LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 18/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 11,28-30. Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Samir Kuntar, A convicted Murderer who was decorated by the Lebanese Government, many Lebanese politicians and Hezbollah as a hero
Celebration of Savagery. By: Charles Jalkh (Freedom Fighter) 17/07/08
Letter to the Lebanese People.By:Uri Orbach 17/07/08
What a Shameful Day for the Majority of Lebanese in Lebanon and the Diaspora.By: WCCR 17/07/08
Hizballah's Divine Victory Accomplished-By Andrew Cochran.Counterterrorism Blog  17/07/08
Hero's Welcome for Grisly Killers-By: P. David Hornik. FrontPage.com 17/07/08
Shame on the Lebanese Government. Dr. Joseph Hitti 16/07/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for July 17/08
Sfeir For Disarming the Lebanese and Halting Foreign Intervention-Naharnet
Carlos Edde Sounds the Alarm: Bolstering March 14 Ranks or … Failure-Naharnet
Hizbullah Courts Jumblat-Naharnet
Lebanese press has a field day-Ynetnews
Hizbullah Keen on Defined Relation with the 'state'-Naharnet
Triumph Arch Collapses in Sidon-Naharnet
FM: Syria, Iran to continue exchanging views on nuclear issue-Xinhua
Freed Lebanese say they will keep fighting Israel-The Associated Press
Qantar Loyal to Syria and to Post Shebaa Resistance-Naharnet
Hariri in Baghdad for Talks on Bilateral Relations-Naharnet
Possibility that Israel Will Assassinate Qantar, Report-Naharnet

Jumblat: No Weapons Can Protect Weapons, Only National Unity Can-Naharnet
Hizbullah Courts Jumblat-Naharnet
Nasrallah Shows Up in Public at Prisoners' Return Festival, Tells Qantar: July 2006 War for Your Sake-Naharnet
Possibility that Israel Will Assassinate Qantar, Report
-Naharnet
Hariri in Baghdad for Talks on Bilateral Relations
-Naharnet
Israel Wages Psychological War on Lebanon in Swap Aftermath
-Naharnet
Iran Congratulates Lebanese on 'Great Victory'
-Naharnet
Suleiman Draws Up Roadmap for Next Phase
-Naharnet
4 Lebanese Tourists Wounded in Jordan Attack
-Naharnet
Israeli Press Dubs Prisoner Swap with Hizbullah 'Shameful, Embarrassing'
-Naharnet
Aoun To Manar: I Took Part in Achieving 'This Victory'
-Naharnet
Lebanon's Leaders Greet Freed Prisoners
-Naharnet
Sarkozy Bets on Assad
-Naharnet
Kouchner: More Progress is Needed to Sign EU Partnership Treaty with Syria
-Naharnet
After Photo-Taking Session, Cabinet Sets Policy Statement as a Priority
-Naharnet

Letter to the Lebanese people
Uri Orbach
http://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox/11b30bce112ce459
Israel has no disagreement over borders with you, the Lebanese people, yet we certainly have a big dispute when it comes to your moral boundaries. We identified the bodies of our Udi and Eldad within a few hours. And how about you? For 30 years now you have failed to identify who your Samir Kuntar is.
It has been 30 years yet you still cannot distinguish between a national hero and a-child killer. For you, it’s enough that someone killed a Jew, even if it happens to be a young girl from Nahariya, in order for you to welcome him with great honor. You are celebrating your “victory” and show contempt to our pain. One more triumph like this and you shall be lost. While going from one victory to the next, you are stuck with your misery and fanaticism. With every proud display and rally for your heroes, you are being taken over the by Hizbullah gang, headed by the cannibal of bodies, Sheikh Nasrallah. The fire coming out of this bramble has been eating up Lebanon’s cedars for years now. Nasrallah is a man who reveals his true face even when in hiding; he is the man who also exposes your true face.
This is a sad day in Israel, but it holds pain and restraint and pride over what we are: A fortified Jewish wall in the face of the spearhead of the Iranian madness, which is there through your silence and encouragement. The sons have returned to our borders, while the child-killer returned to your borders.
We received the bodies with great sorrow, while you joyfully received a villain. Just look at the difference between us.

