LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِSeptember
08/2010
Bible Of the Day
Psalm 103:11–12/For as high
as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those
who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our
transgressions from us.
Today's Inspiring Thought: From East to West
If the trail of your past is riddled with sin, you may have a hard time in the
present shaking off guilt and shame. So, let this verse sink in. Can you measure
the distance between earth and heaven? Can you even see the expanse stretched
out before you? Thus, it is impossible to fathom the immeasurable dimensions of
God's great love toward you. His mercy is just as tremendous. In "East to West"
by Christian music group Casting Crowns, the song expresses God's amazing mercy
and forgiveness like this:
Free
Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Hizballah strikes US troops in
Iraq, clears way for anti-Israel Eastern Front/DEBKAfile/September 07/10
Editorial: Focus on Iran’s nukes/By
JPOST EDITORIAL/September 07/10
Is War About to Break Out on the
Israeli-Lebanese Border?/Jack Guez/September 07/10
Legitimize Hamas and kiss the PLO
goodbye/By: Hussein Ibish/September 7/10
Hariri has shown his leadership/By Jamil K. Mroue/September 07/10
Abbas: No 'historic compromise' on
Jerusalem, borders/J.Post/September 07/10
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for
September 07/10
LEBANON: Supporters stunned as Hariri says Syria
didn't kill his dad/Los Angeles Times
Geagea: Latest Events Result of
Conflict Between State, Statelessness Logic/Naharnet
French Soldier Killed as Vehicle
Tumbles in Valley/Naharnet
Hizbullah Denies Transferring Arms
from Shehabiyeh to Other Locations/Naharnet
Jumblat: Hariri's Stances Remind us
of Taef which Some are Trying to Forget/Naharnet
Hariri Hails Suleiman, Criticizes
'Loud Voices'/Naharnet
Israeli footage allegedly shows south Lebanon blast was Hizbullah
explosion/Daily Star
Syria still stonewalling in nuclear probe: IAEA//AFP
84 people charged with murder over last month's deadly Beirut clashes/Canadian
Press
Jordan king briefs Syria's Assad on peace talks/AFP
Hariri admits it was a 'mistake' to blame Syria STL ‘not related to previous
hasty political accusations/Daily Star
Sleiman responds fiercely to criticism from Aoun/Daily Star
Gemayel raps first round of Middle East talks for failing to address right of
return/Daily Star
Barak signs military
deal with Russia/J.Post
Hizbullah Supports Aoun Demands for
Reform, Urges Positivity toward Aoun's 'Cry'/Naharnet
Bassil Defends Aoun, Calls for
Constitutional Amendment to President's Powers/Naharnet
Aoun to Quit National Dialogue/Naharnet
Karam was Asked about Aoun's
Relationship with Israel/Naharnet
Raad calls on seriously
considering
Aoun's
statement/iloubnan.info
Hezbollah and Aoun taking turns to
criticize Sleiman and Hariri, Habib says/Now Lebanon
MP Ziad Aswad calls Karam detention
illegal/Now
Lebanon
Aoun Attacks Suleiman as Murr Says
President 'Crying in Regret' Over Attempts to Destroy Presidency/Naharnet
Lebanese
cabinet Refuses to Fund Electricity
Plan/Naharnet
Gulf Cooperation Council foreign
ministers welcomes Israeli-Palestinian talks/Now Lebanon
Karam was Asked
about Aoun's Relationship with Israel
Naharnet/Alleged Israeli spy Fayez Karam was reportedly asked about Free
Patriotic Movement leader's relationship with Israel, the daily Al-Akhbar
reported Tuesday.
It said police intelligence asked Karam about the role of Aoun's relationship
with the Israelis, a question echoed by the investigating judge, and then
repeated for the third time by investigators. Al-Akhbar said Aoun has been
tipped off about this report. Beirut, 07 Sep 10,
Hizbullah Denies Transferring Arms from Shehabiyeh to Other Locations
Naharnet/Hizbullah sources denied that party members removed long-range rockets
from a suspected arms depot in Shehabiyeh and transferred them to other
locations after several blasts and a fire in the three-storey building last
week. The Israeli army said Sunday that it dispatched an unmanned aerial vehicle
(UAV) to film the scene following Friday's explosions and defense officials said
the home was previously known to Israel as a significant arms cache used by
Hizbullah fighters. Hizbullah "does not comment on Israeli lies," the sources
told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Tuesday. The Israeli
army said that some of the weaponry, which included 107 and 122 mm rockets, were
taken to nearby homes and others to a mosque in Nabatiyeh. Israel has warned
that it will send the footage to the United Nations as evidence to a complaint
it filed against Lebanon last week. Beirut, 07 Sep 10,
Geagea: Latest Events Result of Conflict Between State, Statelessness Logic
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Tuesday that the latest events
in Lebanon are the result of a conflict between the logic of the state and the
logic of statelessness.
The logic of statelessness and lack of institutions is reflected by demands for
chaos in the country, Geagea told a visiting delegation from the
Political-Popular University in Zahle.
The LF leader urged the delegation to make the anniversary of the LF martyrs on
September 25 successful. It will be held at the Fouad Shehab stadium in Jounieh.
Beirut, 07 Sep 10,
French Soldier Killed as Vehicle Tumbles in Valley
Naharnet/A French peacekeeper was killed on Tuesday when his vehicle toppled
near the southern Lebanese border town of Kfarshouba, Agence France Presse
reported.
Peacekeepers from the Indian contingent recovered the soldier's body from a
valley in the area of Sadana mountain that falls between Shebaa and Kfarshouba,
AFP said.
