LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 23/2012

Bible Quotation for today/
Luke 19/41-44: "As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you only knew what makes for peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
March 14 has taken its eye off the ball/By Michael Young/The Daily Star/November 22/12
Case Against 'Innocence of Muslims' Filmmaker Raises Eyebrows/by Adam Turner/The Blaze/November 22/12

Lebanon Is an occupied country, the Occupier is the Axis of Evil
Elias Bejjani 22.11.12/What a shame: It is really an insult for all the free Lebanese to see that the Lebanese puppet officials are celebrating the so called independence 69 day. What independence they are celebrating when the Axis of Evil totally occupied Lebanon and oppresses its people. Shame on these officials who are mere puppets and have no back bones. Such officials do not represent in any way the Lebanese people. Shame on all occupied Lebanon's officials, clergymen and politicians.

Lebanon marks 69th independence anniversary
November 22, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanon marked the 69th anniversary of the country’s independence Thursday with an official ceremony in Downtown Beirut.
President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and former President Amin Gemayel all attended the 50-minute Independence Day military parade at Shafiq Wazzan Avenue in Downtown Beirut Thursday morning.
Streets leading to the area were cordoned off for the ceremony, which was also attended by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi, Internal Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, and a number of Lebanese dignitaries and lawmakers of both the March 8 and March 14 camps.
A 21-gun salute was fired at the start of the parade after which Sleiman laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A helicopter show greeted Sleiman's motorcade upon arrival, while infantry and navy commandos took part in the parade.
At the end of the parade, Sleiman, Berri and Mikati headed to the presidential palace in Baabda to receive well-wishers.
The celebration comes amid deep tension between Lebanon’s Hezbollah-led March 8 and the March14-led opposition since the Oct. 19 assassination of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan.
March 14, who accuse Syria of the killing and hold Mikati responsible, declared a boycott of the Cabinet shortly after the incident and set its resignation as a precondition to resume dialogue.
In his independence address Wednesday evening, President Sleiman renewed his calls for the rival factions to resume dialogue and pledged the coming 2013 parliamentary polls will be held on time.
“Dialogue is needed at all times and circumstances, especially at this particular phase in order to find practical and acceptable solutions to end the state of tension and anxiety that has existed across the country since the assassination of Hasan,” Sleiman said.

President Michel Sleiman urges Dialogue, rules out poll delays
November 22, 2012 /By Hussein Dakroub
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman Wednesday took direct swipes at the rival factions’ stance on National Dialogue, renewing his call for all-party talks aimed at defusing tension and preserving stability in a country sharply split over the 20-month-old bloody conflict in Syria.
Addressing the nation in a televised speech ahead of Thursday’s 69th anniversary of Lebanon’s independence from France, Sleiman pledged that next year’s parliamentary elections would he held on time.
He emphasized the need for the Lebanese to engage in dialogue in order to overcome difficulties facing the country, allay the citizens’ fears about the future and restore confidence in Lebanon.
“Fellow Lebanese, we must return at all times and circumstances to the logic of dialogue and the method of moderation in order to help the ongoing consultations find practical and acceptable solutions to end the state of tension and anxiety that has existed across the country since the assassination of martyr Wissam al-Hasan,” Sleiman said.
“In parallel, we are working relentlessly to unveil and prosecute the individuals responsible for this heinous crime, and everyone who was behind shaking security, destabilizing the country and harming innocent citizens,” he added.
Sleiman called on the rival factions to accept his call for National Dialogue with an open heart in order to resolve the political crisis triggered by last month’s assassination of Hasan, chief of the police’s Information Branch, in a car bombing in the Beirut district of Ashrafieh.
“Necessity and duty impose upon all parties in such delicate circumstances to embrace dialogue open-heartedly and honestly, rather than searching for pretexts and arguments to paralyze this dialogue or bind it with preconditions, or being skeptical about the eligibility and patriotism of the interlocutors,” he said.
Sleiman has been pressing to convene a new round of National Dialogue, scheduled on Nov. 29, to explore a solution for the political crisis. However, the opposition March 14 parties have demanded the resignation of the government as a condition for attending any Dialogue session.
In a speech Monday, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah indirectly accused the Lebanese Forces of collaborating with Israel during Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War and of being involved in several crimes during the conflict. LF leader Samir Geagea has rejected Nasrallah’s accusations.
Sleiman called on the March 8 and March 14 parties to abide by the Baabda Declaration to defuse tension.
“It all begins with a strict commitment to the provisions and spirit of the Baabda Declaration in order to distance Lebanon from regional conflicts, prevent its use as a platform to smuggle arms or armed persons,” he said. The Baabda Declaration agreed by rival March 8 and March 14 leaders at the June 11 National Dialogue meeting called for “keeping Lebanon away from the policy of regional and international conflicts and sparing it the negative repercussions of regional tensions and crises.” Despite the Baabda Declaration, Sleiman said, “some have not hesitated, for various motives, namely sympathy or dependence, to get involved in different ways in the logic of regional violence, and to expose Lebanon to the dangers of slipping into the abyss of strife.”
He referred to clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Tripoli, the kidnapping of Syrian and Turkish citizens in Beirut and the discovery of explosives designed to destabilize Lebanon. Calling for “a new modern electoral law,” he said the parliamentary elections would be held on time in the spring of 2013.
“As for the upcoming legislative elections, how can we allow them to become a destabilizing factor while we have proudly boasted in this East about our democratic tradition, the core of which being the periodic peaceful rotation of power?” Sleiman asked. “How can we ignore them and refrain from holding them, at a time when elections have become the characteristic of the Arab states which are groping their way toward democracy?
“Therefore, we have set our mind on respecting all the constitutional deadlines, and holding the parliamentary elections on time,” he added. “Our choice has been democracy since independence.”

We condemn them all
November 19, 2012
Hassan Nasrallah has told us ad nauseam that if we are not with the Resistance then we are with Israel. In the Hezbollah secretary general’s world, there are no shades. You are either with him or you are with the “enemy.” It is the rhetoric of the bully and an argument that allowed Nasrallah to take Lebanon into a war it didn’t want in the summer of 2006. It allowed him to justify the deaths of over 1,000 Lebanese, the temporary displacement of 1 million people and the billions of dollars lost to damaged infrastructure and the economy as a whole.
It is based on this warped logic that he was able to claim his “divine victory.” Those of us who were not drinking the Hezbollah Kool Aid and pointed out that it was a victory we would have happily done without were looked upon with suspicion. But one idea that he is clearly reluctant to entertain is that it is possible to reject all sides, be they Israel, Hezbollah and even Hamas.
Having no time for Israel is hardly a difficult call. It is, after all, a state built on the land of an evicted people. One million people were displaced, while decades of repression were visited among those who remained. It led to wars, civil conflict and instability. When Israel unleashes death and destruction upon innocents, we can do nothing but condemn it.
But this does not mean that we must automatically embrace Hezbollah’s fiendish, not to mention fraudulent, ideology just because it is founded on the basis of conflict with Israel, a nation that is knee-deep in the swamp of wickedness.
Hezbollah’s core business is opposing Israel at the expense of the integrity of the Lebanese state and the aspirations of its people. This, its increasingly unapologetic relationship with Iran and the alarming ease with which it brandishes its supposedly sacred arsenal to achieve domestic ends, should be equally worrying to most Lebanese. Because as long as Hezbollah maintains its martial posture in an increasingly volatile region, then Lebanon once again risks Israel’s appalling fury.
The same argument can be applied to Gaza, where the people are once again suffering from the twin effects of devastating and disproportionate Israeli aggression and the corrosive legacy of living under the albeit democratically-elected Hamas, a party whose agenda is sadly more focused on the quixotic idea of the liberation of Palestine than serious long-term growth.
The Israeli culture of repression may have created the conditions for Hamas to thrive, but those of us who lament the absence of progressive governments with long-term visions for the region know that the people of Gaza ultimately deserve better. Hamas and Hezbollah are cut from similar cloth, and Israel’s catalogue of war crimes and human rights abuses should never be allowed to overshadow their shortcomings. Nasrallah must not be allowed to feel he has a monopoly on morality. We must remind those who have been feeding at the March 8 trough that the vast majority of Lebanese who believe in democracy, prosperity, transparency, the rule of law, the sanctity of the state, independence, sovereignty, freedom of speech and human rights, condemn six decades of Israeli repression.
Wrong is wrong.

