Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 02/12
10 Killed in Tripoli Clashes as Politicians Lift Political Cover off Gunmen
March 14: Nasrallah’s Suggestion is Blow to Suleiman’s Dialogue Call
Miqati Calls on Officials to Attend National Dialogue
Arab Democratic Party: 2 Farmers Abducted in Abboudiyeh to be Freed Shortly
Roknabadi Says Contacts Ongoing to Release Abducted Pilgrims
Faisal Karami Calls on Cabinet to Hold Extraordinary Session on Tripoli
Suleiman Says Lebanon Waiting for Kuwaiti Tourists this Summer
Ten dead in Lebanon clashes linked to Syria
Tripoli clashes injure 40 people, NNA reports
Daher says Tripoli events as a result of Rifaat Eid’s “gang”
Mikati, Charbel in Tripoli to follow up on security situation
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya calls for security measures in Tripoli
Abu Faour files lawsuit in case of Catholic school girls’ abuse
Habib slams Arab Democratic Party’s Eid
Faisal Karami comments on Tripoli clashes
Nasri Khoury denies Abboudiyeh abductees to be handed over to him
Higher Islamic Council against dragging country into strife
Majdalani: Nasrallah wants to sabotage national dialogue
Soueid: Nasrallah attempting to trespass constitutional pacts
Mount Lebanon teacher accused of molesting young girls
Arabs Urge U.N. Action amid Fears of Civil War in Syria
Syrian Priest in Zahle Hospital after Suffering Gunshot Injury Near Border
Hosni Mubarak Sentenced to Life in Prison
Protests Erupt across Egypt after Mubarak Verdicts
Iran threatens to target U.S. bases if attacked
Iran Blasts Turkey, Saudi, Qatar over Ally Syria
Clinton, Lavrov Agree Need to Work Together on Syria
Vatican Denies Cardinals Split over Bank Head's Fate
Egypt Brotherhood's Mursi says continue the revolution
Annan warns of “all-out” sectarian war in Syria

10 Killed in Tripoli Clashes as Politicians Lift Political Cover off Gunmen
Naharnet /02 June 2012/Ten people were killed and more than 40 people were injured in renewed clashes between the Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhoods of the northern city of Tripoli, Beirut media reported on Saturday.Among the dead were a woman and her son, killed by a rocket in the Bab al-Tebanneh district, a mostly Sunni Muslim community which supports Syria's anti-regime opposition. At least five were wounded in Jabal Mohsen, an area mainly populated by pro-Damascus Alawites. A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Najib Miqati agreed on lifting the political cover off the gunmen and demanded the army and security forces to control the situation. The meeting was held at Miqati’s residence in Tripoli and attended by the northern city’s ministers and MPs and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. Smoke was seen billowing from several apartments near the city's Syria street, the split between Bab Tabbaneh neighborhood and the adjacent, Jabal Mohsen, on a hill overlooking its rival. The area around Syria Street was mostly empty and gunmen were seen roaming the streets.
A security meeting at the Serail of Tripoli, chaired by head of the Tripoli's gendarmerie, Brig. Gen. Bassam Ayoubi, agreed on the deployment of the internal security forces in the two neighborhoods.
However, they failed to maintain a ceasefire in the area. The overnight battles with Rocket Propelled Grenades and machineguns calmed by 5:00 am but intermittent sniper fire continued throughout the day, leaving Khaled al-Rifai dead. Eight people were injured overnight, two of them seriously, in the fighting between the rival neighborhoods, the National News Agency said earlier. The news agency also said a house owned by Abdul Rahman Hamad was engulfed in flames in the area of Starco in Bab al-Tabbaneh when it was hit with an RPG.
Earlier, Miqati held phone conversations with the chiefs of security agencies, urging them not to be tolerant with those who tamper with security in Tripoli.
He also called on them to intensify measures to restore calm in the city.
Sectarian violence has flared on a number of occasions in Tripoli since the revolt broke out in neighboring Syria in March 2011, including deadly street battles in May that erupted over the controversial arrest of Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi, who was released last week..Bab al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen have been gripped by frequent fighting, reflecting a split between Lebanon's parties where the March 14- led opposition backs the revolt in Syria while a ruling coalition led by Hizbullah supports the Damascus regime.