UNIFIL military spokesman Col. Naresh Bhatt said the accident occurred while the
peacekeeper from a UNIFIL engineering company was performing engineering work
for the "safety of the force in the area." Another peacekeeper was injured in
the accide t in the vicinity of Kfarshouba, he said. "The circumstances of the
accident are under investigation," Bhatt added.
Last month, a French peacekeeper was killed and two others were wounded in a
traffic accident in Borj Qalaway. Beirut, 07 Sep 10, 12:09
Hizbullah Supports Aoun Demands for Reform, Urges Positivity toward Aoun's 'Cry'
Naharnet/Hizbullah supoprted Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun's
demands for reform, urging a positive attitude from various Lebanese leaders in
dealing with Aoun's "cry."
"Criticism launched by Gen. Michel Aoun on some issues and practices is in fact
a cry of pain issued by an aching official keen to put an end to what could
distort the country's image and torpedo plans to revive the system," said a
statement by head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc
Mohammed Raad. "We call upon all concerned to deal positively with this call and
to give it serious and effective attention in order to tackle the issues calmly
and responsibly, and put them on the correct path to strengthen citizens'
conviction in the State and make them confident in maintaining their safety,
dignity and interests as well as ensuring their rights, " Raad said. Free
Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has launched a verbal attack on Suleiman
as well as Cabinet and security officials. "We hear of demands to make Lebanon
weapons-free. Yes, Lebanon is free from its politicians, its will, its media and
everything else except from arms," Aoun said Sunday. Aoun also attacked the
police Intelligence Bureau, saying it was "illegitimate." Beirut, 07 Sep 10,
Aoun to Quit National Dialogue
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun has decided to quit
all-party national talks to discuss Hizbullah weapons, the daily As-Safir
reported Tuesday. The newspaper, citing an MP close to Aoun, said the FPM leader
is likely to announce his decision during the next national dialogue session.
Meanwhile, Aoun stressed that Karam was not aware of issues concerning the FPM
relationship with Hizbullah, As-Safir newspaper reported. Beirut, 07 Sep 10,
Bassil Defends Aoun, Calls for Constitutional Amendment to President's Powers
Naharnet/Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil defended his father-in-law,
Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, and called for a constitutional
amendment to boost the President's powers. Bassil was responding to reactions
that emerged following Aoun's verbal attack on President Michel Suleiman.
"Let those who are defending the President sit together with us and make a
constitutional amendment to his (President's) powers," Bassil said in remarks
published Tuesday by the daily An-Nahar. "I wonder where were those who care
about the Presidency when we demanded that the President become head of the
sovereign fund of oil revenues," Bassil asked. "We did not hear from them any
support for the presidency."
Bassil said that if "they want to defend the presidency, let them declare their
readiness to put together a constitutional amendment to the powers of the
President." Beirut, 07 Sep 10,
6 People Die in Traffic Accident on Jiyyeh Highway
Naharnet/At least six people were killed and 20 others were injured on Tuesday
in a crash between several trucks and vehicles on the Jiyyeh highway, south of
Beirut.
A Lebanese soldier was among the dead. The dead and the injured were taken to
several hospitals in the region. The National News Agency quoted witnesses as
saying that a truck carrying sand hit vehicles, including a transportation van,
that had stopped at an ISF checkpoint. A pick-up carrying water also hit an oil
tanker truck which toppled and drifted with it the vehicle that had crashed into
it, the witnesses said. The accident caused bumper-to-bumper traffic on the
Sidon-Beirut highway.
Jumblat: Hariri's Stances Remind us of Taef which Some are Trying to Forget
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said that Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri's stances stress the importance of the Saudi-Syrian
umbrella and the Taef accord.
Hariri is convinced of his personal ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad and
the political relationship with Damascus, Jumblat told al-Akhbar newspaper in
remarks published Tuesday.
"This is his conviction and it is better than letting anyone convince him about
it," the Druze leader said. "This brings us to the S-S theory (Saudi-Syria) and
the Taef which some Lebanese want to forget," he added. In his weekly editorial
to al-Anbaa, Jumblat said political and media calm are imperative to protect
Hizbullah and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
"Political and media calm are imperative to protect the Resistance … and is also
essential for the protection of the International Tribunal … and strengthening
the domestic arena against what indictment could lead to," he said. Jumblat
called on the various political parties to stick to soft rhetoric "because the
alternative is devastating and will bring the country to where no one wants."
Beirut, 07 Sep 10,
Cabinet Refuses to Fund Electricity Plan
Naharnet/Cabinet has reportedly refrained from funding an electricity project
following "political attacks" against Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil,
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday, citing an official. He pointed to the
political attack on Bassil, saying Cabinet will not transfer funds to the energy
ministry to begin implementation of the plan and "ease the crisis on citizens
and prevent it from escalating in the coming years." Beirut, 07 Sep 10,
Aoun Attacks Suleiman as Murr Says President 'Crying in Regret' Over Attempts to
Destroy Presidency
Naharnet/As contacts intensified over the weekend in a bid to ease tense
relations between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement, Free Patriotic Movement
leader Michel Aoun launched a verbal attack on the president and ministerial and
security officials. "We hear of demands to make Lebanon weapons-free. Yes
Lebanon is free from its politicians, its will, its media and everything else
except for arms," Aoun said Sunday after attending mass at St. Mikhayel church
in Nabey. The MP also attacked the ISF Intelligence Bureau, saying it was
"illegitimate."
"I accuse the Intelligence Bureau of arresting people and kidnapping them for
months," Aoun said. Turning to cabinet ministers, Aoun said: "Why is the
interior minister still asleep and where is the justice minister?" He accused
the information minister of spreading rumors and the defense minister of
standing idle unless he was personally targeted.
