LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِNovember
07/2010
Bible Of The
Day
Paul's Second Letter to the
Corinthians
5:1 For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a
building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens. 5:2 For
most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which
is from heaven; 5:3 if so be that being clothed we will not be found naked. 5:4
For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened; not that we desire
to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be
swallowed up by life. 5:5 Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who
also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit. 5:6 Therefore we are always
confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the
Lord; 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 5:8 We are courageous, I say, and
are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.
5:9 Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well
pleasing to him. 5:10 For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of
Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he
has done, whether good or bad.
Free Opinions,
Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
International community vows to see
STL through/By: Paige Kollock/ November
06/10
The proxy war in the Middle East may escalate in the coming weeks/By David
Ignatius/November
06/10
Latest News
Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November
06/10
March 14 wins NDU, USJ student
elections/Now Lebanon
France appeals for calm in Lebanon/Now Lebanon
Kouchner
from Beirut: STL was Formed through International Decision, Situation in Region
Dangerous/Naharnet
Gemayel
and Kouchner hold meeting/Now Lebanon
Prominent Judge in Leidschendam to Naharnet: STL 100% Constitutional in Lebanon/Naharnet
Cassese Rejects
Sayyed's Motions to Disqualify Judges Riachy and Chamseddine/Naharnet
UN
Security Council Gives New Backing to Hariri Probe/Naharnet
March 14 Christians: Lebanon in grave danger/Daily Star
Qahwaji: Army is
Ready to Face Tensions, its Response Will be Decisive in All Regions, Especially
Christian Ones/Naharnet
Bush: Olmert asked to me strike Syria, but I refused/J.Post
Christian politicians in Lebanon say country is in 'grave danger'
due to Hezbollah/The Canadian Press
Naharnet
with One of Bellemare's Assistants: Stability Concerns us, But We'll Say the
Truth as we Reach it/Naharnet
STL Witnessing 'Tug of
Rope War' between Cassese, Bellemare/Naharnet
Bellemare Greatest
Absentee from STL Media Forum, His Office Distributed Report on Foreign
Witnesses/Naharnet
Berri Did Not Meet
Kouchner because of Deep Divide over STL/Naharnet
Suleiman's Position
towards STL and False Witnesses Negatively Affected his Ties with Syria/Naharnet
Khalil: Discussing False
Witnesses File at Cabinet's Next Session is Inevitable Even if it Leads to a
Vote/Naharnet
Sayyed: Next Phase Will be
Decisive between Me and STL/Naharnet
Geagea: The Other Camp
Will Take to the Streets, But Street is Not the Solution/Naharnet
Wikileaks Founder: We Will
Soon Publish Documents on Lebanon, There is New Information on STL/Naharnet
Moussawi: Political
Confrontation with STL has been Launched/Naharnet
Slieman
Franjieh from Maronite
Order: We Protect Our Church and Exploiting Bkirki is Inappropriate/Naharnet
Head of the Maronite
Order: We do not deal with politics/Now Lebanon
France appeals
for calm in Lebanon
November 6, 2010 /A top French diplomat on Saturday appealed for calm in Lebanon
amid a widening crisis over an impending indictment by a UN-backed court on the
murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "We call on all political actors
in Lebanon to remain calm, serene, and responsible, and that is the purpose" of
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's visit, the diplomat told AFP. Kouchner, who
arrived in Beirut on Friday for a two-day visit, has held talks with President
Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain former prime
minister. On Saturday, he was also to meet Hezbollah's international relations
officer, Ammar Moussawi, and members of Lebanon's pro-Western parliamentary
majority.
In his meetings, Kouchner emphasized that all parties in Lebanon should provide
the "necessary support and respect for the independence of the tribunal, which
must be permitted to conduct its work peacefully," the diplomat added. The
French delegation's visit is the latest in a flurry of diplomatic efforts to
contain tensions over the expected indictments from the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon, which is investigating the 2005 Hariri assassination. There have
unconfirmed reports that the tribunal is set to indict members of Hezbollah in
connection with the bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others, and Hezbollah
chief Hassan Nasrallah has called on the Lebanese to boycott it. Hezbollah’s
second-in-command, Sheikh Naim Qassem, warned that any charges against Hezbollah
members would be "equivalent to lighting the fuse, to igniting the wick for an
explosion." But Saad Hariri has refused to back down, last week renewing his
complete support for the investigation. -AFP/NOW Lebanon
March 14 Christians: Lebanon in 'grave danger'
Leaders highlight risks of imposing on the Lebanese an impossible and unjust
formula
By Elias Sakr /Daily Star staff/Saturday, November 06, 2010
BEIRUT: A gathering of March 14 Christian leaders under the auspices of the
Maronite Patriarchate said Friday Lebanon was in “grave danger” and warned
against attempts to thwart the country’s democratic system in the wake of
threats to abolish the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) or of civil strife.