March 14: Nasrallah’s Suggestion is Blow to Suleiman’s Dialogue Call
Naharnet/02 June 2012/March 14 general-secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid said Saturday that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s statements dealt a blow to President Michel Suleiman’s invitation for dialogue.Nasrallah called on Friday for the creation of an elected or appointed constituent assembly to build a strong state and end sectarian divisions. He urged Suleiman to weigh the creation of such an assembly during the National Dialogue that is set to be held at Baabda palace on June 11.Soaid told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that there are two contradictory suggestions in the country.
The March 14 opposition calls for abiding by the Taef Accord to resolve the country’s crises and the issue of Hizbullah’s arms while the other team backed by Nasrallah’s party calls for sidestepping the agreement and acquiring constitutional authorities in return for handing over the weapons. Soaid also told An Nahar daily that Nasrallah’s remarks suggest the “sidestepping of the 1943 National Pact and the Taef Agreement which became Lebanon’s constitution after costing us 120,000 lives, 240,000 injured and 10,000 missing” during the 1975-1990 civil war.The March 14 official said Lebanon is still suffering from the repercussions of the civil war. “Consequently, he (Nasrallah) is pushing us towards the unknown.” Suleiman called for the National Dialogue following deadly gunbattles in Beirut and the northern city of Tripoli.The Hizbullah-led March 8 forces have backed the initiative while the March 14 forces stressed that any dialogue should be held under a neutral salvation government and not the cabinet of Premier Najib Miqati.

Syrian Priest in Zahle Hospital after Suffering Gunshot Injury Near Border
Naharnet/02 June 2012/A Syrian priest was hospitalized in the eastern Lebanese city of Zahle after suffering injuries in the Syrian town of al-Qusair, in Homs province, during a gunfight between troops and rebels, the National News Agency reported.NNA said Father Elia Mikhael Jreij, 33, was admitted to Tal Shiha hospital in Zahle to treat the gunshot wound in his left leg.The priest was riding a Kia Rio along with the head of the St. Morqos monastery in Rable, Samer Farah, when armed clashes occurred in al-Qusair between the Syrian soldiers and the rebels.Al-Qusair, a town southwest of the flashpoint city of Homs, is close to the Lebanese al-Qaa region in northeastern Lebanon.Homs is an opposition stronghold where the Syrian government has been waging a brutal offensive for the past months.

Arabs Urge U.N. Action amid Fears of Civil War in Syria
Naharnet Newsdesk 02 June 2012/
Arab leaders called for U.N. action on Saturday as at least 27 people were killed in Syria amid growing concern that Kofi Annan's peace plan is failing and the country descending into all-out civil war.
Annan himself warned of sectarian warfare, singling out Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime as key to resolving the conflict."The spectra of an all-out war with a worrying sectarian dimension grows by the day," he told a ministerial meeting on Syria in Doha. "The situation is complex and it takes everyone involved in the conflict to act responsibly if the violence is to stop. But the first responsibility lies in the Syrian government and President Assad," he said. Up to 300 unarmed U.N. military observers have deployed in Syria since a putative ceasefire brokered by Annan went into effect in April as part of a six-point peace plan, which also stipulated that the army must pull out of towns and cities."I told Assad he must act now to implement all points of the plan, and must make bold and visible steps immediately to radically change his military posture and honor commitments to withdraw heavy weapons and cease all violence," Annan said.He also said he told Assad to release detainees, open up the country to international humanitarian aid and allow freedom of expression as "this is essential to demonstrate his seriousness to the Syrian people and the international community."
Earlier, the Arab League's ministerial committee on Syria had called on Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy on the crisis who met Assad earlier this week, to set a time frame for his mission.
"We request Mr. Annan to set a time frame for his mission because it is unacceptable that massacres and bloodshed continue while the mission is ongoing indefinitely," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said. "We demand the U.N. Security Council refer the six-point (Annan plan) to Chapter VII so that the international community could assume responsibilities," he added.
Chapter VII outlines action the Security Council might take, including military force, in response to threats to international peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi also said he had asked the Security Council to take strong action to protect civilians in Syria but did not raise the question of intervention.
"I sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council asking it to undertake all necessary measures to protect the Syrian people," Arabi told Agence France Presse shortly before the opening of the Doha meeting.
*SourceAgence France Presse.Middle