Yes, but obstacles still remain
Now Lebanon/November 22, 2012
Our destiny is in our hands. It is up to us to seize it. Today, Lebanon celebrates 69 years of independence. And while the cynics might argue that during a huge tranche of that period many of the country’s 61 governments – that’s almost a government a year – have been cowed by war, occupation by Israel and Syria, and the malignant influence of not only the PLO and Hezbollah, but over a dozen militias and private armies, the country should take heart that it is still around to celebrate that day in November 1943 when it finally broke away from the shackles of French mandate rule.
This has not happened because of our sense of unity. God knows our sectarian spread has been as much our curse as it has also been called our special characteristic. The Lebanese have been unable to work together in the way regular nations can, and yet it is the very belief in the notion of Lebanon – albeit different things to different people – that has ensured that we have kept alive the idea, if not the smooth-running, of what is without doubt a special, not to mention frustrating, country.
That said, Lebanon is still crisscrossed with political and sectarian fault lines. At any moment, we might shudder on the edge of the existential abyss. And this year, as the region’s tectonic plates ominously grind away, Lebanon is once again in the troughs of political, social and economic despair with critical issues standing in the way of any wholehearted sense of independence.
Paramount among them is the insidious influence of Iran. Only the ostriches will deny the unquestioning role Hezbollah plays in Tehran’s regional master plan and its increasingly dangerous confrontation with Israel, a standoff that has been the biggest threat to regional peace for decades.
Recent proof of Iran’s shameless interference in our affairs was highlighted by the admission of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Miqati that Iran saw the images taken by Hezbollah’s pilotless drone over Israel before the Lebanese did. True, Hezbollah should never have taken it upon itself to launch the drone in the first place but, while we condemn them, we have grown used to, not to mention powerless to stop, the Party of God’s unilateral acts of recklessness. This latest revelation is not only a slap in the face of the country Hezbollah claims to put before all else, but it is also surely the definitive proof where its allegiances have always lain.
Equally worrying is the inescapable fact that we live in a country where one party, Hezbollah – it’s funny how the same name keeps cropping up – can steer politics to its own advantage by dint of its huge arsenal, one bigger than that of the national army – and that all Lebanese know the party it is more than capable of using weapons to achieve political goals. With such a state of affairs, no country can claim to be able to bask in the full sunshine of a genuine state of independence.
Then we have the ever-present and cancerous influence of Syria, a nation many Lebanese, including a significant proportion of the current government, nonetheless believe is a “brotherly country” that can have a beneficial influence in shaping Lebanon’s future. They forget the 29 years of Syrian occupation, three decades that were defined by fear, extortion, repression, rendition and politically sanctioned killings. And yet this current government, or at least part of it, sees part of its remit as protecting Syrian interests in Lebanon, all under the guise of a policy of disassociation in Syria’s increasingly messy civil war. The sooner we expunge direct Syrian influence from the cabinet, the more “independent” we will feel.
Finally, we cannot claim to be truly autonomous if we cannot control our own borders. Hezbollah’s control of south Lebanon is a well documented obstacle to full statehood, but our still un-demarcated boundary with Syria, one that is subject to territorial violations on an almost daily basis, must be resolved with the help of the international community.
Independence is not just simply being a sovereign nation that can take its seat at the United Nations. For Lebanon, it means eradicating the last vestiges of regional and international opportunism that have consistently sought to exploit our soft sectarian underbelly and thriving on our own steam and on our natural instincts. If we can do this, we can be the vibrant, prosperous nation whose exciting potential the world has had only teasing glimpses of. Our destiny is in our hands. It is up to us to seize it.

Iron Dome was the only real Israeli winner of the Gaza operation
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis November 21, 2012/The trio which conducted Israel’s eight-day Gaza operation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, marked the Gaza ceasefire that went into effect Wednesday night, Nov. 21, by announcing that all the goals set for the Pillar of Cloud operation were achieved.
They did not reveal the concessions they made to enable the US and Egypt to persuade Hamas to promise to halt its long missile blitz against Israel. The most damaging was Israel’s consent for Egypt to act as truce monitor and arbitrator between itself and Hamas and the address for complaints of violations, misunderstandings and broker of future negotiations to follow the ceasefire for regulating future relations.
By deferring to Egypt’s superior authority, Israel let itself be demoted to an equal footing with Hamas, a group listed as a terrorist organization in the US and Europe and dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state. In some respects, Israel might have been better served by direct talks with Hamas itself rather than placing its strategic policy on two borders in the hands of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
As of 9 pm, Nov. 21, Israel’s security actions on its borders with Egypt and the Gaza Strip must be adjusted to staying on Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s good side.
Netanyahu and Barak’s advisers defend this concession by maintaining that it is superseded by Morsi’s dependence on Washington for the sake of American aid grants and guarantees for international credit to rescue Egypt’s economy from collapse. Cairo will be in the hands of the Obama administration and so Israel has nothing to worry about, they say.
However reasonable this argument may sound, debkafile’s analysts say it has nothing to do with Egyptian-Israeli relations which operate on a separate plane. It is a fact that Barack Obama never managed to persuade Egypt to resume its gas supplies to Israel after the Sinai pipelines were repeatedly sabotaged, or raise a finger to halt the arms smuggling traffic running through its territory to the Gaza Strip from Libya and Sudan.Washington has very little influence on the Muslim Brothers when it comes to Cairo’s attitude towards Israel. They are far from being American puppets. President Morsi may heed US wishes up to a point with regard to the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian terrorists ruling the enclave, but the Brothers will prefer to line up with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates and follow the gospel of their radical guru, Sheikh Yousuf Qaradawi, the great champion of suicide terrorism against Israel.
Israel has gained substantially less than Defense Minister Barak claimed from the eight-day air operation launched to rescue southern Israel from the 12-year old Palestinian missile war waged from Gaza .
Hamas undoubtedly took a heavy beating and devastating damage to its command and control, military infrastructure, arms manufacturing and arsenal. But its 15,000-strong militia remains largely intact after losing 50 men and can be reconstituted. In any case, Operation Pillar of Cloud was not meant to be a military contest between the IDF and the Hamas military wing. What it finally boiled down to was a duel between the Iranian weapons wielded by Hamas and Jihad Islami and Israel’s Iron Dome missile interceptor.
Iron Dome came out of the ordeal the unchallenged victor. With that success in hand, Israel had no need to get into negotiations with Hamas and Jihad Islami over a ceasefire, which neither of the two organizations is expected to honor. A unilateral ceasefire declaration from Jerusalem would have been enough. And in fact two hours after the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas had fired some 12 rockets against Israel. Schools in the south will remain closed Thursday.

Text of Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement
November 21, 2012 /Daily Star
CAIRO: Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire accord to end a week of violence in and around the Gaza Strip following days of marathon talks.
Here is the text of the ceasefire agreement which is set to take effect at 1900 GMT:
"Israel shall stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip land sea and air, including incursions and targeting of individuals.
"All Palestinian factions shall stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel, including rocket attacks and all attacks along the border.
"Opening the crossings and facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods and refraining from restricting residents' free movements and targeting residents in border areas. Procedures of implementation shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire.
"Other matters as may be requested shall be addressed."
"Implementation mechanism. "Setting up the zero hour understanding to enter into effect.
"Egypt shall receive assurances from each party that the party commits to what was agreed upon.
"Each party shall commit itself not to perform any acts that would breach this understanding. In case of any observations, Egypt as a sponsor of this understanding, shall be informed to follow up."

