LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِOctober
01/2010
Bible Of The
Day
Matthews12/33-37: "Either
make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit
corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. 12:34 You offspring of vipers, how
can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks. 12:35 The good man out of his good treasure brings out good
things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure* brings out evil things. 12:36
I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in
the day of judgment. 12:37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your
words you will be condemned.”
Free
Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Will Israel seize Ahmadinejad
when it gets the chance?/By Aluf Benn/Haaretz/September 30/10
The STL is not going away/Now
Lebanon/September 30/10
Politics and Hizbullah's grim
language/By Michael Young/September 30/10
Sectarian power play could tip
Lebanon's balance/Michael Young/September 30/10
The power play at the
Beirut airport/By: Ana Maria Luca/
September 30/10
The urgent need for caution and
alertness/By: Hazem Saghiyeh/September
30/10
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for
September 30/10
Rice: Lebanon’s cabinet,
people wanted STL/Now Lebanon
Saudi Ambassador to
Lebanon “in the hands” of UN, says Assiri/Now Lebanon
Hariri meets Syrian
ambassador/Now Lebanon
Exact
Copy of Shroud of Turin - Burial Cloth of Jesus Christ - Arrives in Beirut/Naharnet
Bellemare
Appeals against Fransen's Ruling on Sayyed's Request for Documents on
Interrogations of False Witnesses/Naharnet
Abul
Gheit: International Tribunal Should Continue Work to Find Hariri
Killers/Naharnet
Geagea
on Suleiman's Remarks: What Has STL Done So That He Says It Has Lost
Credibility?/Naharnet
Egypt
Denies Arresting 6 Lebanese with Ties to Hizbullah/Naharnet
Plot to
Kidnap French Nationals in Lebanon to Swap them for George Abdullah/Naharnet
Acts of Violence Prepared against
Iranian Interests to Coincide with Ahmadinejad's Lebanon Visit, Report/Naharnet
Iranian
Ambassador: Ahmadinejad's Visit Aims to Strengthen Lebanese Unity, Consensus on
Resistance/Naharnet
Israeli
Reinforcements Precede Ahmadinejad's Visit to Fatima Gate/Naharnet
Assad to Ahmadinejad: Don't visit Lebanon/Ynetnews
Hezbollah to block financing
for Hariri tribunal/AP
Hariri renews commitment to UN tribunal into father's assassination/Monsters and
Critics
Lebanon bloc concerned about
Iran president's visit/Khaleej Times
Lebanon divisions over Hariri tribunal
deepen/AFP
Dispute over UN Tribunal Puts Lebanon at a Crossroads/World Politics
Review
Peace talks – Syria's Strategic Choice/FOXNews
Sleiman:
LAF performing duties alongside Resistance/Now Lebanon
Abu Jamra
to Aoun: Adopt democracy in FPM issues/Now Lebanon
Merhebi:
Are Hezbollah’s arms to protect the four generals?/Now Lebanon
Hariri
Holds Talks with Syrian, Spanish Ambassadors/Naharnet
Berri: False Witnesses on
First Cabinet Meeting after Suleiman's Return/Naharnet
Suleiman Returns to Beirut
and Holds Contacts with Officials/Naharnet
Truck Crashes into Wall,
Kills 1, Wounds 3/Naharnet
Lebanese Forces Deny
Jordan, Egypt Training LF Members/Naharnet
Wintertime Begins October
30-31/Naharnet
Baroud Rejects Stability
Vs. Justice Theory/Naharnet
Syria's Watan Warns:
Lebanon Situation Heading toward 'Unprecedented' Escalation/Naharnet
Erdogan in Beirut after
Ahmadinejad/Naharnet
Millions of Dollars
Missing as Bank Boss Disappears/Naharnet
Cabinet Forms Committee to
Study Rental of Power-Generating Ships/Naharnet
Lebanon Divisions over
International Tribunal Deepen/Naharnet
Jumblat: Price of Accusing
Political Leaders over False Witnesses Remains Less Costly than Civil Strife/Naharnet
Rice: Lebanon’s
cabinet, people wanted STL
September 30, 2010 /US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice told Al-Arabiya
television on Thursday that Lebanon’s cabinet and people were the ones who
called for establishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). “Such an issue
is very important. The tribunal’s probe cannot be a deal or a soccer game,
therefore it must pursue,” Rice said.
