LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March
26/2010
Bible Of the
Day
The Birth of Jesus Is Announced
Luke 1/26-38: "Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a
city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 1:27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 1:28
Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The
Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!” 1:29 But when she saw him, she
was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this
might be. 1:30 The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found
favor with God. 1:31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a
son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’ 1:32 He will be great, and will be called
the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father,
David, 1:33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no
end to his Kingdom.” 1:34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am
a virgin?” 1:35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who
is born from you will be called the Son of God. 1:36 Behold, Elizabeth, your
relative, also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month
with her who was called barren. 1:37 For everything spoken by God is possible.”
1:38 Mary said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to your
word.”
Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special
Reports
New Opinion: The Geagea paradox/Now
Lebanon/March 25/10
Tribunal investigators question
three Hizbullah members/By Michael Bluhm/March 25/10
White House Ignores Iran's Help to
al-Qaida in Its Passion over Jerusalem Apartments/By Barry Rubin/March 25/10
Prioritizing teaching
benefits everyone/Daily Star/March 25/10
Israel is losing the battle of narratives/By
Michael Young/March 25/10
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 25/10
Assad: Damascus
Can't be Neutral as Long as there is One Team against and Another with the
Resistance/Naharnet
Hizbullah: Assad
Thoroughly Analyzed Current Situation/Naharnet
Asatra Announces
Intention to Enhance UNIFIL Effectiveness on Ground/Naharnet
Ban: Israel Frustrated with Situation in South
Lebanon Over Hizbullah Arms/Naharnet
Geagea says reforms should not be pretext to
obstruct municipal elections/Now Lebanon
It's impossible to stop Iran without Syrian help/Ha'aretz
IDF force crosses border fence with Lebanon/Ynetnews
Assad: Israel only
understands force/Daily Star
LADE demands vote
reforms, timely polls/Daily Star
Award launched in honor
of Simon Khazen/Daily Star
Tribunal investigators
question three Hizbullah members/Daily
Star
Sison and Mneimneh
discuss education issues/Daily Star
Cabinet delegates Arab
League envoy to attend Libya summit/Daily
Star
Berri: 'Turkey will
always stand by Lebanon's side/Daily
Star
'We are ready': Jumblatt
changes his mind about privatization/Daily
Star
Public-private
partnership talks under way in Cabinet - Hassan/Daily
Star
Product of Year launched
in Lebanon/Daily Star
Historian: Arabs were
more than just pawns in Cold War/Daily
Star
Germany inaugurates
waste management plant in Aytaroun/Daily
Star
Lebanon's Al-Ahed draws
with Syria's Al-Jaish 1-1/Daily Star
Khazen Attacks
Aoun, Accuses Him of Corruption/Naharnet
Wahab: Leaked Tribunal Info Says Mughniyeh Involved
in Hariri Murder/Naharnet
NBN: Wahhab likely to meet with Sleiman next
week/Now Lebanon
Gemayel: Assad
Stressed Priority for Peace/Naharnet
Israeli Military Crosses Barbed Wire, Another
Patrol Installs Spying Device Near Fatima Gate/Naharnet
Berri Praises 'United Stance' to Boycott Libya
Summit Despite 'Decades Late'/Naharnet
Saudi Prince Arrested at Beirut Airport/Naharnet
Libya Refuses to Grant Visa to U.N. Chief's
Lebanese Bodyguard/Naharnet
Christians, Muslims United in Celebrating
Annunciation/Naharnet
Sayyed Hussein Suggests Rotating Beirut
Municipality Presidency between Muslims, Christians/Naharnet
Cabinet: Ziade, Ashour to Represent Lebanon in
Libya's Arab Summit/Naharnet
Suleiman Meets Former Polish President, Lauds
Warsaw's Democratic Experience/Naharnet
Al-Khrayeb Corpse Not for Ethiopian Jet Victim/Naharnet
Tribunal investigators question three Hizbullah members
Judicial source denies probe has entered decisive phase
By Michael Bluhm/Daily Star staff
Thursday, March 25, 2010
BEIRUT: Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigators recently questioned
three members of Hizbullah about the 2005 assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri, although the investigators had requested to speak
with 20 individuals connected to Hizbullah, a senior judicial source
told The Daily Star on Wednesday.
At the same time, media reports about the assassination probe having
entered a decisive phase are false, the source added.
Investigators interrogated the three Hizbullah members, who were not
taken into custody or asked for further rounds of questioning, said the
source, who has access to the requests for assistance submitted by the
Holland-based tribunal.
Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for tribunal prosecutor Daniel Bellemare
said the court could not confirm the identities of anyone it has
questioned. “We have never given any indication as to whom we are
meeting and in what capacity,” she said.
Because of the potentially explosive effects in Lebanon of implicating
Hizbullah in Hariri’s killing, tribunal detectives will likely not
pursue this line of investigation too thoroughly, the source added. “I
don’t think they will push hard on this issue,” the source said. “They
want to hear new people.”
