defense.
Following the hearings, the court's rapporteur will issue a non-binding report on what the ruling should be, paving the way for the court to set a date to debate the case and reach a verdict. The prosecutor is also seeking a five-year political ban on 71 AKP officials, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, who belonged to the party before he was elected head of state last year.
Yalcinkaya launched the proceedings in March, arguing that the AKP had become a "focal point" of anti-secular activities aimed at installing an Islamist regime in Turkey. The case is the latest round in a bitter battle between the AKP and Turkey's hard-line secularists - including the army, much of the judiciary and academia - that has raged since the party came to power in 2002.
The AKP, the moderate offshoot of a now-banned Islamist movement, rejected the charges in written defense statements in May and June, saying that the case was politically motivated, and asserted its commitment to the secular system. But it took a serious blow in the meantime when the Constitutional Court, in a separate case, scrapped an AKP-sponsored law aimed at easing a ban on wearing the Islamic headscarf in universities on the grounds that it breached the country's unchangeable secular principles. Analysts say the ruling has increased the likelihood of the AKP being banned since the party's advocacy of headscarf freedom on campus is the prosecutor's key argument in the closure case.
The AKP, however, is expected to try to take advantage of the ruling and argue before the Constitutional Court on Thursday that the annulment of the headscarf bill has made the prosecutor's main accusation technically void, media reports say.
The AKP has disowned its Islamist roots and embraced Turkey's bid to join the European Union, but maintains that rigid interpretations of secularism breach religious freedoms. The AKP had argued that students should be allowed the wear the headscarf to guarantee freedom of conscience and equal education opportunities in "a democratic country that aims to ensure the co-habitation" of different lifestyles. But the prosecutor maintains that other moves such as banning alcohol sales in restaurants run by AKP municipalities and attempts to promote Koranic courses, coupled with rhetoric in favor of broader religious freedoms, also indicate a secret Islamist agenda. Many fear that disbanding the AKP, a coalition of religious conservatives, pro-business liberals and mainstream center-right politicians, would trigger political chaos as the party still enjoys solid popularity in the face of a weak and fractured opposition.

Prisoner swap was "huge failure" for Israel: Lebanon PM
BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said on Tuesday that a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah was a "huge failure" for the Jewish state and a victory for the Shiite militant group.
"The release of the prisoners thanks to the German mediator... is a huge failure for the policies of Israel," a statement from Siniora's office said.
"The success of Hezbollah in the negotiations led by a third party is a national success for the party and for the struggle of the Lebanese because it secured national goals which Israel always refused to respect."
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a deal to hand over to Hezbollah five Lebanese militants in return for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the summer 2006 war in Lebanon.
An undetermined number of Palestinians held in Israel prisons will also be released as part of the deal mediated by Germany.
Among the Lebanese to make a triumphant homecoming is Samir Kantar, the longest-serving Arab prisoner in Israeli jails who had been convicted in 1980 to 542 years in jail for the murder of an Israeli civilian and his four-year-old daughter, as well as an Israeli policeman.
A Lebanese official said Israel will also return to Hezbollah the bodies of eight of its militants as well as the remains of other Lebanese.
Israeli officials have said the swap could go ahead in two weeks if Hezbollah provides a report on the fate of Israeli airman Ron Arad who went missing after flying a mission over south Lebanon in 1986.
The Israeli Haaretz daily said Hezbollah has already told Israel through UN negotiator Gerhard Konrad that Arad is dead but Israel wants the Shiite group to explain how it reached that conclusion and why it could not locate Arad's remains.