Miqati Calls on Officials to Attend National Dialogue
Naharnet/02 June 2012/
Prime Minister Najib Miqati urged Lebanese leaders on Saturday to attend the National Dialogue session scheduled to convene on June 11, stressing that stability requires the resumption of all-party talks.
“We have to maintain Lebanon's stability through the resumption of the national dialogue,” Miqati told reporters. He called on the Lebanese to seek unity among each other. President Michel Suleiman called for the National Dialogue after the security incidents in the country threatened to spiral out of control.
The March 8 coalition that makes up the majority of the cabinet said it would attend the all-party talks but the March 14 coalition, which al-Mustaqbal movement is part of, hasn’t yet announced an official stance on its participation. But the alliance said earlier this month that dialogue should be held under a neutral salvation government and not Miqati’s cabinet.
Miqati stressed that the cabinet will not resign, slamming those who are holding it responsible for the recent developments in the country.
“I am convinced that the defect isn’t in this cabinet,” the premier said.
He urged the Lebanese to be “honest” with each other in order to maintain stability and peace in the country.
Miqati pointed out that the current situation in Lebanon will not change even if the current government resigned as the Lebanese are always bickering among each other.
“We have to safeguard Lebanon from the repercussions” of the turmoil that the neighboring countries and the region is passing through.
Asked about the developments regarding the abduction of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims in the Syrian province of Aleppo, Miqati said that the cabinet is following up the case since day one with all sides.
“I hope that the Turkish efforts would hold good news in the upcoming hours,” he stated.
The premier returned on Friday from a two-day visit to Turkey where he held talks with his counterpart Recep Tayyib Erdogan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and U.N. Chief Ban Ki-moon.
Erdogan stressed that Turkey would continue “intensive efforts” in order to secure the release of the pilgrims.
The whereabouts of the pilgrims remains unknown, however, a previously unknown armed group calling itself the "Syrian Revolutionaries -- Aleppo Province" announced Thursday that it is holding the Lebanese pilgrims who went missing in Syria on May 22.
"The kidnapped Lebanese are being looked after by us and are in good health," the group said in a statement received by Qatar-based satellite news channel al-Jazeera.
However, Abu Abdullah al-Halabi, the official spokesman for the “Syrian Revolutionary Council for Aleppo and its Countryside” denied on Friday that his council had anything to do with the group which claimed its responsibility for the kidnapping.

Hosni Mubarak Sentenced to Life in Prison
Naharnet/02 June 2012/A judge sentenced former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to life in prison on Saturday after convicting him of involvement in the murder of protesters during the uprising that ousted him last year.A senior lawyer for Mubarak's defence team told Agence France Presse the strongman, who was taken to a Cairo prison after the hearing, will appeal the sentence.
Also given a life term for the killings was the 84-year-old former strongman's interior minister Habib al-Adly, but six ex-police commanders were acquitted.
Corruption charges against Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, were dropped due to the expiry of a statute of limitations, and the former president was acquitted in one of the graft cases.
Scuffles erupted soon after the verdicts were delivered and chants of "Void, void" and "The people want the judiciary purged" could be heard, as furious lawyers told AFP they feared Mubarak would be found innocent on appeal.
"We will appeal. The ruling is full of legal flaws from every angle," Yasser Bahr, a senior member of Mubarak's defence team, told AFP.
Asked if Mubarak was likely to win the appeal, Bahr said: "We will win, one million percent."
Mubarak, who wore dark sunglasses and a beige track-suit, had his arms folded and showed no emotion inside his caged dock,as Chief Judge Ahmed Refaat read out the verdict.
His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, looking tired with dark circles under their eyes, appeared close to tears on hearing the verdict.
"It's vindicating to Egyptians to see Mubarak and his interior minister sentenced to life, but the verdict raises more questions than answers," said Hossam Bahgat, the director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, who was outside the court with members of the victims' families.
"The court appears to have found no evidence that the killings were committed by policemen. It seems the court convicted Mubarak and Adly for failing to prevent the killings," Bahgat told AFP.
"It's 100 percent certain that this will go to appeal and the court is very likely to order a retrial," said Bahgat, a respected activist and lawyer.
In delivering the ruling, Judge Refaat painted a grim picture of life under Mubarak, listing hardship after hardship suffered during his three decade rule.
He said some "went hungry" and spoke of conditions in the "rotting slums."
Refaat said the protesters who had participated in the 2011 uprising in Cairo's Tahrir Square were "peaceful" and only wanted "justice, freedom and democracy."
Outside the courtroom, clashes broke following the sentencing, forcing police to use stun grenades to control the crowds.
Mubarak, the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be tried in person, Adly and the six others were facing charges over their involvement in ordering the deaths of some of the estimated 850 people killed. The former strongman, his sons Alaa and Gamal and business associate Hussein Salem, who fled to Spain, were also on trial over an alleged bribe.
And Mubarak was accused of selling natural gas to Israel at lower than market prices.
A security official said 5,000 policemen and 2,000 soldiers had been deployed to secure the court, at the Police Academy on Cairo's outskirts, to which the ailing Mubarak was helicoptered in from a military hospital.
After the hearing, he was transferred to the medical wing of Tora prison, a security official said.
Egypt has been ruled by the military since Mubarak was forced to resign on February 11 last year, after 18 days of nationwide protests.
Mubarak was held at a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh following his arrest last year, and the military appeared to bow to protester demands that he and former regime officials be put on trial. But the military insists the prosecution's investigations and the charges eventually filed were independent judicial decisions.
However, critics say the investigations were hasty and sloppy, resulting in a trial based on patchwork evidence that may see Mubarak acquitted.
The ex-president was brought to Cairo for the trial, which began on August 3, and has been held there since.
During the trial, Mubarak was wheeled into the lecture hall that serves as a courtroom on a stretcher. He reportedly suffers from a heart condition, but the health ministry has denied his lawyer's claim that he has cancer. Along with Adly, Mubarak's co-defendants include six former police commanders.
They have all denied that they ordered police to shoot protesters or use deadly force during the uprising, in which demonstrators torched police stations across the country.
The verdict comes just two weeks before a run-off in presidential elections that will pit Mubarak's former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq against the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi in a highly polarising race. It is the first openly contested presidential election in any of the Arab countries swept by regional protests and uprisings that challenged decades of autocratic rule.
But the revolt also led to a deteriorating economy and increased lawlessness in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, that has helped Shafiq, a symbol of Mubarak's regime, win a surprising amount of support.SourceAgence France Presse.