Ali Fayyad, an MP for Hizbullah’s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, said
on Wednesday that Hizbullah would present its views on the tribunal’s
investigation “in due time.”
As for the Hizbullah members who reportedly failed to arrive for
questioning, the court can compel the Lebanese state to subpoena
Lebanese citizens wanted for questioning by investigators, but the
tribunal has not resorted to this process, Achouri said. The tribunal
has only submitted requests for assistance, she added.
The apparently extensive interest in Hizbullah would dovetail with the
investigators’ theory, as outlined in a March 2006 report by former
investigation chief Serge Brammertz, who said he had concluded that a
third group acted as mediators between those who ordered Hariri’s
assassination and the suicide bomber and his accomplices. “The
[investigation] commission believes that there is a layer of
perpetrators between those who initially commissioned the crime and the
actual perpetrators on the day of the crime, namely those who enabled
the crime to occur,” the report said.
Meanwhile, investigators have largely turned their attention away from
Syria, the source said. Many here blame Damascus for Hariri’s killing
and the plague of political assassinations that has bedeviled Lebanon
for years, but Syria has categorically denied any involvement in any
political violence. Mass demonstrations after Hariri’s February 14, 2005
assassination forced Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon after a
29-year presence, and Damascus endured years of international isolation
before its return to prominence.
The judicial source also said he dismissed a report in Wednesday’s
edition of pan-Arab daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat that the investigation had
entered a decisive phase and that indictments were soon forthcoming. “I
don’t think that is accurate,” the source said. “No major things are
occurring.”
Tribunal spokeswoman Achouri said rampant media speculation about the
investigation was “not based on accurate information or knowledge,”
adding that she strongly discouraged such rumor-mongering. “It would be
helpful if people would abstain or refrain from making estimates and
speculation,” she said. “We never give any estimate” about how long the
prosecutor will need to submit an indictment request to the court’s
pre-trial judge, she added.
Regarding the status of Bellemare’s probe, Achouri said the tribunal
remained positive about the chances for finding Hariri’s killers, as
tribunal President Antonio Cassese said in his report earlier this month
about the tribunal’s first year of activity. “We have made significant
progress that makes us feel optimistic about the outcome of our
endeavor,” she said.
This week tribunal investigators also began filming in 3-D the scene of
Hariri’s assassination on the Beirut seafront. A massive truck bomb,
evidently detonated by a suicide bomber, killed Hariri and 22 others as
the former premier’s motorcade drove along the Corniche near the St.
George Hotel. UN Security Council Resolution 1757 in May 2007
established the tribunal, which has its headquarters in a former Dutch
intelligence building in a suburb on Holland’s The Hague. The tribunal,
which has a $55.35-million budget in its second year, has mandate to
investigate politically motivated assassinations and attempted killings
from October 2004 through January 2008.
The Geagea paradox
March 25, 2010
Now Lebanon
LF head Samir Geagea is the only wartime leader to serve time in jail. (AFP
photo/Aldo Ayoub)
In March 1994, the Lebanese Forces was outlawed and its leader, Samir Geagea,
jailed after being found guilty of the 1987 murder of Lebanese Prime Minister
Rashid Karami and the 1991 attempted murder of then-Defense Minister Michel Murr.
Geagea served 11 years in jail, most of it in solitary confinement. He was the
only wartime leader to be held accountable for his actions, although to this day
he denies all charges.
His supporters, who this weekend will be commemorating the 16th anniversary of
the banning of the party, say he is the supreme patriot, a man who preferred to
go to jail than collaborate with Damascus. However, this debt apparently paid,
Geagea is still seen as beyond the pale by many Lebanese, especially supporters
of Michel Aoun’s mainly Christian Free Patriotic Movement, who have shown that
they clearly will support anyone and any ideal, no matter how bizarre, than go
back to what they see as a period in Lebanese history they would rather forget.
And yes, in a perfect world, we would prefer our politicians to be cast from a
different mold, but this is Lebanon, and since his release from jail in the wake
of the 2005 Cedar Revolution, Geagea has doggedly stuck to his principles of
Lebanese statehood.
The argument as to whether he is a man “more sinned against than sinning” will
run and run. There is no denying that Geagea was one of the more radical wartime
leaders, but then who were the moderates? Of his contemporaries who are still
among us, Amal leader Nabih Berri is the most “senior”. Also a former wartime
militia leader, for the last 18 years Berri has been speaker of the Lebanese
parliament, technically the most senior position in the country after the
president. Defending Lebanon’s democratic principles did not require Mr. Berri
to give up his militia, which was pretty handy, otherwise he would not have been
able to order his Amal gunmen onto the streets of Beirut on May 7, 2008 to kill
and wreak havoc on behalf of his March 8 allies.