"Why don't they resign?" Aoun wondered. Unleashing his rage on President Michel
Suleiman, the FPM leader said: "What is the president doing other than crying?
He has taken the oath on the constitution and has vowed to preserve it." "From
now on, we have to see dismissals or resignations," the MP added. Interior
Minister Ziad Baroud and Defense Minister Elias Murr were quick to snap back at
Aoun, expressing regret that the FPM leader was trying to "bring back political
bickering to the Lebanese scene at a time when efforts are made to adopt calm
and reject any possible strife." "All of the Lebanese led by the president are
crying in regret over the behavior of some people who are destroying" the
presidency, Murr said in a statement. Baroud, in his turn, said he was "asleep"
because there was no electricity. The minister was referring to continued power
rationing in the country. Electricity Minister Jebran Bassil is Aoun's
son-in-law. Beirut, 06 Sep 10,
Is War About to Break Out on the Israeli-Lebanese Border?
September 5, 2010
AFP - Jack Guez
While the world is riveted by the on-going crisis around Iran's nuclear program,
the most immediate danger of a war may be on Israel's border with Lebanon
While the Middle East -- indeed, the world -- is riveted by the on-going crisis
around Iran’s nuclear program, the most immediate danger of a war may be on
Israel’s border with Lebanon: “Exceptionally quiet and uniquely dangerous” was
how the Independent’s Robert Fisk described it last month.
That quiet was broken Aug. 3 when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the
Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) got into a firefight over tree trimming that ended
up killing one Israeli and three Lebanese. Both sides backed off, but events
over the past several months suggest Tel Aviv may be looking for a fight.
“Israel has to be ready for any sudden provocation or outbreak of hostilities,
the same way the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war was triggered over Hezbollah capturing
Israeli soldiers,” Dan Dicker from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs told
the Inter Press Service.
The IDF has been smarting since Hezbollah fought it to a standstill in the 2006
war. While the Israeli air force inflicted massive damage on Lebanon’s
infrastructure during the 34-day conflict, even Israel’s vaunted Golani Brigade
could make little headway against Hezbollah’s tough and competent militia
fighting on its home turf.
For the past two years the IDF has been training for a rematch: “Should another
war break out -- like the one with Hezbollah almost exactly four years ago --
the Golani Brigade will not be unprepared,” reads a headline in the Israeli
daily, Haaretz. At the Elyakim army base in northern Israel, soldiers are
training how to take bunkers and fight in villages.
The IDF has also made it clear the next war will be vastly more destructive than
the 2006 conflict that killed 1200 Lebanese and inflicted $10 to $12 billion in
damage. The IDF has instituted the “Dahiya Doctrine,” named after the Shiite
quarter of Beirut that the Israeli air force flattened in 2006. According to
Amos Harel of Haaretz, the doctrine means the IDF will “respond to rocket fire
originating from Shiite villages by unleashing a vast destructive operation.”
Over the past several months the Israelis -- sometimes with Washington’s help --
have unleashed a steady stream of accusations that Hezbollah is preparing for
war, that Syria is smuggling arms, and that Iran is up to no good.
Israeli intelligence claims that Hezbollah has up to 40,000 rockets aimed at
Israel, and in April Israeli President Shimon Peres charged Syria with supplying
the Shiite organization with powerful Scud missiles. Syria vigorously denies the
charge, and the United Nations says there is no evidence for the accusation.
Then the Wall Street Journal reported that a “U.S. defense official” told the
newspaper that Iran had deployed” sophisticated” radar in Syria as an early
warning device for a possible Israeli attack on Teheran’s nuclear sites. The
U.S. State Department’s Philip Crowley chimed in that the radar was a “matter of
concern” because of Syria’s relationship with Hezbollah.
Israeli footage allegedly shows south Lebanon blast was Hizbullah explosion
By Patrick Galey /Daily Star staff
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
BEIRUT: The Israeli Army has released footage it claims proves that the
explosions in a south Lebanon apartment block last week were caused by
combusting Hizbullah rockets.
The video, which has been posted on social networking site YouTube and has
already been watched more than 4,000 times, shows men moving heavy equipment
into vans at the blast site in a Shehabiyeh home. The Jerusalem Post on Monday
reported that the footage showed “other trucks carrying weaponry to a mosque in
Nabatieh.” The mosque is known to the Israeli Army as being home to a number of
Hizbullah activities, “including military,” the paper said. The Lebanese Army
and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are conducting a joint
investigation into last Friday’s incident, which Hizbullah dismissed as “a
fire.” Although UNIFIL confirmed that a team of investigators had been granted
full access to the blast site over the weekend, local reports suggested that
both the peacekeeping force and the army were barred entry in the hours
following the explosion, allegedly by Hizbullah members.
The video release followed a statement over the weekend from Israeli military
spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich, accusing Hizbullah of keeping
significant amounts of rockets and missiles dotted around 160 southern villages.
The footage is dated September 3 and contains a digital clock, which the Israeli
Army claimed proved Hizbullah members were moving weaponry from Shehabiyeh soon
after the blast.
“The [Israeli Army] immediately dispatched an unmanned aerial vehicle to film
the scene,” the paper reported, and added that the home was known to army
officials as a “significant arms cache.” At 1:15 pm on the video, minutes after
security officials said the explosions occurred, three men can be seen on the
roof of a storage facility from which gushes thick black smoke.
An hour later, a van arrives at the scene and figures can be seen darting from
the vehicle to inside the building, then return clutching large rectangular
objects, which Israel attests are Hizbullah rockets. The Israeli Army said that
weaponry removed from the site included 107 and 122mm rockets, referred to as
“the mainstay of Hizbullah’s missile arsenal.”