Kenyan Troops Integrated into AU Somalia Mission
Naharnet /02 June 2012, 15:00
Kenyan troops were officially integrated into the African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), with Kenya's defense minister signing an agreement at AU headquarters Saturday.
"We conclude the process of establishing a formal, legal framework for the integration of the Kenyan defense forces into AMISOM," Minister of Defense Yusuf Haji said at the signing in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
Kenyan tanks and troops rolled into Somalia in October following a series of kidnappings and attacks on Kenyan soil believed to have been carried out by Shebab insurgents linked to al-Qaida.
In December, the AU said it backed the integration of Kenyan troops into its peacekeeping mission.
AU peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra welcomed the official integration and said it marked progress towards defeating Shebab militants in Somalia.
"We are really opening a new chapter -- a chapter that will take us closer to... the completion of the mission in Somalia," he said.
It was not clear how many Kenyan soldiers would be coming under the AMISOM umbrella but some sources gave a figure of 4,000-5,000 men, boosting the force now made up of some 11,000 Burundians and Ugandans by almost half.
The re-hatting of Kenyan troops comes three days after they took the Shebab-controlled town of Afmadow, a long-term target ever since they entered Somalia.
Haji said they were inching closer to capturing the strategic port city of Kismayo, but he did not specify a timeline.
"We are not very far from Kismayo, but we can't say when we are taking over," he said, adding that although the rebels still posed a threat, they had lost strength.
"They have been diminished and also their command structure has been destroyed on the ground, but you can never rule out a few remnants of al-Shebab here and there. But we are very hopeful that at the end of the day AMISOM will end the war in Somalia," he said.
Lamamra added that AMISOM still faces a number of logistical challenges and urged the United Nations to maintain support for the mission.
"Now that AMISOM is expanding, now that we are covering the entire territory, we do have more challenges. In particular, what relates to logistics, we need our friends in the U.N. to be able to supply all what is needed," he said. Somalia has been embroiled in civil war since 1991, when former president Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted.
It has been variously governed by ruthless warlords and militia groups and a fragile transitional government which holds official power in the Horn of Africa country.
After a two-day conference on Somalia held in Istanbul, U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon called Friday for urgent international aid to head off the risk of warlords exploiting a power vacuum after a scheduled change of government in August.

Arab Democratic Party: 2 Farmers Abducted in Abboudiyeh to be Freed Shortly
Naharnet /02 June 2012/ Secretary-General of the Arab Democratic Party Rifaat Eid said Saturday that two Lebanese farmers, who were kidnapped by Syrian forces in al-Abboudiyeh earlier this week, will be released soon. “Mohammed Yassine al-Merehbi and Mehdi Hamdan will be in Lebanon in the next few hours,” he said after his party mediated for their release. Eid made the announcement during a press conference he held at his office in the northern city of Tripoli as bursts of gunfire were heard in the background. Clashes between the Tripoli neighborhood of mainly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and majority Alawite Jabal Mohsen renewed overnight Saturday leaving at least one person dead. Eid accused the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch of using sniper rifles equipped with night vision goggles in the Tripoli battles.He also said that authorities have the list of names of those involved in the clashes that include Inerga-type rockets, Rocket Propelled Grenades and machineguns.
Several of them are “backed by some politicians and security officials,” he said.