Then we have Walid Jumblatt. The darling of the Independence Intifada has become
almost a style icon, a warlord savant who reads New York Review of Books, a man
whose wife is a patron of the arts and whose feudal chief persona has inspired
countless writers who have dined at his splendid mountain retreat to paint him
as a donnish nerd who is simply a victim of history. And yet if the truth be
told, he is a ruthless political survivor, whose hands, if we are to employ this
particular standard, are as bloody as Geagea’s.
As for Aoun, his supporters clearly forget the death and destruction he visited
upon Lebanon before fleeing into exile. That should have been his 15 minutes of
infamy, but Syria unwittingly made him a beacon of hope for patriots, who have
been rewarded since his return by an ideological volte face and five years of
blood-and-thunder rhetoric that he has been unable to convert into any
meaningful political achievement.
Geagea has always stuck to the core principles of the March 14 movement. At this
year’s February 14 commemoration rally, when his main ally, Prime Minister Saad
Hariri, was made to play the politics forced upon him by Saudi Arabia by selling
the line of Arab solidarity, Geagea’s message yielded little to the new
political order looming on the horizon. He had not abandoned the rhetoric of the
Cedar Revolution. His message was clear: the state, the state, the state.
He invited Hezbollah to take the “courageous and patriotic” decision to “give
their military capabilities to the Lebanese State and the decisions of war and
peace to the Cabinet”. He declared that there would be “no compromise” or
“obstruction” on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, adding that Lebanon would
“accept the tribunal’s outcome, regardless of the verdict.” He said March 14 was
committed to uncovering the fate of Lebanese detainees in Syria and delineating
Lebanese borders with Syria. In such perilous times, what’s not to like?
Bashar al-Assad
March 25, 2010
Now Lebanon
During an interview with Al-Manar television on Wednesday, Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad said that “many are claiming that the Lebanese achieved
something in the last five years,” referring to the period of time following the
withdrawal of Syrian troops from the country in 2005.
However, he added that “they did not achieve anything.”
He added that he was the first to propose the establishment of diplomatic ties
between Syria and Lebanon, saying that he did so in 2005 in the presence of
Speaker Nabih Berri, former President Emile Lahoud and former Prime Minister
Omar Karami. According to Assad, the situation in Lebanon deteriorated afterward
and Damascus did not pursue the proposal.
Syria and Lebanon established diplomatic relations in 2008.
The exchange of ambassadors is a Syrian proposal that would not have happened
without Syrian conviction, said Assad.
He also denied that foreign pressure led to the establishment of diplomatic
ties. “Many countries are discussing the delineation of borders, but our
position was clear,” he said, adding, “It is a bilateral issue for Lebanon and
Syria to decide, when there is a foreign request we do not take action,” Assad
added.
Assad also said that Syria cannot officially declare that the Shebaa Farms
belong to Lebanon, adding that legal procedures must be followed to demarcate
the borders and finalize the status of Shebaa. According to Assad, it is
irrational to give Lebanon a document stating their ownership of Shebaa for
political reasons.
When asked about the sectarian content of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP
Walid Jumblatt’s speeches, Assad said that he refuses any type of division.
Sectarian identity should be part of a greater sense of national belonging, he
added.
This comes after Jumblatt said a month ago that if Syria seeks the Druze
community’s support, it should respect the sect’s dignity. He added that neither
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah nor the Syrian leadership
would benefit from his trip if the Druze as a whole do not approve of the visit.
Asked whether he considers Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid
Jumblatt’s recent interview with Al-Jazeera—in which the latter said that his
inappropriate comments against Assad came “in a moment of anger and loss”—an
apology, Assad said that he cared about the content of Jumblatt’s speech rather
than a literal apology.
“Syria is not seeking a apology, and we do not have a superiority complex. We do
not need to prove ourselves,” he added.
Assad said that his country only wanted Jumblatt to go back to the right track,
adding that Syria bases its relations with the parties on these premises.
The Syrian president also denied that his country wants to insult Jumblatt.
“Only someone who holds a grudge insults and offends the other while the strong
is patient and does not offend. Syria is strong and does not insult [others].”
Assad also commented on Jumblatt’s call on Syria “to forget as he forgot,”
saying that accepting forgiveness means accepting the accusation. Jumblatt had
earlier accused Syria of being behind the 1977 killing of his father, former PSP
leader Kamal Jumblatt, saying that he would be willing to forgive but not
forget. However, the PSP leader said during his interview with Al-Jazeera
television earlier in the month that he is willing to forgive and forget.
“Syria rejects forgiveness and most importantly we do not need anyone to forgive
us,” he said.
“If anyone in Lebanon has proof that Syria was implicated in any crime, let him
follow the legal measures in this regard,” the Syrian president said.