“We declare here that Lebanon’s entity, democratic system and openness to the
world is today in grave danger,” a statement by the attendees said.
They said that they were “aware of the dangers of imposing on the Lebanese an
impossible and unjust formula – deny justice in order to preserve civil peace,
or sacrifice civil peace for the sake of justice – and their being invited,
under the threat of arms, to work toward abolishing the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon.”
Attendees, who met at Bkirki, the residence of Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah
Butros Sfeir, said internal and regional forces sought to separate Lebanon from
its Arab environs, an implied reference to Hizbullah’s ties to Iran. The
statement read by Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel said the gathering called
on the Lebanese to rally in defense of Lebanon’s diversity and sovereignty
against plans to establish “a state within a state” and “turn Lebanon into a
spearhead in attacks against the Arab world.”
It urged Arab states to protect the country against “an assault” with
repercussions that would destabilize the entire Arab region.
The leaders said Lebanon was facing a national crisis that extended beyond
political disagreements into attempts to shake Lebanon’s core foundations by
overthrowing its constitutional institutions. “We call on the president … to
work to put an end to the duality of weapons and restrict the responsibility of
defending Lebanon to legitimate forces by supporting the Lebanese people’s right
to a country that is not a theater of war for foreign parties or that does not
serve the interests of a domestic party,” it added.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who attended the meeting, said Hizbullah’s
threats and intimidation had failed to pressure March 14 parties to relinquish
their position.
But playing down the possibility of strife, Geagea voiced confidence in the role
of President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, as well as security
institutions, to preserve stability. The attendees urged the international
community to implement its commitments toward Lebanon, particularly UN Security
Council Resolution 1701, which ended the July 2006 war with Israel, as well as
Resolution 1757, which led to the establishment of the STL. Addressing dangers
facing the Christians’ presence in Lebanon, the gathering expressed concerns by
the Lebanese people, particularly Christians, of facing the same fate as their
“brothers in the Arab world where states collapsed and religious extremism took
over.”
The gathering said Lebanese Muslims shared Christian concerns that sectarian
strife in some Arab states may spread to Lebanon.
Asked whether it would have been more advantageous to invite Christian leaders
of the March 8 coalition to participate in the meeting, Geagea said he doubted
whether the other side was capable of taking independent decisions. “It is clear
that some are assigned a mission contrary to their convictions, beliefs and that
of their popular base,” Geagea said.
The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), led by MP Michel Aoun, and the Marada
Movement, headed by MP Sleiman Franjieh, and Christian groups allied to
Hizbullah did not take part in the meeting. The Future Movement, an ally of
March 14 Christian groups, lauded the gathering’s statement, which it said
reiterated commitment to Lebanon’s constitutional institutions and foundations.
In a statement released following the meeting of the bloc headed by Prime
Minister Saad Hariri, lawmakers stressed the need to maintain a calm tone to
counter the provocative discourse “by some parties” and highlighted the
importance of preserving Muslim unity as a guarantee of national unity. Jbeil MP
Simon Abi Ramia, an FPM official, said the meeting, rather than convey a message
to Hizbullah, aimed to demonstrate to Hariri that he could not make unilateral
decisions without his March 14 Christian allies.
The proxy war in the Middle East may escalate in the coming weeks
By David Ignatius /Daily Star/Saturday, November 06, 2010
While American eyes were focused on the midterm elections, a bitter conflict has
continued between the US and Iran for influence in the Middle East.
The flash points have been Iraq and Lebanon, where the Iranians have been
pushing through their proxies for what amounts to political control. The US and
its allies have been resisting – sometimes feebly, but enough to slow the
Iranian advance. In both Baghdad and Beirut, the proxy warfare may escalate in
coming weeks.
The Obama administration hopes that this jousting with Iran is a prelude to
serious talks on limits to Tehran’s nuclear program. In the administration’s
view, the Iranians have been squeezed by UN sanctions – and are fighting back in
Iraq and Lebanon partly to show they still have leverage.
The White House has repeatedly signaled Iran that it wants a peaceful resolution
of the nuclear issue. The signals back from Tehran have been ambiguous, as
usual, but the Iranians have said they are ready to meet later this month for
more talks with the US and its key allies, perhaps in Vienna.