Sfeir For Disarming the Lebanese and Halting Foreign Intervention
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Thursday said Lebanon would only recover if armed factions were stripped of their weapons and foreign intervention in its affairs by Syria and other powers was halted. Sfeir made the remark in Australia where he held talks in Sydney with Federal officials during which he emphasized on the significance of bilateral relations. Beirut, 17 Jul 08, 21:05

Triumph Arch Collapses in Sidon
A wooden triumph arch draped in black textile sheets collapsed in the southern port city of Sidon on Thursday wounding seven people, police reported.
The arch was erected as part of the city's decoration to welcome the bodies of dead fighters regained from Israel by a swap agreement with Hizbullah.
"The arch was originally designed to be decorated by posters, flags and photographs, but news photographers competing for best shots of the rally climbed it, which resulted in its collapse," a police official said. The wounded were five news photographers and cameramen and two children, he added. Beirut, 17 Jul 08, 19:00

Hizbullah Keen on Defined Relation with the 'state'
Naharnet/MP Mohammed Raad, head of Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc, said Thursday the party is "keen on drawing the final line of differentiation in the relationship" between the resistance and the state.Hizbullah also is keen on achieving such a line of differentiation "through dialogue," Raad stressed.Raad, addressing a conference on the resistance attended by the five prisoners freed Wednesday from Israeli jails, said the various Lebanese factions agree on adopting a "comprehensive national plan based on such principles as Lebanon's unity, domestic stability, civic peace and bolstering Lebanon's defense capabilities in addition to building the capable and balanced state and rejecting hegemony and intervention." Beirut, 17 Jul 08, 18:49

Jumblat: No Weapons Can Protect Weapons, Only National Unity Can
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat declared Thursday that only national unity can protect the resistance. "No weapons can protect weapons. Only the weapon of national unity is Capable of protecting weapons," Jumblat said in a welcome rally organized for freed prisoner Samir Qantar at his hometown of Abey, east of Beirut. "There is no contradiction between the resistance, on the one hand, and freedom, independence, sovereignty, justice and history, on the other," Jumblat stressed. "There is no contradiction between the tribunal and the resistance," he added. He was referring to the international tribunal that would try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes. "There is no contradiction between the Taif accord and the resistance," Jumblat stressed. The PSP leader also said "sound relations and joint respect between Syria and Lebanon do not contradict with the resistance."Jumblat set the record by saying: "there is no contradiction between Lebanon and the resistance after agreeing gradually, through dialogue, on the defense plan."Minister of Youth and Sport Talal Arslan, on his part, said the new cabinet's policy statement would not avoid "recognizing legitimacy of the resistance." "The dream that has come true by liberating Samir Qantar and other prisoners is the striking evidence that the resistance is capable of accomplishing miracles," Arslan told the crowded rally. He paid tribute to Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, saying Mount Lebanon would always back "the Islamic resistance."Beirut, 17 Jul 08, 16:12

Hizbullah Courts Jumblat

Naharnet/Hizbullah on Thursday called for proceeding with the resistance march to liberate Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Hills, saying diplomatic efforts alone may not be able to accomplish the mission. Cabinet minister Mohammed Fneish, a ranking member of Hizbullah, made the call to a mass rally welcoming freed prisoner Samir Qantar to his hometown of Abey, east of Beirut. "We should proceed with the march of the resistance to liberate our land … we cannot count only on diplomatic efforts. We all agree that the enemy understands only the language of force," Fneish told the crowds. "The state agenda and that of the resistance do not contradict," Fneish declared. "We have wasted enough time … we should cooperate to overcome the past, especially after we have formed the national unity cabinet and adopted the Doha Accord," Fneish said. "We stretch our hand to our partners in the homeland with open hearts and minds regardless of previous differences," he added. "We ask for dialogue … we want to rally around the homeland's interest," Fneish explained. He called for adopting an "objective political message." Addressing progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, who took part in the rally, Fneish said: "We would never forget our joint history of struggle and what we had done together.""We are looking forward to building the future of this homeland," added Fneish. Beirut, 17 Jul 08, 17:34