Finally, at 2:36 am, under cover of darkness, several vans arrive at a different
location and move large metallic objects, some more than two meters in length,
into a large warehouse.
“The assessment within the [Israel Army’s] Northern Command is that the weaponry
was transferred north of the Litani River – where UNIFIL’s mandate ends – to
prevent the peacekeeping forces from detecting the violation,” the Post
reported. Israel persists in a steady flow of reconnaissance over flights in the
skies above Lebanon, violating UN Security Council Resolution 1701 on a
near-daily basis. Tel Aviv maintains Hizbullah has amassed a large arsenal of
rockets south of the Litani River, in breach of international law.
Hariri admits it was a 'mistake' to blame Syria
STL ‘not related to previous hasty political accusations’
By Elias Sakr /Daily Star staff
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in remarks on Monday he made a mistake
when he accused Syria of involvement in his father’s murder but continued to
distance the course of the UN-backed tribunal from political accusations. “We
made mistakes in some places; at some point we accused Syria of assassinating
martyr [former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri] and this was a political
accusation,” Hariri told the daily pan-Arab Ash-Sharq al-Awsat. Hariri stressed
that false witnesses who “mislead investigations did harm to Syrian-Lebanese
ties by politicizing the murder,” while adding that the Lebanese judiciary was
in charge of investigating the issue. His condemnation of false witnesses comes
at a time when Syria’s allies in Lebanon, particularly Hizbullah, are calling on
the Lebanese judiciary to investigate those witnesses, while condemning the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) as an Israeli project and refusing to
cooperate with the UN-backed court. Hizbullah’s stance follows Western media
reports claiming that the STL’s impending indictment would accuse rogue
Hizbullah members of involvement in the murder. But Hariri distanced the STL’s
course from that of the former UN investigation committee. “I do not want to
talk much about the STL but I will only say that the court has its course that
is not related to previous hasty political accusations,” Hariri said, in
reference to previous accusations against Damascus.
The Lebanese premier stressed that he re-evaluated his past relations with Syria
and decided to open a new page in ties with Damascus following the formation of
a national unity Cabinet in November 2009. “A man should be pragmatic to build
ties on solid grounds and he has to re-evaluate the past years to avoid
repeating past mistakes. Thus we did a reevaluation of mistakes form our part
toward Syria,” Hariri said. Since the formation of a national unity Cabinet
following a rapprochement in ties between regional power brokers Syria and Saudi
Arabia in 2009, Hariri has made three visits to Damascus where he met the Syrian
president, the last visit made a week ago.
Commenting on his personal relationship with Damascus and his visits to Syria,
Hariri said “he feels himself going to a brotherly and friendly state.”
While Hizbullah remained silent vis-a-vis Hariri’s stances, Ali Hassan Khalil,
the top political aid, to the party’s ally, Speaker Nabih Berri, said the
premier’s remarks restored Lebanese-Syrian ties on the right track. Hariri’s
first visit to Damascus following the Cabinet formation ended four years of
broken ties with Syria, which March 14 parties widely blamed for his father’s
assassination. The assassination of Hariri forced Syria, under domestic and
international pressure – and in accordance with UN Resolution 1559 – into
withdrawing its troops from Lebanon, ending 29 years of military presence. The
first investigation committee, headed by Detlive Mehlis, suspected top Lebanese
security officials of involvement in Hariri’s murder. The country’s top four
officers were imprisoned for four years, and the potential involvement of Syrian
intelligence services in Lebanon was highlighted. But Mehlis’ two successors
shrouded their investigations in secrecy until the four officers were released
in April 2009 by STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, only one month before the
establishment of the UN-backed tribunal.
Sleiman responds fiercely to criticism from Aoun
By Wassim Mroueh
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
BEIRUT: Criticisms by head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Kesrouan MP
Michel Aoun against President Michel Sleiman and a number of ministers stirred a
wave of disapproving reactions on Monday. Sleiman responded to Aoun without
naming him, saying that questioning and accountability were necessary “but we
have to start with ourselves, resort to constitutional means and adhere to the
moral conduct when speaking.” Sleiman considered that negativity along with
discouraging people do not build a nation. He told reporters that the difficult
conditions Lebanon was witnessing required a spirit of responsibility and
tackling matters calmly and seriously. Addressing a Mass celebrating Saint
Michel Day at the Saint Michel church in the Metn village of Nabey, Aoun lashed
out at the president, asking whether he did anything “other than crying” when
dealing with his repeated calls for a breakdown of government spending over the
previous five years. Aoun has been urging the Finance Ministry to provide the
Finance and Budget Parliamentary committee with the breakdown, saying the aim
behind his demand was to discover why $11 billion has been spent above the
ceiling of the last approved budget in 2005. Aoun also criticized the
Information Branch that operates under the Internal Security Forces (ISF),
saying it arrested and interrogated people illegally, spread rumors and leaked
information about its detainees. Aoun held Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud and
Defense Minister Elias Murr responsible for the behavior of the Information
Branch, and said Information Minister Tarek Mitri and Justice Minister Ibrahim
Najjar were responsible for spreading rumors and leaks. “What do ministers do?
Are they sleeping? What are they waiting for before resigning?” asked Aoun. The
FPM says the Information Branch has no authority to continue detaining retired
General Fayez Karam, a senior FPM official. Karam was arrested on suspicion of
collaborating with Israel. His defense attorneys have been calling for
transferring him to a legal prison. On Monday, Najjar stressed that the Justice
Ministry was not the source of media leaks.