According to Assad, there is a bazaar of international tribunals which have lost
their significance. “They can visit this bazaar as they might reach some
results… I prefer that they publish their stories in novels and perhaps some
Syrians might buy them,” he said, possibly disparaging those accusing Syria of
being behind the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
He rejected that his country was delaying Jumblatt’s visit to Damascus adding
that he is seeking a meeting of their positions. The date for the PSP leader’s
visit depends on Syria’s schedule, he said, adding that Jumblatt’s trip might
come after Libya’s Arab League Summit in late March.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah played the largest role in
facilitating Syria’s relationship with Jumblatt, Assad said. He also credited
changes in the PSP leader’s political stances that put him in line with
Damascus.
“Now it is important to reduce tension, there is a new cabinet [in Lebanon], and
several Lebanese powers started to come back,” he said, in reference to Jumblatt.
“When the situation in Lebanon improves, Syria benefits,” Assad added.
When asked about Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Jumblatt improving their
relations with Damascus at the ire of their political supporters, Assad says the
discrepancy affects the Lebanese politicians rather than Syria. The issue is
part of domestic Lebanese details that do not affect Syria, he added.
Lebanese parties do not exist on the Syrian political map, he said, adding,
“these details do not concern us.”
Hariri is the PM of a national-unity cabinet, and we wish him and his cabinet
luck in its difficult task, the Syrian president said, adding that he and Hariri
are trying to build their personal relations as a way to push institutional ties
between their two countries.
Assad also rejected that Syria would stop supporting the Resistance. He said
that someone would need to convince Damascus that the Resistance did not
liberate the South in 2000 or defeat Israel in the 2006 July War. However, he
added that Syria’s convictions are based on facts.
“I have said in all my speeches that we should back the Resistance without being
ashamed or hesitating,” he said.
Assad also rejected that Syria approved of the recent criticisms leveled against
Lebanese President Michel Sleiman. Last week, Tawhid Movement leader Wiam Wahhab
called on Sleiman to resign.
He also said that Damascus supports the presidency and Sleiman just as much as
it supported former Presidents Elias Hrawi and Lahoud.
“If we have any criticism or observation toward any person or official,
particularly the president, PM or Speaker, we have the courage, ability and
means to directly communicate with them,” he added.
When asked about the level of adventure his country would accept in confronting
regional crises, Assad said, “As Syrians, we are not adventurers, but we live in
the Middle East, which historically is a very complicated region.” The Syrian
president added that his country does not place its “future and capabilities in
the hands of major powers,” adding that this would complicate problems.
According to Assad, regional crises have been imposed on his country.
“The price of resistance is less than that of chaos,” he said, adding that
“gambling will lead to chaos and a costly price,” a reference to aligning with
foreign interests.
Assad also spoke about his changing relations with the US, saying that the
administration of former US President George W. Bush failed in its Middle East
plans. “We do not want to mix between the former administration and the current
one,” he said, adding, “There are differences.”
“There are clear differences between Bush and [US President Barack] Obama,” he
said, citing the difference between the tone of their speeches. The propositions
offered in their speeches have changed, he said, adding that Obama does not
dictate terms as Bush did.
Assad also said that once Robert Ford, Washington’s appointee as its new
ambassador to Syria, assumes his post, then Syria will comment on any statements
he makes about the country. The Syrian president would not comment on Ford’s
testimony to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 16, during which
the US diplomat said he is not a prize for Assad’s regime.
The Syrian president also said that Iran is not interfering in Iraq’s national
security. Instead, he added that Tehran is playing an important role in the
country, just as Turkey is.
“In Syria we are affected by Lebanon, and we affect Lebanon,” he said, adding
that the same applies to Syrian-Iraqi relations. Assad rejected claims that his
country is violating Iraq’s borders, saying that the US is not aware of what is
going on in Iraq.
Syria believes in building relations with any Iraqi cabinet in the upcoming
phase, he also said.
Assad said that Syria should work for peace with Israel as long as there is
hope, but added that there is none with the current Israeli cabinet. Tel Aviv
has no choice but peace, he said, adding that the Jewish state’s deterrence has
decreased as the concept of Resistance has increased among the Arab people.
“We are faced with an enemy that only understands the language of force, we
agree that peace will not be attained in the foreseeable future in the region,
but war calculations are greatly different,” the Syrian president also said,
adding that there are many ways other than through war with which goals can be
achieved.
However, Assad said that his country will engage in any war that is imposed on
it, adding that Israel only understands the language of force.
Syria cannot be neutral to a party that opposes the Resistance, he added.
According to Assad, Syria coordinates with Lebanon on the issue of Arab-Israeli
negotiations. Whenever there are peace negotiations Lebanon should be with Syria
because Damascus and Beirut do not benefit being on their own, he added.
“Egypt has never played a mediating role between Syria and Israel,” he said,
adding that Syria refuses to have Egypt as a mediator just as Cairo refuses.
Egypt cannot be neutral, he also said.