Tension ran high in Lebanon after reports said that the STL would soon issue its
indictment in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Some
March 8 coalition politicians are calling for the abolition of the tribunal.
Rice also said that Syria is capable of playing a significant role in achieving
Middle East peace, adding that she is optimistic about establishing an
independent Palestinian state.-NOW Lebanon
Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon “in the hands” of UN, says Assiri
September 30, 2010 /Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Assiri told LBCI
television on Thursday that “the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is [only] in
the hands of the UN Security Council.”“The Lebanese [parties] must agree on a
plan that benefits their country. If they do not unite, it would be favorable to
Israel that is waiting for the situation to explode [in Lebanon],” Assiri
said.Tension ran high in Lebanon after reports said that the tribunal would soon
issue its indictment in 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.-NOW Lebanon
Hariri meets Syrian ambassador
September 30, 2010 /NOW Lebanon’s correspondent reported on Thursday that Prime
Minister Saad Hariri met with Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali
to discuss bilateral relations.Hariri also held another meeting with Spanish
Ambassador to Lebanon Juan Carlos Gafo, the correspondent added.-NOW Lebanon
Israeli Reinforcements Precede Ahmadinejad's Visit to Fatima Gate
Naharnet/Sources from southern Lebanon and other security ones noted on Thursday
that Israel has been reinforcing areas opposite the Fatima Gate ahead of Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon where he is scheduled to visit
the border area. They told the Central News Agency that the Israelis have set up
surveillance equipment in the area under heavy military protection. The sources
also revealed that several Israeli military leaders have also visited the area,
the latest of whom was Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Acts of Violence Prepared against Iranian Interests to Coincide with
Ahmadinejad's Lebanon Visit, Report
Naharnet/Acts of violence against Iranian interests in north Lebanon's city of
Tripoli were being prepared to coincide with a visit to the country by Iranian
leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, security reports revealed Thursday. The Kuwaiti
newspaper Al-Anbaa quoted the reports as saying that violence will include
burning of the Iranian flag and pictures of Ahmadinejad upon his arrival in
Lebanon mid-October. It said political contacts were underway to avoid such acts
to prevent a dispute with local organizers close to Hizbullah.
In this regard, former MP Mosbah al-Ahdab said signs of a "grave scene" in
Tripoli and the north are on the horizon "where the region is ready to be the
arena of violence and strife that is being preached." "We hear of appeals
against Hizbullah in Tripoli," Ahdab said. "Will the strife be a Sunni-Sunni one
or a Sunni-Alawite?"Meanwhile, An-Nahar newspaper on Thursday said Ahmadinejad's
two-day trip to Lebanon does not include a visit to the region. It said his
visit to southern Lebanon, however, has not been settled yet. An-Nahar said the
visit is likely to be replaced by a Nasrallah-style televised speech. Al-Anbaa
said earlier that Syrian President Bashar Assad has asked Ahmadinejad to
postpone his visit to Lebanon as "this is not the right time."It quoted
diplomatic sources as saying that Ahmadinejad's visit was brought up during a
recent summit with Assad in Damascus. Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Bellemare Appeals against Fransen's
Ruling on Sayyed's Request for Documents on Interrogations of False Witnesses
Naharnet/Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare appealed on
Thursday against STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen's ruling on former General
Security chief Major General Jamil al-Sayyed's request to access certain
documents linked to interrogations of false witnesses. The prosecutor considered
that the STL holds the jurisdiction in looking into Sayyed's demand. Bellemare
said that Fransen had "erred in law in his interpretation of the Rules of
Procedure and Evidence and in ordering the Prosecution to translate its
Rejoinder into French." "In this case, suspensive effect is appropriate to
ensure that the Pre-Trial Judge does not advance proceedings that are based on
erroneous considerations," he added.
Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Abul Gheit: International Tribunal Should Continue Work to Find Hariri Killers
Naharnet/Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit discussed with U.N. chief
Ban ki-Moon the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as well as Lebanon and Sudan.
Regarding the situation in Lebanon, Abul Gheit stressed Egypt's full support of
the International Tribunal and its work as an "autonomous institution." "Egypt
is convinced of the need to continue Court work to uncover the perpetrators" of
the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Hariri Holds Talks with Syrian, Spanish Ambassadors
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday held talks with Syrian
Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali at the Grand Serail.The Syrian
ambassador explained after the meeting that his talks with the premier focused
on the Lebanese situation and the Lebanese-Syrian relations, "in addition to the
necessity of completing the work of the joint committees." Hariri also held
talks with Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon Juan Carlos Gafo, in the presence of
advisor Mohammed Shatah. After the meeting, Gafo said: "We discussed the
political local and regional developments. PM Hariri informed me about his
latest visit to Saudi Arabia and his views about the current situation." "I
think that the situation should be examined calmly. No one in Lebanon has
interest in crossing the red lines. And Spain and the European Union are ready
to support efforts towards dialogue and coexistence among political forces and
sects. Lebanon needs everyone and we have to find the path of dialogue," he
added. Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Lebanese Forces Deny Jordan, Egypt Training LF Members
Naharnet/Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces on Thursday denied remarks made by
former MP Nasser Qandil that the LF is training members in Jordan and Egypt.
Qandil, an LF statement said, announced in an interview with al-Jazeera
television Sept. 28, that Egypt trains 200 Sunni and LF members each week. The
Opposition MP, the statement added, also claimed that LF members were being
trained in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and that Jordan has graduated 700 LF
militiamen. "It is not new to the Lebanese to hear from Nasser Qandil lies and
fabrications," the LF said, adding that it will file a lawsuit against him.
Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Plot to Kidnap French Nationals in Lebanon to Swap them for George Abdullah
Naharnet/Ad-Diyar newspaper on Thursday said a plot is in the works to kidnap
French nationals living in Lebanon to swap them for George Ibrahim Abdullah, a
Lebanese detainee in a French jail. It said some sources, however, believed that
the plot was linked to the desire of the kidnappers to urge France to "calm its
activity which is beyond the border and prompted a Lebanese official to describe
the French role as intervention in Lebanese internal affairs." Beirut, 30 Sep
10,
Syria's Watan Warns: Lebanon Situation Heading toward 'Unprecedented' Escalation
Naharnet/The Syrian newspaper al-Watan on Thursday warned that the situation in
Lebanon was heading toward an "unprecedented escalation" since the May 2008 Doha
agreement.