The tantalizing hints that Iran wants negotiations have included outreach to
American contacts by Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a key political adviser to Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A second Ahmadinejad adviser attended a
US-organized meeting in Rome on October 18 about stabilizing Afghanistan.
Through various intermediaries, the US has indicated it would accept phased
negotiations that began with a Turkish compromise for fueling the Tehran
Research Reactor and then moved to Iran’s overall nuclear program.
The game of nuclear chicken has been going on for nearly a decade now, and for
all the jockeying over the next round of talks, there’s little hard evidence yet
that the Iranians are serious about reaching a deal. Meanwhile, their drive for
political power in Baghdad and Beirut continues.
The US resistance to Tehran has been a kind of rope-a-dope strategy, with US
allies absorbing Iranian blows while Washington dickers for compromise – and,
metaphorically, waits for Iran to punch itself out. The US hope, in the words of
former Ambassador Ryan Crocker, is that “Iranian influence is self-limiting. The
harder they push, the more resistance they get.”
In Iraq, more than seven months have passed since the March parliamentary
elections without formation of a new government. Iran has put its weight behind
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s bid to stay in power, and is said to have
created a special task force in Baghdad to pressure Iraqi factions. Iran is said
to have cut off covert subsidies to Shiite parties that refused to back Maliki.
The US, strangely, has also tacitly supported Maliki’s quest. But Washington has
insisted that the Iraqiya Party, headed by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and
backed by Iraq’s Sunni community, must be included in a coalition government.
Supporting the US demand is Massoud Barzani, the Kurdish leader who is kingmaker
in these negotiations.
Some Iraqis fear that Tehran is planning a campaign of reprisals. A source last
week sent me a purported Iraqi intelligence report claiming that “Iranian
intelligence officers [plan] a two-stage operation involving assassinating
[former] members of the Baath Party and former and current officers in the army
and intelligence agency.”
The proxy war in Lebanon is just as fierce. Hizbullah, the Shiite organization
created by Iran, is fulminating against an international tribunal that is
reportedly preparing to indict Hizbullah members next month for the 2005 murder
of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The US has organized a coalition,
including Russia, to support the tribunal’s work. If indictments are issued,
Hizbullah may move to topple the Lebanese government – creating a new showdown.
How the US and Israel would respond isn’t clear but their options would limited.
An angry Ahmadinejad last week accused Russia of selling out to “Satan” by
supporting sanctions and canceling a planned sale to Iran of ground-to-air
missiles.
The Obama administration hopes that an isolated Iran will eventually seek a
compromise on the nuclear issue. But as Karim Sadjadpour argues in Foreign
Policy, this regime with a “victimization complex” needs America as an enemy,
perhaps more than ever. It makes sense for the US to explore every reasonable
area of compromise, but the proxy wars in Iraq and Lebanon show that Iran wants
to bargain from strength, too.
After the election furor, President Barack Obama must turn to this test – and
discover whether Iran wants negotiations to reach a deal, or to kill time.
Syndicated columnist David Ignatius is published twice weekly by The Daily Star.
March 14 wins NDU, USJ student elections
November 6, 2010 /Lebanese Forces’ student affairs head Charbel Eid told NOW
Lebanon Saturday that the March 14 coalition emerged as the winner in the
student elections in the University of Notre Dame (NDU).March 14 also succeeded
in taking all departments in the Saint Joseph University (USJ) elections in the
North and Bekaa campuses, he added.
March 14 won in three departments out of five in the South Campus of the USJ,
Eid said, adding that they won in 10 departments including the four departments
in Huvlein, USJ’s school of legal studies located at its Beirut Campus.
According to Eid, Hezbollah and its allies won in seven departments in the
Mansourieh campus while the independent candidates won in two departments, there
will also be a drawing after a tie between the candidates in three
departments.The LF and its allies totaled winnings of 143 seats in all its
departments in the University of Saint Joseph, while Hezbollah and its allies
won 81 seats, leaving 41 seats to independent candidates, Eid added.-NOW Lebanon
Gemayel and Kouchner hold meeting
November 6, 2010 /Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel met with French Foreign
Minister Bernard Kouchner at the French Embassy in Beirut, according to a
statement issued by Gemayel’s press office on Saturday. Lebanese need to feel
the support of their friends when there is a danger situation in the country,
Gemayel said.