“I am sure that General Aoun, who was a commander of the Lebanese army, is aware
that those leakages – if they exist – do not come from either the Justice
Ministry or the Lebanese judiciary,” he told Voice of Lebanon radio. Baroud said
Parliament was the best place to subject any minister to a vote of confidence
and that Aoun was able to ask for one as the head of a parliamentary bloc. “I am
ready to bow to [Parliament’s] decision,” he told the Central News Agency (CNA).
Baroud said investigations with Karam were similar to those carried out with
other suspected Israeli agents. Furthermore, Defense Minister Elias Murr
expressed regret that Aoun was attacking the presidency while he was supposed to
support it “especially [since] President Sleiman is most keen on Lebanon’s
interests and Constitution.”
Gemayel raps first round of Middle East talks for failing to address right of
return
By Simona Sikimic /Daily Star staff
Monday, September 06, 2010
BEIRUT: Silence on the right of return for some 4.6 million Palestinian refugees
which has pervaded the first round of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks won
strong condemnation from Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Sunday. “Today
negotiations are under way to naturalize the Palestinians wherever they are,”
Gemayel said in statement. He also rejected any “project of Lebanon as an
alternative for Palestinians” and called for “true resistance” against
naturalization.
The first round of peace talks kicked off Thursday amid a flutter of speculation
about the extension of a temporary settlement freeze, currently in place in the
West Bank, but scheduled to end on September 26. Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to walk out of the talks if Israel resumes settlement
construction but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thus far refused
to commit to a further suspension and is instead said to be seeking “acceptable”
alternatives. The two are set to meet again in Egypt on September 14 and are
scheduled to meet roughly every two weeks after that to hammer out the broad
proposals for a final peace deal.
For now, however, the historic right of return, upheld by various UN rulings and
fully endorsed by all Lebanese political factions, has seemingly stayed off the
agenda. Netanyahu’s firm insistence in the immediate run up to the talks that an
agreement must “first of all [include a] recognition of Israel as the national
state of the Jewish people” continues to be the elephant in the room. Although
relatively quiet on the issue of late, US President Barack Obama, seen by many
as the main driving force behind the resumption of direct talks, has previously
been adamant that there will be no right of return for Palestinian refugees. In
exchange for abandoning the claims to property or compensation for lost land,
the US-proposed plan, which is reportedly going to be used to bridge the gap
between the two sides on the major issues, will see a sharing of Jerusalem, and
a return to 1967 borders with land swaps.
With a cessation of the right of return, the fate of the 400,000 plus registered
Palestinians in Lebanon will be placed further in doubt, with some advocating
naturalization in their current host country and others pushing for resettlement
to third countries, such Sweden. “The Palestinians will return to Palestine,
their homeland, in the framework of the right of return,” Prime Minister Saad
Hariri said last month in statement issued after the parliamentary reform of
Palestinian right to work in Lebanon. On August 17 Parliament repealed the worst
of the discriminatory legislation against Palestinian workers, lifting some
restriction but still effectively barring them from professions including
medicine and law. “This [project to settle Palestinian refugees] is an issue
that we reject, and we will not be subject to any foreign policy planning to
execute certain plans,” Free Patriotic Movement Michel leader Aoun said in the
run-up before the August vote. “The US is not interested in ensuring the
security, stability and sovereignty of Lebanon, but only in solving Israel’s
Palestinian problem at the expense of the Lebanese.”
Hariri has shown his leadership
By Jamil K. Mroue
Publisher and editor in chief
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s comments published on Monday labeling his
accusation of Syria in his father’s killing as politicized, as well as his
repeated references to mistakes, represent a milestone. For us in Lebanon, we
should be able to clearly recognize this moment as a milestone in his young
career as the prime minister of this country; this dramatic burying of the
hatchet with Damascus brings into sharp focus his role as leader of the
government. Saad Hariri is extricating himself from heavy political shackles,
and he has created the opportunity to undertake the construction challenges that
have been holding back the maturation of Lebanon’s democracy.
Lebanon has direly needed to somehow acquire the substantial span of time
required to allow the political leadership to concentrate on these matters of
state-building, away from most of the distractions of the political tug-of-war.
Hariri is cementing a political truce with his major rivals, and now he and the
rest of the ruling class have the space to deal with issues of structure without
the heated rhetoric, mudslinging and sound bites that have soiled so much of the
recent public discourse. First, they must address the security situation without
mere slogans. Citizens residing inside and outside Beirut need assurances from
the state on how it will provide a secure atmosphere; we do not need a
dangerous, public tit-for-tat between the country’s top Sunni and Shiite
figures. Second, this new calm allows for revisiting the Taif Agreement. A major
cause of the political inertia is that our Constitution remains a work in
progress. Saad Hariri is carving out the conditions necessary to begin the
reconstruction of political process. He can install new software for the running
of the state; the entire process for the appointment of bureaucrats, as well as
the procedures governing the interaction of the cabinet, premier and president
must be revised.Lastly, burying the hatchet should also give Hariri enough clout
to position himself as the head of a team in his stewardship of the government.
He can now run this Cabinet as more cohesive unit that can deal with pressing
issues; for example, the lack of electricity is untenable, and while the public
has heard many words from many officials, there is no coherent policy that
consumers could understand or have confidence in.
Hariri’s new stance means the arrival of a new era. Now that he has taken this
step, the next move is to very quickly show the resolve to tackle the central
domestic issues. By thoroughly reconciling with Syria, Saad Hariri has now given
himself the chance to create a lasting structural legacy as the prime minister
of Lebanon.