Citing Lebanese observers, Al-Watan owed the deteriorating situation to division
over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. "All the cards have been exposed and the
parties are now playing openly pending a court decision," it said. Al-Watan
quoted a well-informed political source as pointing out that the Opposition
"will go all the way till the end to face off any attack against the Resistance
through the (STL) indictment." Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Suleiman's Visitors: No Settlement in Region at Lebanon's Expense
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman's visitors reported on Thursday that his trip
to the United States was a success after U.S. assurances that no settlement in
the region will take place at Lebanon's expense and its rejection of the
naturalization of Palestinians in Lebanon.The visitors told the Central News
Agency that the president spoke at length about naturalization and its negative
impact on Lebanon, which does not posses the infrastructure needed to
accommodate the Palestinians' various needs. Suleiman also discussed the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon, which he said is a divisive issue among the Lebanese,
adding however, that the tribunal was acknowledged by all Lebanese political
parties participating in the national dialogue and who also approved the
ministerial statements mentioning the matter. He was reported as saying: "The
tribunal seeks the truth and not a political accusation."Addressing Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's upcoming visit to Lebanon, Suleiman said that he
welcomes any presidential visit as long as it does not violate protocol, subject
the country to dangers, or affect its ties with another state, added the
visitors. Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Egypt Denies Arresting 6 Lebanese with Ties to Hizbullah
Naharnet/Egyptian security services denied arresting 33 Egyptian and Arab Shiite
men while practicing Friday prayers in the city of Sixth of October. According
to reports, the suspects include 16 Egyptian, 11 Iraqis and 6 Lebanese.They were
reportedly arrested on charges of spreading Shiism among the citizens of the
province of Sixth of October and establishing a mosque to spread the Shiite
ideology, which is a violation of the law. Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
Iranian Ambassador: Ahmadinejad's Visit Aims to Strengthen Lebanese Unity,
Consensus on Resistance
Naharnet/Iran's ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi said Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon aims to strengthen Lebanese unity and consensus
on the Resistance.
He backed the famous equation of "army-Resistance-people." "And we should also
add the 'Government,' " Roknabadi said in remarks published Thursday by An-Nahar
newspaper.
He said Tehran stands side-by-side to Lebanon … because Lebanon has the right to
resist Israel, which is the source of all calamities in the region." "Our
positions are clear and direct," Roknabadi stressed. "We paid dearly for our
positions and we are willing to pay more because we are convinced that national
interest is part of justice and when global justice prevails national interests
are secured." Beirut, 30 Sep 10,
The STL is not going away
September 30, 2010
Now Lebanon/It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a political party in
possession of many weapons must be in want of absolute power. Hezbollah is using
its weapons to oppose any financing of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a bid
to kill it off and achieve the absolute power it apparently wants so badly.
Senior party member Ghaleb Abu Zeinab reaffirmed his party’s position on the
matter on Wednesday when he asked Agence France Presse, “How can we finance a
tribunal that has turned into an Israeli-American tool attempting to sow discord
in the country? We do not want Lebanon to fall victim to US interests in the
region.”
It is the Hezbollah way to turn anything it doesn’t like or want, in this case
justice for dozens of bereaved families, into “US interests” and “discord.” Abu
Zeinab must have taken a leaf out of Hezbollah MP Nawwaf Moussawi’s book after
the latter last week called the court a Zionist conspiracy and anyone who
supported it a collaborator who would be held accountable for their actions.
But Hezbollah clearly has been too busy concocting so-called evidence of
Israel’s involvement in the killing, wheeling out agents provocateurs such as
the disgraced security chief Jamil as-Sayyed, and sticking the middle finger up
at the state while spreading fear among the population to have noticed the small
print of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1757, which states that “if
the Secretary-General reports that contributions from the Government of Lebanon
are not sufficient, he may accept or use voluntary contributions [from member
countries] to cover any shortfall.”
The message therefore is very clear: Withholding Lebanon’s 49 percent share of
the funding will not be the end of the court that was created to bring to
justice the killers of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others on
February 14, 2005, as well as over a dozen other victims of subsequent political
killings.
We must not forget that the court is a solemn creation that, according to a May
2007 press release drafted by the UN, demonstrates its “commitment to the
principle that there would be no impunity for political assassinations, in
Lebanon or elsewhere. Those who had killed Rafik Hariri and so many others would
be brought to justice and held responsible for their crimes. Those who might be
tempted to commit similar crimes would know there would be consequences for
perpetuating Lebanon’s troubled history of political violence and intimidation.”
The council president said that “it was necessary and right for the Council to
act.”