The French FM arrived in Lebanon on Friday for a two-day official visit. Tension
is high in Lebanon after unconfirmed reports indicated that the Special Tribunal
for Lebanon (STL) would soon issue its indictment for the 2005 assassination of
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. There are fears that, should the court
indict Hezbollah members, it could lead to clashes similar to those of the 2008
May Events – when gunmen led by Party of God took over half of Beirut. Hezbollah
chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly said that the STL is an “Israeli
project” and will indict members of his party. -NOW Lebanon
Kouchner from Beirut: STL was Formed through International Decision, Situation
in Region Dangerous
Naharnet/French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner questioned on Saturday the
uproar over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, stressing that it was "born out of
an international decision and with the approval of the international community."
He made his statements after holding talks with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah
Sfeir that also tackled the situation in the region, which the French official
described as dangerous.
The threats in the Middle East are not limited to the Christians, given the
recent attack in Iraq, but the Sunnis and Shiites are also at risk.
Addressing House Speaker Nabih Berri's failure to schedule a meeting with him,
Kouchner stated: "Berri and I are friends and he is not here today."
He later held talks with his Lebanese counterpart Ali al-Shami on the situation
in the region, during which the latter stressed the need to restart dialogue on
the regional scene.
The French official added that he will hold a press conference in the afternoon
to discuss the situation in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Socialist Party issued a statement revealing that its
leader, MP Walid Jumblat, had held a meeting with Kouchner at the French embassy
on Saturday during which latest developments were addressed. The French Foreign
Minister then held talks with Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel at the French
embassy.
During the nearly hour-long meeting, Kouchner expressed his country's constant
support for Lebanon and its stability and independence, especially in this
phase.
For his part, Gemayel hoped that France would maintain its support for Lebanese
legitimacy in order for it to build a state and impose its authority over all
Lebanese territories.
Kouchner also held talks on Friday with former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora.
A top French diplomat on Saturday appealed for calm in Lebanon amid a widening
crisis over the STL's impending indictment in the assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri.
"We call on all political actors in Lebanon to remain calm, serene, and
responsible, and that is the purpose" of Kouchner's visit, the diplomat told
AFP.On Saturday, he was also to meet Hizbullah's international relations
officer, Ammar Moussawi, and members of the March 14 forces.(naharnet-AFP)
Beirut, 06 Nov 10, 10:16
Cassese Rejects Sayyed's Motions to Disqualify Judges Riachy and Chamseddine
Naharnet/The President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Antonio
Cassese, issued two decisions Friday in which he rejected Major General Jamil
Sayyed's motions to disqualify Judges Ralph Riachy and Afif Chamseddine from
considering an appeal of his special application before the Tribunal.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued a statement saying that Cassese
determined that Riachy and Chamseddine have no personal interest in or
association with Sayyed's application that could affect or appear to affect
their impartiality.
In reaching these decisions Cassese referred to Rule 25 of the Rules of
Procedure and Evidence of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, to jurisprudence of
the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and to the jurisprudence of
some national courts.
The President first rejected Sayyed's argument that Riachy and Chamseddine were
tainted by the very fact of their nomination to the Tribunal by the Government
of Lebanon. The Judges were chosen for their "extensive judicial experience" and
"high moral character, impartiality and integrity." They were appointed by the
Secretary General of the United Nations, with the assistance of an independent
selection committee, from a list of candidates proposed by the Lebanese Supreme
Council of the Judiciary.
Furthermore, President Cassese emphasized that Sayyed's argument, if accepted,
would mean no Lebanese judge could ever sit on any Chamber of the Tribunal. This
would frustrate the mixed composition of the Tribunal's Chambers.
In his motion for the disqualification of Judge Riachy, Sayyed had also argued
that Judge Riachy should be disqualified because of his earlier participation in
a decision of Lebanon's Court of Cassation. The President rejected this argument
as well, stating that "Judge Riachy was not involved in any case concerning the
detention of Mr. Sayyed", much less has he made any ruling regarding the issue
currently before the Tribunal.
Sayyed has petitioned the Tribunal for access to documents he believes will
demonstrate that his nearly four year detention by the Lebanese authorities was
based on false evidence. The Prosecutor of the Tribunal has appealed the
Pre-Trial Judge's preliminary determination that the Tribunal has jurisdiction
to consider Sayyed's application and that Sayyed has standing to bring his
request before the Tribunal.
Judge Riachy and Judge Chamseddine will participate in the consideration of the
Prosecutor's interlocutory appeal, along with President Cassese, Judge David
Baragwanath of New Zealand, and Judge Kjell Erik Bjِrnberg of Sweden. Beirut, 05
Nov 10, 16:49
Prominent Judge in Leidschendam to Naharnet: STL 100% Constitutional in Lebanon
Naharnet Special Report – Leidschendam:
A prominent judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has stressed that the STL
is legitimate, not only from the viewpoint of international law, given that it
was established in accordance with a U.N. Security Council resolution issued
under Chapter 7, but also according to Lebanon's legal and constitutional
principles, on the grounds that the setting up of the STL was in line with the
texts of the Lebanese Constitution, contrary to what is being circulated by
STL's adversaries in Lebanon.