Carlos Edde Sounds the Alarm: Bolstering March 14 Ranks or … Failure

By Dalia Nehme -Naharnet/
National Bloc Party leader Carlos Edde sounded the alarm to March 14 forces, calling for bolstering ranks of the majority alliance "before it is too late."
Edde, in an interview with Naharnet, accused March 14's "major blocs" of making mistakes that have led him to declare his party outside the framework of the alliance's structure. However, the NBP remains "under the umbrella of the March 14 cause … at a time other forces are beginning to make concessions at the expense of the cause and in favor of their own interests," he said. He said the NBP is "the base for the sovereign trend of the March 14" alliance. "I hope that my public criticism would encourage my previous allies to move and adopt the needed measures to bolster our stand, strengthen our ranks and refrain from making mistakes before it is too late," Edde said. He said the warning aims at "averting going into the parliamentary elections while we are as weak as we were during the era that led to forming the new cabinet."Such cracks in the March 14 alliance "raise questions by some comrades in the alliance. However, all factions adhere to the cause and national struggle," Edde stressed. He warned that if March 14 forces "maintain the same performance. I fear the outcome of the elections would be opposite to what they wish.""If they manage to understand that the public interest should top all priorities, especially the immediate interests of major powers that should start making sacrifices in the interest of the cause, if they change their style and develop their method of communication with the masses, they then might win the elections," Edde explained. "Otherwise, failure awaits us," he cautioned. Edde said the March 14 alliance should "take a decisive stand in its second battle, that of the cabinet's policy statement, or make a final surrender."Edde said the cabinet faces "a very tough mission in the coming 10 months" ushering the nation to the 2009 parliamentary elections. Beirut, 16 Jul 08, 17:53

Qantar Loyal to Syria and to Post Shebaa Resistance
Naharnet/Freed Prisoner Samir Qantar on Thursday declared loyalty to Syria, "even if some Lebanese differ" with Damascus. Qantar, who was freed from life imprisonment in Israel on Wednesday in line with a Swap deal with Hizbullah, made the remark in an address at a welcome rally organized at his hometown of Abey, east of Beirut. Liberating Shebaa farms, according to Qantar, "would not end the conflict with Israel.""Whoever believes that liberating Shebaa Farms would put an end to the resistance is deluded. This enemy would not leave us alone," he added. "The resistance would persist after (liberating) Shebaa farms and after and after that," Qantar declared. Qantar said he is "more eager to confront the Israeli enemy again." Beirut, 17 Jul 08, 16:38

Possibility that Israel Will Assassinate Qantar, Report
Naharnet/The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has hinted that it was possible that the Jewish state would assassinate Samir Qantar, the Lebanese prisoner who was freed from an Israeli prison on Wednesday. The military analyst at Yedioth Ahronoth, Ron Bin Yashai, advised Qantar that he learn from the past and draw the lesson, and that he ask his comrades in the PLO and in Hizbullah about "the fate of killers of Israeli and Jewish civilians after the passage of years in which it had appeared that their deeds had been forgotten." He added: "What happened, for example, to the killers of the athletes (during the Olympic games) in Munich and to those who sent them, the last of whom died in unnatural circumstances 24 years after the frightful massacre?" Beirut, 17 Jul 08, 11:50

Hariri in Baghdad for Talks on Bilateral Relations
Naharnet/MP Saad Hariri arrived in Baghdad on Thursday for talks with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the situation in Iraq and Lebanon. The National News Agency said Hariri will also discuss bilateral relations with the top Iraqi leaders.
Hariri furthermore is scheduled to meet Iraq's parliament speaker and several MPs, according to NNA. Beirut, 17 Jul 08, 11:25

Hizballah's "Divine Victory" Accomplished
By Andrew Cochran -
Counterterrorism Blog