At the time, Tarek Mitri, then-minister of culture as well as foreign affairs,
stated that the creation of the tribunal was not a victory of one party over
another. “Justice will be the victor,” he declared. “The resolution did not pit
one group against another or play one part of the international community
against another. It would strengthen unity, strengthen judicial systems and
strengthen the hopes of the Lebanese people, all of whom are striving to move
forward in the name of justice and stability.”
Do we need to say it any clearer? The STL is not going away. The UN has said it,
and Prime Minister Saad Hariri has said it. It will not simply disappear because
an armed militia is worried about its potential findings. And while we are at
it, not only can the court function without Lebanese funding, it can, according
to Article 22 of the resolution, also try those it indicts in absentia, meaning
that even if those who are summoned do not turn themselves in, justice will
forge ahead regardless.
In short, the Hezbollah-led opposition has few options short of taking its guns
onto the streets again. Its insistence on stymieing the STL funding has only
served to delay the process of approving national spending and to once again
cripple the government. But then again, this has become the hallmark of a March
8 bloc that is hell-bent on obstructionism and conflict rather than nation
building and justice.
Will Israel seize Ahmadinejad when it gets the chance?
How can Netanyahu refrain from an action to stop Hitler's heir, Ahmadinejad,
when the year is already 1939, if not 1940?
By Aluf Benn/Haaretz
Benjamin Netanyahu's comeback campaign focused on the Iranian threat. "The year
is 1938 and Iran is Germany," he warned as head of the opposition. "When
[Iranian President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust, he is preparing a
second holocaust against the Jewish people. Believe him and stop him."
Netanyahu did not content himself with warnings, and called for putting
Ahmadinejad on trial in The Hague on charges of incitement to genocide. He and
other supporters collected threatening utterances from the Iranian president
against Israel, determined they violated the international Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and set out to enlist
support in the West.
"In 1938 Hitler did not say he wanted to destroy. Here Ahmadinejad is saying
clearly that this is his intention and we are not even crying out. At least say
a crime against humanity. It is necessary to put this issue right in the world's
face, that here is a matter of a program for genocide," said Netanyahu four
years ago.
Jewish organizations held show trials, American congressmen and British members
of parliament expressed support and jurists fired off letters. "Had the world
listened to Hitler's words and watched his actions, the Holocaust could have
been prevented," wrote Los Angeles lawyer Baruch Cohen on his blog American
Trial Attorneys in Defense of Israel, in an open letter to United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Ahmadinejad did not take fright. He kept on with his hate speeches, threats and
Holocaust denial; he traveled the world unperturbed and the Iranian nuclear
program moved forward.
In Israel, however, a change occurred and Netanyahu moved from the television
screens to the Prime Minister's Office. Now he was given a mandate to act and
not just talk against the Iranian threat. Three weeks from now, Netanyahu will
have a one-time opportunity to stop the new Hitler and thwart the incitement to
genocide. Ahmadinejad will pay his first visit to Lebanon and devote an entire
day to a tour of the southern part of that country. He will visit sites where
Hezbollah waged battles against Israel and, according to one report, he will
also pop over to Fatima Gate, just beyond the border fence at Metula. The route
is known, the range is close and it is possible to send a detail across the
border to seize the president of Iran and bring him to trial in Israel as an
inciter to genocide and Holocaust denier.
The media effect will be dramatic: Ahmadinejad in a glass cage in Jerusalem,
with the simultaneous translation earphones, facing grim Israeli judges. In the
spirit of the times, it will also be possible to have foreign observers join
them (David Trimble of the Turkel commission was a leader of the "try the
Iranian president" initiative ).
There are also operational advantages: Iran will hesitate to react to its
president's arrest by flinging missiles, out of fear for their leader's life. It
will also be possible to capture Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who will no
doubt emerge from his hiding place and accompany Ahmadinejad. Israel will have
high-ranking hostages it will be able to exchange for Gilad Shalit.