Palestinians have the right to self defense: Jumblatt
November 22, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Palestinians have the right to defend themselves by all possible means, Progressive Socialist Party Leader MP Walid Jumblatt said in remarks published Thursday.
“The Palestinian people have the right to defend itself themselves by all possible means and ways,” Jumblatt, who spoke to Al-Joumhouria, said. His comments come after a bus exploded in Tel Aviv, Israel, near the near the defense ministry's headquarters, and wounded at least 17 Israelis.“When the massacres against the Palestinian civilians stop, the bombings that target Israeli civilians will stop,” Jumblatt said.
The PSP leader also held the United Nations Security Council responsible for not taking enough measures to defend Palestinians.
“When will the Security Council seriously pay attention to the Palestinian cause and give the Palestinian people their right to have their own state and the refugees the right to return [to their homeland]?” Jumblatt asked. Following days of marathon talks, Israel and Hamas finally agreed Wednesday to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire accord to end a week of violence in and around the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas hails Gaza PM 'victory' in phonecall: Hamas
November 22, 2012/Daily Star /GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territoriess: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas spoke by telephone on Thursday with Gaza's Hamas premier Ismail Haniya and congratulated him on his "victory," a Hamas statement said. "In a telephone conversation, president Abu Mazen (Abbas) congratulated prime minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas on his victory and offered condolences for the martyrs," a statement from the Gazan leader's office said. Official Palestinian new agency Wafa said: "The president received a phone call from brother Haniya who informed him of the situation in Gaza after the ceasefire."The president saluted (the Palestinian) steadfastness in face of the aggression and stressed the importance of reaching a ceasefire and sparing Gaza the scourge of war," Wafa said, adding: "The president supports the efforts to strengthen national unity."In addition, Haniya and two other senior Hamas officials -- Ahmed Bahar and Mohammed al-Hindi -- expressed their "support for the national drive for observer status from the UN on November 29," Wafa said.

Lebanese official says 2 rockets fired at Israel
November 21, 2012/By Zeina Karam/Daily Star/BEIRUT: A senior Lebanese security official says two rockets have been fired from Lebanon toward Israel but fell short. The official says the rockets were fired from southern Lebanon on Wednesday. They landed near the border on Lebanese territory, the official said. He did not say who fired them. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations. This week Lebanese officials found and disarmed two rockets aimed at Israel. The two incidents coincide with a weeklong conflict between Hamas militants in Gaza and Israeli forces.
In 2008, during the last Israeli offensive there, several rockets were fired from Lebanon at Israel, provoking a brief Israeli artillery response. South Lebanon is considered a stronghold of Hezbollah militants, who fought Israel to a stalemate in 2006.

Israel failed in its goals', thanks Iran: Meshaal
November 21, 2012/Daily Star/CAIRO: Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said on Wednesday that Israel had "failed in all its goals" after a Gaza truce deal came into effect, while thanking Iran for its support during the conflict. "After eight days, God stayed their hand from the people of Gaza, and they were compelled to submit to the conditions of the resistance," Meshaal said.
"Israel has failed in all its goals," he told reporters in a Cairo hotel. Meshaal also thanked ceasefire mediator Egypt, as well as Iran, which he said "had a role in arming" Hamas during the conflict.

Gaza conflict unveils two faces of Hamas
November 21, 2012/By Selim Saheb Ettaba
Daily Star/GAZA CITY: A car drags the body of an executed "collaborator" through Gaza City, streets away from where a team of foreign dignitaries come to show solidarity with Gazans under Israeli fire.
The scene served to highlight the two faces of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, faced with Western diplomatic isolation despite its 2006 election triumph, has played up the successive high-level foreign visits since the November 14 launch of Israel's deadly nslaught on the Palestinian territory. To the sound of celebratory honking of car horns, the bare-footed body of the young man was strung to a back bumper and paraded in a convoy led by motorbikes through the Nasser district of Gaza City, an AFP journalist said. Gunmen executed six alleged collaborators with Israel on Tuesday, witnesses said, adding that notices were pinned to their bodies saying they had been killed by Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. "Gunmen in a minibus pulled up in the neighbourhood, pushed six men out and shot them without leaving the vehicle," one of the witnesses said.
The witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the message pinned to the bodies read: "Al-Qassam Brigades announces the execution of the traitors."
The message said the men were killed "for their participation in providing information about the capabilities of the resistance and their factions and giving the enemy information about the movement of the fighters." The men, the message added, "contributed to the martyrdom of many fighters by reporting their position." One of them was dragged through the streets behind a motorbike, as seen in a photograph distributed by AFP. The scene was played out a few streets from the Dallu family home where, after the roads had been washed of blood, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya hosted an Arab League delegation led by secretary general Nabil al-Arabi. "Here's the legitimate Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya," a Hamas spokesman announced on a loudspeaker, listing the guests, among them Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Egyptian and Saudi counterparts. "This is the prime minister rejected by Israel and the United States," he declared, as the foreign dignitaries made their way through the dense crowd under the watchful eyes of their bodyguards. They struggled to reach friends of the family, at least eight of whose members were killed when an Israeli air strike destroyed their home last Sunday, seated next to the ruins to pay condolences. The visitors then made their way to Gaza City's main Al-Shifa hospital, where scenes of chaos broke out on their arrival and the bodies of the six "collaborators" were kept out of sight in the morgue.

Lebanon opposes Syrian refugee camps as crisis grows
November 22, 2012/By Serene Assir/Daily Star
HALBA, Lebanon: Thousands of Syrian refugees in Lebanon are urgently seeking temporary shelter similar to the camps set up in Turkey and Jordan, but with its troubled history of refugees, Beirut and the UN reject the idea. "If no camp or emergency solution is provided, families will end up sleeping on the streets, or returning to Syria," said Ayman al-Hariri, a Syrian activist in Lebanon's northern province of Akkar, where tens of thousands of refugees are currently based. "Nobody wants to live in a camp, but most cannot pay $200 to $300 rent each month (155 to 235 euros). It would also help organise aid," said Hariri. "Right now it's chaos, and the most vulnerable families pay the highest price." There are already more than 125,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, 78 percent of them women and children, according to UN figures, though activists say the real number is much higher, and thousands continue to stream across the border.
Some 30 percent of those who fled the conflict are relying on families in the north to host them. The rest struggle to put a roof over their heads, and say temporary accommodation is desperately needed.
But Lebanon's existing Palestinian refugee camps have seen repeated outbreaks of violence -- the presence of Palestinians was a major destabilising factor during the 1975-1990 civil war -- and the authorities are afraid of encouraging Syrians to settle permanently.
Many Lebanese Shiites and Christians believe the new influx may upset the delicate sectarian balance in a country of just four million, with most of the Syrian arrivals Sunni Muslim, like the Palestinians.
"We don't know where many of the Syrians are living," Said al-Halabi, the mayor of Halba in Akkar province, told AFP. "If they had a camp, it would be easier to keep order."
As violence in neighbouring Syria drags on, some 20,000 new refugees arrive in Lebanon each month, according to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, Robert Watkins.
The United Nations and the Lebanese authorities are assisting local communities hosting Syrians, while aiming to promote development.
"The policy of the United Nations, and in coordination with the government of Lebanon, is that it is not advisable at this time," Watkins told journalists in Halba, when asked whether new camps might alleviate the refugees' plight. "Camps create many more problems than they solve, and they are also incredibly expensive to maintain," he added.
The severe funding shortage over the Syrian humanitarian crisis is a major concern for the United Nations, with UNICEF facing a 57 percent funding gap in its Lebanon programme for Syrian children, and other agencies seeing similar problems.
'Sweeping the problem under the carpet'
Meanwhile, with bitter memories of the armed presence of Palestinians from the mid-1970s onwards, many ordinary Lebanese oppose the camps, including in the northern city of Tripoli.
"If we had camps, the Syrian refugees would do what the Palestinians did. They'd become emperors on our land," said 28-year-old Sharif al-Naimi, who sells watches in Tripoli.
Fearing a replay of the Palestinian problem, the government is also firmly opposed to setting up camps for the Syrians.
"There is no discussion whatsoever of opening any camp," said Michel Moussa, a pro-Damascus Lebanese MP. "We do not believe a camp preserves anybody's rights."
Despite its attempts to remain neutral over the conflict, Lebanon's political parties are deeply divided over the Syrian crisis.
Hezbollah and its allies, which hold the majority in government, support the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, with the March 14 movement led by former premier Saad Hariri backing the 20-month revolt. A 27-year-old Syrian vegetable seller in Tripoli believes Lebanon's political divisions explain why no long-term solution to the refugee problem is in sight.
"Most people arriving in Lebanon are women and children, and they come with hardly any money or belongings. How are they expected to take care of themselves?" said Abdo, who travelled to Lebanon from the embattled Aleppo countryside five months ago. "A camp is a good idea. But Lebanon is so torn about Syria that the government does not care if people sleep in the cold. They just want to sweep the problem under the carpet."