**Jamil K. Mroue, Editor-in-Chief of THE DAILY STAR, can be reached at
jamil.mroue@dailystar.com.lb
MP Ziad Aswad calls Karam detention illegal
September 7, 2010 /Change and Reform bloc MP Ziad Aswad told OTV on Tuesday that
the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch’s detention of retired
Brigadier General Fayez Karam on charges of spying for Israel is illegal. He
asked how Karam—an official in the Free Patriotic Movement that Aswad is also
part of—can be detained for five weeks without being allowed access to his
lawyer. The failure to transfer Karam’s case to the military court harms the
Information Branch as well as the military court’s credibility, Aswad added.
The MP also told New TV on Tuesday that Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel
Aoun’s Sunday statements about President Michel Sleiman were not criticizing.
In a fiery speech on Sunday, Aoun criticized the government and asked what
Sleiman “is doing after his constitutional speech besides weeping?” Instead,
Aswad said that Aoun had to “say things the way they are” after the latter’s
warnings were not heeded. The finance, defense and interior ministries’
performances are biased, he added. -NOW Lebanon
Hizballah strikes US troops in Iraq, clears way for anti-Israel Eastern Front
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 6, 2010, 12:00 PM (GMT+02:00) Tags:
Hizballah Iraq US troops Why did Nasrallah devote his pro-Palestinian speech to
Iraq?debkafile's military sources report increased Hizballah involvement in
actions to terrorize, subvert and destabilize Iraq. A US intelligence source
told debkafile's Iraq and counter-terror sources Monday Sept. 6: "Hizballah is
striking US targets in Iraq as sub-contractor for Iran and Syria." According to
the Sunday Times of Sept. 5, Iranian "firms" in Kabul are shelling out $1,000 to
Taliban for every American soldier they kill in Afghanistan. These developments
make nonsense of the dire predictions heard from some American military experts
that an Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would unleash a wave of
anti-US terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is happening anyway without Israel
lifting a finger against Iran or its aggressive allies.
debkafile's counter-terror sources can exclusively reveal the nature and makeup
of Hizballah's operation in Iraq: The Lebanese terrorists are working directly
and through two Iraqi Shiite affiliates.
1. Asaib al-Haq (League of the Believers): Under a variety of names, such as the
Qais Khazalis for its commander, this group spent the last four years under the
tutelage of Hizballah officers at Revolutionary Guards bases in Iran.A few weeks
ago, the Lebanese officersleft Iran and crossed into Iraq disguised as Shiite
pilgrims to spread out in Baghdad and the southern Iraqi towns of Karbala, Najef,
Nassiriyeh and Basra from which to attack attack US targets.
2. Kata'ib Hizballah (Hizballah Brigades): This organization is commanded by Abu
Mahdi al-Muhandis who visited Damascus on Aug. 21 with the Revolutionary Guards
chief Gen. Ali Jafaari. They got together there with Syrian and Hizballah
officers to synchronize their campaigns of violence in Iraq, Israel and the West
Bank.
The Iraqi operation was clearly uppermost on the mind of Hizballah secretary
general Hassan Nasrallah, judging from the number of words he poured out on Iraq
in his speech in Beirut on Palestine Solidarity Day of Sept. 3 and the way he
bracketed the two "resistance struggles."
"The steadfastness of the Palestinians, Syria, Iran and the Iraqi people has
been able to foil the US plot seeking to partition the region and liquidate its
resistance," he said. "The US withdrawal from Iraq is a sign of weakness and
defeat." Furthermore, "the Americans came to Iraq to stay there and control it,
but years later, they were surprised by the early resistance and cited enormous
and strategic mistakes in their reading of the Iraqi arena."
debkafile's military sources report that Hizballah's increased involvement in
actions to terrorize, subvert and destabilize Iraq on behalf of Syria and Iran
is their first practical step for reviving the Eastern Front which threatened
Israel in the days of Saddam Hussein.
In its contemporary re incarnation, the Eastern Front would be orchestrated from
Tehran and link up with the armed-to-the-teeth Northern Front composed of Iran's
cohorts, Hizballah, Syria and the Palestinian rejectionists
Editorial: Focus on Iran’s nukes
By JPOST EDITORIAL
09/06/2010 22:24
In today's geopolitical reality, Israel must maintain uncontested military
superiority for the sake of regional peace.
It emerged over the weekend that during his low-key visit to these parts at the
end of August, Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
asked Israel to consider signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This was
the latest chapter in an ongoing campaign, fueled primarily by Egypt, other Arab
states, and Iran, to force Israel to commit itself to a nuclear-free Middle
East. Israel is the only country in the region that purportedly has nuclear
warheads. Arab countries scored a major victory with May’s NPT Review Conference
resolution, which ignored Iran’s refusal to cooperate with the IAEA while
singling out Israel for censure, though the US communicated important
clarifications to Israel ensuring that Israel would not be forced to change its
policy. Amano’s aversion to atomic weapons is understandable. Born in Japan just
two years after the nightmarish destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the IAEA
head, like many of his Japanese peers, is haunted by “the bomb.” A better suited
head for an international watchdog dedicated to the utopian goal of eradicating
nuclear weapons would be hard to come by. Still, Amano’s warm relations with the
Jewish state, which contrast with predecessor Mohamed elBaradei’s critical
stance, should help him appreciate Israel’s predicament. Living in the shadow of
the Holocaust, Israelis have their own historical baggage. Paradoxically, the
State of Israel, conceived and created to put an end to the Jews’ precarious
existence, now faces its most serious existential threat. The Islamic Republic’s
nuclear aspirations, coupled with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s
repeated calls to “wipe Israel off the map,” are widely perceived by Jews as a
sign that Iran is preparing to stage a new attempt at genocide. Ominous in this
context is Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial.