And if the world has any complaints, it will be reminded that the Americans
invaded Panama in order to arrest its ruler Manuel Noriega - and only for
dealing drugs, a far smaller offense than incitement to genocide. Of course, the
idea also has disadvantages. Ahmadinejad might be killed in the action and Iran
would embark on a cruel war of revenge. The precedent of arresting leaders would
endanger Israeli personages suspected abroad of crimes against humanity or
murder (according to the Goldstone report and the flotilla report ). Ahmadinejad
could be acquitted and make Israel look like a bully and Netanyahu a fool.
Nevertheless, how can Netanyahu refrain from an action to stop Hitler's heir,
when the year is already 1939, if not 1940? According to Netanyahu's reasoning,
if he refrains from acting history will condemn him for "not preventing a
crime," as with Margalit Har-Shefi, who didn't stop Yigal Amir from
assassinating Yitzhak Rabin.
This, of course, is not going to happen. The risks are too great and the
intention here is not to give operational advice but rather to demonstrate the
gap between those shouting from the opposition and those in power, and between
"public diplomacy" - Israel's latest official translation for the term hasbara,
which is something between self-justification and propaganda - and
statesmanship. When you are talking and looking for messages to get yourself
into prime time, you can say anything without taking risks. But when you are the
prime minister, the constraints of reality become clear and the gap between talk
and deeds is revealed. Therefore, it is best to be cautious in speech and to
remember that not everything is hasbara, as even a media gimmick can come back
to haunt you.
And perhaps I'm wrong. Could it be the elite special operations unit is training
and Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah are on their way to secret detention facility
1391, to the cell that served the captives Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa
Dirani?
Sectarian power play could tip Lebanon's balance
Michael Young/National
Last Updated: September 29. 2010 7:47PM UAE / September 29. 2010 3:47PM GMT
Lately, attention in Lebanon has been focused on the tribunal established to
uncover the assassins of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister.
However, this past weekend saw an important, if still symbolic, step in a
related but less-discussed matter: domination of the Christian, particularly the
Maronite Christian, community, and the implications for Lebanon.
On Saturday, the Lebanese Forces, once the leading Christian militia and now a
political party, held its annual mass in honour of combatants killed during the
1975-1990 civil war. The party’s leader Samir Geagea delivered a speech in which
he observed that Lebanon was on the verge of a coup, a reference to Hizbollah,
which has threatened dire consequences if the government of Saad Hariri
continues to cooperate with the special tribunal.
Mr Geagea positioned himself as a supporter of the tribunal, then, revealingly,
issued a call to rank-and-file partisans of his Maronite rival Michel Aoun to
rejoin with the Lebanese Forces in defence of common political principles. Mr
Aoun, once a foe of Hizbollah, has since become its partner.
Mr Geagea’s address was a gamble. On the one hand he was making a bold bid to
become Lebanon’s leading Maronite figure. Although Mr Aoun commands a sizable
following, his credibility has suffered in the past year. Among Aounists, an old
guard is disgruntled that Mr Aoun is transforming his movement into a family
affair. Within the broader Christian community there is unease about his ties to
Hizbollah and Syria (where Mr Aoun was visiting on the day of the Lebanese
Forces ceremony).
Mr Geagea feels that once Mr Aoun, who is in his mid-70s, passes from the scene,
the Aounists will fragment so now is the time to start attracting a portion to
his side.
On the other hand, even as Mr Geagea presented himself as the embodiment of the
Christians’ mindset and defiance, he knew that his comments about averting a
Hizbollah coup once again made him a leading target for the party and Syria.
Indeed, the Lebanese Forces have been relentless in their hostility to both,
earning Mr Geagea an 11-year prison sentence during the years of the Syrian
military presence. In other words, Mr Geagea not only picked a fight over
Christian influence, he picked one he cannot afford to lose, otherwise he may
find himself alone if his enemies win.