Gaza cease-fire takes hold but mistrust runs deep
November 22, 2012/Daily Star
By Alistair Lyon, Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA/JERUSALEM: A cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers took hold on Thursday after eight days of conflict, although deep mistrust on both sides cast doubt on how long the Egyptian-sponsored deal can last. Quiet reigned on both sides of the frontier overnight and during the morning after a dozen rockets landed in Israel in the initial hours after the truce came into force late on Wednesday. Israeli police said there had been no casualties or damage. The deal brokered by Egypt's new Islamist government, working with the United States, prevented - at least for the moment - an Israeli invasion of the Palestinian enclave. Gaza medical officials said 162 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children and 11 women, were killed. Nearly 1,400 rockets were fired into Israel, killing four civilians and a soldier, the Israeli military said.
Israel's defence minister said Israel dropped 1,000 times as much explosive on the Gaza Strip as had landed in Israel.
Municipal workers in Gaza began cleaning streets and removing the rubble of buildings bombed in Israel's air strikes. Stores opened and people flocked to markets to buy food.
"Israel learnt a lesson it will never forget," said 51-year-old Khalil al-Rass from Beach refugee camp in the city of Gaza.
In rocket-hit towns in southern Israel, schools remained closed as a precaution. Nerves were jangled when warning sirens sounded, in what the military quickly said was a false alarm.
Trust was in short supply. The exile leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, said his Islamist movement would respect the truce if Israel did, but would respond to any violations. "If Israel complies, we are compliant. If it does not comply, our hands are on the trigger," he told a news conference in Cairo.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told his people a tougher approach might be required in the future.
Facing a national election in two months, he swiftly came under fire from opposition politicians who rallied to his side during the fighting but now contend he emerged from the conflict with no real gains for Israel. "You don't settle with terrorism, you defeat it. And unfortunately, a decisive victory has not been achieved and we did not recharge our deterrence," Shaul Mofaz, leader of the main opposition Kadima party, wrote on his Facebook page.
BLOCKADE
If the truce holds, it will give the 1.7 million Gazans respite from days of air strikes and halt rocket salvoes from militants that have unnerved a million people in southern Israel and reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.
Both sides quickly began offering differing interpretations of the cease-fire, which highlighted the many actual or potential areas of discord.
According to a text of the agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.
The deal also provides for easing Israeli restrictions on Gaza's residents, who live in what British Prime Minister David Cameron has called an "open prison".
The text said procedures for implementing this would be "dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the cease-fire".
Israeli sources said Israel would not lift a blockade of the enclave it enforced after Hamas, which preaches the Jewish state's destruction, won a Palestinian election in 2006.
However, Meshaal said the deal covered the opening of all of the territory's border crossings. "The document stipulates the opening of the crossings, all the crossings, and not just Rafah," he said. Israel, trying to stop Hamas arming itself, controls all entry to Gaza apart from one crossing with Egypt.
Israel let dozens of trucks carry supplies into the Palestinian enclave during the fighting. Residents there have long complained that Israeli restrictions blight their economy.
HAMAS HOLIDAY
Meshaal thanked Egypt for mediating and praised Iran for providing Gazans with financing and arms. "We have come out of this battle with our heads up high," he said, adding that Israel had been defeated and failed in its "adventure".
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Hamas had suffered a heavy military blow, including the death of its top commander, killed in an air strike at the start of the operation on Nov. 14 and the deal merely let Hamas surrender while saving face.
"A large part of the mid-range rockets were destroyed. Hamas managed to hit Israel's built-up areas with around a tonne of explosives, and Gaza targets got around 1,000 tonnes," Barak told Israel Radio.
"So whoever misses what is happening in Gaza does not understand that this entire agreement is a paper bridge for the defeated so that they can explain to their public how they can even show their faces after what they were hit with for a week."
Hamas declared Nov. 22 a national holiday marking "the victory of the resistance". Its spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said: "Resistance has achieved and has imposed a new formula - if you hit Gaza, we will hit Tel Aviv and beyond Tel Aviv.
Some Israelis staged protests against the deal, notably in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi, where three civilians were killed by a rocket from Gaza last week, army radio said.
Interviewed on Israel's Army Radio, Barak dismissed a cease-fire text published by Hamas as "a piece of paper which I don't remember anyone going around with - there's no signature on it".
He appeared to confirm, however, a key Hamas claim that the Israelis would no longer enforce a no-go zone on the Gaza side of the frontier that the army says has prevented Hamas raids:
"If there are no attacks along the border ... then I tell you that there is no problem with them working the farmland on the perimeter up to the fence," Barak said.
But should the Palestinians exploit such measures to breach the truce, Israel would be "free to act," he said, adding: "The right to self-defence trumps any piece of paper."
CAIRO
Egypt, an important U.S. ally now under Islamist leadership, took centre stage in diplomacy to halt the bloodshed. Cairo has walked a fine line between sympathies for Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood that produced President Mohamed Mursi and much of his government, and preserving its 1979 peace treaty with Israel and its ties with Washington, its main aid donor.
Announcing the agreement in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said mediation had "resulted in understandings to cease fire, restore calm and halt the bloodshed".
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, standing beside Amr, thanked Mursi for peace efforts that showed "responsibility, leadership" in the region.
Gaza erupted in a Middle East already shaken by last year's Arab revolts that toppled several veteran U.S.-backed leaders, including Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, and by a civil war in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is fighting for survival.
Israel, the United States and the European Union all classify Hamas as a terrorist organisation over its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim Palestinian-Israeli peace deal.
But its stance is popular with many Palestinians and has kept the movement competitive with the secular Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas, who remains in the occupied West Bank after losing Gaza to Hamas in a civil war five years ago.
The cease-fire was forged despite a bus-bomb explosion that wounded 15 Israelis in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and Israeli air strikes that killed 10 people in Gaza. It was the first serious bombing in Israel's commercial capital since 2006. There was no claim of responsibility, though Hamas praised the attack.
Israeli forces detained 55 suspected militants in the West Bank on Thursday, the military said, citing a need to prevent "the infiltration of terrorists into Israeli communities".