Phillip Smyth is the the CT Blog's Assistant Newslinks Editor and a contributor to the Aramaic Democratic Organization. He spent 2 months last summer in Lebanon talking with and interviewing anti-Hizballah NGOs in addition to Hizballah supporters, and he maintains contact with many there. He wrote the following about today's Hizballah-Israel prisoner swap.
It was a dark night on April 22, 1979 as an inflatable speedboat sped from the southern Lebanese port of Tyre to rendezvous with destiny in the Israeli border port of Nahariya. The four men on the boat all belonged to the pro-Iraqi Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), and were planning to assault the Israeli town, “to protest the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.” As the four men came ashore, an Israeli policeman discovered them; he was subsequently gunned down. The four then made their way into an apartment building, taking a man, Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter hostage. Danny’s wife, Smadar, mother to that daughter hid from the PLF terrorists with her two-year-old daughter, Yael. As the two-year-old cried, Smadar covered her face so the PLF group wouldn’t hear them; tragically Yael soon suffocated. The party of four, along with their two hostages, made their way out of the apartment building and down to the beach. Soon the IDF and Israeli police arrived on the scene. Instantly two of the PLF terrorists were killed. Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese Druze and member of the terrorist group, tried to escape with the hostages and the last member of his group. Kuntar fired his AK-47 into the back of Danny Haran, killing him instantly. Kuntar then moved onto the remaining hostage, Danny’s four-year-old daughter Einat. Kuntar dragged Einat to a rock and proceeded to beat the little girl with his Kalashnikov until she died. Kuntar and his compatriot Ahmed al-Abras were captured (he was released in 1985 in a prisoner exchange), and for the murders Kuntar received four life sentences. Instead of serving his sentence, Kuntar was released this morning and driven to the Israel-Lebanon border into the arms of Hizballah. Furthermore, this was not the first, and will definitely not be the last time that kidnaps and exchanges will happen in the broader Middle East.
Kuntar has been at the center of a number of spectacular terrorist attacks and the recent 2006 Hizballah-Israel war. The infamous October, 1985 PLF hijacking of the liner, Achille Lauro, was launched by the PLF, in part, to free Kuntar. That operation resulted in the murder of wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer. Since then, Kuntar became the cause célèbre not just of the leftist-Palestinian groups and broader Palestine Liberation Organization, but instead became the rallying cry of the Shia Islamist Hizballah. The original name of the operation that sparked the 2006 war was, “Freedom for Samir al-Kuntar and his brothers.” While the operation’s name was subsequently changed, the operation eventually achieved its stated goals.
Today, most of Lebanon has been officially shut down for a “hero's welcome” for Kuntar. Kuntar was to be greeted at Beirut airport sometime around 6pm (Lebanon time), dressed in military fatigues. Kuntar came about an hour late, arriving in a Lebanese Army helicopter (emphasis mine). (Please take note of CT expert David Schenker’s MESH blog entry on arming the Lebanese Army, and why it isn’t always a “reliable” organization.) His welcoming committee didn’t just include Hizballah or their leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, but President Suleiman and Prime Minister Sanoria were also in attendence. This is ironic considering no more then 2½ months ago Hizballah and Sanoria’s militias fought each other in pitched street battles throughout Beirut. Suleiman, the accepted compromise president, said of Kuntar and other released terrorists that they were, “the freed heroes.” Kuntar was then driven to the Rayeh stadium, where the official Hizballah welcome commenced. Acording to an-Nahar, around 9:50pm Kuntar pledged his loyalty to Hizballah’s Nasrallah.
The Beirut daily ad-Diyar proclaimed, “Today Lebanon witnesses an unprecedented victory over Israel.” Sheik Nabil Kaouk, commander of Hizballah in south Lebanon said of the deal, that, “[It’s an] official admission of [Israel’s] defeat”. What did Israel get in return for this latest swap? Not the live bodies of their kidnaped soldiers, instead they received two coffins. What about Ron Arad, the Israeli airman shot down and thought to still be in captivity? Israel received, not Arad, nor his body, but “concrete evidence about what happened to him.” In essence, the Hizballah commander was correct - Israel gave into terrorist demands, and got little in return. The goals of Nasrallah’s 2006 War has been confirmed. Hizballah’s operation and Israeli concessions have now fully solidified the modus operendi in the broader Middle East: Kidnap/destroy to get what you want, in other words extortion using terrorism. Furthermore, terrorist apparatuses throughout the region see this as a major victory Hamas, which kidnaped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit during a cross border raid in 2006, said, “It proves that a useful way to liberate prisoners from the jails of the occupation is to capture Zionist soldiers.”
What costs did the Lebanese, whom Hizballah purports to defend, pay so that this child-murdering terrorist could be freed? Up to 1300 Lebanese civilians were killed, much of the south of Lebanon, the al Dahiyeh section of Beirut, and numerous other bridges and roads were destroyed. This was Nasrallah’s “Divine Victory.” Even before the war, Lebanon was in debt due to Civil War (1975-1990) reconstruction costs. Following the war, the economy was destroyed, and downtown Beirut was devoid of any foreigners. The 2006 War led directly to the latest May, 2008 Hizballah coup attempt. In Nasrallah’s eyes, if Israel could be taken on, surely so could Sanoria, Hariri and Jumblatt. This belief cost another 26-70 Lebanese civilians their lives, and further drove Lebanon to be seen not as a democratic beacon in the Middle East but as a moribund terror-appeasing state.
The view that “most Lebanese will celebrate Kuntar’s release” is another extreme point of contention. For many Christians, his freedom merely highlights the complete hypocrisy of Hizballah. The argument goes, “if Kuntar, a child-killing terrorist can be freed, why are Lebanese Christians, who didn’t engage in child murder still being held prisoner in Syria?” On the new global communications and networking medium of Facebook, this has been highlighted with many people uploading photographs featuring a picture Boutros Khawand, next to Kuntar, with an ‘X’ through Kuntar’s face. Below the photos a statement reads, Release the real resistants from Syrian jails!” Khawand, a Lebanese Forces (LF) militia leader and Kata’ib party member, led the LF in its fight against Syrian occupation during the so-called “100 days War” in 1978-1979 (ironic considering at the same time Kuntar was training for his terror operation in Israel). As one of the LF commanders who knew Khawand put it, “[unlike other militia leaders, Khawand] didn’t have civilian blood on his hands” (according to a former Lebanese Forces intelligence (Jihaz Amine) member interviewed on July 20, 2007). Khawand “disappeared” along with countless other Lebanese who opposed Syria in 1992, following the Taif Agreement.
Regardless of the fact that anywhere from 200-1000 (I’ve even seen 10,000 mentioned) Lebanese are thought to still linger in Syrian dungeons, the message is clear: anyone who opposed Syria’s occupation of Lebanon from 1976-2005 and “disappeared” is doomed to spend the rest of their life in a hellish prison such at Tadmour, or find eternal rest in a mass grave somewhere in the Syrian desert. The Christian parties of the pro-Western March 14th movement, and private citizens inquiring as to what happened to loved ones, have been successfully silenced by other leaders both within March 14th and by Hizballah. Their pleas to have people released will most likely go unheard. For now, Kuntar will be one of the few imprisoned Lebanese to return to his country, although unlike many other who were imprisoned, he was a legitimate terrorist.
So far, communities throughout the Hizballah- and Amal-dominated northern Bekaa Valley, al Dahiyeh and south of Lebanon are firing off volleys of automatic gunfire in celebration. With Lebanese governmental authorities reviewing and congratulating Kuntar in addition to other former prisoners, the government has now given de facto tacit approval for the 2006 War and by extension Hizballah’s actions following the war. The resonant hopefulness that followed the 2008 fighting that Hizballah would now have to act within the new regime have been quashed with their latest victory: Kuntar’s return.
July 16, 2008 04:46 PM Print