Mr Geagea has taken on a risky role in what remains of the anti-Syrian coalition
known as March 14. In the years after Rafiq Hariri’s murder, his son Saad had
headed the opposition to Syria, the leading suspect in the crime. This lasted
until the reconciliation last year between Saudi Arabia, Mr Hariri’s political
sponsor, and Syria, which compelled the Lebanese prime minister to make peace
with the Syrian president Bashar Assad.
Since then, the Syrians and their allies have sought to break Mr Hariri away
from Mr Geagea, both to divide the remnants of March 14 and to isolate Mr Geagea.
It has long been a Syrian priority to weaken the Maronites, usually through a
divide-and-rule strategy, for being a stalwart bastion of anti-Syrian sentiment.
There is something else. Mr Geagea has the reflexes of a military commander. A
son of the hardscrabble mountain town of Bisharri in the north, the Lebanese
Forces leader runs his movement in a centralised way.
A natural organiser, Mr Geagea has rebuilt his party into a major political
force despite his long incarceration. To Hizbollah, as obsessed and guarded as
he on matters of security, Mr Geagea is a potential military rival. To Syria, he
represents an eventual rallying point for an independent-minded Christian
community that Syria mistrusts.
For example, Damascus doesn’t appreciate that Mr Geagea and Mr Hariri maintain
close ties, with the Lebanese Forces leader providing the prime minister with
manoeuvring room on his right. Ironically, many Sunnis who loathed Mr Geagea
during the civil war now regard him with some respect for standing against
Hizbollah.
The Christian population has declined in Lebanon, so that the country is now
largely shaped by Sunni-Shiite dynamics. However, that does not mean that the
Christians have become marginal. Mr Aoun’s rapprochement with Hizbollah
decisively crippled the anti-Syrian coalition led by Mr Hariri between 2005 and
2009; while Mr Geagea’s tough line today concerns Hizbollah and Syria for
creating political space from which the Sunnis, too, can challenge their
dictates. Mr Geagea has been especially irritating for forcefully supporting the
special tribunal.
With Hizbollah and Syria re-imposing their hegemony over Lebanon, can Mr Geagea
survive, politically or otherwise? One will hear that the Lebanese Forces leader
is a “red line” for the Americans, who will not allow him to be harmed; but such
assurances mean little after Rafiq Hariri’s killing. Mr Geagea has money, a key
source of patronage and political influence. Above all, Mr Geagea knows that if
he is attacked, particularly if he is attacked militarily in the Christian
heartland, his undecided co-religionists might rally to his side.
It might be too much to affirm that Lebanon’s fate is tied into that of Mr
Geagea. However, what happens to the Christians will undoubtedly affect the
balance between the Sunnis and Shiites, which in turn will determine how
powerful a role Syria can play. Lebanon is an intricate country and much is
decided between the sectarian cracks, where one might otherwise not bother to
look.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut and author
of the recently published book The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness
Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle.
Politics and Hizbullah's grim language
By Michael Young
Daily Star/Thursday, September 30, 2010
The rhetoric of Hizbullah representatives lately has been so extreme, so
contrary to the conventions of courteous political exchange in even
semi-democratic Lebanon, that we have to wonder how long the country can survive
without a showdown to settle its contradictions.
Whether it is Hizbullah’s secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, describing
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as an “Israeli project,” before demanding that
the Lebanese government accept this line of argument and end all collaboration
with the institution; whether it is Nawaf al-Musawi, the head of Hizbullah’s
international relations department, saying that the tribunal represents a new
May 17 accord for the party; whether it is the same Musawi warning that “the
period that will follow the [tribunal] indictment will not be the same as the
one before, and any group in Lebanon that might endorse this indictment will be
treated as one of the tools of the US-Israeli invasion, and will suffer the same
fate as the invader”; whether it is other Hizbullah parliamentarians directing
the accusation of collaboration with Israel against their colleagues supporting
the tribunal (most recently Ali Ammar in a parliamentary commission session this
week); whether it is Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek declaring that Hizbullah will not
“accept accusations against any [party] member [which would represent] a
violation of Lebanese dignity and the implementation of a conspiracy hatched by
others”; whether it is any of these statements, or all of them, the meaning is
the same: Hizbullah does not acknowledge the Lebanese state as sovereign.