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon celebrate Gaza ‘victory’
November 22, 2012 /By Mohammad Zaatari/The Daily Star
SIDON, Lebanon: Palestinians in the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in south Lebanon celebrated Thursday the “victory” of Gaza after a week of violence in and around the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Women’s Union organized a rally to celebrate Gaza’s “victory,” while refugees inside and on the outskirts of the camp were dancing and singing and raising Palestinian flags.
The women’s rally was originally scheduled to deplore the aggression against Gaza, however after a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was reached Wednesday, the occasion turned into a celebration.
Participants raised banners calling for the solidarity of Palestinian factions and the unity of the country to face Israel.
“We have won in Gaza and this is only the beginning,” said Amina Jibril, head of the Palestinian Women Union.
“We haven’t just won through rockets. The kids and women and civilians who were killed in the clashes were resisting every day because their mere presence in Gaza is an act of resistance itself,” said Jibril.
Meanwhile, Hamas organized a small exhibition facing Khaled Bin al-Walid Mosque in the area, where it put out models of the Fajr 5 rockets.
Children inspected the rockets and began asking questions about them. In response to a question by one of the children on whether the Fajr 5 is Palestinian made, one of Hamas members said “It doesn’t matter if these rockets were Palestinian, Iranian or Arab made, what matters is that they terrorized the enemy.”
Also present at the exhibition, Palestinian woman, Ahlam Wardeh, said that “the victory achieved today in Gaza should have taken place long ago. I am so amazed by this Fajr 5 rocket that terrorized Israel and made it close its airport.”She added that the Palestinians have proved to be strong, and that should have been proved a long time, “because only the strong earns respect,” according to Wardeh.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Google Doodle Celebrates Lebanon
Independence Day/Naharnet /Google celebrated the 69th anniversary of Independence Day of Lebanon on Thursday, with a homepage doodle featuring the temple of Jupiter in Baalbeck.
Lebanon celebrated Independence Day on November 22 marking 69 years of independence with an official ceremony staged in downtown Beirut.
Streets leading to the area were cordoned off for the ceremony which was attended by President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, diplomats and other dignitaries.
During the Independence Day parade, hundreds of red, white and green balloons were launched skywards after military helicopters overflew marching soldiers.
The Lebanese Independence Day is a national day celebrated in remembrance of the 1943 liberation from the French Mandate which was exercised over Lebanese soil for over 23 years.

Lebanese MP Ahmed Fatfat MP Snaps Back at Berri, Describes him as 'Problem' behind Crisis
Naharnet/Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat lashed out at Speaker Nabih Berri, considering him the reason behind the country's political crisis.
“He (Berri) is the problem, especially regarding his provocative approach with us (the March 14 alliance) in the parliament,” Fatfat said in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper.
Berri criticized the opposition after accusations that he was seeking to push it into the “trap” of attending parliamentary sessions despite vows by the coalition to boycott legislative activity that the cabinet takes part in. The coalition decided not attend two legislative sessions that Berri called for to welcome the Armenian president and to show solidarity with the Palestinian people against the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. The lawmaker described a statement by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, who said that he is in a centrist alliance with President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Berri, as “weird.”“Berri is not a centrist,” Fatfat said. Lebanon plunged in a political crisis on October 19 when Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan was assassinated. Jumblat delegated his ministers Ghazi al-Aridi, Alaeddine Terro, and Wael Abou Faour to discuss an initiative based on finding an alternative to Miqati's cabinet without causing any political vacuum in the country. He is seeking to convince political foes to attend a new round of the national dialogue sessions to discuss the arms of Hizbullah and other disputed matters.
Fatfat held a meeting on Wednesday with Jumblat in al-Mukhtara, he noted that he discussed with the Druze leader his initiative to end the lingering political crisis in the country.
“We will hold another meeting later on,” the lawmaker revealed. Fatfat reiterated the opposition's stance from the national dialogue, saying “dialogue will resume after the cabinet changes.”
“We are committed to the Baabda declaration, but we reject the formation of a national unity cabinet,” he pointed out. The opposition rejects attending any national dialogue session before Miqati's cabinet steps down and a new neutral government is formed. “We want a neutral cabinet to supervise the upcoming 2013 parliamentary elections,” the MP added.

Hizbullah Calls on Independence Day Lebanese to Commit to People, Army, Resistance Equation
Naharnet/Hizbullah noted on Wednesday that Lebanon's Independence Day is a very important occasion for the Lebanese people due to the principles of loyalty and sacrifice that it entails.It called in a statement the Lebanese people to unite around the equation of the people, army, and resistance. “This equation made possible southern Lebanon's liberation from Israeli occupation on May 25, 2000 and holy victory during the Israeli assault on the country in July 2006,” it said.The party warned of the dangers “lurking around Lebanon and the region as a result of enemy conspiracies that are targeting our people, land, wealth, freedom, and sovereignty.”“These dangers require the people to unite under national principles in order to protect the country against regional crises,” stressed Hizbullah.

Two Rockets Fired from South at Israel, at Least One Lands in Lebanon
Naharnet/Two rockets were fired from south Lebanon towards the Israeli border on Wednesday evening, a Lebanese security official told Agence France Press.
"Two rockets were fired, one fell in what was clearly Lebanese territory, the other went towards Israel," the official said on condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear where the second rocket fell.
In Israel, an army spokeswoman said: "There are no rockets on Israeli territory."
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that both rockets landed in Lebanon, in Ebel al-Kameh and al-Hamames villages near al-Wazzani river, a hundred meters away from the Israeli border.
Inhabitants of the region said they heard one rocket being fired from the Khiyam plain, while the second's source remains unknown.
In the meantime, the army and the UNIFIL have deployed their units in the region where these rockets landed. This comes after two rockets ready to be fired against Israel were discovered in southern Lebanon on Monday. The Army Command said the two 107mm Grad rockets were found between the towns of Halta and al-Mari in the Hasbaya district.
SourceAgence France Presse

Lebanese Army Dismantles New Rocket Aimed at Israel
Naharnet /The Lebanese army said it dismantled on Thursday another rocket in southern Lebanon after two similar rockets were fired towards Israel the day before but fell short.
The army command said in a communique that following the attack on Wednesday, the military and U.N. peacekeepers heavily patrolled the Marjayoun area where the rockets were launched from and found a new rocket on its launcher. It said a judicial investigation has been launched to find the perpetrators. The two rockets were fired on Wednesday from Marjayoun toward Israel but fell short and landed in southern Lebanon's al-Khiam valley, the army said. On Monday, Lebanese officials also found and disarmed two rockets aimed at the Jewish state. The two incidents coincided with a weeklong conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that came to a halt on Wednesday following the announcement of an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire.

Forces leader Samir Geagea stands firm on boycott
November 22, 2012 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea vowed Wednesday that March 14 coalition would continue its boycott of Parliament until the “killing machine” stops, as Speaker Nabih Berri was quoted as saying he wanted to see the legislative branch get back to work. “I think, your excellence, it is time to shout all together: ‘enough to political assassinations and we will not return to carrying out routine work from now on until the killing machine has stopped,’” Geagea, addressing Berri, said during a brief televised appearance.
“Isn’t it a crime to convene Parliament after 25 assassinations of political [figures] and lawmakers, and isn’t it a crime that six MPs have fallen victim to such attempts and only two survived?” Geagea asked.
Without naming Hezbollah, Geagea, a leading figure in the March 14 opposition that has boycotted government’s work, argued it would be unethical to convene parliamentary committees that included members of the resistance group. “Isn’t it a crime for parliamentary committees to convene while its participants are those affiliated with suspects directly accused of assassinations?” he asked.
Four members of Hezbollah were indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The group denies any involvement in the case.
Meanwhile, Berri appeared adamant that parliamentary committees be convened and the work of the legislative branch return to normal.
Earlier Wednesday, the speaker was quoted as saying he would call for the convening of joint parliamentary committees, including the one studying a new electoral draft law.
MPs who visited Berri quoted him as saying that “after the visit by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Lebanon, he will call for the joint parliamentary committees to resume studying draft laws on the agenda.”During his meeting with the parliamentarians, Berri reiterated that legislative work should be reactivated in the face of the March 14 boycott of government work.
The opposition’s decision to boycott Parliament in a bid to pressure Prime Minister Najib Mikati to resign came after the assassination of a top intelligence chief last month.
Last week, Berri called for a parliamentary session for lawmakers to listen to the Armenian president’s speech this month. The speaker was also reportedly considering convening another session in solidarity with the Palestinian in Gaza. His call for a Parliament session to welcome the Armenian president drew harsh criticism from opposition lawmakers, who said the speaker was trying to corner them into abandoning their boycott. Ali Hamdan, an adviser to Berri, told The Daily Star that the joint committees studying a new draft electoral law was among those that the speaker intends to convene.
The work of the committee studying the draft electoral law came to a halt when March 14 parliamentarians said they received death threats and were afraid for their lives.
A new law to govern the upcoming 2013 parliamentary polls is a demand by most of the country’s leaders.
However, disputes over the type of system and the size of districts have delayed approval of any of the proposals.