Assad added that Egypt should support Syria despite their different positions on
issues, and added that the Turkish role is not linked with Egypt’s role, and
that tension in Syrian-Egyptian relations begun even before Turkey begun its
mediating role.
He said that he never heard any Iranian official saying that Iran is against
achieving peace, adding that proof of that is Iran’s statement during the
indirect negotiations in Turkey that it supports Syria in peace negotiations.
-NOW Lebanon
Ban: Israel Frustrated with Situation in South Lebanon Over
Hizbullah Arms
Naharnet/U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has said that Israeli officials have "expressed
frustration with the situation in south Lebanon," where allegedly Hizbullah is
rearming "at an alarming rate."
"I understand Israel's legitimate security concerns and the importance of
addressing them, along with the concerns of all parties, as efforts continue to
achieve the implementation of U.N. resolutions on Lebanon," Ban said in his
briefing to the Security Council on his recent trip to the Middle East to attend
the Arab League summit scheduled for Saturday.
"At the same time, I conveyed my belief that a genuine and viable peace process,
leading to the end of the Arab-Israel conflict as envisaged in other resolutions
of this Council, is the key to long-term stability in the region," the
Secretary-General added. Ban later told reporters that he would ask Arab leaders
to back U.S.-brokered indirect peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians
despite a chill over Israel's plan to build new settler homes in east Jerusalem.
Beirut, 25 Mar 10, 10:23
Asatra Announces
Intention to Enhance UNIFIL Effectiveness on Ground
Naharnet/UNIFIL Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas on Thursday
said he intends to enhance the effectiveness of U.N. peacekeepers on the
ground by allocating the appropriate resources to face the current
challenges. He pointed that he will "accurately" work with all parties
"in order to overcome these challenges within the limits prescribed by
UNIFIL's mandate and within the available resources." "I intend to
continue to support UNIFIL's initiatives to assist local residents
throughout my mandate as force commander," Asarta said after decorating
1,160 peacekeepers with peace medals. Beirut, 25 Mar 10, 19:01
Israeli Military Crosses Barbed Wire, Another Patrol Installs Spying
Device Near Fatima Gate
Naharnet/An Israeli military patrol on Thursday crossed the barbed wire
and took position on a hill that overlooks the Wazzani area, putting on
alert the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers on the Lebanese side of
the border. The National News Agency said that a 17-member Israeli team
crossed the barbed wire from the occupied Ghajar village at 7:00 am and
took position in the same area where 2 Israeli tanks stationed at al-Maysat
hill several days ago without crossing into Lebanese territories. The
Lebanese army went on alert and UNIFIL's Spanish contingent launched
patrols in the area, NNA said. Voice of Lebanon radio station said the
Israeli patrol later withdrew from the area. In another development, an
Israeli army patrol installed an espionage device in a military area off
Fatima gate at the northern entrance of the Lebanese town of Kfar Kila,
NNA reported It said a 15-member patrol accompanied by 5 Hummer
vehicles approached an Israeli military base from the settlement of
Metulla at 11:00 am and installed a dish equipped with camera devices.
The Lebanese army went on alert and a Spanish UNIFIL patrol came to the
area, NNA added. Beirut, 25 Mar 10, 10:00
Wahab: Leaked Tribunal Info Says Mughniyeh Involved in Hariri Murder
Naharnet/Tawheed movement leader Wiam Wahab said Thursday that according
to leaked information, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is accusing
slain Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh of involvement in ex-Premier
Rafik Hariri's assassination. In remarks to al-Jadeed TV station, Wahab
said he wasn't the Syrian ambassador's "worker."
Wahab also commented to LBC about his recent call for President Michel
Suleiman to resign, saying his stance was a "political viewpoint" that
did not deserve "the intellectual terror" practiced against him. He
reminded the Lebanese that late President Fouad Shehab resigned after
his political team didn't cooperate with him.
Wahab denied that he would visit Suleiman in Baabda on Friday. However,
he expressed readiness to meet with the president anytime. Beirut, 25
Mar 10, 12:38
Gemayel: Assad Stressed Priority for Peace
Naharnet/Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel on Thursday described as
"important" Syrian President Bashar Assad's latest statement in which he
stressed dialogue as path to peace.
Assad has "reiterated Syria's position on peace," Gemayel said following
a meeting with Minister of Displaced Persons Akram Shehayeb.He said
Assad's assertion that priority goes to the path of peace and
negotiation "is an important position that should be absorbed in
Lebanon.""I'm not sure how Syria stresses dialogue as path to peace
where as its allies in Lebanon preach a different path," Gemayel
wondered. Beirut, 25 Mar 10, 17:27
Khazen Attacks Aoun, Accuses Him of Corruption
Naharnet/Former MP Farid Haykal al-Khazen on Thursday launched a
vehement attack on Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, accusing
him of corruption.
