LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِDecember
14/2010
Bible Of The
Day
Ecclesiastes 05/01-07: Hastiness
5:1 Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is
better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do
evil. 5:2 Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your heart be hasty to
utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let
your words be few. 5:3 For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a
fool’s speech with a multitude of words. 5:4 When you vow a vow to God, don’t
defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow. 5:5 It
is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay. 5:6
Don’t allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don’t protest before the messenger
that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the
work of your hands? 5:7 For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as
well as in many words: but you must fear God.
Free Opinions, Releases,
letters, Interviews & Special Reports
A way out of the Cabinet
impasse/Daily Star/December
13/10
With New Violence, More Christians
Are Fleeing Iraq/AINA/December
13/10
Egyptian State-Run Media Defames
Coptic Pope/AINA/December
13/10
New Opinion: Memories are short/Now
Lebanon/December 13/10
Geagea: Transferring ‘false
witnesses’ issue to Justice Council means obstructing STL/Now Lebanon/December
13/10
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for December
13/10
Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir
worried about Lebanese situation/Now Lebanon
Ahmadinejad fires Mottaki/Now
Lebanon
Clinton: US for stable
Lebanon/Daily Star
Lebanon Sunni heads lash out at Hezbollah armyAFP
LEBANON: Hezbollah strays from Iranian line on WikiLeaks, praises its
disclosures/Los Angeles Times
Fierce storms strike Middle East/BBC
Arrival of winter takes Lebanon by
storm/Daily Star
Qassem: Hizbullah awaits verdict
before commenting on Karam case/Daily Star
Masses held for slain Gebran Tueni,
Francois al-Hajj/Daily Star
Ministers set to lock horns over
issue of false witnesses/Daily Star
Stagnation in Lebanese politics
will slow growth - Barclays/Daily Star
No possibility for peace between
Israel Syria/J.Post
Abadi says Iran supports efforts to
end Lebanese impasse/Now Lebanon
Khalil meets Hariri, voices
possibility for positive cabinet mood/Now Lebanon
Marouni: Raad’s retraction may
signal new intentions/Now Lebanon
Kuwait closes Al-Jazeera TV
office/Now Lebanon
Hizbullah
Escalates Rhetorical Attacks/Naharnet
Berri
Aide Meets Hariri: There's Time to Agree on False Witnesses/Naharnet
Wakim:
U.S. Behind Decision to Kill Hariri/Naharnet
Sunni Officials Accuse
Army of Serving as Cover for Hizbullah/Naharnet
Saudi-Syrian Initiative
Places Priority on Lebanese Consensus/Naharnet
Fatima Issawi Quits STL/Naharnet
Patriarch Nasrallah
Boutros Sfeir worried about Lebanese situation
December 13, 2010 /The Lebanese situation is saddening, considering the current
political turmoil in the country, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir
said on Monday.
Sfeir voiced his concern regarding the possibility of having imbalances in the
decision-making process in Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
“All sects should take part in the decision-making process in a balanced way,
until each feels they are fulfilling their role fully,” Sfeir said. Tensions are
high in Lebanon amid unconfirmed reports that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)
may soon indict Hezbollah members in its investigation of former Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri’s 2005 murder, a move the party has repeatedly warned against.
Hezbollah has threatened to "cut off the hand” of anyone who tries to arrest any
of its members in the Rafik Hariri murder case. -NOW Lebanon
Ahmadinejad fires Mottaki
December 13, 2010 /Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired his country’s
foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, the official Islamic Republic News Agency
(IRNA) reported on Monday, without giving reasons. "I thank you and appreciate
the work and the services you have rendered during your tenure in the foreign
ministry," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in the directive carried by IRNA. "I
hope your efforts receive a praise by God and you will be successful in the rest
of your life at the service of people of our Islamic nation," he added.
Mottaki, a career diplomat, was appointed to the post of foreign minister in
August 2005. He is currently in Senegal on an official visit. A fluent speaker
of English who is also comfortable in Urdu and Turkish, Mottaki earned a degree
in social sciences from the University of Bangalore in India and a graduate
degree in international relations from Tehran University in 1991.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
Berri Aide Meets Hariri: There's Time to Agree on False Witnesses
Naharnet/Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's political aide Ali Hasan Khalil on
Monday said there is time to agree on the false witnesses' issue.Khalil's
remarks came following a meeting with Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand
Serail. He said he sensed a "positive step toward (reaching) an understanding,"
pointing out that there is "still is still time until Wednesday to agree on the
false witnesses' issue." Earlier Monday, Khalil met President Michel Suleiman at
Baabda Palace. Beirut, 13 Dec 10,
Hizbullah Escalates Rhetorical Attacks
Naharnet/The Hizbullah-led Opposition has stepped up it rhetoric against the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon, reiterating that a settlement to the crisis should
precede the indictments.
Sheikh Naim Qassem believed that the STL was "dedicated to eliminate Hizbullah."
"Lebanon today is facing a conspiracy launched by the Special Tribunal," he
said. "I say 'Lebanon' because the Special Tribunal is not just against
Hizbullah, but against Lebanon's independence. "Hizbullah, however, is
comfortable with itself and we know that we are neither concerned with the
accusation nor the verdict. State Minister Mohammed Fneish, for his part, said
Hizbullah will not debate any issue in Cabinet before the false witnesses has
been finalized.