The aforementioned judge, who requested anonymity on the grounds that he
represents a legal-academic point of view, clarified that not sanctioning the
law that established the tribunal in Lebanese Parliament does not mean that the
law is unconstitutional, because its constitutionality can derive from one of
two options:
- Adopting the agreement the Lebanese government and the U.N. had negotiated
about by the Lebanese Parliament according to Article 52 of the Lebanese
Constitution which stipulates that "treaties involving State finances, trade
agreements and in general treaties which cannot be renounced at the end of each
calendar year, are not definitive except after they have been approved by the
Parliament."
- The preamble to the Lebanese Constitution, which stipulates in its clause (b)
that "Lebanon is a founding and active member of the United Nations Organization
and abides by its covenants and by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Government shall embody these principles in all fields and areas without
exception." Not to mention that the Charter of the United Nations obliges U.N.
member states to "accept and carry out the decisions of the (U.N.) Security
Council."
Hence, the prominent STL judge told Naharnet that although the tribunal's judges
are not affected by the political disputes in the Lebanese arena regarding the
STL, that does not imply that they are not aware of these disputes and alert to
all legal aspects that may be raised.
Judges are rather keen on mulling the legal questions raised to ensure that the
tribunal's work is 100 percent legitimate according to all standards, the STL
judge added.
"Lebanese politicians who consider the establishment of the tribunal as
unconstitutional fall, whether consciously or not, into a major mistake, because
the STL is based upon the law of its establishment pursuant to U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1757, not upon the draft agreement reached through
negotiations between the Lebanese government and the U.N., which was not
endorsed by Parliament. It is true that the texts are the same, but the
bilateral agreement was neither concluded in Lebanon nor in the U.N., which had
modified the mechanism of ratification by incorporating the text as part of
UNSCR 1757," the judge went on to say.
Thus, the judge stressed that the suggestion in circulation as to Lebanese
Parliament voting on the unconstitutionality of the tribunal is meaningless,
since no one has ever claimed that the law on the tribunal's establishment was
ratified in Lebanese Parliament.
Moreover, UNSCR 1757 clearly mentioned that when it sanctioned the setting up of
the tribunal and its system and gave a grace period to the Lebanese State to
adopt the law of establishment according to its constitutional mechanism.
It also mentioned that if the grace period ends without the Lebanese
constitutional institutions performing their obligations in this regard, the
establishment of the tribunal will go into effect pursuant to the system annexed
to UNSCR 1757.
The judge turned to the Resolution's text in this regard, reciting: "(a) The
provisions of the annexed document, including its attachment, on the
establishment of a Special Tribunal for Lebanon shall enter into force on 10
June 2007, unless the Government of Lebanon has provided notification under
Article 19 (1) of the annexed document before that date."
He noted that UNSCR 1757 was adopted on May 30, 2007, which means that the
Security Council had given the Lebanese Parliament a 10-day deadline to vote on
the law that established the tribunal, before the law entering into force
according to the U.N. Security Council resolution that was issued under Chapter
7.
The STL judge concluded that the agreements and protocols signed between Lebanon
and the STL after the tribunal started its mission were steps in the framework
of implementing UNSCR 1757 rather than negotiable and amendable choices, even if
the technical details were negotiable and amendable.
Therefore, any modification or cancellation of the law that set up the STL is a
matter that falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.N. Security Council
being the authority that had issued the Resolution, the judge went on to say. He
noted that if the Lebanese authorities had anything to say, it must negotiate
with the Security Council, because making any other step would be nothing but
"folklore" to fill some time in Lebanese politics, without being able to change
anything related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Beirut, 05 Nov 10, 18:37
Moussawi: Political Confrontation with STL has been Launched
Naharnet/Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Hussein al-Moussawi stated on Friday
that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is "a recipe for instability in Lebanon."
He added that it has contributed to the country's exposure before Israel, saying
that the tribunal's role as an American-Israeli instrument aimed at destroying
the Resistance has been uncovered. "The political confrontation with the STL and
its American and Zionist supporters is on … defending the Lebanese' security
does not lie in defending a tribunal being dominated by the U.S. and Israel,"
the MP continued. "Any cooperation with an international side that serves Israel
is grand treason against Lebanon and its noble people," Moussawi stressed.