Killer returns to Lebanon as a hero
Israeli cabinet approves swap
By ARON HELLER, AP
NAHARIYA, Israel -- Moshe Sasson felt the gun pressed against his head, a Lebanese assailant poised to shoot, when the lights suddenly went out, allowing him to escape. The gunman, Samir Kantar, went on to kill three other people in one of the most notorious attacks in Israeli history. Three decades later, he is about to be freed in exchange for two Israeli soldiers whose capture set off a month-long Mideast war.
The Israelis are presumed dead. But Kantar is expected to receive a hero's welcome when he returns to Lebanon.
"I remember his face, the black eyes and murderous gaze," Sasson said yesterday.
The swap is set to take place this morning after the Israeli Cabinet's overwhelming approval of the deal. In addition to handing over Kantar, Israel also has agreed to release four other Lebanese prisoners and hand over the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters killed in clashes over the years.
Hezbollah's commander in south Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, called the swap an "official admission of defeat" for Israel.
Welcome banners are hanging in Lebanese villages through which the coffins carrying the returned bodies will travel in a convoy. A ceremony at Beirut Airport will be attended by Lebanon's president and prime minister.
By contrast, no ceremonies are planned in Israel.
Hezbollah has given no evidence that reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are alive.
"Tomorrow it will be over," Goldwasser's father, Shlomo, said. "It will be a relief to finally know."