"When the Opposition calls for internal consensus before issuance of the
indictment, it is because of its keenness on the interests of this country and
its stability," Fneish said. Hizbullah MP Ali Fayyad, meanwhile, stressed that
"we have reached the final stage … after we waited a long time and spared no
effort to reach an understanding." Beirut, 13 Dec 10,
Abadi says Iran supports efforts to end Lebanese
impasse
December 13, 2010 /Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghadanfar Roken Abadi said on
Monday that his country supports all efforts working toward ending the current
political impasse in Lebanon.According to the National News Agency (NNA), Abadi
voiced his optimism regarding the possibility to reach a solution to Lebanese
disputes.Tensions are high in Lebanon amid unconfirmed reports that the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) may soon indict Hezbollah members in its
investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Hezbollah has threatened to “cut off the hand” of anyone who tries to arrest any
of its members in the Rafik Hariri murder case.-NOW Lebanon
Khalil meets Hariri, voices possibility for positive cabinet mood
December 13, 2010 /Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide, MP Ali Hassan Khalil,
met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday, after which he said that “there
is still time to create a better atmosphere” for Wednesday’s upcoming cabinet
session. According to a statement issued by Hariri’s office, Khalil said that he
sensed the parties’ intention reach an understanding to resolve the current
Lebanese disputes. Khalil met earlier on Monday with President Michel Sleiman.
Tensions are high in Lebanon amid unconfirmed reports that the Special Tribunal
for Lebanon (STL) may soon indict Hezbollah members in its investigation of
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s 2005 murder. The cabinet has not met since
its November 10 session, in which discussion of the “false witnesses”
controversy was postponed to avoid a divisive vote. March 8 politicians have
called for the cabinet to task the Justice Council with investigating the issue
of witnesses who gave unreliable testimonies to the international probe into
Rafik Hariri’s assassination. However, March 14 figures have said that the
regular judiciary should handle the matter.-NOW Lebanon
Marouni: Raad’s retraction may signal new intentions
December 13, 2010 /Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad’s “retraction of his statement
hopefully [means] he has a new intention to study issues in depth and respect
constitutional institutions,” Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni said on Monday. We are
used to Hezbollah leaders using threatening language, but Raad’s turning away
from this style signifies that Hezbollah has run into a regional situation that
does not permit these kinds of threats, he told As-Sharq radio station. Marouni
also said that “Syrian President [Bashar al-Assad’s] talk suggests direct
recognition of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).”Raad issued a statement
Sunday denying media reports that he set a three or four-day deadline for
Saudi-Syrian efforts to resolve Lebanese tensions, calling such reports
inaccurate and misleading. “The intent [of Raad’s statements] is that he hopes
the results of this effort will appear soon, at which point [matters will
proceed accordingly],” his statement said. In an interview published on Sunday,
Lebanon First bloc MP Okab Sakr had said that Raad’s previous comments were
dangerous and should be retracted immediately. March 14 General Secretariat
Coordinator Fares Soueid had also called on Raad to “review his calculations and
stop being condescending to the Lebanese and using violent language toward
them.”Tensions are high in Lebanon amid reports that the STL may soon indict
Hezbollah members in its investigation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s
2005 murder.
Hezbollah has threatened to "cut off the hand” of anyone who tries to arrest any
of its members in the case.-NOW Lebanon
Geagea: Transferring ‘false witnesses’ issue to Justice Council means
obstructing STL
December 13, 2010 /Now Lebanon/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that
transferring the issue of “false witnesses” from the cabinet to the Justice
Council is a move that inhibits the work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
In an interview with the Egyptian Nile Live television to be broadcast on
Monday, Geagea said that “Hezbollah and its allies insist on boycotting the
cabinet unless it takes measures that obstruct the STL probe.” “If we give in to
Hezbollah’s demands, we would be putting Lebanon in [turmoil].”
“How is [Hezbollah] saying that the STL will lead to instability and incite
strife?” Geagea asked, adding that he will not accuse any party of murdering
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 before making sure of the evidence
that will be presented by the tribunal. “I do not think Hezbollah is threatening
that it will resort to violence this time…In case it did, the STL will not halt
its probe.” The LF leader also said that he does not believe a war will break
out in Lebanon, despite current tension in the country. He also voiced hope that
“Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would review his country’s policies toward
Lebanon and acknowledge that the latter is a sovereign state.” Tensions are high
in Lebanon amid unconfirmed reports that the STL may soon indict Hezbollah
members in its investigation of the Rafik Hariri murder. Hezbollah has
threatened to “cut off the hand” of anyone who tries to arrest any of its
members in the murder case.-NOW Lebanon
Kuwait closes Al-Jazeera TV office
December 13, 2010 /Kuwaiti authorities have closed the office of the Qatar-based
pan-Arab Al-Jazeera news channel over coverage of a police crackdown on a public
gathering, the channel said on Monday. "Today, I received a phone call from the
information ministry informing me that the office has been closed immediately
and our accreditations have been withdrawn," Saad al-Saeedi, Al-Jazeera's bureau
chief in Kuwait City, told AFP. Ministry officials had delivered the office a
letter that stated the reason for the closure was "the latest developments and
your interference in Kuwait's internal affairs," Saeedi said, quoting the
letter. The channel had aired extensive coverage of the police crackdown on a
gathering held by the Kuwaiti opposition on Wednesday. It showed footage of
police beating activists and aired interviews with members of the Kuwaiti
opposition following the clashes in which four Kuwaiti MPs and a dozen citizens
were hurt. In a statement, Al-Jazeera denied the charge of meddling in Kuwaiti
affairs, saying it was just doing its job.-AFP/NOW Lebanon
New Opinion: Memories are short
December 13, 2010
At the end of last week, Hezbollah boldly came out in support of Lebanese
newspaper Al-Akbar, which was forced to shut down its online content after being
hacked. The paper accused Israel of trying to muzzle its dissemination of
advance copies of secret US diplomatic cables from the whistle-blowing website
Wikileaks, and called on the government to spare no efforts in guaranteeing all
media the freedom of expression to which they are entitled.
The Wikileaks have left many Lebanese politicians with egg on their collective
faces (not least Defense Minister Elias Murr, whose spin doctors have been
working overtime to paint him as a misunderstood patriot rather than an Israeli
spy). It is a situation that will have Hezbollah and their allies in March 8
rubbing their hands with glee. The leaking of the classified documents could not
have come at a better time for the embattled Party of God, which can use them to
cast doubt on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and once again accuse the
US of sowing chaos, confusion and injustice as part of its plans for world
domination.