Mubarak verdict met with mixed feelings
Raphael Thelen, June 2, 2012/Now Lebanon
Cairo – Groups of protesters gathered in front of the fortress-like Police Academy on the outskirts of Cairo on Saturday, where deposed President Hosni Mubarak and other former regime figures were handed their court sentences. The building was surrounded by rows of riot police and tanks. Policemen shielded the building and kept pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators apart.
“Hosni Mubarak fought for our country for decades. He brought our country up, made the economy grow even in times of crisis,” said Mona Daoud shortly after the helicopter carrying Mubarak to the courtroom landed. “How can you put this man in a cage now? It is a shame.”
Like the other Mubarak supporters around here, the 33-year old businesswoman brandished a poster with the former president’s face on it and shouted slogans. “Under Mubarak I was free. I could say what I wanted and do what I wanted,” Daoud said.
The verdict in the case against Mubarak has been eagerly anticipated by all Egyptians; many inside the country and abroad consider it a benchmark for the success of the democratic transition. Mubarak is the first ousted leader of the Arab Spring to be put on trial. The maximum sentence was execution.
“There is nothing judicial against him. It is a political case,” said Daoud. “And I don’t think that he was corrupt. The people around him, yes, but he in the end was just an old man, sick with cancer. The only failure he might have had was that he was weak and not completely in control anymore.”
Daoud, wearing a black hat and designer sunglasses, said that she could not think of anything good brought on by the revolution of last year. Instead, she is afraid that the country will make a turn to conservative Islamist politics. “If Mubarak gets a sentence, I will leave this country. I don’t want to live here anymore,” she said moments before the crowd on the other side of the police cordon broke out into frantic shouts of “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.”
Presiding Judge Ahmed Refaat had just indicted 84-year-old Mubarak and his former Interior Minister, Habib al-Adly, for involvement in the murder of protesters during the 2011 uprisings. Both were handed 25-year sentences, while six police officers were acquitted. The charges of corruption against Mubarak’s sons Alaa and Gamal were also dropped.
The decision evoked mixed feelings among the anti-Mubarak protesters. Many people fell on their knees, thanking God. Black-clad mothers of “martyrs of the revolution” hugged each other with tears in their eyes. Some jumped and shouted joyfully, while others stood by, angrily shouting that the verdict was too soft.
“I just can’t understand this decision,” said Ahmed Farouk. “I want to execute Mubarak in Tahrir Square. This is simple justice. He has killed people, so he has to be killed.”
The 27-year-old software engineer took part in the uprising against Mubarak’s regime. People around him were killed during the clashes. “It does not matter that Mubarak is an old man. He is esponsible for the killings,” Farouk said. Small groups of angry protesters attacked near-by riot police, but the scuffles subsided quickly.
“It’s a fake court and a fake decision,” said another protester, a longtime activist who asked to be referred to as Chester. “Why were the charges against the officers dropped? There are videos were you can see how they kill us. And what about Gamal and Suzanne?” he said, referring to Mubarak’s son and wife. There is a widespread conviction among the anti-Mubarak crowd that both were involved in major corruption. “Twenty-five years in a real jail, I could accept that,” Chester added before disappearing into the crowd. “But Mubarak will be put in a nice place, where he can eat ice cream, have a comfortable bed and a flat screen TV.”

Soueid: Nasrallah attempting to trespass constitutional pacts
June 2, 2012 March 14 General Secretariat coordinator Fares Soueid said in remarks published on Saturday that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s proposal to establish a national constituent assembly would violate the National Pact as well as the Taif Accord. “[Forming a national constituent assembly] would trespass the National Pact of 1943 [which set the parameters for Lebanon's post-independence sectarian political system] and the Taif Accord [penned in 1989to end Lebanon’s civil-war],” Soueid told An-Nahar newspaper. “[This proposal] is, therefore, putting Lebanon on a course to the unknown.” Soueid also said that Nasrallah was proposing a bargain between Hezbollah’s weapons and additional constitutional rights, adding: “It doesn’t go unnoticed that he is threatening to use [his arsenal] if his demands remain unheeded.” On Friday, Nasrallah called on President Michel Sleiman to form a new, enlarged “national constituent assembly” composed of experts selected by the Lebanese people instead of only hosting a national dialogue session. Earlier in the week, the president sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee to meet on June 11 at the Baabda Presidential Palace. March 14 parties have repeatedly said that they refuse to engage in a national dialogue session unless it discusses Hezbollah’s weapons.
-NOW Lebanon