“I take Holocaust denial as Holocaust affirmation,” journalist Christopher
Hitchens recently said of Iran’s leader. “People who say it didn’t happen are
people who wish it would happen again.” NOW IS not the time to coerce Israel
into ending its four-decade long, highly responsible policy of nuclear
ambiguity, under which the Jewish state neither confirms nor denies its alleged
nuclear capability, even for the sake of deterrence – such as during the Yom
Kippur War, when Israel was on the verge of being overrun by the combined armies
of the Arab nations.
As Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman pointed out in a July 26 letter to the
IAEA, singling out Israel “seriously detracts” from efforts to stop Iran and
Syria, the Middle East’s “real proliferation challenges.” In fact, forcing
Israel to abandon opacity could actually spark a nuclearization race in the
Middle East and unravel the NPT. In March 2008 the Arab League’s member states
announced that they would withdraw from the treaty if Israel acknowledged it had
nuclear weapons.
Nor is it likely that Israel’s many detractors would accept the type of deal
reached in July 2005 between India and the US, which allowed India to join
Russia, Britain, France, China, and Pakistan in openly possessing nuclear arms
without violating international obligations. Israel has pledged not to be the
first to introduce the use of nuclear arms in this region, and has demonstrated
responsibility and restraint for decades. That should be enough. NEITHER ISRAEL
nor the democracies of the world that value freedom can afford to change the
status quo at a time when all energies must directed against Iran’s push to
obtain nuclear weapons. Just this week, Ahmadinejad provided additional proof
that he must be stopped. While visiting Qatar, he threatened that any military
attack on Iran aimed at stopping its nuclear program would result in “the
eradication of the Zionist entity.”
Meanwhile, Iran-supported Hamas in the Gaza Strip has split the Palestinian
leadership and created an immense obstacle to the implementation of any
comprehensive peace deal to which the renewed negotiating effort might lead.
Iran-supported Hizbullah has destabilized Lebanon, increasing chances of a
further conflagration on Israel’s northern border.
The Islamic Republic is also working to undermine the fragile stability achieved
by US forces in Iraq. In this geopolitical reality, Israel must maintain
uncontested military superiority for the sake of regional peace. Iran cannot be
allowed to upset the balance of power. Perhaps one day Amano’s vision of a
nuclear-free world can be realized. For the time being a nuclear-free Iran
should be his main concern.
Abbas: No 'historic compromise' on Jerusalem, borders
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH/J.Post
09/07/2010 13:35
In interview with 'Al-Quds', PA president says Palestinians won't recognize
Israel as a Jewish state, accuses Netanyahu of trying to "strip" Israeli-Arabs
of their rights.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu's talk about an "historic compromise" and said there would be no
compromises on core issues such as Jerusalem and borders. Abbas also reiterated
his rejection of Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a
Jewish state. "We're not talking about a Jewish state and we won't talk about
one," Abbas said in an interview with the semi-official Al-Quds newspaper. "For
us, there is the state of Israel and we won't recognize Israel as a Jewish
state."
Abbas said that in recent meetings with leaders of the Jewish community in the
US, he made it clear that the Palestinians would not recognize Israel as a
Jewish state. "I told them that this is their business and that they are free to
call themselves whatever they want," Abbas said. "But [I told them] you can't
expect us to accept this."
Abbas said that by raising the issue of Israel's right to be a Jewish state,
Netanyahu was seeking to "strip" Israeli-Arabs of their rights and turn them
into illegal citizens. He said that Netanyahu's goal was also to block any
chance of Palestinian "refugees" from returning to their original homes inside
Israel.
Asked about the possibility of dismantling the PA, Abbas said he did not rule
out such an option if he reached the conclusion that the peace talks are
hopeless. However, he stressed that this option was not on the table at present
Legitimize Hamas and kiss the PLO goodbye
Hussein Ibish, September 7, 2010
Now Lebanon/With the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,
numerous voices in the United States have been urging the inclusion of Hamas in
international diplomacy, a focus on Palestinian unity, or some formal American
outreach to the Palestinian Islamist group.
There are many different ways of arriving at such a position. One is to allege,
as MJ Rosenberg of Media Matters has, that without Hamas there is no chance of
any Palestinian leadership being able to deliver on a peace agreement. This
ignores the extent to which Hamas’ appeal relies on cynicism and despair about
peace, and the likely surge of legitimation for any leadership that can secure
independence for the Palestinians.
Another assumes that Hamas is somehow more “authentic” than the Palestine
Liberation Organization because it is a violent revolutionary group. Some have
transferred sympathy for left-wing revolutionaries of the past to this ultra
right-wing fundamentalist organization precisely because it is violent and
revolutionary. The preposterous assertion of Judith Butler, a professor at the
University of California, Berkeley, that both Hamas and Hezbollah are part of
the “global left” is only true if the left is reduced to those militantly
opposed to the status quo, in which case almost all religious fanatics and
almost everyone on the extreme right would be perfectly valid candidates for
inclusion.
A third begins by emphasizing democracy, and confusing democracy with elections
only (though elections are a sine qua non of democracy), without due attention
to the need for transparent, accountable institutions. George Washington
University professor Nathan Brown has recently argued that because there have
been no Palestinian elections in years so that terms in office have expired,
there are two equally illegitimate and authoritarian Palestinian Authorities,
one in Ramallah and the other in Gaza.
Arguments assuming that elections alone are what matter and that ignore why
there can be no elections (Hamas is blocking them because it rightly fears the
results), and that also ignore differences in legitimacy and repression between
the Palestinian Authority and Hamas rule in Gaza, invariably end up becoming a
brief for Hamas’ aspirations within Palestinian society. They also make Hamas at
least co-equal with the PLO as a legitimate international representative of the
Palestinian people.