Nothing new there you might say, and of course March 8’s gotta do what it’s
gotta do, but it is worth reminding Hezbollah and its allies that in this
incident, the whiff of hypocrisy sits heavy, and the collective memory is very
short. In 2008, when Hezbollah took objection to the government going about its
business and sent Amal and SSNP gunmen onto the streets, one the first things it
targeted was March 14 media, in particular the offices of Future television,
which were ransacked and burned. This was not the result of overly-enthusiastic
militiamen high on the smell of cordite and sedition. The homes of pro-democracy
journalists were also ransacked, while others have had to move to other areas of
the city after being told it would be for their own good.
Where were the calls for press freedoms when the late Samir Kassir was hounded
by General Security and his passport confiscated because Damascus was angered by
the columns he wrote attacking the Syrian presence in Lebanon? Where was the
outcry from March 8 when Kassir was eventually murdered in his car by unknown
assailants on June 2, 2005 or when his boss, An-Nahar daily editor-in-chief
Gibran Tueni met a similar fate six months later? So much for freedom of
expression.
Hezbollah’s call for state support beggars belief. Few if any are the occasions
on which it has respected the state, its institutions or indeed the majority of
its citizens. Its presence in the government is not as an equal partner moving
forward to execute a blueprint for the national good, but instead to make sure
its own agenda is protected.
One only has to listen to Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad, who on Sunday told the
National News Agency that “everyone must bear the results if the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)’s indictment is issued without a compromise” and that
“Lebanon’s image will gradually change if a domestic understanding is not
reached.” Another veiled threat? Who knows, but one can put good money on
Hezbollah taking matters into their own hands in one way or another. In other
words, the party will happily work outside the state on which it called to
guarantee freedom of expression. NOW Lebanon is also committed to these very
same freedoms and is proud to be part of the most independent media in the
Middle East. If indeed Al-Akhbar was hacked, and the state is in a position to
act to ensure that all media traffic is allowed to flow freely, then it clearly
should.
It is just a pity that Hezbollah’s reliance on the state is as selective as its
memory.
With New
Violence, More Christians Are Fleeing Iraq
GMT 12-13-2010
Assyrian International News Agency
QOSH, Iraq -- A new wave of Iraqi Christians has fled to northern Iraq or abroad
amid a campaign of violence against them and growing fear that the country's
security forces are unable or, more ominously, unwilling to protect them.
The flight -- involving thousands of residents from Baghdad and Mosul, in
particular -- followed an Oct. 31 siege at a church in Baghdad that killed 51
worshipers and 2 priests and a subsequent series of bombings and assassinations
singling out Christians. This new exodus, which is not the first, highlights the
continuing displacement of Iraqis despite improved security over all and the
near-resolution of the political impasse that gripped the country after
elections in March.
It threatens to reduce further what Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana of the Assyrian
Church of the East called "a community whose roots were in Iraq even before
Christ."
Those who fled the latest violence -- many of them in a panicked rush, with only
the possessions they could pack in cars -- warned that the new violence presages
the demise of the faith in Iraq. Several evoked the mass departure of Iraq's
Jews after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
"It's exactly what happened to the Jews," said Nassir Sharhoom, 47, who fled
last month to the Kurdish capital, Erbil, with his family from Dora, a once
mixed neighborhood in Baghdad. "They want us all to go."
Iraq's leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, have pledged to
tighten security and appealed for tolerance for minority faiths in what is an
overwhelmingly Muslim country.
"The Christian is an Iraqi," he said after visiting those wounded in the siege
of the church, Our Lady of Salvation, the worst single act of violence against
Christians since 2003. "He is the son of Iraq and from the depths of a
civilization that we are proud of."
For those who fled, though, such pronouncements have been met with growing
skepticism. The daily threats, the uncertainty and palpable terror many face
have overwhelmed even the pleas of Christian leaders not to abandon their
historic place in a diverse Iraq.
"Their faith in God is strong," said the Rev. Gabriele Tooma, who heads the
Monastery of the Virgin Mary, part of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Qosh,
which opened its monastic rooms to 25 families in recent weeks. "It is their
faith in the government that has weakened."
Christians, of course, are not the only victims of the bloodshed that has swept
Iraq for more than seven and a half years; Sunni and Shiite Arabs have died on a
far greater scale. Only two days after the attack on the church, a dozen bombs
tore through Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad, killing at least 68
people and wounding hundreds.
The Christians and other smaller minority groups here, however, have been
explicitly made targets and have emigrated in disproportionate numbers.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
these groups account for 20 percent of the Iraqis who have gone abroad, while
they were only 3 percent of the country's prewar population.
More than half of Iraq's Christian community, estimated to number 800,000 to 1.4
million before the American-led invasion in 2003, have already left the country.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an iteration of the insurgent group Al Qaeda in
Mesopotamia, claimed responsibility for the suicidal siege and said its fighters
would kill Christians "wherever they can reach them."
What followed last month were dozens of shootings and bombings in Baghdad and
Mosul, the two cities outside of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern
Iraq. At least a dozen more Christians died, eight of them in Mosul.
Three generations of the Gorgiz family -- 15 in all -- fled their homes there on
the morning of Nov. 23 as the killings spread. Crowded into a single room at the
monastery in Qosh, they described living in a state of virtual siege, afraid to
wear crosses on the streets, afraid to work or even leave their houses in the
end.
The night before they left, Diana Gorgiz, 35, said she heard voices and then
screams; someone had set fire to the garden of a neighbor's house. The Iraqi
Army arrived and stayed until morning, only to tell them they were not safe
there anymore. The Gorgizes took it as a warning -- and an indication of
complicity, tacit or otherwise, by Iraq's security forces. "When the army comes
and says, 'We cannot protect you,' " Ms. Gorgiz said, "what else can you
believe?"
There is no exact accounting of those who have fled internally or abroad. The
United Nations has registered more than 1,100 families. A steady flow of
Christians to Turkey spiked in November to 243, an official there said.
The Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq offered itself as a haven and
pledged to help refugees with housing and jobs. Many of those who fled are
wealthy enough to afford rents in Iraqi Kurdistan; others have moved in with
relatives; the worst off have ended up at the monastery here and another nearby,
St. Matthew's, one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world.
There have been previous exoduses, especially from Mosul. In October 2008, more
than 12,000 Christians left after a wave of assassinations killed 14 Christians.
In February of this year, more than 4,000 fled to the Kurdish-controlled region
in Nineveh or to Syria after 10 Christians were killed. When violence ebbed
after each exodus, many returned to their homes and jobs, though not all,
leaving fewer and fewer Christians. By one estimate, only 5,000 of the 100,000
Christians who once lived in Mosul remain.
"I expect that a month from now not a single Christian will be left in Mosul,"
Nelson P. Khoshaba, an engineer in the city's waterworks, said in Erbil, where
he joined a chaotic scrum of people trying to register with the local
authorities there.
The displacement of Christians has continued despite the legal protections that
Iraq's Constitution offers religious and ethnic minorities, though Islam is the
official state religion and no law can be passed contradicting its basic tenets.
Christians have a quota of 5 seats in the new 325-member Parliament, though
little political influence. Christmas was declared a national holiday in 2008,
though celebrations are muted, and in Kirkuk, a tensely disputed city north of
Baghdad, Christmas Mass was canceled last year.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, appointed by
the president and Congress, said that the nominal protections for religious
minorities in Iraq -- including Christians, Yazidis and Sabean Mandeans,
followers of St. John the Baptist -- did little to stop violence or official
discrimination in employment, housing and other matters. It noted that few of
the attacks against minority groups were ever properly investigated or
prosecuted, "creating a climate of impunity."
"The violence, forced displacement, discrimination, marginalization and neglect
suffered by members of these groups threaten these ancient communities' very
existence in Iraq," the commission said in its latest annual report in May. Last
week security officials announced the arrest of insurgents whom they said
planned the attack on Our Lady of Salvation; those who actually carried it out
died when Iraqi forces stormed the church. They offered few details, and a
spokesman for the American military, which regular joins Iraqi forces during
such arrests, said he had no information on those arrested.
Archdeacon Emanuel said the government needed to do more to preserve a community
that has been under siege in Iraq for decades -- from the first massacre of
Christians in Sumail in 1933 after the creation of the modern Iraqi nation to
the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein to today's nihilistic extremism that, in his
words, has taken Islam hostage.
Invitations by European countries for Christians to emigrate following the
attack, he said, would only hasten the departure of more, which "is not a
solution." Instead, the latest violence should give impetus to the creation of
an autonomous Christian enclave in the part of Nineveh Province near here that
is now under the control of the Kurdish region. That idea, though, has little
political support in Iraq in Baghdad or Iraqi Kurdistan.
"What happened has been done repeatedly and systematically," he said. "We have
seen it in Mosul, in Baghdad. The message is very clear: to pluck Iraqi
Christians from the roots and force them out of the country."
By Steven Lee Myers
New York Times
Yasmine Mousa contributed reporting from Erbil, Iraq, and Sebnem Arsu from
Istanbul.
Copyright (C) 2010, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use.
Egyptian State-Run Media Defames Coptic Pope
Posted GMT 12-13-2010
(AINA) -- A recently published column in the state-run daily al-Ahram newspaper
carried an unprecedented attack on Egypt's patriarch, Pope Pope Shenouda III,
the Coptic Church, and the Copts in general. The column entitled "2010 Copts,"
by Abdel-Nasser Salama, an obscure journalist, appeared on December 6; it
accused Pope Shenouda of having instigated sectarian tension in Egypt ever since
he became Pope in 1971, by introducing into the Egyptian society "terms such as
sectarianism, sectarian strife, citizenship and the resort to foreign powers for
support."Salama accused Pope Shenouda of giving a speech in 1973 to the
congregation in Alexandria in which he said, according to Salama, "the number of
Christians in Egypt will be at par with the number of Muslims by the year 2000,
according to the plan the church is implementing, described in the speech." In
addition Salama claimed that the Pope allegedly called for "expelling the
'Muslim invaders' from Egypt". The Chief editor of Coptic Newspaper Watani,
Youssef Sidhom, wrote an editorial on December 12, blaming al-Ahram's editorial
executives of allowing an article with such offensive and undocumented material
to be published. "The column cited 'information which it claimed was historical
fact and which 'proved' that Copts have been for decades acting in a treacherous
manner against their homeland." Sidhom added that "it takes no effort to
determine that the so-called 'information' is entirely groundless; its only base
is in the writer's imagination."
"The issue this time is highly sensitive," said Dr. Gabraeel in an interview
with Al-Masry Al-Youm. "It's not a writer accusing the Copts of something; it's
the official newspaper of the state launching an attack on the church's
spiritual leader, Pope Shenouda III, who is a symbol for millions of Copts in
and outs Egypt."
Dr. Naguib Gabraeel, who is head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights
Organization (EUHRO), filed a complaint on December 8 with the General
Persecution Office, accusing al-Ahram of defaming Pope Shenouda III. The
complaint included libel, false reporting, undermining social security and
inciting sectarian unrest.
Salama said Copts are being "pampered" and "coddled" by the state, referring to
the Incident of St. Mary and St.Michel Church in Omraniya on November 24 and the
ensuing Coptic protests against halting their church construction, and the
precedent of security forces opening fire on Coptic protesters, resulting in 4
Coptic fatalities, 79 injured and 157 Coptic detainees including women, teens
and children as young as 11-years-old.
Several writers touched on the point of the state's pampering and coddling of
Copts and whether this was consistent with the different massacres of Copts such
as el-Kosheh and the Christmas Eve Massacre in Nag Hammadi in 2010 (AINA
1-7-2010), the frequent torching of Copts' homes, looting of their property,
displacement from their villages, abductions and forced Islamization of the
minor girls and lack of freedom for worship.