That’s no surprise, you might say. Hizbullah has its own army and intelligence
service, while its self-definition as a “resistance” liberates it from the usual
constraints on Lebanese citizens. However, the tribunal forced Hizbullah out of
the closet. Where the party once defended its actions within the framework of
the state (even as it undermined the state), all pretenses ended during the
struggle between the March 14 coalition and the opposition between 2005 and
2009. The armed takeover of Beirut in May 2008 confirmed that Hizbullah would
fire on its fellow citizens and regarded state authority and the rule of law as
thin veneers to be swept away when necessary.
That same logic persists with the tribunal. The Lebanese tend to forget that the
creation of the tribunal was initially devised as a measure to bolster Lebanon’s
judiciary, by ending impunity for political murder. The tribunal, like the
investigation preceding it, along with Resolution 1559, were part and parcel of
a broader effort to allow the Lebanese state to manage its affairs independently
of Syrian hegemony and Hizbullah’s guns.
That is why Syria responded so violently to Resolution 1559, and why Hizbullah
backed Damascus up as the Syrian order began collapsing after the Hariri
killing. Time and again the Syrian regime has made clear to its Lebanese
partners and its international interlocutors, including the UN secretary
general, Ban Ki-moon, that it rejects the special tribunal. Syria’s foreign
minister, Walid al-Moallem, echoed that thought once more in an interview with
The Wall Street Journal this week, saying Damascus would oppose indictments from
the tribunal, whose work he described as “politicized.”
More worrisome is that Hizbullah’s rhetoric is being internalized by many in the
Shiite community. It’s one thing to criticize and disparage the state, long a
favorite pastime of the Lebanese, but it’s another thing entirely to
relentlessly strike against the very props of that state – whether the supremacy
of its representative government, the sanctity of the judiciary and of other
national institutions, regardless of which party controls them, or the right of
all individuals or groups to express themselves freely, pluralistically, without
being accused of treason.
Hizbullah has made a conscious effort in the past two decades to alienate
Shiites from the state, even as it has integrated its coreligionists into state
bodies, both for reasons of patronage and to better ward off efforts by
governments to challenge the party’s freedom of action. This alienation, a
tactic copied by Michel Aoun with his own followers, serves a double purpose: to
compel Shiites (or in Aoun’s case, loyal Christians) to consider only their
leaders the source of ultimate legitimacy in society; and more recently to
facilitate a situation where their full takeover of the state, whose current
leaders are deemed illegitimate, would be welcomed as a purgative.
That is why Hizbullah, no less than Aoun, has been at ease with the principle of
overturning the system at will. However, that kind of reasoning is inherently
undemocratic, when not actually permeated with a sharp lining of demagoguery,
spite, violence, and a pronounced antipathy toward peaceful debate reminiscent
of countless fascist movements. These characteristics are not remotely
reconcilable with the way Lebanon has historically functioned. Either Hizbullah
must win out or the state will, even if the battle is a long one.
In a 1996 interview, Nasrallah remarked that the resistance could not depend on
state authority, because in such a case “there would be no resistance on the
ground at all … [U]nder such conditions resistance would simple be pro forma – a
resistance in name only, staged for publicity purposes, rather than genuine,
serious and effective.”
Here was a transparent statement from Nasrallah as to why the resistance must
never and would never embrace the supremacy of the state. More chilling was his
attitude toward the state itself, for which he reserved withering contempt as an
entity inherently unserious, surely handicapped by its debilitating
complexities, by the presence of divergences among its forces and the privilege
to dissent. Nasrallah had spoken the words of enforced uniformity, the premise
of his anti-state.
*Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR and author of “The Ghosts of
Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle” (Simon &
Schuster).