Iron Dome shootdowns of Gaza rockets cost $25mln-$30mln: Israel
November 22, 2012/By Dan Williams/Daily Star
JERUSALEM: Israel's Iron Dome interceptions of Palestinian rockets during eight days of Gaza fighting cost $25 million to $30 million, the government said on Thursday, arguing the U.S.-backed system was well worth the money. "Were Iron Dome traded on the (Tel Aviv) stock exchange or Nasdaq, it would have multiplied its share value several times over," Civil Defence Minister Avi Dichter told Israel Radio in an interview where he outlined the system's outlay. Using radar-guided interceptor missiles, Israel's five truck-towed Iron Dome batteries shot down 421 of some 1,500 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip between Nov. 14 and Wednesday's Egyptian-brokered truce, the military said. It put Iron Dome's success rate at 90 percent. To lower costs, the system engages only rockets that threaten populated areas, though it often fires two interceptor missiles at once. Rockets killed 5 people in Israel and wounded dozens during the conflict, police said. Three died in coastal Ashdod on a day when Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd, Iron Dome's state-owned manufacturer, said the system had suffered a malfunction.
If more Hamas rockets had got through, especially the handful fired at the commercial hub Tel Aviv, and caused mass casualties, devastating Israeli retaliation perhaps including a full-scale ground assault would have been nearly certain. A senior official estimated that such escalation could cost Israel as much as $380 million a day. Keen to stem that risk, the United States has been helping bankroll Iron Dome. President Barack Obama pledged further support on Wednesday. Israel says it needs 13 batteries for satisfactory nationwide defence. A defence industry source put the unit cost for Israel at around $50 million. The focus of Israel's aerial assault on Gaza were the stockpiles and launch silos of rockets imported or improvised by Hamas and other factions. Gaza medical officials said 162 Palestinians were killed, more than half of them civilians. The most potent of those rockets were Iranian-designed Fajr-5s with 75 km (46 mile) ranges and 175 kg (385 lb) warheads, though Hamas also said it used a Gaza-made variant, "Qassam M-75".Iran denies supplying arms to the Palestinians. But the Iranian Young Journalists Club website on Wednesday quoted the commander of the Islamic republic's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, saying the corps had "put the technology of Fajr-5 missiles at their (Gazans') disposal and right now a good number of these have been made and are available to them".
Summarising the Gaza assault in a separate Israel Radio interview, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said: "Hamas's heavy rockets were destroyed (and) a large part of the mid-range rockets were destroyed."

Public holiday in Gaza to mark truce deal
November 22, 2012 /Daily Star
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Life in Gaza began returning to normal on Thursday with a public holiday to mark a ceasefire that ended a violent eight-day confrontation with the Israeli military.
After days and nights cooped up at home, their buildings rocked by an unrelenting Israeli bombing campaign and the sound of outgoing Palestinian rocket fire, residents were eager to reclaim their hometowns and their lives.For the first time in more than a week, the noise of traffic jams and honking horns filled the air in Gaza City, replacing the terrifying booms of air strikes and rocket fire.
Traffic police returned to the streets to try to direct the chaos, to no great effect, as people stopped by newspaper vendors to pick up a daily or ate breakfast at one of the falafel stands dotting the city.
Shop owners began to reopen, some for the first time since the violence began on November 14 with Israel's targeted killing of a senior Hamas military commander.
Some swept the pavement in front of their shops, as locals formed short queues in front of cash machines, withdrawing money now that places were open for business again.
Late on Wednesday, the ruling Hamas government announced that Thursday would be a public holiday.
"The Palestinian government announces that Thursday 22nd November is a national holiday of victory and an official holiday," it said in a statement.
It "invites all citizens to celebrate this occasion and visit the families of the martyrs and the wounded and those affected by the violence and to affirm national solidarity".
Government schools were expected to reopen on Saturday, ending a week without studies for Gaza's children who have struggled to cope with the trauma of war and the boredom of being stuck indoors.
Several Hamas ministers were expected to give addresses later in the day, although there was no word as to whether Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya would be among them.

Gaza war illustrates will for triumph: Nasrallah
November 22, 2012/The Daily Star/EIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said Wednesday that Gaza emerged victorious from Israel’s aggression, as both sides officially announced an end to hostilities that left at least 162 Palestinians and five Israelis dead and scores of others wounded.
“News reports are saying that the news conferences will be held tonight to announce a cease-fire, which clearly shows that the aggression will end and the resistance will emerge victorious,” said Nasrallah in a speech. In a televised speech on the seventh day of Ashoura in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Nasrallah said the past week’s violence between Israel and Gaza would be a valuable experience that all people in the region should learn from. “This experience can provide lessons for Gaza, Lebanon, the Arab and Islamic region, America and the Western states on the attitude of the enemy and the resistance,” he said.
“In the end, it is a valuable experience, and we need to benefit from it to strengthen the will for triumph in this nation,” the Hezbollah leader added.
Nasrallah also voiced hope that Israel’s “monstrous aggression against Gaza” would end Wednesday and that the Hamas leadership would succeed in imposing its conditions on the international community through its sacrifices in this week’s confrontation. Meanwhile, the March 14 coalition warned against dragging Lebanon into another Middle Eastern conflict amid the increasing threat of rockets launched from Lebanese territories toward Israel. The opposition March 14 also praised Palestinians in Gaza in the runup to the cessation of hostilities.
“The March 14 coalition warns against any adventure that could open a new front in south Lebanon, especially after two rockets aimed at Israel were discovered in the south,” the group said in a statement.
Although Hezbollah said it would not intervene in the conflict between Hamas and Israel, the party has vowed that it would ready for a confrontation if Israel strikes Iran.
In 2006, Hezbollah fought a 33-day war with the Jewish state that was brought to an end through United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. The resolution, which has largely been effective in keeping calm along the Blue Line, brought thousands of international peacekeeping troops to ensure that only the Army would carry weapons in the area.
Earlier this week, the Lebanese Army defused two Katyusha rockets aimed at Israel in the southern region of Mazraat Halta, south Lebanon.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for deploying the Katyusha rockets near the border. Military Prosecutor Judge Sakr Sakr has launched a probe into the incident.
The coalition also reiterated its call for parties to adhere to Resolution 1701. “U.N. Resolution 1701 secures international protection for Lebanon and it is important to abide fully by it,” it said.
Following its weekly meeting, the coalition said it fully supported Palestinians in Gaza, which has been under attack by Israel for almost a week.
“We are in full solidarity with the Palestinian people who are being targeted by Israel and paying the price of its brutality,” said the statement.
The opposition also urged the U.N. Security Council and the Arab League to protect Gaza and push for an international resolution that warns Israel against launching a war against Palestinians.