Salama accused church officials of planning and staging the demonstrations in
Omrania by bringing over youth from Upper Egypt for this purpose, and of aiming
their aggression at police officers who were allegedly injured.
"How did our clergy plan these demonstrations when the Governor of Giza's
secretary visited the premises and told the congregation on November 23 that the
church permit has been changed," said Yacoub, "and congratulated them on the new
church. This was on the evening of the surprise attack on them by security
forces" (video).
"The large amount of Molotov cocktails seized from the protesters, raises the
question about the presence of weapons in churches," Mr. Salama wrote. The
accusation of the Coptic church stockpiling weapons was claimed by Islamist Dr.
El-Awa on September 15, during an interview of Al-Jezeera TV Channel (AINA
9-22-2010).
Attorney Adel Mikhail, defense lawyer, confirmed that according to police
reports, " no trace of Molotov cocktails whatsoever was found on the 157
detained demonstrators or any kind of weapons seized from them." He said that
the detainees said that they never took part in the protestes but were picked up
at ramdom and arrested by the police.
Mr. Salama said that the stance adopted by Pope Shenouda of non-condemnationn of
the Copts involved in the recent attack "is quiet surprising and confirms that
matters ought to be firmly resolved." Pope Shenouda III, denounced what he
described as the "excessive use of force against Coptic protesters", and
announced that the Copts will not forget the blood of those who died during the
church incident on November 24, adding "Power should be used to serve the
people, not for violence. Violence only generates counter-violence."
During his weekly sermon on Wednesday December 8, the pope vowed that the church
will do its best to bring justice to the victims even if it meant going to
court, adding that "Coptic blood is not cheap" (AINA 12-11-2010).
Al-Ahram Editor in Chief Osama Saraya's apologized to Pope Shenouda on a
front-page editorial on December 8 and the Church accepted his apologies and
said it will not take legal action against the paper. Copts were not satisfied ,
however, with this apology, viewing that Saraya highlighted the good qualities
of Pope Shenouda, but did not refer to the other claims in the article. "On the
contrary Saraya protected Salama by finding excuses for him," said Yacoub. It
was reported on December 11, that the Chairman of al-Ahram has stopped Abdel
Nasser Salama from writing his column every Monday. The majority of Coptic
observers believe that this defamatory article would not have seen the light of
day had it not been instigated by the State Security authorities. "What Salama
has written was not a random article," said Dr. Gabraeel "The words reflect the
government's policy of not only marginalizing the Copts, but of also degrading
them."
By Mary Abdelmassih
© 2010, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.
Clinton: US for stable Lebanon
US secretary of state meets Roed-Larsen to discuss current situation in country
By Patrick Galey /Daily Star staff
Monday, December 13, 2010
BEIRUT: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Vice President Joe Biden
over the weekend in voicing Washington’s support for Lebanon’s stability, days
after a former US ambassador to Beirut expressed concern over his
administration’s popularity in the country. Clinton met with the UN Special
Envoy for Resolution 1559 Terje Roed-Larsen to discuss the current situation in
Lebanon, with security on a knife-edge as the country awaits indictments from
the court established to find former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s killers.
“The secretary emphasized the United States’ commitment to Lebanon’s
sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity, and political independence,” a State
Department statement said.
Biden, in a phone call to Prime Minister Saad Hariri late Friday, reiterated
America’s support for an independent and calm Lebanon. “The vice president
reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty,
independence, and stability, underscoring the commitment of the United States to
supporting the development of strong and effective Lebanese state institutions,”
said a statement from the White House. The messages of solidarity will be seen
as fire-fighting measures from the US, following a week of potentially damaging
revelations disclosed by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks that exposed US
officials in Lebanon to accusations of duplicity and malpractice.
Former US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, who is mentioned hundreds of times in
confidential diplomatic cables wired from the embassy over a period of several
years, warned that the accusations unearthed by WikiLeaks could harm US-Lebanon
relations. Feltman said he was “truly worried” of the effect revelations made in
the leaked documents could have on the US mission to Beirut. The US Embassy in
Beirut has refused to comment on allegations made in intercepted cables,
although it did denounce in general the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive
documents, “puts lives at risk and jeopardizes our national security.”
The US has come under fire in recent months from opponents of the UN-backed
Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). The court has said that Lebanon could see
indictments in the investigation of Hariri’s 2005 assassination “very, very
soon” and there are fears anticipated arrest warrants could tip Lebanon from
fragile stability to the abyss of civil strife.
Hizbullah has dismissed the STL as an “Israeli project” and a US scam aimed at
targeting the resistance.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said Friday any STL ruling would be tainted if it
was tarnished with accusations of politicization. “If there is a decision based
on a simple suspicion or political interference, then at that moment nobody will
take the tribunal’s conclusions seriously,” Assad told French broadcaster TFI
following his two-day state visit to Paris, in which Lebanon’s prospects were
discussed with counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy. Clinton’s conversation with Larsen
touched upon the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which
was drafted to reinforce Lebanese sovereignty in 2004. Although Syria withdrew
its three-decade military presence following Hariri’s death, the resolution
stipulates that all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias are obligated to disarm.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in his last interim report on the resolution,
warned that the continued presence of non-state arms risked undermining
Lebanon’s fragile stability.
Masses held for slain Gebran Tueni, Francois al-Hajj
By The Daily Star /Monday, December 13, 2010
BEIRUT: Lebanon remembered over the weekend assassinated journalist Gebran Tueni
and Lebanese Army chief of operations General Francois al-Hajj. Speaking at a
Sunday morning Mass at the Saint Georges Cathedral in Downtown Beirut, Orthodox
Archbishop of Beirut Elias Aoude described Tuneni as a “lover of freedom and
justice.” “Gebran Tueni never bargained with his principles or sold his
conscious,” Aoude told the slain journalists’ relatives, friends and colleagues.