Beirut, 05 Nov 10, 16:13
Berri Did Not Meet Kouchner because of Deep Divide over STL
Naharnet/House Speaker Nabih Berri did not hold talks with visiting French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner because of disputes between them over matters
in Lebanon, especially over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and developments in
the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon's area of deployment.A diplomatic
source told An Nahar Saturday that a meeting between the two officials was not
scheduled even though the French embassy had requested one. The dispute between
Berri and Kouchner dates back to their meeting in Paris on October 26.
Meanwhile, Kouchner stated after meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Ali al-Shami:
"Berri and I are friends and he is not here today."
"I met him in Paris and if he were in Lebanon, I would have requested a
meeting," he explained.Addressing the recent U.N. Security Council meeting on
the attack against the international investigators in Dahiyeh, Berri said that
he had hoped that the meeting would have tackled Lebanon's sovereignty that is
being violated by Israel on a daily basis.
He told An Nahar that the Security Council should at least pay some attention to
restoring the Israeli-occupied section of the Lebanese village of Ghajar.
Beirut, 06 Nov 10, 11:45
Ashkenazi: Hizbullah is Increasing its Military Might,
Israel Takes Iran's Threats of Annihilation Seriously
Naharnet/Israeli Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi stated that Hizbullah is
increasing its military might, Syria is bolstering its relations with radical
groups from around the world, Iran is calling for Israel's annihilation, and
Israel is waging confrontation with Hamas every now and then.He added: "Israel
is living in a complicated military reality despite the relative calm we are
witnessing on the border.""This reality obligates the Israeli army to remain
strong as Israel takes the Iranian threats of its annihilation seriously and it
is ready to make the appropriate response if it needs to," he continued. Beirut,
05 Nov 10, 14:37
Geagea: The Other Camp Will Take to the Streets, But Street is Not the Solution
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Friday that the delicate
situation Lebanon was going through warranted the Christian meeting in Bkirki.
"We are facing challenges, most importantly the explosive situation in the
region which will leave an impact on us as Lebanese it we do not act," Geagea
told reporters following the meeting held under Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir.
Geagea said it was "not normal" for the Opposition to deal with matters outside
of State institutions. "They want to take to the streets, but the street is not
the solution," Geagea told the Opposition without naming it. "There is hope,"
Geagea said. "There is the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and
Parliament Speaker and a Government until further notice -- security
institutions and government departments.""As long as the officials are
determined to carry out their responsibilities the situation is good," he added.
Beirut, 05 Nov 10, 13:12
Qahwaji: Army is Ready to Face Tensions, its Response Will be Decisive in All
Regions, Especially Christian Ones
Naharnet/Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed to the daily An Nahar
Saturday that the army is prepared to "confront the tensions and it will act
decisively in all regions, especially in Christian areas."He stated: "I have the
full intention to prevent strife and the army's mission is to prevent fighting
between the Lebanese."
"No one will win from combat, and only Lebanon will lose," he noted. He said
that the army is focused on preventing internal fighting and the activity of
extremists seeking to exploit the tensions. Qahwaji denied reports that
Hizbullah has drawn up a scenario to take over Beirut, saying: "The party or any
other one does not need to carry out such a maneuver."
Asked if he fears the eruption of unrest when the indictment in the
investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is
issued, he replied: "I am worried, but I'm not afraid. Concern motivates us to
remain in complete readiness 24 hours a day. Fear only cripples our activity."
"Political matters are solved with politics, in Cabinet and at the National
Dialogue table. I am only concerned with the security situation and what may
happen on the ground," he said.
The army commander revealed that the army has recently increased its readiness
and activity in apprehension of instability. "We handle the areas of tension
according to priority where Beirut has the greatest priority, followed by
Tripoli, then Sidon, and finally the Christian regions," Qahwaji said. "The army
is more united than ever, it will distance itself from any tensions and
divisions in the country … and it will employ all its capabilities to thwart
strife," he stated.
Beirut, 06 Nov 10, 09:21
Head of the Maronite Order: We do not deal with politics
November 6, 2010 /Head of the Maronite Order Father Tannous Nehmeh said Saturday
that the order does not talk politics. He added that Marada Movement MP Sleiman
Franjieh’s visit with him was not political. Franjieh met with Nehmeh earlier on
Saturday. Several March 8 coalition figures have criticized the Bkirki gathering
that included Christian March 14 ministers, MPs, leaders and figures and which
was sponsored by Maronite Patrirach Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir.-NOW Lebanon
Franjieh from Maronite Order: We Protect Our Church and Exploiting Bkirki is
Inappropriate
Naharnet/Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh stressed that it is the
people's duty to protect the church and not hide behind it, saying that the weak
hides behind it, while the strong shield it. "We are not here to ask for
protection or support for our political views," he said after visiting the
Maronite Order. He stated that he does not wish to respond to "those who used
the church to attack others because we will later speak from our homes and
political institutions." The MP emphasized that exploiting Bkirki and any
religious authority is inappropriate. Addressing Prime Minister Saad Hariri,
Franjieh said: "His father was a great man and Lebanon cannot support his
murder, but Lebanon's unity and security are more important than Rafik Hariri."