Majdalani: Nasrallah wants to sabotage national dialogue
June 2, 2012 /Future bloc MP Atef Majdalani said on Saturday that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s proposal to establish a national constituent assembly would sabotage President Michel Sleiman’s invitation to hold national dialogue sessions.“[Nasrallah’s proposal] would undermine Sleiman’s invitation to national dialogue, and [indicates] that Nasrallah does not believe in the legitimacy [of the state],” Majdalani told MTV. “[Calling for a national constituent assembly] is a step further toward establishing Wilayat al-Faqih [Guardianship of the Jurist] in Lebanon,” he added.
On Friday, Nasrallah called on President Michel Sleiman to form a new, enlarged “national constituent assembly” composed of experts selected by the Lebanese people instead of only hosting a national dialogue session.  Earlier in the week, the president sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee to meet on June 11 at the Baabda Presidential Palace.
March 14 parties have repeatedly said that they refuse to engage in a national dialogue session unless it discusses Hezbollah’s weapons.-NOW Lebanon

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Speech of June 01/Now Lebanon
June 1, 2012
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, peace be upon you.
Today, we commemorate the death of our dear Imam [former Iranian Supreme Leader Sayyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini]. We also commemorate the Naksa [the displacement of Palestinian people displaced by Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War] and the invasion of Lebanon.
These two commemorations call on the people of the region to learn from experiences, mistakes, accomplishments, flaws and advantages.
The battle with Israel has not ended yet, and the dignity of Palestinian Christians and Muslims is being violated. The Israeli enemy is monstrous and intentionally takes hold of the bodies of dead people in order to make the people of Palestine despaired and humiliated.
It is the state’s responsibility to address the issue of Lebanese detainees in Israel.
Imam Khomeini enjoys many glorious [qualities], most importantly that he was the leader of the [1979] revolution in Iran. Khomeini bore the responsibility of the revolution. He was threatened and intimidated. His son was killed and his disciples were persecuted, exiled and killed. It was a historical moment when the Imam insisted to take the plane from Paris to Teheran, although there was a risk the plane might be shot down.
The second [quality] of the Imam is being the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He succeeded in building a state. Succeeding to build a state is more complicated and difficult than triumphing in a revolution. People can topple regimes and governments, but can they build a state? This is the most important thing. It is an evident need of people to have a leader and a state.
With the victory of the revolution in Iran, the state-building process began. The Imam and his disciples were ready to build a state and all was prepared. The Imam gave the order to preserve all the institutions of the [former] state, including the army, administrations, and general properties. We all remember how the Iranians stood in long lines to give back what they confiscated before the revolution.
The Imam assigned a committee of experts to write a constitution and called on his people to choose the members of this committee. [Based on this] constitution that the Iranian people approved, a president for Iran was elected. Only a year and a month after the revolution, a parliament was elected in Iran.
The Imam never [used force to convince] people.
The Imam could have made himself the only ruler of Iran, but he had a different aim in mind. He wanted to build a state that could continue after his death. Imam Khomeini’s most important accomplishment was to build a modern state that combines authenticity and modernism.
The Imam was keen on Palestine and [Jerusalem] since the beginning of the revolution. Nothing changed his mind regarding the Israeli-Palestinian [conflict]. He always thought it was a strategic cause and was not willing to compromise on it.
He always called on the Arab and Muslim people to unite.
During the [1980-1988] Iraqi war on Iran, which was backed by the US, no Arab country stood by Khomeini. A lot of money was spent on this war while Arab people were suffering from poverty and misery. Despite everything that [Iraqi leader] Saddam Hussein did against the Iranian people, the Imam did not relinquish his [quest] for unity between Muslims and vulnerable people.
Imam [Khomenei] did not turn his back on the causes of the Arab people, unlike Turkey under the rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
In Lebanon, all Lebanese parties call for building a state. Amid the difficult circumstances in Lebanon, we should ask ourselves what the Lebanese people want. We should ask the Lebanese people what their priorities are.
The Lebanese people’s priorities are preserving security and their livelihood. I will discuss these two priorities to get to my point.
Some security events are being exaggerated by the media and politicians. Security and civil peace is a result of a global process that includes educational, cultural, political, economic, and social factors… only the institutions of the state own these factors.
Any political party or organization can protect itself or its leader, but they cannot protect the people because they do not have all the [aforementioned] factors.
We need a state, we need security. The well-being of every society is also a result of a global process. One [group alone] in Lebanon cannot treat the livelihood issues of a specific region in Lebanon. No state can persist if it does not resolve its economic situation and the livelihood of its people. Nowadays, there are a lot of countries that are on the verge of falling because of their economic situation.
The conclusion is the following: If we want Lebanon to remain united, safe and able to address its economic and social crises, we [need] a [strong] state. I am not only saying this in public, we are saying this in our private party meetings.
We are capable of addressing our issues, even in the field of defense against the enemy.
During the national dialogue session, we should not discuss the results of our problems. We should go discuss the reasons behind them.
I would like to suggest the following for the national dialogue session: I call on President Michel Sleiman to hold a national dialogue conference, and not just a national dialogue session. Why don’t we form a committee of experts [similar to that in Iran following the revolution]? Why don’t the Lebanese people vote and choose the members of this constituent assembly.
Whenever there is a problem in Lebanon some people say that the Taif Accord must be implemented, others disagree… a national constituent assembly can work to return Lebanon to the right path.
I would also bring up a late statesman, Rashid Karami, whose assassination was a great loss. We reiterate our solidarity with the Karami family and second their demand for the justice to be served.
Regarding the kidnapped Shia pilgrims in Syria, the state and the government have indeed worked to release the abductees. We can only help the efforts of the Lebanese officials to resolve the issue, which is the responsibility of the state.
I commend the calmness of the pilgrims’ relatives and call for this calmness and patience to persist. I call for giving the state more time to resolve the issue. I want to thank Ahmad al-Zain for his stance.
To the abductors I say: You said you did not have a problem with the Shia sect, you should prove it. Those are pilgrims who must return to their families. If your problem was with me, there are a lot of means and ways to resolve it. We can resolve it the way you want, whether through war or through love and peace.
Using the innocent pilgrims as hostages to resolve the problem is a great injustice. We have said that we have a certain vision to Syria. We call for dialogue and for preserving stability and security.
May God free those innocent abductees and may He gives us wisdom and to know how to deal with a similar [problem].