Khazen challenged Aoun at a news conference to "reveal his hidden assets
abroad and those of his family, too, so people would know who the
corrupt person is."
He called on Aoun to return $35 million to the state treasury, stressing
that the former army general is not "another Fouad Chehab, but rather a
man who stole government and non-government money."
Chehab, who was President of Lebanon from 1958 to 1964, was reputed for
his reforms.
Addressing Aoun, Khazen said: "Who are you to criticize people in this
way?"
"How many years of political experience do you have? 30 years, half of
them (tarnished by) wars and bloodshed?" he asked Aoun.
"We have 1,000 political years of experience," Khazen added. Beirut, 25
Mar 10, 15:35
Sayyed Hussein Suggests Rotating Beirut Municipality Presidency between
Muslims, Christians
Naharnet/State Minister Adnan Sayyed Hussein on Wednesday suggested
rotating the presidency of Beirut Municipality between Muslims and
Christians. Sayyed Hussein, who was nominated by President Michel
Suleiman to the current cabinet, said that "it would've been better to
shortly finalize the debate on the municipal electoral draft law in the
parliament, but we were surprised by extending the debate."
The suggestion of Sayyed Hussein, during an interview with OTV network,
came one day after Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun
rejected holding the municipal elections under the current law and
keeping Beirut as one electorate.
Aoun asked the concerned officials to refer the draft law to
parliament's general assembly for approval.Despite the end of the 15-day
constitutional deadline on Tuesday, the three respective parliamentary
committees have not yet submitted their reports to Speaker Nabih Berri
for lack of consensus, according to what the heads of committees
declared.
Head of Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan on Wednesday
called on the parliamentary blocs "to bear their responsibilities and
approve the amendments to the municipal electoral draft law, which
almost enjoyed full consensus in the cabinet."
Kanaan stressed that he will submit, during the coming few hours, "a
report to Speaker Nabih Berri on the progress achieved by the Finance
and Budget Committee in scrutinizing the draft law," noting that he
prefers to put the question to the vote of the parliament.
For his part, Head of Administration and Justice Committee MP Robert
Ghanem said it is not possible to "finalize the debate on the suggested
amendments to the municipal electoral law for the presence of several
opinions on most of the clauses.""If there is a will to hold municipal
election on time, it can be held under the current law," he added.On the
other hand, Head of Defense and Interior Committee MP Samir al-Jisr
declared the presence of "a difficulty in accomplishing the debate on
the municipal electoral draft law," adding that the committee "will
pursue scrutinizing the draft law and will submit a report on progress
to the house speaker."
Major divergences among the committees' members revolve around
proportional representation, lists of candidates in villages with joint
municipalities in addition to ratio distribution.
Beirut, 24 Mar 10, 20:51
Israel is losing the battle of narratives
By Michael Young
Daily Star/Thursday, March 25, 2010
Some will argue that the United Kingdom’s expulsion this week of an
Israeli diplomat, by most accounts a Mossad agent, was a transitory spat
between allies, following Israel’s use of forged British passports in
the recent assassination of a Hamas operative in Dubai. After all, they
might add, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher did something similar in
1988, without lingering consequences. Yet things seem rather different
this time.
Israeli officials should take note that the narrative of their conflict
with the Palestinians is changing fundamentally outside Israel. The
specifics aside, in the larger picture more countries than ever before
see Israel as the problem, and we’re not talking here about the popular
antipathy the country seems to often provoke in Asia and Latin America.
Even in friendlier climes such as the United States and Europe, the
hardening perception is that Israel’s irresponsible settlement expansion
plan is destroying all prospects for a mutually satisfactory accord with
the Palestinians, and that the ensuing instability will harm everyone.
In the uproar that followed US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to
Israel two weeks ago, relatively little attention was paid to his
important speech at Tel Aviv University, where one sentence accurately
summarized Israel’s dilemma. “It’s no secret the demographic realities
make it increasingly difficult for Israel to remain both a Jewish
homeland and a democratic country in the absence of the Palestinian
state,” Biden warned his hosts.
In this, the vice president only echoed a theme that Israeli officials
themselves have long acknowledged. All things staying equal, Israel will
continue to control a growing Palestinian population whose rights, by
necessity given the imperatives of security, it will abuse even more
extensively than it is doing today. Nor would this resolve anything,
because demographics would march on, until two peoples are fighting over
one piece of land – or trying to conclude an impossible peace.
The only alternative for Israel is the full-scale expulsion of
Palestinians, which would thoroughly discredit Israel in the eyes of the
world. In a way the Israelis are paying for that choice before it has
ever been made. Nor will it be. Israel simply has no expulsion option.
It can reduce the Arab population in Jerusalem, perhaps; it can
momentarily seal off Palestinians in enclaves in the West Bank and Gaza;
but without a political solution, those are merely odious stopgap
measures costing the Israelis ever more valuable political capital to
sustain.