March 14 has taken its eye off the ball
November 22, 2012/By Michael Young
The Daily Star
It has been just over a month since the assassination of Wissam al-Hasan. In that time, the March 14 opposition has taken its eye off the political ball. This may have serious repercussions at election time next year. There is an opportunity to change tack, however, and Michel Sleiman and Walid Jumblatt’s reconciliation efforts provide it.
For weeks, the opposition has sought the departure of Najib Mikati’s team and its replacement by a neutral Cabinet, to no avail. A solid parliamentary majority stands behind the government and, alas, no new government can be formed against the wishes of Hezbollah. Moreover, none of the opposition’s friends overseas will accept a void in Beirut. The position of March 14, as understandable as it is in light of the Hasan killing, will lead nowhere, and indeed is backfiring.
March 14 must remember that before the murder of Hasan it had achieved two notable successes. It had built up a political axis with Sleiman, Jumblatt and even Mikati, in defense of the state; and it had laid down the cornerstone of an arrangement for winning parliamentary elections next year.
Hezbollah was not happy with this de facto March 14-Sleiman-Jumblatt-Mikati collaboration. For the first time since 2005, March 14 could say that both the president and prime minister shared its objectives, in a context far more stable than Saad Hariri’s Cabinet of 2009-2011, which Hezbollah and Syria did everything in their power to undermine. Under Mikati, Hezbollah was compelled to accept the maneuvers of its government partners, even when these went against the party’s preferences, for fear of seeing Mikati resign.
March 14 had a voice in the house, so to speak, and it was no surprise that both Sleiman and Jumblatt were managing to push Hezbollah into a corner on its arms, openly saying that the party had to integrate its arsenal into the Lebanese Army. This was an important advance on the president’s part, and Mikati agreed with it. To insist on the prime minister’s resignation in that context seems not only counterproductive, it unnecessarily grants Hezbollah breathing space.
Then there are the elections, which will largely define who controls Lebanon once the regime of Bashar Assad falls in Damascus. Hezbollah fairly early on gauged the significance of these elections for its own future, realizing that whoever controls Parliament as of next summer would have the means to bring in a friendly government, and the next president in 2014. This legitimacy would protect Hezbollah in a post-Assad Levant and allow it to pursue the “resistance” option against the wishes of many of its compatriots.
Yet the seminal import of the elections has not sunk in on the March 14 side – above all that the opposition will find it difficult to do as well as it did in 2009 without building a broad alliance with so-called centrist forces, including Sleiman and Mikati. Hariri has reconciled with Jumblatt, a good thing, but the real challenge for March 14 will be to win majorities in the predominantly Christian districts of Mount Lebanon. In Baabda and Jbeil, Michel Aoun continues to benefit from the support of rock-solid Shiite electoral blocs, as well as a unified Armenian bloc in the Metn, providing him with decisive advantages, regardless of whether his popularity has declined in relative terms.
For March 14 to gain on Aoun, it will need an electoral relationship with other Christian political forces better able to challenge Aoun in Mount Lebanon, where March 14’s popularity remains limited. Even in the Metn, the Kataeb is uncomfortable with the opposition’s strategy, which could harm March 14’s fortunes. An opening must be made to Sleiman and other independent Christians who will confront Aoun. This cannot be done when March 14 is leaving the president hanging out to dry on reconciliation, which bolsters his credibility.
As for Tripoli, the prevailing animosity toward Mikati could cost March 14 a sweep in the city. The prime minister has his critics, but he also has money and voters. If there is an electoral battle, which is not certain, the opposition could lose one or two seats, a worrisome prospect in what is bound to be a tight race.
Sunni unity is the foundation of March 14’s strength. Yet what we see today is a community increasingly in disarray, buffeted by the Mikati-Hariri rivalry, and more disturbingly by the emergence of radical figures such as Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir in Sidon. By attacking the prime minister, March 14 only opens a wide avenue for Assir to do the same, even as the sheikh contests the credibility of Hariri and March 14. Better for March 14 to side with Mikati, albeit critically, and in that way guarantee that a majority of Sunnis remains on the side of the state, at a time when Assir’s warning that he may form an armed group has taken him in a contentiously opposite direction.
March 14 will probably not reassess its position, but if it were to do so the obvious means would be to embrace Sleiman and Jumblatt’s endeavors to resume the National Dialogue. Yes, a dialogue is difficult with Hezbollah, but March 14 worked with the party after the 2009 elections, despite many assassinations and Hezbollah’s takeover of western Beirut in 2008.
Bashar Assad will fall, which will weaken Hezbollah, but in the meantime Lebanon has to be secured against Sunni-Shiite conflict. March 14 must also prepare for the big test that is the election next year. With Sleiman and Jumblatt, the opposition can bring victory for those wanting to reaffirm state authority against Hezbollah’s project. Hasan’s death has derailed that scheme, and the only beneficiaries are those with no interest in a cohesive state. March 14 cannot afford to lose sight of where its interests truly lie.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

FSA establishes new "regular" brigades, prepares for post-Assad period
By Yousef Diab/Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – There is conflicting information regarding the military plans being drawn up by the Free Syrian Army [FSA] in preparation for what has been called the “decisive” battle for Damascus. Syrian opposition figures yesterday announced the “formation of a special military brigade in Damascus and the surrounding area made up of FSA cadres in preparation for the ‘decisive battle’ to liberate Damascus.” This brigade is the first of its kind to be formed in the Rif Dimashq governorate, and is made up of several opposition military units; it also includes a counter-intelligence unit to detect any attempts by al-Assad loyalists to infiltrate the FSA.
Speaking exclusively to Asharq Al-Awsat, FSA Brigadier General Fayez al-Amro revealed that “serious work is being undertaken to form regular military brigades under a unified leadership which will manage the military operations on the ground in an accurate and well-studied manner.”
He added “we are working hard to form three military brigades whose officers and members will be chosen from the best [opposition] fighting forces, and we have called on the opposing Syrian National Council [SNC] and Syrian National Coalition to grant us the necessary support in this regard.”
Brigadier General Fayez al-Amro stressed that these new brigades will operate across Syria, with one brigade operating in southern Syria, including Damascus and the surrounding area, as well as Deraa. The second brigade will be based in central Syria and its operations will include Homs, Hama and Aleppo, whilst the third brigade will be based in the north. He said “these brigades will be the only solution to return security and stability to all corners of the country following the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime, because we cannot gamble on civilian fighters for a long period of time because the civilians had no choice but to take up arms to defend themselves and they will want to return to their normal lives.”
The FSA Brigadier General also informed Asharq Al-Awsat that “the battle for Damascus will be the final and decisive battle, but it will be planned very carefully and we do not underestimate the regime forces strength in the capital. It is true that the Syrian army has begun to lose self-confidence and morale, but the regime still has a number of powerful cards in its hands that it could surprise us with in Damascus, as this is its last stronghold.”
He added “these military bodies will be formed very soon, we know that the regime enjoys international support, however as soon as the secret word is given lifting this international cover [for the al-Assad regime], Bashar al-Assad will be on the next plane fleeing Syria.”
The FSA commander also called on the new broad-based Syrian National Coalition to “succeed in softening the international position, at least in terms of supplying weapons capable of confronting the al-Assad regime air force to the Syrian opposition fighters.”
For his part, FSA coordinator, Louay Miqdad, informed Asharq Al-Awsat that “the battle for Damascus will be too great to be handled by the military brigades alone, regardless of their numbers and capabilities.” He stressed that “we are fighting in Damascus as brigades under the unified Supreme Military Council [of the FSA], in the same manner that we are fighting in Dariyah, Harasta, Barzeh, Ghouta and elsewhere.”
He also confirmed that “the FSA leadership has begun preparations…to open all fronts at the same time in all [Syrian] cities, in preparation for the liberation of Damascus.” Miqdad added “the battle for Damascus requires drawing up plans involving all fronts, as well as cutting the regime’s supply routes and communication with its forces. This primarily requires an end to the battle over airports and cutting off the aerial bridge between Tehran and the al-Assad regime…in addition to securing logistical support and supply routes in the countryside as well as the acquisition of the necessary quantity of forces, arms and ammunition to fight a battle over a long period of time.”
FSA coordinator Louay Miqdad also told Asharq Al-Awsat that “ongoing meetings are being held between the FSA leadership and brigades operating on the ground in Syria and in neighboring states…they are working to create a clear framework to confront the regime.” He revealed that “it is no longer allowed, for example, for Damascus to be bombarded and Aleppo to be silent, or for Aleppo to be bombarded and Hama to rest.”
Miqdad stressed that “the confrontation requires for the five fronts to be opened all at once in Syria, and we hope to finalize plans to begin the implementation phase which we expect will have very good results” adding “our sisterly countries have adopted this plan, and we hope that all countries follow suit.”
He said “all of the countries that are concerned about the Syrian crisis must arm the FSA with heavy arms, and we pledge that such arms will only be given to officers with high levels of experience, and that such arms will not reach extremist groups” adding “we are prepared to return these weapons following the liberation of Syria.”