The grandchildren of the massacre
Hazem al-Amin, June 1, 2012 /Now Lebanon
In November 1948, my father’s uncle was killed in a massacre also known as the “Houla massacre.” Yet Houla, in this case, is not the Syrian town of al-Houla where a massacre occurred about a week ago. Rather, it is a Lebanese village along the border with Israel where the Zionist Haganah militia committed a massacre that led to the death of 90 townsfolk. According to stories, my great-uncle Jawad al-Amin was one of the first men in town to have been executed by the Haganah.
The massacre, it seemed, was a punitive measure carried out by the Haganah against the townsfolk to punish them for cooperating with the troops of the Arab Salvation Army who were sent in by their respective states to assist the Palestinians during what we call “Al-Nakba” and what the Israelis refer to as the “Liberation War.”
This Houla massacre – and once again I repeat that this Houla is located in Lebanon and is different from Syria’s al-Houla, since the definite article “Al” is not enough to highlight the difference between these two towns that have both witnessed massacres separated by 64 years of hardship – has had a permanent function, namely to feed our conscience as its grandchildren.
I was born a little less than 20 years after the massacre, which means I am its grandchild rather than its child. Houla, which lies right next to my hometown, never ceased throughout all these decades to be the town where that massacre occurred. We were children, and that village opposite ours was the village of the massacre. It remained so throughout our teenage years and is still the village of the massacre in my imagination today.
Furthermore, Houla, where my great-uncle was killed, has created a silent internal intuition that stirs in me a shy wish to imagine and recall images of a massacre that occurred 20 years before I was born.
The victims and the perpetrators both have an image in my memory. Rumors have it that Menachem Begin was at the helm of the Haganah group that attacked the village. He went on to become Israel’s prime minister during the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978. Begin’s mention enlists memories of the massacre every time I see a man from Houla. The weirdest thing is that I subsequently ruled out Begin’s having participated in the raid on the village because Israeli historian Benny Morris, who rewrote the story of the Israelis’ Transfer, said that the Houla massacre was committed by the “left-wing Zionist” Haganah militia, whereas Begin was at the head of the right-wing Irgun militia. Still, this did nothing to remove Begin’s face from the story of the massacre as I told it to myself.
Moreover, the Houla of 1948 remained unchanged throughout the ages. During the 1970s and 1980s, we tried to call it “Moscow” as it had become the primary town of Communists in the region, but we failed because its alignment with Communism was an external event whereas the massacre is entrenched somewhere deeper within our souls.
The Haganah militia came and killed the village’s men. The road the militia crossed to reach the village is entrenched in my memory. They were men without faces. Only Begin made his face known. They wore Arab-style clothing so that the townsfolk would mistake them for Salvation Army troops. They executed the village’s men with small, black automatic machine guns. The men did not make a sound. There is nothing in the story about the victims’ pain, since we were told a technical version of it. In other words, the Haganah killed the men, and each of us was left to imagine his own internal version of what happened to the men before they were executed. In 1978, I was not even 12 years old when the Israeli army entered my village. Menachem Begin was Israel’s prime minister and it was the first time I saw from a few hundred meters an Israeli tank advancing towards our house. If terror had another name or description, it would have to be what gripped me on that day. I remember running down a staircase leading to a lower floor of our house and putting my hands on my head after I saw the face of Menachem Begin, my great-uncle’s assassin. Do you imagine the grandchildren of Syria’s Houla massacre decades from now? Whose face will they see then? This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Friday June 1, 2012