That’s why the narrative has shifted, and it’s why Israel today is
facing, for the first time, criticism from allies on moral grounds. A
state that sustained itself for decades as a moral creation, a refuge
for the world’s suffering Jews, is essentially ensuring that the only
long-term outlook for Israelis and Palestinians is violence. Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declared backing for a two-state
solution notwithstanding, Israel has no endgame other than the
perpetuation of ruinous stalemate. And because it holds the land, the
burden is on Israel to define that endgame.
Israel’s ability to draw the negotiating process out indefinitely has
been greatly facilitated by Palestinian incompetence. The Palestinian
Authority under Mahmoud Abbas is struggling to regain the initiative
among Palestinians, while Hamas, despite optimistic suggestions to the
contrary, has no interest in entering peace talks with Israel. Yet
Hamas’ disastrous provocation of the Gaza war over a year ago has
considerably undermined the movement’s military strategy, with
Palestinians now more willing to go along with Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad’s state-building project in the West Bank, if it is allowed to
eventually lead somewhere.
The Palestinian Authority has faced much criticism, especially by
purported supporters of the Palestinian cause. But Fayyad’s approach is
the only realistic project that Palestinians can pursue today – a
project of internal consolidation. More important, as the world watches
Abbas and Fayyad focusing on domestic reform, they also see Israel in a
different light. The Palestinians, for once, have managed to transform
interpretation of their relationship with Israel to their own advantage.
That’s why continuing skepticism over the extent of the dispute between
Israel and the United States, or Israel and the United Kingdom, is
irrelevant. Neither the Americans nor the British will soon, or ever,
break with Israel. But neither, too, is disposed any more to acquiesce
in Israel’s contention that its policies in the West Bank are justified
by the absence of a resolute Palestinian partner. As Biden affirmed in
his Tel Aviv speech, “Genuine steps toward a two-state solution are also
required to empower those [willing] to live in peace and security with
Israel and to undercut their rivals who will never accept that future.”
Ultimately, Israeli leaders will insist they have no obligations but to
their own people. They will disregard intensifying frustration with
their actions because Israel’s security is an Israeli matter. But how
true is that? If Iran acquires nuclear weapons, Israeli security will be
more closely tied in with that of the United States. Any American
regional nuclear umbrella will also cover Israel, regardless of Israel’s
nuclear arsenal. As for the Palestinians, their problem has never been
more internationalized – its repercussions felt in countless foreign
capitals. Palestinian statehood may be debated at the United Nations in
the not too distant future. Israel’s latitude to pursue containable
unilateral steps is diminishing because the Middle East’s dynamics now
have an impact in so many countries.
A more disturbing thought is that any solution to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict is long gone, making this entire discussion
pointless. In that reading, the Palestinians have time in their favor,
as they will form a numerical majority over the Jews before long.
Therefore, all we can really look forward to is open-ended armed
hostility, again lasting generations. That may be too bleak an
evaluation. Then again it may not be.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.
Prioritizing teaching benefits everyone
Daily Star/Thursday, March 25, 2010
Editorial/Daily Star
Striking public-sector teachers in Lebanon are demanding that the
Hariri-led government improve their pay and general work conditions.
While this situation made the headlines in local newspapers this week,
it’s actually similar to many news items from the mid-1990s.
It doesn’t matter who has been in charge of Lebanon’s government, or
Education Ministry, since the Civil War ended. The education sector is
one of those areas in which official Lebanon just goes through the
motions, talking big about making its mark in the region, while doing
little to achieve this lofty goal.
One pillar of this distinction is education. The quality of education
depends on many things, but the standard of teachers is near the top of
list. Classroom size and physical infrastructure are also important, but
let’s focus on teachers, since they were in the news this week.
It quickly becomes apparent that the issue isn’t just about pay.
Starting salaries don’t have to be exorbitantly high, but when a teacher
puts in 20-30 years of service, getting rewarded for good performance as
time goes by is critically important.
Our teachers are also demanding recognition and respect from the
government. Public-sector teachers, for example, are tired of achieving
better results, based on student examinations, than the private sector.
And yet, we collectively look askance at public education. The teaching
profession’s various unions aren’t ideal; they’re not capable of
promoting wide-scale professional development, and state officials might
dismiss them as a waste of time.
But when an Education Ministry official reminded us earlier this month
that only 23 percent of our teachers have a baccalaureate degree, and
that our education-related legislation and regulations in most case date
from the late 1950s – in 2010 – we realize the problem isn’t lazy
teachers or passive unions.
Back in the good old days, Lebanon gained recognition as an exporter of
teachers, but today’s general situation is in decline. Teachers might
put in 60-hour weeks, for less than adequate pay, and might end up doing
even more “extra” work. On weekdays, from roughly 8 am to 3 pm, they’re
in charge of interacting with one-quarter of our population.
If our politicians were really up to par, they would assign an even
higher priority to education than our famous national defense strategy.