"Therefore, Hariri is required to take a bold and historic stand to transform
himself into an historic figure, and he knows what he should do," he added.
Beirut, 06 Nov 10, 14:13
Alain Aoun says Sfeir should not be involved with alliances
November 6, 2010
Change and Reform bloc MP Alain Aoun told LBCI television Saturday that he hoped
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir was not part of political disputes,
adding that the patriarchate should not be involved with alliances.On Friday,
Sfeir sponsored a meeting in Bkirki that included Christian March 14 ministers,
MPs, leaders and figures.
-NOW Lebanon
International community vows to see STL through
Paige Kollock, November 6, 2010
Lebanese President Michel Sleiman during a meeting with joint press conference
with US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on
October 17, 2010 at the Baabda presidential palace. (AFP PHOTO/DALATI AND NOHRA)
The United Nations Security Council got together on Friday to talk about
Lebanon. After a lengthy closed-door meeting, which included a briefing from
Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Patricia O'Brien, council members
urged cooperation from all parties regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The meeting was the latest push from the international community to express
support for the Hague-based court, which was set up in 2006 to investigate the
murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others who were killed in a
massive car bomb in 2005.
While the court has been in full operation since 2009, some seem to think the
indictments will be announced imminently, and since those indictments may name
some members of Hezbollah, the party is doing everything it can to try to
discredit the tribunal before that happens.
On October 28, party leader Hassan Nasrallah called on all Lebanese to boycott
the UN probe and end cooperation with its investigators. The day before, a group
of women from the Hezbollah-controlled neighborhood Dahiyeh attacked two STL
investigators who visited a gynecology clinic to question a local doctor.
These two events, combined with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to
Lebanon last month and the issuance of arrest warrants by Syria for 33
individuals, many of whom are linked to the tribunal, have caused members of the
international community to panic.
“The situation got to a point where a lot of people in Lebanon and elsewhere
thought that the STL could be choked off, and I think the United States and
France came out very forcefully and said ‘absolutely not’,” Andrew Tabler, a
fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said.
In response, tribunal supporters are running a campaign of preventative
diplomacy. Leaders from the US, the UK and France, along with UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon, have all spoken out in the last few weeks, underlining
their support for the tribunal’s work. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
placed a call to President Suleiman to that effect, and on Wednesday, the White
House donated an additional $10 million to the court.
“There is a sense that the moment of truth is fast approaching,” said Peter
Harling, Project Director (Iraq, Lebanon and Syria) for the International Crisis
Group.
While many analysts think the Dahiyeh clinic incident was the tipping point,
Tabler believes it was the arrest warrants.
“That’s when the international community got really alarmed,” he said. “If you
are running articles in the Syrian media saying ‘the gates of Damascus are
closed to Hariri for now’, and then you issue arrest warrants for 33 people,
including many who are the core around Prime Minister Hariri, it’s pretty clear
where Damascus is going with all this…I think there was a perception that
Lebanon was being lost to the axis of resistance after the arrest warrants came
out.”
On Tuesday, the ambassadors of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria met over lunch in
the village of Rabieh in a bid to contain rising tensions, and on Friday, French
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner visited Lebanon to bolster support for Hariri.
But do all these diplomatic efforts really help?
“All these talking gestures do not resolve the issue,” said Dr. Hilal Khashan,
political analyst and political science professor at two Lebanese universities.
“They show that the international community has a grave concern in Lebanon, they
want the tribunal to continue to the end, but (they don’t want) to further
antagonize Hezbollah.”
Which, he says, international wrist-slapping measures such as sanctions would
do.
Some have questioned whether Nasrallah’s call for a boycott of the tribunal is
itself a violation of international law, since the court was set up under
Chapter 7 of the UN Charter (meaning the UNSC could use force to enforce it).
But Khashan says it’s not, since at the time the court was set up, the Lebanese
government was not able to reach consensus on the matter.