Abi Nasr outraged by sale of land near Harissa to Saudi prince
June 1, 2012 /Change and Reform bloc MP Nematallah Abi Nasr on Friday issued an open letter to President Michel Sleiman, who is currently in Jeddah, urging him to resolve the issue of the sale of land in Dlebta town facing the Harissa to a Saudi prince. “We call on [President Sleiman] to explain to Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz that [Dlebta’s Hill of the Cross], which he had bought via an exceptional decree [which violated] the crooked foreign ownership law and due to the pressure exerted by [the Saudi] embassy, is sacred territory that does yield to brokers,” Abi Nasr said.
“What will we tell the residents of Dlebta, Kesrouan and all of Lebanon? Should we tell them that a prince in charge of [Saudi Arabia’s] intelligence used all his influence to buy Lebanese land?” Abi Nasr inquired in his letter.  “We have the right to ask whether Saudi law allows foreigners to own [an inch] of the kingdom’s land? [Moreover], if Lebanese law permitted the government to issue a special decree to sell [Lebanese] land of more than 3000m² to non-Lebanese, then we wonder about the reasons for increasing the area According to LBC television station’s website the Saudi Prince “bought four real estate properties of 7700 square meters in Dlebta town. The purchase took place upon the approval of the cabinet and the issuance of the order later in the official gazette.”The LBC report added that Dlebta’s residents objected over the deal and filed a complaint with the relevant authorities.  The renowned Christian pilgrimage site of Our Lady of Lebanon is located in Harissa.-NOW Lebanon

Mount Lebanon teacher accused of molesting young girls
June 1, 2012 /LBC television station reported on Friday that a school teacher was under investigation for allegedly molesting 11 girls, aging from six to eight years old.The report said that the teacher of a renowned Catholic school in Mount Lebanon, raped a number of girls and forced others to take off their clothes and took pictures of them.  LBC also said that the teacher’s crimes were revealed when one of his victims told her parents what happened to her and two of her friends.The report noted that the parents of four girls filed a lawsuit against the teacher, who was dismissed by the school pending the result of the investigation. It also added that the whereabouts of the teacher were unknown.-NOW Lebanon

Iran threatens to target U.S. bases if attacked
By Marcus George | Reuters – 8 hours ago....
.DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has warned the United States not to resort to military action against it, saying U.S. bases in the region were vulnerable to the Islamic Republic's missiles, state media reported on Saturday.The comments by a senior Iranian military commander were an apparent response to U.S. officials who have said Washington was ready to use military force to stop what it suspects is Iran's goal to develop a nuclear weapons capability. World powers held talks with Iran in Baghdad on May 23-24 in an attempt to find a diplomatic solution to their concerns over its nuclear program, which Tehran maintains is entirely peaceful. Another round was set for June 18-19 in Moscow.
"The politicians and the military men of the United States are well aware of the fact that all of their bases (in the region) are within the range of Iran's missiles and in any case ... are highly vulnerable," Press TV reported Brigadier-General Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying. Safavi is a military adviser to Iran's clerical Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was until 2007 the commander in chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the force that protects Iran's Islamic system of governance. He also warned that Iranian missiles could reach all parts of Israel but played down any possibility of military action against his country as "faint" because of the current economic condition of the United States. Analysts say Iranian military officials use such fiery rhetoric as a way of keeping the West on edge over the possible disruption to global oil supplies in the event of U.S. or Israeli military action.
Tehran has previously threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz - a vital crude shipping lane - if it is attacked, which experts say would result in a spike in the price of oil and could hit the U.S. economy as it seeks to recover from the financial crisis. Last month the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, said plans for a possible military strike on Iran were ready and the option was "fully available".
U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said Iran needed to take steps to curb its nuclear activities during the next round of talks in Moscow. Israel is skeptical any progress can be made and has accused Tehran of simply buying time.(Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)