A staunch critic of Syria, the former editor and publisher of An-Nahar newspaper
was assassinated in a car bomb on December 12, 2005. He was one of the pillars
of the so-called “Cedar Revolution,” a series of protests held in the aftermath
of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which led to the
pull-out of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Aoude described Tueni as one of
Lebanon’s “greatest martyrs,” while his daughter Michelle, who delivered the
family address, said her father would have been disappointed with the current
situation in Lebanon. “I am always afraid you might ask about the Cedar
Revolution, because I am embarrassed with the answer,” she said. “Your influence
has never ceased to grow and your presence today is stronger than before because
you sowed the seeds of freedom and bravery,” Michelle Tueni added. Meanwhile,
the family and relatives of General Hajj gathered Saturday at the Mar Elias
Church in Antelias to pray for his soul. He was assassinated in a car bomb on
December 12, 2007. Hajj was the Lebanese Army’s chief of operations when the
military fought Islamic militants from Fatah al-Islam in the Palestinian refugee
camp of Nahr al-Bared during the summer of 2007. Hajj’s son slammed some
politicians and religious figures’ attempts to defend Fatah al-Islam militants.
– The Daily Star
Arrival of winter takes Lebanon by storm
One woman dies, as roads and power supplies are cut off across the country
By Simona Sikimic /Daily Star staff
Monday, December 13, 2010
BEIRUT: Some of the worst storms in years lashed Lebanon over the weekend,
killing one woman and causing vast material damage.
President Michel Sleiman has urged the services and concerned ministries to stay
on high alert, while Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, in his
televised speech Sunday, pledged to assist relief efforts and promised aid for
personal and property damage. Roula Mohammad Tarek became the first victim of
the vicious weather engulfing the east Mediterranean Saturday when an uprooted
tree fell on her car, killing her. No major injuries have since been reported in
Lebanon but Sleiman continued to advise people to take “all necessary
precautions.”
The country has experienced surface winds of up of 100 kilometers per hour
(km/ph) and has seen a month’s worth of rainfall in just 48 hours. Conditions
are expected to improve Monday evening. Dozens of fishing boats lie in tatters
across the coast, littering Beirut’s Corniche and causing chaos in Sidon where
waves, reportedly up to five meters high, forced the evacuation of the police
station and battered port personnel offices. In Tyre bricks and whole balconies
were blown from buildings as winds proceeded to rip out street and road signs.
“We mobilized all personnel during the storm to reach citizens’ needs since the
public service by the Internal Security Forces (ISF) can’t be effective by
itself,” Tyre municipalities’ union president Muhsen al-Husseini said in a
statement. Several inland highways became inaccessible as fallen trees blocked
roads and pools of water engulfed routes, closing the main Dahr al-Baidar road
linking Beirut and Damascus to all cars not fitted with snow chains, and also
isolating parts of the Akkar and several villages in the northern Bekaa Valley.
Dislodged electricity cables further impeded relief efforts, cutting off power
to several regions. Snow was recorded at heights above 900 meters Sunday.
“We have been working extremely hard to rescue people who have become trapped by
the heavy snowfall and rain,” the director of Civil Defense operations, George
Abu Moussa, told The Daily Star. “We have had a lot of problems with electricity
poles falling which have threatened to block our access in addition to closing
it [to civilians],” said Abu Moussa. “But we are prepared and doing everything
we can.”
Despite media reports of flight cancellations, authorities claim no flights were
grounded because of the weather Sunday and insist Beirut’s Rafik Hariri
International Airport (RHIA) is experiencing only minor delays, with services
returning to normal by Monday, an airport spokesperson told The Daily Star.The
heavy rains, however, did wreak “severe damage on airport facilities,” the
spokesperson said, rolling over four small parked training planes, one of which
collided with a nearby electricity pole. The precipitation comes after months of
unseasonally high temperatures and drought which saw an eightfold reduction in
year-on-year rainfall in the months from September and helped propagate a spate
of forest fires. “In the space of just a few days we have gone from fighting
fire to fighting snow,” said Abu Moussa. While the country was in need of rain,
with so much falling in a short period of time most of the water will wash back
into the sea and will not refill underground reservoirs, Wael Hmaidan director
of environmental NGO IndyAct, told The Daily Star. “The snow is not dense and
contains a smaller amount of water, meaning it will melt quickly and not
contribute to the national water reserves,” he said. One of the most pressing
concerns is that the rain could accelerate deforestation by causing widespread
erosion of fertile soil. The government has invested heavily to fight the trend
but the drought and fires have dislodged trees and shrubbery normally
responsible for holding together soil layers, said Hmaidan. Agriculture has also
been hit hard by weekend’s storms which blew away greenhouses and destroyed
crops. – With additional reporting by Van Meguerditchian, Mohammed Zaatari and
Antoine Amrieh.
Qassem: Hizbullah awaits verdict before commenting on Karam case
By The Daily Star /Monday, December 13, 2010
BEIRUT: Hizbullah will not issue political condemnations against Free Patriotic
Movement (FPM)’s Fayez Karam but will await the conclusion of the judicial
process, the party’s deputy secretary general told The Daily Star over the
weekend. Sheikh Naim Qassem said his party would express its position toward the
ex-general as an individual rather than toward the FPM as a party but only after
justice is served. He reiterated that Hizbullah’s ties with the FPM were solid
and added that attempts to tamper with them would fail.
Karam allegedly provided Israel with information about his ties with Hizbullah
officials and the FPM’s decision-making hierarchy among other issues, an
indictment released Thursday by the military court’s first investigative judge
said. The full text of the indictment published Saturday by the NowLebanon news
website said Karam provided the Israeli Mossad with information on whether
participants in the opposition’s sit-in in downtown Beirut in 2008 would raid
the Grand Serail, the headquarter of then-Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The FPM took part in the sit-in along with Hizbullah and its allies in a bid to
overthrow Siniora’s government after the withdrawal of Shiite ministers in 2006.