Because Lebanon is a nation divided between a US and Saudi-backed coalition and
an Iranian-Syrian sponsored one, the UN would seem to be the entity best suited
to deal with Lebanon’s current conflict. The International Crisis Group,
however, says it’s better for the world politics bodies to stay out.
“I think they should do nothing, precisely,” Harling said. “The more they try to
leverage this judicial process, which is here to stay anyway, the more it will
fall victim to real or perceived politicization, which defeats the UN’s initial
purpose.”
But is the judicial process here to stay, or will Hezbollah and its allies
succeed in toppling it? The last time a UN-backed international court was tasked
with bringing justice to the people of a country, it flopped. The International
Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al Bashir in
2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. But the African leader has not
been arrested, and he continues his rule from Khartoum and travels freely
throughout the continent.
“The international community is concerned, there is no question about it … but
Lebanon is not that important to the West,” said Khashan. “Part of (the
international outcry) we’re seeing is because Lebanon keeps harassing everybody
and soliciting their support … so the international community finds itself
compelled to issue a statement, a perfunctory statement or a lip service
statement, to tell them that ‘we have done our duty.’”
Naim Qassem
November 5, 2010
On November 4, the Lebanese National News Agency carried the following report:
The gathering of Lebanese national parties, forces and figures held its regular
meeting today in Haret Hreik, in the presence of Hezbollah Deputy Secretary
General Sheikh Naim Qassem who discussed the political events and developments.
According to a statement issued at the end of the meeting, Qassem praised “the
role of the national parties in enhancing the methods and culture of the
Resistance as the only way to liberate the land and regain the stolen rights
from the occupation and its agents, as well as the particularity of the meeting
which rendered dialogue a factor combining all the powers who believe in this
choice.
[He pointed out] unilateral role played by America in imposing its military and
political dominance over the states of the region following the collapse of the
Soviet Union, and its old and renewed colonial project which started with its
occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, going through the attempts to besiege and
isolate Syria and prevent Iran from acquiring knowledge. We are also in the
presence of American-Israeli attempts to plant the seeds of sectarian strife in
Lebanon and strike the resistance in both Lebanon and Palestine. This American
project in the region has failed in the face of Iran’s steadfastness, Syria’s
rejection and the victory of the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance movements
over Israel in Lebanon and in Gaza in Palestine.
[He pointed out that] the Americans are now focusing on the Palestinian-Israeli
negotiations and are trying to achieve a partial or minor breakthrough at the
level of these talks, as an important and basic step to exert pressures on the
Arabs and the Palestinians and get more concessions in favor of the Zionist
entity which has become completely impotent following the series of military
defeats it endured during the last few years. This is due to the fact that it is
now unable to wage any wars or engage in any costly or miscalculated
confrontations that could threaten the entire entity, at a time when the
strength of the resistance is increasing and the Syrian and Iranian influences
in the region are rising in coordination with Turkey, which decided to stand
alongside the rightful causes, lift the injustice affecting the occupied Arab
territories and restore the legitimate rights to their lawful owners. This
toppled the equation against Israel, in favor of the rejectionist states and the
people of this region.
The direct targeting of the resistance in Lebanon following the failure of all
the attempts to remove its arms which achieved victory over Israel and allowed
Lebanon to regain most of its occupied territories and most of its detainees
from the prisons of the occupation without any conditions, political concessions
or foreign dictations, could hijack Lebanon’s will to defend the land against
Israel’s violations of national sovereignty and dignity. [Through these arms],
Lebanon has become strong with its army, people and resistance, as opposed to
the fact that its strength resides in its weakness.
[On the ‘false witnesses’ file,] time will not go backward and the opposition –
with all its factions and forces – is proceeding until the end to achieve its
demand of seeing the transfer of this file to the Judicial Council, so that it
is placed on the right legal track. This must be done to find out who instigated
these false witnesses to mislead the investigations, who is supporting them and
who is standing behind them. This is essential to uncover the truth in regard to
the side which assassinated martyred Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and his
companions.
This indictment’s accusation of elements from Hezbollah is one of the scenarios
being used not only to accuse and besiege the resistance to serve Israel, but
also to do the same to Iran and maybe Syria later on. This will help plant the
seeds of strife and create a state of instability in Lebanon, considering that
some believe that this might distract the resistance on the domestic arena, at
the expense of its confrontation with Israel.
This will not happen and the resistance, along with its domestic allies, will
continue to confront these attempts, enhance the unity of the internal ranks and
immunize the factors of stability and development. These steps will protect
Lebanon from the winds of the projects wishing to undermine Lebanon’s unity,
sovereignty, growth and the progress of its people.”