Harvard professor Stephen Walt recently suggested that if peace negotiations
fail, “Hamas will be in a strong position” to lead “a Palestinian campaign for
political rights within [a] single state, based on well-established norms of
justice and democracy.” Walt doesn’t seem to understand what Hamas is, what it
believes in, what it opposes, or the implications of its regional affiliations.
The idea that Hamas might become a civil-rights movement for international
standards of justice and democracy is simply laughable.
It was particularly ridiculous given that Walt and others were expressing
similarly naïve or disingenuous opinions either right before, or in Walt’s case
right after, Hamas showed its true colors once again by attempting to sabotage
the current peace negotiations – which the organization fears might succeed in
ending the conflict before it can unseat the PLO. This Hamas did by murdering
four Israeli settlers in a drive-by shooting; it claimed “full responsibility”
for the killings, called them “heroic,” vowed to repeat the crime (and tried to
the very next day), and declared all Israeli settlers to be “legitimate military
targets.”
If this didn’t cut through the fog of the “constructive ambiguity” employed by
Hamas leaders through a relentless pattern of contradictory statements designed
to appeal simultaneously to hard-core Islamists and Western sympathizers, I
can’t imagine what will. Actions are the surest test of any ideology, not a
mountain of contradictory rhetoric.
All these analyses ignore the likely consequences of international moves to
legitimize Hamas and accord it similar status to the PLO, without Hamas agreeing
to accept the terms laid out by the Middle East Quartet. These include
recognition of a two-state solution, renunciation of terrorism, and acceptance
of the legitimacy of existing Palestinian agreements.
The first consequence is that legitimizing Hamas would provide the Israeli
extreme right with much more effective arguments in support of the occupation
and the settlements as forward defenses in an existential conflict. These
Israelis would claim that there is no Palestinian partner to negotiate with
because Hamas insists it will never recognize Israel.
Second, recognition would lead to renewed isolation of all of the Palestinians
and the occupied territories if the international community continues to view
Hamas with deep suspicion; or it would signal a death blow to the PLO and, by
extension, the whole Palestinian secular nationalist movement; or indeed it
could lead to both.
Third, the rise of Hamas would alienate almost all the Arab states (with the
possible exceptions of Syria and Qatar) who face Muslim Brotherhood or similar
opposition groups attempting to overthrow their governments. It would likely
lead to Palestinian isolation in the Arab world as well.
Palestinian national unity is crucial, but on whose terms will this unity be
achieved? The square peg of jihad and martyrdom until victory cannot fit into
the round hole of negotiations with Israel for a two-state solution.
International legitimacy and recognition is a major asset to any party. Those
who urge the United States and others to provide that gratis to Hamas will be
doing so at the expense of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, favoring the
Islamists in the internal Palestinian contest.
That is the first thing honest commentators who advocate such a path need to
admit to themselves, and to everybody else.
Hussein Ibish is a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine and he
blogs at www.ibishblog.com.
Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers welcomes Israeli-Palestinian talks
September 7, 2010 /Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers issued a statement
welcoming the re-launch of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but warned
that Israeli acts of aggression may compromise them. "The ministerial council
welcomes... the resumption of direct Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations...
in hope that the talks in Washington will lead to... the establishment of an
independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital," the statement
added. But after a meeting in the Saudi Arabian Red Sea city of Jeddah on Monday
night, the six ministers warned that "continuing acts of aggression" by Israel
could "undermine efforts to restore peace and stability in the
region."Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas resumed direct
negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on
Thursday, 20 months after he broke them off when Israel launched a devastating
offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Arab League gave its backing
to the Palestinian president's decision to re-launch the talks, but last week
the 22-nation bloc's secretary general, Amr Moussa, noted widespread pessimism
in the region about their prospects.-AFP/NOW Lebanon
Hezbollah and Aoun taking turns to criticize Sleiman and Hariri, Habib says
September 7, 2010 /Lebanon First bloc MP Khodor Habib voiced his fear that
Hezbollah and Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun have divvied up roles
to criticize President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Future
News reported on Tuesday. In a fiery speech on Sunday, Aoun criticized the
government and asked what President Michel Sleiman “is doing after his
constitutional speech besides weeping?”Following August 24 deadly street battle
in the Bourj Abi Haidar area of Beirut between supporters of Hezbollah and those
of the Sunni group Al-Ahbash. Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad said on August 29 that
"tours of the Bourj Abi Haidar area where the clashes took place only aim to
further deepen divisions," referring to Hariri's visit to the scene. Habib also
voiced his fear that there is a link between Aoun’s speech and the arrest of
retired Brigadier General Fayez Karam, a Free Patriotic Movement official
arrested in August on charges of spying for Israel. It is sad that political
discourse has sunk to this level, he added. -NOW Lebanon
As-Safir: Aoun may boycott upcoming national dialogue sessions
September 7, 2010 /As-Safir newspaper on Tuesday quoted an unnamed source as
saying that Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun might decide to boycott
the upcoming national dialogue sessions. Aoun will make it clear in his
forthcoming speeches that he believes the dialogue is useless, the daily also
reported.
The Change and Reform bloc leader missed the August 19 national session, having
told President Michel Sleiman he could not attend due to health reasons.
However, media outlets afterward reported that Aoun skipped the meeting due to
other reasons. Meanwhile, As-Safir also quoted an unnamed presidential source as
saying that intimidation does not benefit anyone. The source’s comment comes as
a possible reference to Aoun’s Sunday speech, in which he criticized the
government and asked what Sleiman is doing besides weeping.
-NOW Lebanon