Instead of listing all the people, and policy areas, and slogans that
are supposed to be “above” all other considerations, why don’t we try
something different? How about undertaking a soft revolution, by putting
the enhancement of our teaching profession and educational system above
all other considerations? This will benefit all sides: individuals,
families, the wider society, our economy and our polity. It’s long
overdue.
White House Ignores Iran's Help to al-Qaida in Its Passion over Jerusalem
Apartments
By Barry Rubin/March 25, 2010
http://www.gloria-center.org/gloria/2010/03/white-house-ignores
The United States is at war with al-Qaida. Al-Qaida carried out the attack on
the World Trade Center that killed 3,000 Americans. Al-Qaida is killing
Americans in Iraq and elsewhere. So one would think the fact that al-Qaida has
found a powerful ally would be a big story in the American media and by a big
priority for setting off U.S. government anger.
And this would be especially so if that was explained by one of the most
respected men in the country, a man who has access to the highest-level
intelligence.
Not at all.
In the same testimony which created lots of discussion regarding remarks on the
Israel-Palestinian issue, General David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central
Command, revealed a bombshell story that has been ignored: Iran is helping
al-Qaida attack Americans.
Iran, he said in military-speak, provides "a key facilitation hub, where
facilitators connect al Qaida's senior leadership to regional affiliates."
Translation: Tehran is letting al-Qaida leaders travel freely back and forth to
Pakistan and Afghanistan, using its territory as a safe haven, while permitting
them to hold meetings to plan terrorist attacks for attacking U.S. targets and
killing Americans. While nominally Iran sometimes takes these people into
custody, that seems, Petraeus says, a fiction to fool foreigners.
Oh, and Petraeus added that Iran also helps the Taliban fight America in
Afghanistan. Regarding Iraq, the general explains, "The Qods Force [an elite
Iranian military group within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] also
maintains its lethal support to Shia Iraqi militia groups, providing them with
weapons, funding and training,"
So, Petraeus pointed out that Iran is helping al-Qaida against the United States
and also, at times, Shia groups as well though these have been more quiet
lately. In effect, the Tehran regime is at war with the United States. Yet this
point is not being highlighted, nor does it stir rage in the hearts of White
House officials or strenuous attempts to counter this threat.
There have been stories, some persuasive but not fully confirmed, about Iran's
cooperation with al-Qaida for years. Frankly, I have been reluctant to write
about this matter lest it be dismissed as being based on rumors, though even
Syrian cooperation with al-Qaida which is crystal clear--the terrorists they are
training, funding, equipping, and letting cross back and forth over the
Syria-Iraq border are openly al-Qaida--has virtually never been mentioned by
U.S. government officials and the point rarely made in the mass media.
But now Petraeus has shown Tehran's cooperation with al-Qaida to be true, and
the U.S. government does nothing while maintaining that diplomatic engagement is
still possible and dragging its feet on higher sanctions.
Meanwhile, you can read in the Washington Post a column by Robert Kagan, "Allies
everywhere feeling snubbed by President Obama," reporting how U.S. policies have
dismayed allies as they coddled enemies. Readers of this blog heard this point
made repeatedly over the last year ago. It is astonishing that policymakers and
top opinionmakers still don't seem to grasp the danger.
But why should they when so much of the debate is dominated by nonsense. Thus,
with typical New York Times silliness, Mark Landler writes in "Opportunity in a
Fight With Israel":
"For President Obama, getting into a serious fight with Israel carries obvious
domestic and foreign political risks. But it may offer the administration a
payoff it sees as worthwhile: shoring up Mr. Obama's credibility as a Middle
East peacemaker by showing doubtful Israelis and Palestinians that he has the
fortitude to push the two sides toward an agreement."
As so often happens, such statements are obviously ridiculous. Everyone knows
the administration is willing to push Israel but has never shown the slightest
effort toward pushing the Palestinians. In fourteen months there has not been a
single public criticism of the Palestinian Authority despite its sabotage of any
peace process. Presumably, the U.S. government pressed the PA enough to agree to
indirect talks-scarcely a great achievement-but then the U.S. outrage over the
apartment announcement, instead of handling it by making a quick private deal
with Israel to postpone the project, let the PA escape once again.
That the PA has been allowed to portray merely negotiating to get a state as
doing the United States a big favor is one of many bizarre dislocations of the
last year. As for the Palestinians, of course, they don't care about stopping
the construction. Their concept of American credibility is whether the United
States would give them everything they want with no concession whatsoever on
their part. Such an attitude has been fed by Obama Administration policies.
As for the idea that bashing Israel is going to make Israelis see Obama as a
more credible peacemaker is a statement which could only be made by someone who
has zero knowledge about Israel. Perhaps pushing an Iran-Syria alliance which
now uses al-Qaida as a client might make those regimes see Obama as a more
credible opponent.