Canada Welcomes Ceasefire Agreement
November 21, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“Canada welcomes this ceasefire and hopes that terrorist cells based in Gaza will abide by the terms of this agreement.
“We are deeply concerned about the loss of innocent lives on both sides and hope this agreement will end the fear, violence and death of the past days.
“In my conversations with regional ambassadors and counterparts, I have reiterated Canada’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism, which, in all its forms, must be wholly rejected by all peace-loving people around the world.
“Canada appreciates the concerted efforts taken by the Egyptian government, with the support of others, to mediate the ceasefire agreement.”

Case Against 'Innocence of Muslims' Filmmaker Raises Eyebrows
by Adam Turner/The Blaze
November 19, 2012
http://www.meforum.org/3385/nakoula-basseley-case
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, (or Mark Basseley Youssef) the American Coptic filmmaker partly responsible for the film clip that President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice initially and incorrectly blamed for inciting the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed the American Ambassador and three other Americans, was recently sentenced to a one year prison term for violating his probation.
On September 27, in the midst of the tumult in the Muslim world, Nakoula was arrested in the middle of the night from his home in the Los Angeles area for violating his probation for a 2010 bank-fraud conviction. The media was conveniently present to record his "perp walk" to the Sheriff's office, which was broadcast worldwide. Nakoula spent slightly over a month in solitary confinement, being held without bond at the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center. On November 7, the day after the U.S. elections, his trial was finally held. He admitted to lying to his probation officer and three allegations of using false identities in exchange for his prosecutors dropping four allegations of using false identities. Nakoula was sentenced to one year in prison, instead of the two years recommended by his probation officers. The judge specifically rejected the idea of home confinement.
Now, Mr. Nakoula is certainly no prize as a human being. He has an extensive, but non-violent, criminal background. In 1997, he pled guilty to intent to manufacture methamphetamine and was sentenced to one year in county jail and three years of probation (but not parole). In 2002, Mr. Nakoula violated his drug probation and was re-sentenced to another year in jail. In 2010, he pled guilty to a bank fraud crime, and was sentenced to twenty-one months in prison to be followed by another five years of probation. Nakoula was guilty to check kiting, as he had opened bank accounts using fake names and stolen Social Security numbers and deposited checks from those accounts to later withdraw money from.
In mid-September, after Nakoula was revealed as someone involved in the film, his probation officials in the Central District of California charged him with eight counts of violations, and recommended a twenty four month term to Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal. Judge Segal ruled that since Nakoula had failed to prove he wasn't a flight risk, he would have to stay in prison till his probation revocation hearing, justifying this decision because Nakoula "engaged in a likely pattern of deception both to his probation officers and the court" and "(t)he court has a lack of trust in this defendant at this time."
But, with all that admitted, the questions remain: Would Nakoula be back in prison had he not offended the sensibilities of Islamists worldwide and of an Administration that seems to cater to their continuing criticism of free speech that is critical of Islam? Is Nakoula's disposition the kind of politically-tilted treatment the Framers would have thought should be given bedrock free speech rights? There seems to be strong evidence that his (albeit) legitimate case was processed to appease Islamists and others who opposed his speech on Islam. Certainly, his probation revocation process after arrest and the Judge's ruling were somewhat nontraditional. In most federal cases, the probation officer submits a confidential report to the sentencing judge, "who then can pursue a probation revocation hearing – a mini-trial of sorts – where probation officials must prove the violation. If the judge finds the individual in violation, the court can return the defendant to probation, send him to prison or impose additional terms of probation without prison time. Normal cases can move very quickly – sometimes taking days – once a probation officer has prepared a report…" In this instance, however, the political and diplomatic ramifications resulted in a long delay. Also, the decision by the federal officials to publicize the original arrest of Nakoula and stage a very guilty looking perp walk seems somewhat peculiar. The prosecutors, who should have avoided bringing up the film and the violence in the Muslim world in court for First Amendment reasons, nonetheless did so.
In addition, as noted by journalist Kerry Picket, abnormal staffing decisions were made by the prosecution. The prosecutor was Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Rugdale, who is second in command of the U.S. Attorney's (USA) Office below U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte. Birotte, of course, is appointed by the President. Ms. Picket found this "curious" since Assistant U.S. Atty. Jennifer Williams, who helped prosecute Mr. Nakoula's bank fraud conviction, would normally have been chosen to deal with this case. And it is even more unusual for Mr. Nakoula's probation violation case, for no explained reason – the USA office refused to comment on this staffing matter – to be kicked up to the number two prosecutor in the office.
A number of prominent legal minds have remarked on the suspicious nature of Mr. Nakoula's probation violation case. Mark Werksman, a defense attorney in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor spectacularly claimed that "(t)his case breaks the mold. If the video hadn't gone viral, and caused the Arabic world to blow up, who would care if this guy is using YouTube? It's all about politics with this guy." Law Professor Lawrence Rosenthal was quoted as acknowledging that it is "highly unusual" for a judge to order immediate detention on a probation violation for a nonviolent crime, but then he qualified his statement, continuing that if there were questions about Nakoula's identity it was more likely (but not necessarily "usual").
Jonathan Turley, a law professor who specializes in First Amendment jurisprudence, has said that "(v)iolations of probation conditions are quite common and rarely result in re-incarceration. Probation terms tend to be sweeping and most such violations result in warnings or brief appearances before the court." Turley has also written: "(f)rom my experience as a criminal defense attorney, the violations described in a case of his kind rarely warrant the 24-month term demanded for Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. In addition, the federal authorities insisted on his being jailed as a flight risk, though it is unclear why that is the case and why he could not be given an electronic bracelet." Former federal prosecutor Bill Otis has confirmed that, based on his decades of service, "probation violators routinely get a pass on violations far more serious and suggestive of renewed criminality than making a perfectly legal (and, some would think, First Amendment-protected) video."
And then, there is what may be the "smoking gun" in this case. Charles Woods, the father of one of the four Americans killed in Benghazi, has alleged that Secretary of State Clinton approached him at the Benghazi victim's memorial to promise to bring to justice, not the Islamist terrorists who killed his son, but Mr. Nakoula. As Pseudonymous blogger Allahpundit of Hot Air says, if true:
That's perverse, but in keeping with the fact that she (Clinton) decided to run ads on Pakistani TV apologizing for the film while Islamist cretins menaced American diplomats across the region. Even if you give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she had no intention of prosecuting the filmmaker but was merely telling Woods something she thought would console him, why on earth would she zero in on the filmmaker as the target of blame instead of the degenerates who actually shot his son?
The answer to this question may be that the Obama Administration is less than fond of free speech that "slanders" Islam. In his now infamous Cairo speech in 2009 Obama told an Egyptian Muslim audience, including the Muslim Brotherhood, on foreign soil that he considers "it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear." In the aftermath of the Muslim world's protests to the video, Obama told the UN General Assembly that "(t)he future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." Nakoula was arrested the following day.
During the past year, of the 10,823 adults under supervision in the federal probation system, only 829 had their probation revoked for technical reasons. Usually the violations that attract the attention of the courts are those that involve violence, drugs, or other serious unwholesome behavior. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has been sentenced to a year in prison for probation violations that are none of these. His case stinks to high heaven, with its slow process, the prosecution's demand for serious prison time, the very public arrest, the decision by the U.S. Attorney's office to have a senior prosecutor handle the case, and the judge's decision to imprison immediately without any bail. Then, there is the statement by the Secretary of State, whose position, unless I am misremembering my American government classes, does not have jurisdiction over domestic criminal matters. And let's not forget that the government's very public identification and prosecution of Nakoula – done for his speech, and not for his probation violations – has actually endangered his life, and that of his family's, even forcing them to flee their own home.
I would love to believe that this case, and this criminal sentence, is totally focused on Mr. Nakoula's actual probation violations, and has nothing to do with the film he wrote about Muhammed. I would love to believe this, but the surrounding circumstances are just too suspicious.
Adam Turner serves as staff counsel to the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) and the Legal Project at the Middle East Forum. He is a former counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee where he focused on national security law.