According to the indictment, Karam had also passed information concerning the
FPM hierarchy as well as procedures adopted by the party in the political
decision-making process to the Israelis. It added that Karam, who confessed to
having been paid 14,000 euros in two installments, briefed the Mossad on his
meetings with Hizbullah’s politburo member Ghaleb Bou Zaynab in Downtown Beirut
and party official Mohammad Saleh in north Lebanon. But the indictment added
Karam recanted his earlier testimonies during the last interrogation session,
saying he accepted a meeting with Mossad agent “Ravi” as he believed he was a
diplomat in London. FPM leader MP Michel Aoun said investigations with Karam
were in violation of legal procedures that allow for the re-launch of
investigations. The indictment sparked an angry exchange between MPs Friday. If
found guilty of assisting Israel, Karam could be sentenced to up to 20 years of
hard labor in accordance with article 278. Article 274 stipulates that the death
penalty can be invoked if a spy’s activity has led to a loss of Lebanese life.
FPM officials say political motives were behind Karam’s arrest by the
Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, an apparatus close to Prime
Minister Saad Hariri, a political foe of Aoun. Karam, 62, headed the Lebanese
Army’s anti-terrorism and counter-espionage unit in the 1980s and was close to
Aoun, who was army chief toward the end of the 1975-90 Civil War. – The Daily
Star
Ministers set to lock horns over issue of 'false witnesses'
By Hussein Dakroub /Daily Star staff
Monday, December 13, 2010
BEIRUT: The Cabinet will meet for the first time in more than a month Wednesday
to discuss, among other topics, the controversial issue of “false witnesses,” as
Hizbullah is stepping up its campaign against a UN-backed court investigating
the killing of statesman Rafik Hariri.
Under an agreement reached by President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Saad
Hariri Friday, the issue of “false witnesses” said to have misled the UN probe
into the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri, will be the first item on the Cabinet’s agenda along with some 300 other
topics at Wednesday’s session.
The Cabinet session, which effectively puts an end to a five-week-long
government hiatus, will be convened against the backdrop of a lingering split
between the rival factions over how the issue of “false witnesses” should be
handled.
The 10 ministers of the March 8 camp in Hariri’s 30-member national unity
Cabinet plan to meet Tuesday to coordinate their position before going to the
Cabinet’s session, a political source from the alliance told The Daily Star.
However, the 10 ministers were reported Sunday to be insisting that the
Cabinet act on the issue of “false witnesses” either by consensus or a vote at
Wednesday’s session. Both Sleiman and Hariri oppose a Cabinet vote on this issue
to avoid a further split among the ministers.
Politicians from the two rival camps will hold contacts with each other in the
next 24 hours in a bid to avert a Cabinet split when the issue of “false
witnesses” comes up for discussion, the source said.
MP Ammar Houri, a member of Hariri’s Parliamentary Future bloc, ruled out a
Cabinet vote on the issue of “false witnesses” at Wednesday’s session. “Voting
on this issue would be illegal and so would transferring it to the Judicial
Council,” Houri told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.
Minister of State Youssef Saadeh from the March 8 camp said that the issue of
“false witnesses” must be settled in the first five minutes of Wednesday’s
Cabinet session either by consensus or by a vote.
Saadeh, a member of the Marada Movement led by MP Suleiman Franjieh, said that
the March 8 ministers will attend the Cabinet session, supporting consensus on
referring the issue of “false witnesses” to the Judicial Council. But if there
is no consensus, he said, “we insist on a vote no matter what its result is.”
Minister of Youth and Sports Ali Abdullah, another March 8 camp minister, also
called for a Cabinet vote on the issue of “false witnesses” if consensus is
difficult to reach. “There has been enough procrastination, postponement, and
dialogue on the false witnesses issue. The time has come to take a decision,
whatever that is,” Abdullah told Al-Jadid (New TV).
The March 8 factions’ demand that the Judicial Council handle the issue is
strongly opposed by the March 14 camp, which maintains that the regular
judiciary can look into this case.
Wednesday’s session comes amid signs that the UN-backed Special Tribunal for
Lebanon (STL) is preparing to release soon its indictment, which is widely
expected to implicate some Hizbullah members in Hariri’s killing.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to talk about the political
crisis and the STL’s indictment in a speech Wednesday evening, the last night of
Ashura. Hizbullah’s deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem told The Daily Star in an
interview over the weekend that the tribunal, in Hizbullah’s view, does not
exist.
MP Mohammed Raad, head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc, warned that if an
indictment is issued before a solution to the Lebanese crisis is reached,
Lebanon in the post-indictment phase would be different from the pre-indictment
phase.
“Lebanon’s image will change automatically if there is no internal Lebanese
understanding that protects it from the repercussions of the international
tribunal,” Raad said.
He said that after the United States and Israel failed to destroy Hizbullah in
the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, “they are now following a new approach: the
indictment and the international tribunal.”
“This Resistance is too honorable, too honest and too pure for anyone to be able
to touch its dignity or the credibility of its martyrs’ blood. And if anyone
does not like that they can reclaim the sea,” Raad said.
Raad Sunday denied that his statement Friday, which evoked responses from the
March 14 politicians, had set a three or four-day deadline for Saudi-Syrian
mediation bid to find a solution for the Lebanese deadlock over the indictment.
In a statement carried by the NNA, Raad said that the remarks attributed to him
were “inaccurate.”
“What I meant to say was that it is hoped that the results of this bid will
emerge soon,” Raad said.
MP Okab Sakr, a member of Hariri’s Parliamentary Lebanon First bloc, rejected
Raad’s statement as “dangerous,” saying it should be retracted immediately.
“Hizbullah’s threat to use its arms gives the party a militia character. This is
unacceptable in principle,” Sakr told the Saudi newspaper Ash-Sharq al-Awsat.
He said that Raad should realize that Hizbullah’s threat to take to the streets
to impose its conditions would lead the March 14 factions to also take to the
streets.
A way out of the Cabinet impasse
Daily Star/Monday, December 13, 2010
Ahead of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, a prime ministerial official printed
agendas listing the 300 items due for discussion. Although many of these items
directly affect the wellbeing of citizens – far more so than the lives of those
mandated to discuss them – the secretary would have been well advised to save
energy, and paper.
In spite of Cabinet’s mounting and increasingly crucial to-do list, it seems
preordained that Wednesday’s discussion will focus on (and falter on) one
controversial topic: “false witnesses.”
Given rhetoric from rival political blocs, it is as close to a political
certainty as one can get that the “false witnesses” debate will not prove
conclusive. Cue further postponement, additional prevarication and lots more
important items hastily added to the list for the next Cabinet session –
whenever that may be. Barring a miracle, deadlock is inevitable and – proximity
to Christmas notwithstanding – now is no time for miracles.
No government can function in the state Lebanon currently finds itself. Tension,
instability, external interference and doubts over sovereignty are compounded by
threat after threat. Parties attempting to clamber above the clamor to make
themselves heard are resorting to foreboding and acerbic scaremongering, quite
forgetting the fact that – on paper, at least – this is a democratic country,
with a parliament elected by the people and a cabinet chosen in line with an
internationally agreed framework.
Politicians show signs of regressing to tribalism, resorting to militia-like
posturing and intimidation. Such maneuvering should have no place in modern
Lebanon; it only serves to bury the country, its reputation, economy and the
welfare of its people under a blanket of bile and bloodlust.
So what counsel? Solutions and compromises have been voiced until advisers are
hoarse. The suggestion that “false witnesses” are referred to the National
Dialogue committee appears sensible; Cabinet members would have to return to
party leaders in any case. But amid the dense fog of war talk, common sense is
right now at a premium.
For all Cabinet’s chest beating, a way out of the impasse is not unmentionable.
It is a way which requires consensus on the one issue warring blocs continually
claim to view as a priority: the good of the country. Faith in these
proclamations amounts to optimism that a deal can be struck.
Agreement requires several things. Initially, it needs ministers not to ignore
the good advice of friendly neighbors. It asks for compromise. More than
anything, a solution advocates different interests to be sidelined in place of
discussion on national stability and prosperity. It is the one item agendas
should make room for.
Stagnation in Lebanese politics will slow growth - Barclays
By The Daily Star /Monday, December 13, 2010
BEIRUT: Barclays Capital projected economic growth in Lebanon at 7.5 percent in
2010, adding that economic activity remains favorable despite the market’s
increasing nervousness about political developments.
The political differences over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)
investigating the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the expected
release of an indictment have paralyzed the government, raised political
tensions and increased uncertainty in the country, Barclays said, as reported by
Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.
It noted that growth in various sectors, including construction, tourism, trade
and financial services has been solid in the first nine months of the year;
while the sustained rapid expansion of credit to the private sector continues to
support sectoral activity. It added that the balance of payments posted
surpluses over the past four months despite slower capital inflows. It expected
the surplus to decline, given the exceptional amount of transfers from Lebanese
living abroad during last year’s financial crisis as they sought a safe haven at
Lebanese banks.
It said that a positive services balance and higher remittances are expected to
partially cover the trade deficit, but the latter remains large and will likely
keep the current account at about 10 percent of GDP in 2010.
It added that fiscal performance over the past 10 months showed positive
results, as the deficit declined by 33 percent year-on-year and the primary
surplus increased by 9.5 percent. As a result, it forecast a reduction of at
least 7 percentage points in the debt-to-GDP ratio, bringing the debt level to
an estimated 141 percent of GDP by end-December, down from 148 percent of GDP at
end-2009. It stressed that, despite these positive results, the fiscal figures
highlight the persistence of a significant structural problem as reflected by a
fiscal deficit of nearly 8.5 percent of GDP, even without accounting for capital
spending that would normally be allowed had the budget been ratified.
Barclays considered that Lebanon’s key challenges in 2011 and beyond remain
reducing the debt level and narrowing the fiscal deficit, which will depend on
the country’s ability to sustain high levels of economic growth and to implement
much-needed fiscal and economic reforms.
It noted, however, that this will require a functional and cohesive government
able to formulate policies and execute decisions.
It said the current government will remain unable to take decisions until the
political sides agree on a common approach to handle the imminent indictment
from the STL once it is issued, and on a joint strategy for Lebanon’s formal
institutions to deal with the STL and the international community afterwards.
Barclays said its base case scenario envisages an agreement among the various
factions on how to deal with the STL indictments prior to their publication.
Under such scenario, it forecast growth to remain at 6 percent to 7 percent in
2011, mainly driven by domestic demand fueled by higher remittances and tourism
revenues. It said that a delayed budgetary process will not allow for
significant capital spending and, therefore, keep the fiscal deficit flat, which
could bring the debt-to-GDP ratio downwards slightly to 136 percent of GDP at
end-2011.
It added that under a worst case scenario, the STL indictment would be issued
prior to an agreement among political factions, which would lead to the
withdrawal of several ministers from the Cabinet and would bring public
institutions to a complete halt. As such, it expected some renewed pressure in
the foreign exchange market similar to 2006-07, bringing the Central Bank to
draw down some of its reserves.
It noted that the Central Bank has repeatedly confirmed its ability and
willingness to ward off any pressure on the Lebanese pound and has taken
measures to absorb banks’ excess liquidity, including primarily through the
issuance of Certificates of Deposit that totaled $18.8 billion at end-October
2010.
It considered that the Central Bank can easily accommodate further pressures
should they recur, as its record $32 billion in reserves are equivalent to more
than 55 percent of short-term debts and cover almost 72 percent of the country’s
money supply, putting the country in a much better position than in previous
instances of extreme political tension.
Further, the banking sector remains solid and highly liquid, with the
loans-to-deposit ratio at 35 percent and capital adequacy at 13.7 percent,
making it able to support imminent financing needs for the public and the
private sectors. – The Daily Star